Ultimate Guide: How to Develop and Prototype a New Electronic Hardware Product in 2026
This guide is written specifically for entrepreneurs, startups, inventors, and small businesses innovating new electronic hardware products. ... read more
This guide is written specifically for entrepreneurs, startups, inventors, and small businesses innovating new electronic hardware products. ... read more
When your product needs more than a microcontroller, it’s easy to assume the next logical step is designing a custom board around a faster processor.
On paper it looks simple. Add a processor, add some RAM, and call it … read more
So there’s something you probably don’t really want to think about, but it’s important you hear it.
You can spend months, sometimes years, developing a hardware product and still end up with something that barely sells once it finally … read more
A lot of hardware products fail because one early decision pushed everything else in the wrong direction.
In my experience, the one decision that causes the most consequences is choosing the microcontroller.
Once that part is locked in, everything … read more
People often think the hard part of hardware development is getting a prototype to work. Once the board powers up, the sensors read correctly, and the firmware mostly works, it feels like the finish line is finally in sight.… read more
Most products don’t need the cheapest microcontroller or the most powerful one.
Once you factor in development time, debugging, tooling, and the cost of fixing mistakes later, both extremes can end up costing you more than you think.
What … read more
You’ve spent months, maybe even years, working on your product. You’ve poured in time, money and way more effort than most people will ever realize.
But right when you’re about to launch, everything seems to come to a standstill. … read more
Most people think microcontrollers are simple, cheap, and slow… and microprocessors are complex, expensive, and fast.
In this video I’m flipping that upside down. Because I’m comparing a two-dollar Linux chip against a twenty-dollar microcontroller that’s literally twice as … read more
Thermal issues are one of the biggest killers of electronic products.
Heat degrades components, shortens product lifespan, and can even create dangerous fire situations.
So in this video, I’ll show you 10 common PCB design mistakes that cause thermal … read more
Scaling up an electronic product is where reality really sets in.
Prototyping is fun and exciting, because you get something working and it feels like real progress.
But once you try to move from a handful of units to … read more
When you’re developing a new electronic product, one of the biggest cost decisions you’ll make is the microcontroller.
It’s often one of the pricier parts on the board, and the choice you make affects performance, power, and long-term cost.… read more
When your product works perfectly on your bench, it’s easy to assume it’ll keep working once people start using it.
But unless you actually test for reliability, you’re making a pretty risky assumption.
A working prototype doesn’t tell you … read more
You don’t always need a full-blown microprocessor to build something advanced.
Some of today’s microcontrollers are insanely powerful.
Fast enough to handle AI, high-end graphics, streaming audio, but still simple enough to run bare-metal code.
And when I say … read more
Getting your product through FCC certification can feel overwhelming.
You’re not sure what tests you need, how much it’s going to cost, or even when to start thinking about it.
And worst of all, you don’t find out if … read more
Certification of a new electronic product feels overwhelming.
It’s expensive, it’s confusing, and it has the power to stall your launch for months.
Most entrepreneurs assume they need to handle certification right after their first prototype works, which means … read more
When you’re developing a new electronic product, one of the biggest early choices you’ll make is which microcontroller to use. And it’s not an easy decision.
There are hundreds of options out there, but four families stand out as … read more
Certifications are one of the most confusing and stressful parts of developing a new product.
It feels overwhelming because you don’t know what certifications your product even needs, you don’t know when in the process you need them, and … read more
When you’re developing a new electronic product, it’s easy to get pulled toward the latest and most advanced technologies.
But the truth is, many of these choices will make your product nearly impossible to develop, at least without a … read more
If your product costs too much to build, you’re going to feel it everywhere.
Your margins will be too thin to make a profit. Your retail price will be too high to compete. You’ll struggle to scale, or even … read more
Your PCB design can look flawless in CAD.
But if it can’t survive once customers start using it, then you don’t have a product, you have a prototype.
And a prototype that fails after shipping isn’t just annoying.
It’s … read more
Failing FCC or CE emissions testing can kill your product before it ever ships.
And it happens far more often than you’d think.
What makes this failure so devastating is that it’s not something you can patch or fix with … read more
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