Previously I shared how my product didn't sell like I expected when it finally made it on store shelves, and the painful lessons I learned the hard way.
I was moving fast, but without real guidance, real user testing, or clear product-market validation. And I was making my design decisions in isolation too.
I was too deep in my own head, chasing progress that felt productive but wasn't pointed in the right direction.
Not to be too hard on myself, I also did a lot of stuff right.
Turns out I was closer to a turnaround than I realized, and it came down to a handful of changes I wish I'd made much sooner.
Here are five things I'd do differently:
1) Build With Users, Not For Users
Your assumptions will always be off in some way, especially when it comes to how real people behave.
The only way to get your product truly right is to involve users as early as possible, even when your prototype still feels rough.
I know this can feel intimidating, especially if you're still figuring things out.
But there are ways to get useful feedback that don't require walking up to strangers or putting yourself out there in uncomfortable ways.
Just one conversation can often shift your whole perspective.
2) Get Experienced Eyes on Your Design Before You Commit
This is the one I really should have known better on.
My product looked finished and worked great, but it couldn't be manufactured without a major redesign, and I didn't find that out until I'd already built it.
An experienced set of eyes would have caught it before it cost me months and a pile of money.
The visible mistakes are easy to catch. The expensive ones are the issues you don't even know to look for, the kind an experienced engineer spots in minutes and a first-timer can't.
3) Prove People Will Pay Before Custom Development
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking, "Once it's finished, people will buy." But you don't need to wait for a perfect product to start understanding demand.
Whether you're hiring engineers or doing the development yourself, it helps to find small, low-risk ways to test interest before you spend serious time or money.
Sometimes even a single dollar as a reservation fee says more than a hundred compliments.
4) Pre-Sell Your Product Before Production
Ordering inventory is one of the biggest financial obstacles for any hardware startup.
I made the mistake of placing too big of a production order before I had enough customer orders to justify it.
I felt stuck. Retailers wouldn't give me a purchase order without inventory in hand. In my impatience (and overconfidence), I leaped ahead and placed a large production order before I was really ready.
What I didn't realize is that there are ways to sell your product before it's manufactured.
You don't need a massive launch. Even a handful of pre-orders can give you early confidence and help reduce risk.
A member of my Hardware Academy, Ronald Wijnsema, did exactly this.
He designed a modular control panel for smart home systems called the Button+.
Before manufacturing a single unit, he got a tech publication to write a review of one of his prototypes, and the pre-orders came pouring in, around $64,000 worth.
That confirmed people would buy and funded his first production run at the same time, before he risked a cent on inventory.
5) Don't Do It Alone
And here's the crazy thing. Long before I became an entrepreneur, I spent over ten years as a microchip design engineer at Texas Instruments.
At TI, no design ever went to manufacturing without a room full of experienced engineers picking it apart first. That was just how it was done, because designing in isolation is the most expensive mistake you can make in hardware.
Then I went off to build my own product and made the exact same mistake anyway.
I isolated myself from feedback while I "perfected" the product.
But the problem was, I didn't know what I didn't know.
You don't need a big team or a bunch of expensive consultants, but having even one or two people who understand what you're doing makes a huge difference.
The best thing you can do is talk to people who've already launched hardware products. Even a few short conversations can help you avoid dead ends and spot small problems before they grow.
I know how tempting it is to just keep building, refining, and pushing forward.
But real progress doesn't come from doing more. It comes from clarity.
And clarity often starts with a safe conversation or a thoughtful question from someone who's been there.
If you can surround yourself with just a few of the right people, you'll move forward with a lot more confidence and a lot less stress.
These might be people who have done what you want to do, future customers, or even other entrepreneurs.
If I had done just a few of these things earlier, I would have saved thousands of dollars and months of frustration...
...and my product would have been much more successful when it hit store shelves.
At that point, things weren't looking good for my product. But then something finally started to shift.
Want experienced eyes on your product before trial and error gets expensive? Here's how.