184: The Value of Low-Volume Invention Manufacturing

Ethan Escowitz is the founder of Arris Composites, a company that makes advanced manufacturing processes and materials. He also sits on a number of boards in the hardware space, given his 20-year history in the industry working with many Fortune 500 companies and hardware startups. Today Ethan is going to share some valuable knowledge for inventors, startups, and small manufacturers on what short-run manufacturing is, why iterative manufacturing is so important to hardware startups, and how to scale through feedback on low-volume production runs of your new hardware product invention. Today you will hear us talk about: New manufacturing capabilities that unlocks opportunities for product developers How do you produce product as quickly as possible. Low volume parts that don’t require the up front tooling cost How do you use technology to enable low volume production Consumer-facing products vs non-consumer-facing products. Consumers want beautiful parts that look very close to high-quality manufactured products Technology that enables beautiful parts, with unique surfaces, that are different from conventional molding methods. The manufacturing world traditionally does not accommodate Use a first production run to learn how the customers will buy more units, and how the engineering will be improved. Product engineering is hard enough as it is. So as soon as you start to introduce new capabilities and technologies, it becomes more difficult, but also that’s where the rewards are too as you can figure out amazing technology. Both an innovation, and a new technology, lead to extremely high equity valuations for your product invention and the technology behind that invention. Hardware startups have a huge advantage of being more agile and innovative. Don’t feature creep on your first version, used your customers. Steve Jobs pushed the idea of knowing that there is an unmet need, so also consider your own path and communicate your idea on a product which is new and never been really seen in this way before. Ethan Escowitz Links: LinkedIn | Arris Composites The Product Startup Podcast Links: https://www.ProductStartup.com/ Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Pinterest | Twitter | YouTube Mako Design Links: https://www.makodesign.com/ YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Kevin Mako Links: Instagram | LinkedIn | Quora | Facebook | Twitter Partner: PTC’s best-in-class software solutions Onshape: The only cloud-native product development platform that delivers full-featured computer-aided design (CAD), integrated product data management (PDM) and enterprise analytics in a single system, and Creo: 3D CAD solution that provides designers with the most innovative tools to build better products faster, such as generative design, additive manufacturing, real-time simulation, IIoT, and augmented reality. Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.