We are excited to announce that Hardware Workshop is coming back to Boston on April 7th and 8th, 2016.
Hardware workshop is a two day event for hardware startups. Taught by experienced operators, it’s purpose is simple: Teach important lessons to the next generation of hardware entrepreneurs.
What makes this workshop unique is the quality of the content, the deep operational experience of the teachers, and the long term connections you will make. Hand curated, each teacher covers a unique topic that falls within the startup’s life cycle from an idea to reaching market fit.
Who Should Attend?
This is for startups that are between an idea to successfully shipping their first product. We will have 12 different 60 minute sessions, taught by experienced operators, covering a variety of topics from defining your product to picking the right suppliers to successfully launching your company.
What Will I Learn?
Lots. We will have 12 different 30 or 60 minute sessions.
- Hardware product development process.
- Prototyping
- Building a team
- Defining your brand
- Product launches
- Picking a supplier
- Raising seed funding
- Building press relationships
- IP and patents
- Certifications
- Building initial distribution (Both B2C and B2B sessions)
- Founder panel
When?
Thursday, April 7th and Friday, April 8th
Doors open at 9:00am
Sessions run every hour (except for lunch) from 10am – 5pm.
Followed by Happy Hour
Where?
Bolt – 110 Chauncy Street, Boston, MA 02111
Cost?
$75.00
This includes two breakfasts, two lunches, beverages, and happy hour.
Being entrepreneurs we are sensitive to charging for events, but we found a minimum amount enables us to make the events better (good food, audio/video equipment, location, organizer help, etc), while ensuring you are committed to the event.
How Do I Attend?
First you have to apply. We only have 100 open spots. We are looking for startup teams who are working on a hardware product and who really want to attend. We aren’t judging what people are building, just verifying people are actually building hardware. Otherwise the lessons we’re teaching can’t be applied. If your application is accepted you will get an email to purchase a spot.
We are SOLD OUT! Please consider attending one of our other events
How Do I Buy A Ticket?
Once you are accepted you will be emailed a code to purchase your ticket.
Who Is Teaching?
Marc Barros – Moment + Contour
Marc Barros is the co-founder of Moment, the best tools in the world for mobile photographers. Prior to Moment, Marc was a co-founder and former CEO of Contour, a hands-free camera company that makes action video easy to capture and share. Shortly after graduating from the University of Washington, Marc co-founded Contour in 2004 and led the organization from a garage to a multi-million dollar company with hundreds of thousands of customers around the world. @marcbarros
Ben Einstein – Bolt
Ben Einstein is an experienced product designer and entrepreneur. He is currently a General Partner of Bolt, an early stage venture capital fund that invests at the intersection of hardware and software. Prior to starting Bolt, Ben ran Brainstream Design, a product design and development consultancy in Massachusetts. Ben has been directly responsible for bringing a long list of products to market covering diverse sectors including consumer electronics, high-performance audio, sporting goods and green energy. @BenEinstein
Ian Ferguson – Formlabs
Ian Ferguson is lead engineer at Formlabs working on all aspects of producing products from design to manufacturing and ongoing support. With an entrepreneurial background in mechatronic and robotics engineering he likes to get into the nitty gritty elements of design and development while maintaining a sharp focus on the market. He’s used to the startup hard work life style having worked previously at Bossa Nova Robotics creating high tech toys, and building robots for academic and military research at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.@Ianworld
Scott Kirsner- The Boston Globe
Scott Kirsner was part of the team that launched Boston.com in 1995, and has been writing a column for the Globe since 2000. His work has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Boston Magazine, and Variety. Scott is the author of the books “Fans, Friends & Followers” and “Inventing the Movies,” was the editor of “The Convergence Guide: Life Sciences in New England,” and was a contributor to “The Good City: Writers Explore 21st Century Boston.” Scott also helps organize several local events on entrepreneurship, including the Nantucket Conference and the Convergence Forum. @ScottKirsner
Dulcie Madden – Rest Devices
Dulcie Madden is a co-founder and the CEO of Rest Devices. Prior to Rest Devices, Dulcie worked in India as a Program Officer for the Deshpande Foundation, where she developed programs promoting entrepreneurship, managed grant portfolios, and led the team’s operations and growth. She received her BS in Biology from Georgetown University, her MPH from Boston University, and half an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Scott Miller – Dragon Innovation
Scott is the CEO of Dragon Innovation, a company whose mission is to help hardware entrepreneurs succeed in every phase of the journey from a crowdfunding to manufacturing at scale. Prior to founding Dragon, Scott spent 10 years at iRobot and was responsible for setting up and leading the team that manufactured Roomba, Scooba, Looj and ConnectR. Scott is also a General Partner at Bolt, and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Olin College and taught the Mechanical Design and the Design for Manufacture courses. @dragoninnovate
Brian Lee – Highway 1
Brian is the Senior Electrical Engineer at Highway1 where he advises startup companies on the development of electronic systems. He specializes in RF and wireless products and has a successful track record of design and shipping hardware products at small start-ups and large corporations in regulated industries. His industry experience includes fixed broadband wireless, cable TV & data, cellular, automotive, heath information technology, and medical devices. He combines broad technical engineering skills with an education in business.
Rob Stevens – Advisor
Rob has spent almost twenty years working in sales, marketing and business development for high-tech startups. Most recently Rob was VP Marketing and Business Development at GrabCAD, a community for 1.5+ million mechanical engineers and provider of SaaS tools for mechanical engineers. Before joining GrabCAD Rob led sales and marketing for Backupify, the leading provider of cloud-based backup for SaaS services. Prior to Backupify he helped robotics manufacturer Kiva Systems in a variety of roles including VP Sales, VP Business Development and VP Strategy. Rob holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and a MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management
Andy Payne – Revenio, Angel Investor
Andy is a Boston based angel investor/advisor with several companies including Pebble, GrabCAD, Care.com, and HubSpot. He was the CEO and Founder of Revenio, an engine for executing sophisticated, long-running multi-channel marketing programs. Revenio’s patented flagship product is now shipping as Vignette Dialog. Andrew also co-founded Open Market (one of the first eCommerce IPOs) in 1994, where he co-invented and co-designed the company’s commerce architecture.
Chris Quintero – Bolt
Chris Quintero is an Associate at Bolt where he is a member of the investments team. Bolt is a different kind of venture capital fund, designed from the ground-up to address the needs of early-stage startups at the intersection of hardware and software. Chris has a mechanical engineering background and previously worked on international development projects in Chile, Vietnam, and Cameroon. He splits his time between the rapidly emerging Boston and NYC hardware startup ecosystems.
Greg Wolos – IDEO
Greg Wolos is a Design Director, industrial designer, and mechanical engineer at IDEO’s Boston studio. At IDEO, he has worked with clients across a breadth of industries including consumer electronics, wearables, consumer audio, healthcare, medical products, manufacturing strategy, and furniture. Prior to IDEO, Greg worked at The Boeing Company on composite structures for the 777 and 747. He also worked for W. L . Gore & Associates designing and leading teams to develop high-volume, industrial technology products. Greg holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware.
Thank You To Our Amazing Partners
Image Credit: Werner Kunz via Creative Commons