We are excited to announce that Hardware Workshop is coming back to Seattle on April 27th and 28th, 2017.
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 27th – Friday, April 28th
Doors open at 9:00am
Sessions run every hour (except for lunch) from 10am – 5pm.
Followed by Happy Hour
Where?
Synapse Product Development – 1511 6th Ave, 3rd Floor, Seattle, WA 98101
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.
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
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. Ben is currently the Managing Director of Bolt, a seed-stage fund that invests capital, personnel, equipment, and expertise in hardware startups. Bolt provides companies with capital, staff, shop equipment, and extensive expertise with manufacturing and commercialization. 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
Johnna Hobgood – Sansaire
Johnna joined Sansaire in March 2016. Prior to Sansaire CEO role, she led teams spanning broad areas of management at Microsoft, Gillette and Outerwall (Redbox, Coinstar brands). Her roles included Vice President and Director level positions in Supply Chain, International Retail Business Development, Finance, Sales & Marketing. Johnna is passionate about creating great consumer experiences with innovative technology hardware. In her career she played significant roles in various capacities on many product launches such as the original Xbox, Windows XP, Window 8, Duracell Ultra, Redbox in Canada, and now Sansaire Delta. Johnna is also a longtime volunteer and Executive Committee member for Business Council for Peace, an NGO that mentors and supports women’s business development in Afghanistan, Africa, and Central America.
Candice Decaire – Kilpatrick Townsend
Candice practices intellectual property law, with particular expertise in patent and trade secret law. She has counseled and represented clients in litigation, arbitration, ITC investigations, and inter partes review proceedings concerning diverse technologies such as mechanical devices, software, medical devices, consumer products, and pharmaceuticals. Candice also advises clients about protecting and profiting from their intellectual property and data; assessing and mitigating risks of infringement or misappropriation; and data privacy and security issues, with a special focus on the Internet of Things and wearable technology.
Kathy Fedirchuk – Synapse Product Development
Kathy joined Synapse in November 2015, as a Product Quality Engineer, it’s her job to deliver the right products our clients and their users. In 2005, Kathy earned her BSc in Kinesiology from the University of Manitoba. A glutton for punishment and a curious problem solver, she hadn’t even graduated the first time when she decided to also pursue a BSc in Biosystems Engineering. Soon thereafter she moved to Sheffield, UK to join her interests in an MSc in Sport Engineering (it ended up being on sock development!). She’s since worked in the sport and medical engineering fields with the aim of delivering excellent, innovative, and relevant products.
Eric Klein – Lemnos Labs
My passion is imagining, engineering, and marketing innovative hardware products. I’ve had the opportunity to found successful startups, manage teams in highly successful, multi-national corporations, and provide capital to early stage startups. I’m a Partner at Lemnos Labs, the San Francisco based hardware accelerator helping lead the worldwide hardware renaissance. I’ve previously enjoyed product roles at Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Real Networks, Palm, and Apple.
Maren Nelson – M Nelson Consulting
Maren Nelson is a consultant with medical device companies on product development, regulatory strategies and implementation. Prior to this, she led projects to develop and get approval for Class 3 and Class 2 medical devices in the US, Canada, Japan, and Europe. Maren has degrees in electrical engineering and business, and extensive experience in software development. She’s also an advisor to start-up companies.
Martine Stillman – Synapse Product Development
Martine is a Mechanical Engineering Program Lead at Synapse where she has been designing cutting-edge products for Nike, Philips and Airfloss. Her specialties include Solidworks surfacing, ultrasonic welding, miniaturization, waterproof devices, and pushing the boundaries on injection molding and insert molding. She received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University in 2004 (and got a BA in Art at the same time, just for funsies.) Martine also volunteers extensively in industry. She is the president of the Seattle Public Schools Project Lead the Way Advisory Board, and a panel presenter with IGNITE (Involving Girls Now in Technology Evolution) and EYH (Expanding Your Horizons).
Kate Whitcomb – Hax
Kate runs the HAX Boost accelerator in San Francisco, CA, focused on helping hardware startups excel at retail and distribution. Before HAX, Kate spent four years with Target Corporation, where she was responsible for over $500m in total product spend across the beauty, home goods and baby categories. Most recently, Kate was director of merchandising for Target’s Consumer IoT team in San Francisco, where she focused on preparing Bay Area hardware startups for retail distribution. Kate holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA in Studio Art and Economics from Kenyon College.
Kyle Hart – Rhino Camera Gear
Kyle Hart is the founder and CEO of the Puget Sound start-up, Rhino Camera Gear. Established less than three years ago in Kyle’s garage, their small team has raised almost $500K from crowd-sourcing platforms to bootstrap their way into the highly competitive camera gear industry. Rhino’s passion is for quality film making accessories that make compelling and cinematic video available to anyone from the amateur to the seasoned Hollywood professional.
Audrey Louchart – Moment
A designer at Moment, making better tools for mobile photography. Prior to Moment I was the lead hardware designer at Fifty-three, the maker of Pencil and Paper. I have designed a wide range of products including being part of the HTC and XBox design teams. When not designing products you can find me traveling, enjoying the outdoor of the PNW or building things with my 4yo.
Chris Quintero – Bolt
Chris Quintero is an Associate at Bolt, a venture capital fund designed to address the unique needs of early-stage startups at the intersection of hardware and software. At Bolt he handles sourcing new investments and splits his time between the Boston and NYC hardware startup ecosystems. Chris has a mechanical engineering background and previously worked on international development projects in Chile, Vietnam, and Cameroon.
Bailey Nelson – Glowforge
Bailey runs Community at Glowforge, the 3D laser printer company that broke crowdfunding records last fall with a 30-day, $27.9 million self-hosted crowdfund (and some great press to boot)! Bailey began her career at a PR agency in San Diego, where she learned to pitch like a pro landing national media coverage for consumer products ranging from scuba diving certifications to GMO-free cereal bars in outlets like The Wall Street Journal and the TODAY Show. Prior to joining the Glowforge team as employee #9, Bailey led social and PR for Seattle healthcare and fitness startup EveryMove.
Ian MacDuff – Product Creation Studio
Ian MacDuff is a wrangler of electrons, weaver of code, and herder of nerds. He has spent his career leading cross-functional hardware teams to deliver consumer electronics and medical devices for startups and Fortune 100 companies alike. He’s currently developing high-performing hardware teams as VP of Client Engagement at Seattle design firm Product Creation Studio.
Bill Drislane – Dragon Innovation
Bill is the VP of Manufacturing and Engineering for Dragon Innovation. Authority on Quality and Reliability Engineering. Formerly VP of Quality for Euro-Pro and Director Asia Pacific for iRobot, Bill holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Engineering, as well as an MBA, from Cornell University. Little known fact: Bill is a second degree black belt in Taekwondo.
Michele Mehl – Excy
Michele Mehl is the founder and CEO of Excy, a company she started to take control of her health and help more people conveniently connect exercise to their daily life at home, work, or on the go. Prior to starting Excy, Michele co-founded Buzz Builders, a Seattle startup tech PR firm that helped launch prominent brands like Zulily and OfferUp.
Roger Wylie
Roger is the Managing Partner of Kilpatrick Townsend’s Seattle Office. He focuses his practice on patent prosecution and counseling, and advises start-up and established corporations, venture investors and other intellectual property stakeholders with regard to all aspects of patent prosecution and acquisition, counseling, licensing and litigation. A prior Materials Engineer, Roger brings deep experience with hardware, medical devices, complex machinery, consumer goods, and software
Thank You To Our Amazing Partners
Image Credit: X-Weinzar via Creative Commons