Next Hardware Startups: IP Law; 6-8pm, 18 June 2013

[Marita Cheng]

Hello!

Well, what a fantastic Hardware Startups Meetup we had last week on 20 June!  I think we've really got the format nailed down!  But always open to suggestions on improvements still!  :)

There were 12 people in attendance this time.  We were joined by industrial designer Ben Druce, who has had 5 years of experience on the field, and is currently in the USA trekking around New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Minnesota, on a mission to learn even more about industrial design, ... and sightseeing, and holidaying, etc...

The discussion was so juicy I took some notes to benefit all of us, and even the people who weren't there.  They're at the bottom of the email.

Our next Hardware Startups Meetup will be all about intellectual property!  How to figure out who owns what; should we patent?;  how do we know if we're infringing on other people's IP?, what should we trademark? etc.

We will be joined by Dr Aron Ping D'Souza.  Aron Ping D’Souza is a partner at Untitled Australia, a consultant and an honorary consul. He is the editor of the Journal Jurisprudence and author of several books. He was educated at the University of Oxford and holds a Ph.D. in intellectual property law from the University of Melbourne.

So, next Hardware Startups Meetup is:
6pm - 8pm, 18 July 2013.
Location:  19/2-6 New St, Richmond, 3121

As always, if you know of anyone else who you think would make a great guest speaker, please do let me know!

Cheers,
Marita

Notes from the last meetup:
What should people who have no experience in prototyping do?
Firstly, set up the network of people who will do the job. 
Know what objects are more tricky.
Know what you want to get out of it - test a snap, test things that have tight tolerances.

First step of contacting manufacturers in China?
- Star Prototypes cater towards Westerners:  charge an intermediary fee, but use Chinese labour
- networks
- phoning around
- search on internet
- directories
- alibaba - good for circuit boards, silicon moulding
- different prototyper for different jobs.

Be careful though:
- Don't give them more info than they need to get the job done.
- Don't send solidworks files; send stp, etc.  whatever they ask for
- Send gerber files as opposed to raw files

Once you're manufacturing at volume:  go over there and vet them.
Tooling stage:  2-3 stages for plastic parts... takes an immense amount of time:  you want to get there as the parts are rolling off to make sure there's no bending of flexing. 
- One week in a factory, you can get more done than in 2 months emailing and Skyping.
- Meeting them makes it easier.  Get to see they're real people.

How to meet manufacturers?
- Trade shows:  good way to meet suppliers
- National Manufacturing Week:  good to meet suppliers for specialised stuff.
- Each trade show has a different focus.  Immense number of categories.  E.g., AusPack - just about packaging.
- Electronics:  October in Melbourne?  Moves between Melbourne and Sydney.

Making something in China:
20/100/200 units = $10,000 for soft-tooling
200,000 ~ 1 million = $50k - $80k for hard tooling. 

Design from the start should be for scalability.
Do spreadsheets - volumes vs costs.

Kickstarter:  think of shipping, packaging.  Look at similar projects and learn from them.

Tech geekiness + beautiful looking design = jackpot.

[Luke Weston]

The post title says 18 June 2013, but just to make it clear for everyone that's supposed to be 18 July 2013 :)

Cheers,
  Luke

[Marita Cheng]

Indeed!  18 July, not 18 June.  :)