Architecture, not execution.
Services / Consumer Electronics Design
TBN Origins Labs is a consumer electronics design firm that architects and builds products end to end — industrial design, embedded firmware, hardware prototyping, and software under one team. We sit between a design consultancy and a contract manufacturer — leaner and more opinionated than either, and unlike either, we do not hand off.
Consumer electronics design is a full-stack discipline. The industrial designer who does not understand PCB constraints will create an enclosure that cannot fit its own electronics. The firmware engineer who does not understand the industrial design will write power management code that does not account for the thermal geometry. The software developer who does not understand the device protocol will build a companion app that drops data under load. We do not separate these disciplines because they cannot be separated without information loss.
| Capability | TBN Origins Labs | Design Agency | Contract Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-stack ownership | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Industrial Design + CMF | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Embedded Firmware | ✓ | ✗ | Partial |
| Software / SaaS | ✓ | Rare | ✗ |
| Hardware Prototyping | ✓ | Rare | ✓ |
| Opinionated build partner | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Sustainable by default | ✓ | Sometimes | Rarely |
Consumer electronics products across hardware categories — wearables, smart home devices, IoT sensors, industrial instruments, medical devices, connected appliances, and digital signage platforms. If the product has electronics, firmware, and a user interface, we can build it.
Industrial Design (ID + CMF) — details
Hardware Engineering (PCB, BOM, DFM) — details
Embedded Firmware (bare metal, RTOS, OTA) — details
Software Development (dashboards, apps, backends) — details
Prototyping (EVT, DVT, DFM review) — details
We are: a full-stack product build partner. Consumer electronics architects. Opinionated on materials, stack, and architecture. End-to-end from ID to firmware to software to DFM. Lean by philosophy. Builders who document failure as process. Sustainable-first by design default. Premium-priced for the depth we bring.
We are not: an agency that delivers decks and hands off. A job shop that executes briefs without opinion. A vendor that says yes to every requirement. A design-only or dev-only studio. A large consultancy with layers of management. A low-cost outsourcing option.
A design agency delivers industrial design and hands off to an engineering firm. We own the full stack — ID, hardware, firmware, and software — under one team. No translation loss between disciplines. No version mismatches between the enclosure geometry and the PCB footprint. No firmware written blind to the thermal design of the enclosure.
A contract manufacturer executes a brief. We are opinionated on every decision — material selection, architecture, stack choice, DFM strategy. We push back when a requirement will create problems downstream. We are a build partner, not a supplier.
Pre-seed through Series B. The sweet spot is pre-seed and seed-stage companies that need a technical co-founder equivalent — someone who can architect the full product and build it. We also take on product line expansions for later-stage companies that do not want to hire a full team for a new product.
Consumer electronics, IoT, industrial instrumentation, smart home, health tech, AgTech, and digital infrastructure. If the product has electronics, firmware, and a user interface, we have probably built something adjacent to it.
Hydroponics Farming System — an automated indoor hydroponic farm built for a live hospitality environment. Industrial design, embedded firmware, and a local-first dashboard. Case study →
ATSN — Assembly Traceability Scanner Node — ruggedized hardware for industrial assembly traceability. Custom PCB, embedded scanning, edge processing. Case study →
Consumer electronics architects. End-to-end.