Concept to working hardware. 6–14 weeks.
Services / Hardware MVP
We build hardware MVPs for startups — functional prototypes that validate the product concept, survive investor demos, and give you something real to put in front of users. Not a dev-kit with a 3D-printed shell. Not a render. A working device built from custom electronics, real firmware, and an enclosure that holds up.
A hardware MVP is the most important thing you will build before your Series A. It is what turns "we have an idea" into "we have a product." It is the artefact that tells investors the technical risk is managed. It is the tool that tells you what users actually want versus what you thought they wanted. Getting it wrong — an MVP that does not work reliably, that cannot be demonstrated without a charger cable taped to a breadboard — costs fundraising time and user trust.
Not every prototype is an MVP. The right prototype depends on what question you need to answer and for whom. We scope accordingly.
Fast, rough, built to answer one technical question. Dev kits, off-the-shelf sensors, hand-assembled. Not for investors — for your own engineering confidence. 2–4 weeks.
Custom electronics, real firmware, functional enclosure. Suitable for user testing, seed fundraising, and manufacturing partner conversations. This is the hardware MVP. 6–14 weeks.
Formal hardware build against a frozen design. Tests electrical, mechanical, and thermal specifications. Basis for Series A hardware diligence and pre-certification testing. 10–16 weeks from design freeze.
A full hardware MVP engagement covers industrial design, PCB design and assembly, embedded firmware, enclosure fabrication, and a companion interface where required — all under one team, one point of contact, one fixed fee.
We do not subcontract the firmware to a freelancer and the hardware to another firm. The same team that designs the PCB writes the firmware. The same team that writes the firmware designs the data schema for the companion app. This is what makes hardware MVPs work — and what makes them fail when the disciplines are split.
Functional prototype from brief: 6–14 weeks depending on complexity. Simple devices with off-the-shelf sensors and standard connectivity can be faster. Products with custom sensors, novel mechanisms, or regulatory requirements take longer. We scope the timeline honestly before we start.
A clear description of what the product does, who uses it, and what the MVP needs to demonstrate. You do not need a technical spec or CAD files — we build those. You need a clear product hypothesis and a decision on what questions the MVP needs to answer.
Yes — that is how we design it. Our MVPs are built with DFM in mind from day one. The industrial design is production-intent. The PCB is laid out for assembly. The firmware is structured for maintainability. The gap between MVP and production is smaller because we do not let it grow.
Hardware MVP engagements vary significantly based on scope — electronics complexity, enclosure requirements, and whether software is included. We provide fixed-fee quotes after a scoping conversation. We do not publish price ranges because a quote without a scope is not a quote.
The ATSN Assembly Traceability Scanner Node was built from scratch — custom PCB, ruggedized enclosure, embedded firmware for real-time traceability. A hardware product built to work in an industrial environment, not just a lab. Read the case study →
We'll figure out the rest together.
Consumer electronics architects. End-to-end.