Welcome Home

Hardware is Hard. Let’s get your concept validated and investor ready.

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How this works

Work through each stage. For every step:

Download template → Do the work → Submit evidence.

We Review your submittal and give you feedback so you can move forward!

Real artifacts beat slides — upload raw notes, logs, photos, and data.

If you get stuck, frustrated, or confused and need help, click the “Help Me” button or go to the discord and ask the community.

  1. Customer Discovery

Goal: Prove you understand the customer, problem, and value.

Customer Discovery Resources

  1. Problem Statement Worksheet [DOCX]

  2. Persona + Value Proposition Canvas [DOCX]

  3. Interview Guide + Notes [DOCX]

  4. Customer Discovery Reflection (Stage-Gate) [DOCX]

  5. Submit Document

2. Prototype / MVP

Goal: Build 1 to get feedback, validate the problem, and learn what features the small batch run will have.

  1. MVP Requirements Document [DOCX]

  2. MVP Test Plan [DOCX]

  3. Build & Test Log (Prototype Rounds) [DOCX]

  4. Costed BOM (Prototype Version) [XLSX]

  5. MVP Reflection (Stage Gate) [DOCX]

  6. Submit Document

Prototype / MVP Resources

3. Small Batch Production

Goal: Produce a small batch of product to validate and learn from the design and your customers.

  1. FMEA (Failure Mode Effects Analysis) [XLSX]

  2. Manufacturing Work Instructions [DOCX]

  3. Incoming Quality Inspection Checklist (IQC) [DOCX]

  4. Improvement Log [XLSX]

  5. Small-Batch Reflection (Stage-Gate) [DOCX]

  6. Submit Document

Small Batch Resources

4. Scale

Goal: Get you prepared to scale from documentation to CAD to DFMEA and more.

  1. Production Readiness Checklist [DOCX]

  2. PPAP / First Article Inspection (FAI) [DOCX]

  3. PFMEA + Control Plan (Scale Version) [DOCX]

  4. Traceability & Serialization Plan [DOCX]

  5. Scaling Reflection (Stage-Gate) [DOCX]

  6. Submit Document

Scale Resources