The adventures of an iron startup in Russia: the gathering team

Colleagues, good day.

In the fall of 2018, your humble servant single-handedly launched a hardware start-up. It was a vain and rash act. There was no specialized education. Experience in the development of iron - by zeros. The engineering team and the money for contract development was missing. After 9 months, the project is very much alive: the piece of hardware is working and developing, sales have begun, a public stand is deployed at HSEinc , and the team has nine combat units.
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The team works autonomously, the guys no longer need advice, parting words or kicks. They closed on the technical director and plow. Redesign the boards and the case, assemble the first series, write backing for the site. What remains to do the founder? Sell? Sit back in the warm breeze of the oncoming “valley of death”? Not. Taking advantage of the moment, the tired founder escapes to Habr. He hopes to pour out his soul and get some invaluable advice here.

This is my first post on Habré. In it I plan to talk about the most expensive - about the guys, about collecting the team. In the course of the narration I will try to answer the questions that tormented me throughout the project’s existence:

• Is it worth starting a hardware start-up to assemble a team of engineers, or is it possible to get by with contract development?
• What are the minimum technical competencies, and in what sequence are needed to create a simple hardware product?
• what pool to look for, and what to catch engineers?
• What problems and risks does the “iron” team face?

What is written below is not a success story (we are in deep minuses), not a divine revelation and not the result of a long scientific study. This is just an experience gained in 9 months of daily struggle for the project. I invite everyone to kick their feet. I promise to correct errors and violations of the rules promptly.

Context

About myself. 30 years old, specialty of state administration, HSE, candidate of economic sciences. By coincidence, he came to the daughter of Rostelecom and worked there for 4 years. Then he opened his own company to develop IT solutions for government agencies. I work a lot with Mintsifra, Rostelecom, industrial and defense departments. At some point, I realized that if I continued to work only in this area, I would go as a cuckoo at all. I decided to dive into the unknown area of ​​developing electronics for people. This is how the ClimateGuard project was born.

About the project. On the technical side, the project is very simple. ClimateGuard is a probe for measuring the quality of the environment and notifying the owner of threats, another “smart nose”. The main differences from analogs are an honest and accurate measurement of 10 climate parameters (not only air), a flexible server API and customization options. On Habré, many similar commercial products have been viewed many times here , here , here , here , here , etc., as well as home-made products here , here , here , etc.

About resources. 30-50 thousand rubles per month remained from the family budget for the project. Among the familiar techies were only developers, engineers and arduinschikov seen in Hollywood movies. He had no idea what refrigerator the radio components and boards were taken from. Equipment for working with electronics and building enclosures was absent. Knowledge and experience in the field of electronics was limited to iron repair.

Gathering a team of techie fanatics

Step 1. Industrial Designer

It is given. The team has two - the founder and analyst. The analyst nobly tried on the guise of a technical director and walks with a poker interface. In the minds there is a vague understanding of the product.

Task. Design the product in the form of drawings and 3D-models that can be shown to customers and accelerators.

Decision. The analyst had a good friend engaged in the design of equipment in a Moscow research institute. This work, apparently, was boring and did not motivate for labor feats. The designer was very enthusiastic about the proposal to participate in the startup. Unlike scientific research institutes, here he had the opportunity to independently, from scratch, determine the structure and appearance of the “real” product.
Why did we choose a designer, and not an ordinary designer? At the first stage, it does not matter how aesthetically attractive the “piece of iron” will look. The main thing is to understand that you can create it, and how to do it. Looking for drawings and 3D models.

Result. For three hours of brainstorming, googling and drawing on napkins in a cafe, we were able to determine the overall concept of the appearance of the hull. Ali found an approximate set of sensors to be used in the device. A week later, the first 3D model was ready!

Step 2. Designer

It is given. There are three in the team, all without a sense of beauty.

Task. Find a specialist who will develop a logo (for a startup without a logo in any way), and later will be able to draw web and mobile interfaces. Sounds like a mixture of warm and soft. But why waste time searching for different specialists, if you can once find and work with a talented designer, including him in the process.

Decision. The author invited the designer to the team, with whom he worked on a regular basis on other projects.

Result. There was a logo and sketches of UI. And along with them - the sea of ​​insane creativity from the designer.

Step 3. Radio electronics

It is given. There are four in the team, but none of them can assemble electronics and write firmware. There is an understanding of the appearance and components of the device.

Task. Find an electronic universalist who will assemble a prototype and develop it into a product.

Decision. It was a pain. Interviewed all friends, raised contacts classmates, wrote on forums and in profile chats. Then he formed the TZ, which he published and sent to freelancers on aggregators. There were the following types of characters:

• Dreamers - “Cool, I can, I will, let's go ... Only then, after a month, someday. Busy right now.";
• students - “Sorry, bro, I've been fighting for 2 weeks, it doesn't work ... But I masterly know how to plisses. Let's muddied something on the "plisses"? ";
• Starpers - “What is a startup? Do you even have an order? We are at the plant for 3 years such things designed. The main thing is to properly arrange the R & D documentation. First, figure out how to certify, then come ”;
• contract soldiers - “150 thousand rubles in advance, 150 thousand rubles in fact, in 3 months you will receive one working MVP. You will find more money and build backlog - I will refine. ”

None of these options for us to start quickly did not fit. Lost a lot of time and very depressed.

But then a miracle happened - Uncle Stephen came to us. Uncle Styopa, 24, he graduated from Baumanka, assembled and responsible, able to design boards, read datasheets, solder, “collect quickly” and “collect well.” He has his own 3D printer. He is interested in the project, not money. And he can start today.

Do you know where Uncle Styopa came to us from? Never guess. With youdo! Not from freelancing, not from electronic forums. Youdo had an ad for “collect MVP” for 10,000 rubles, to which was attached a one-page TK with pictures. This material is not affiliate. But the startup owes its existence to the youdo site.

Result. Agreed with the electronics kit. Bought in ChipDip. After 3 weeks, the prototype was ready. A month later - the first version of its own boards, touch buttons and a bunch of other nishtyakov.

Step 4. Technical Director

It is given. There are five in the team. A prototype has emerged that needs to be developed. There were first followers who wanted to test the device. Inside the startup, organizational and business challenges arise. The founder does not have time to “sell”, go to parties in accelerators, communicate with techies and earn money for the further development of the project.

Task. Find a technical director. He must coordinate the work of other techies, to accumulate information about the project, and in crisis situations - to take a place at the machine.

Decision. The task was solved quickly, but with disastrous consequences for karma. The technical director was taken away from a friendly hardware project. For this, the following techniques were used:

• The author puffed out his cheeks and demonstrated in various ways how good a businessman he is and how easily he can send a project into space with a good CTO. It was a lie.
• The future technical director was purchased a 3D printer, and later - a soldering station. It was a bribe.
• The victim was shown a team of cool specialists, which he should lead. It was a game of human vanity.
• Now the technical director understands that without him there will be chaos on the project. This is the exploitation of a sense of responsibility.

It is still very shameful both to the founder of a friendly startup, and to the technical director himself. But from a business point of view, it was worth it.

Result. We got a young fanatical guy to the team, with the highest personal motivation, experience, who knows everything - from communicating with customers to writing firmware and soldering. Most importantly, he is ready to work on the project from 14 to 20 hours a day, for free. And the author, in addition to other stains in karma, received the worst enemy in the face of the “second half” of the technical director and the stigma of the slaveholder.

Step 5. Web developer

It is given. There are six in the team. The product is developing.

Task. Find a developer to create a server part and a web-interface of the portal.

Decision. The developer is taken away from the same friendly startup. The hunting algorithm is repeated 1 to 1. Instead of a 3D printer, the developer purchased a laptop.

Is it professional that one developer is responsible for backing and front? For the “iron” startup of the early stage - yes. We are already 7 people. No sales. Death Valley is getting closer.

Result. A prototype of the backup and user interface has been developed, api has been created. Refinement portal continues.

Step 6. The Evangelist

It is given. There are seven in the team. The product is not yet complete. Money runs out. Looking for user reviews and sales.

Task. Find a person who will lead the early followers. Will be able to replace the lazy founder at the negotiations, go instead to Peter or abroad at his own expense. Will undertake part of administrative tasks.

Decision. During the project, we tried to conduct an information campaign on our own. It turned out chaotically and inefficiently. But as a result, it was possible to get feedback from experts, business angels, people who are not indifferent to environmental issues. One of them offered to join the team and help us with information and administrative tasks.

Result. The evangelist, who asks to be called a “business engineer,” took the lion's share of administrative tasks, attracted several important customers and strengthened our PR campaign. Of course, for free.

Step 7. Shareholder

It is given. The team has 8 people. Appeared the first customers wishing to purchase the device. There is a growing line of companies asking for a device for testing. The actual team performance is 1-2 devices per month. At RnD, product development and optimization of firmware time is categorically not enough.

Task. Find a responsible specialist who is ready to take on the job of purchasing crumbling, soldering components to the boards and assembling devices.

Decision. Already quite simple. An evangelist throws a call through his channels. Called a few wishing. Among them, the selection is carried out according to four criteria: experience, activity, interest in the project and readiness to work for the idea. Choose one. The rest are sent to the reserve.

Result. The speed of creating devices increased to 3 pieces per week.

Who's new?

Now the product development team is formed. Need to scream and sell. Therefore, we begin to look for humanitarians - salespeople and PR-boxes. Better than girls ... But if there are any fanatics among them who are ready to work for the interest at the start - for the author remains in doubt. Time will tell.

Risks of the hardware project team

The specificity of the iron project lies in the fact that a horde of engineers is added to the standard “developer + designer” tech set. From here grow the following risks:

1. We have nine people in our team, including six techies and two RP (analytics). Everyone is busy. Next, the project will need to add specialized professionals working with clients, content, sales. However, investors are already looking at us very suspiciously and each time they ask again: “What, 9 people? Why so much, what are they doing? What kind of work is designing boards? Do you seriously want to take more people? ” In the world of software startups, everyone is too accustomed to teams of three. And it is very difficult to explain the need for specialization and the multidimensional nature of the project.
2. The team needs to be fed, or let go on the free bread. It is impossible to feed a large startup team. Fultaym (albeit free of charge) only two work now - the founder and the technical director. The rest to ensure families are forced to have a source of permanent income. And at the same time pay the project from two to four hours a day.
3. Engineers on the RnD cycle form the production chain "board design - housing design - component procurement - assembly - firmware writing - testing". If someone from the team gets a long-awaited business trip to Australia, decides to go on vacation or spend the weekend with the family - the work is inhibited, and the technical director is depressed. All stars, all irreplaceable in the short term.
4. There is a stubborn and very reliable rumor that in a successful hardware start-up, one marketer should have three marketers. And that means, we have two ways: to find 18 humanitarians-humanities who are ready to work at the start for free and able to sell the product with a tenfold wrap, or give sales to outside contractors - integrators. The first option is fantastic, and the second severely limits the growth possibilities of the project and imposes a lot of obligations on it.

Own VS team contract development

At the beginning of the “iron” way, the author had an unsuccessful experience in contract development and didn’t associate with it in the future. The long 9 months of building and managing a team of engineers shook his confidence. Up to "It was necessary to give production to China and forget how terrible a dream." In fact, each of the methods has its advantages and disadvantages. If we discard the obvious things, the comparison is as follows.

Contract Development

Benefits :

• No need to assemble a team of engineers bit by bit.
• You can submit to the input the simplest TZ or even a picture.
• You can firmly ask "for the result", abstracting from the personal problems of engineers and their own miscalculations.
• You can get high development speed and the ability to quickly scale.
• This is an ideal option for a quick test of many hypotheses: “I paid, I received a prototype, I tested the prototype on the market, I confirmed / refuted the hypothesis”.

Minuses:

• Cost Contract development is not just worth the money, but is very expensive. Finding a cheap and talented freelancer under the “iron” tasks is much more difficult than under the tasks of classical IT.
• Long contracting, long transfer tasks to work.
• The difficulty in the implementation of intermediate control. You can’t call the engineer in the evening of resurrection and say: “Maxim, immediately give a report on the two previous hours of work and plan for the next 7 hours. And do not forget that today you sleep no more than 3 hours. And in the morning you are in one sting going to the object to the customer. ";
• The inability to influence the process, quickly adjust the course of development.
• Limited use of development results. Following the RnD cycle, you get a prototype or a small series of 5-20 devices. How they work is not clear. Whether the other team will be able to refine the project is not clear. How to quickly fix the device in case of failure is not clear.

Own team

Benefits:

• Experience. It is most important. Only by working within the team and having experienced the development from the inside, you can understand the product and the process - production stages, product bugs, and directions for further development.
• Cost savings. Knowing each team member, you can create non-monetary value for him in the project. Or at least reduce the amount of resources spent.
• Project control. You see the process from the inside, clearly understand the timing, performance, potential and priorities of each team member.
• The ability to quickly change course. For a startup in the early stages, it is vital to be able to make a pivot at any given time.
• The opportunity to get like-minded people with whom you can safely begin a new project in case of failure of the current one.

Minuses:

• To complete the quest to collect the team you need a lot of stupid, impenetrable perseverance and a miracle (as is the case with Uncle Stepa). The team needs to constantly motivate, keep track of communication problems. The loss of each team member stops the movement of the project.
• It is necessary to purchase equipment, the cost of which increases with each RnD cycle.
• Already at the RnD stage, it is necessary to look for suppliers (equipment, boards, components, distribution), to solve problems of marriage, delays in deliveries, incompatibility of components.

Thus, the choice of contract development is optimal if you are familiar with the process of creating hardware, have a clear understanding of the final product, a strong technical director and sufficient financial resources. If, as in our case, you only discover the hardware sphere for yourself, there is neither money, nor clear TZ - it’s better to assemble your team and share with it all the sorrows and joys of start-up life.

The hardware start-up team in the bottom line

Summarize all the above described in 5 theses.

1. To quickly understand the features of the implementation of the "iron" project will only help their own team of engineers.
2. One engineer can not do, even if he is rich Ilon Musk.
3. Finding a start-up engineer is much more difficult than a classic developer.
4. Engineers are very disciplined, dedicated to fanaticism, ready to work for an idea, like new toys.
5. For an external observer (investor), engineers are the ballast of the team, which does not create additional value for the product and the project as a whole.

Outside team

The author tries not to ask himself the question: “Why, unlike the humanities and developers, all these engineers in the team work a lot and for free? ..”. And when she thinks, she remembers Pushkin, the Tale of a priest and his worker Balda. And worried.

But there is something more wonderful on our way. Product development is constantly beyond the team. And we are assisted free of charge by external comrades in relation to the project:

• develop working interface prototypes (hello Vadim from the glorious team “Hemul IT”);
• create a telegram-bot (hello Artem);
• draw the first device renders and portal layouts (hi Asya);
• offer their solutions for sensors and boards (hi Dima);
• print experimental cases and give consumables to the printer (hello Vadim from RK Gadget);
• give recommendations for eliminating print jambs (hi Balats from rk3dpro );
• reduce the prices of components and accept the marriage after the warranty period (hello Edward from duino );
• test devices (hello Maxim);
• shoot a video for us (hello Sofia).

The author does not understand why this is happening. And I am very grateful to all friends and followers of the project. ClimateGuard will not forget your help! #climatematters