How do you sell DIY hardware to non-DIY audience?

Question

The issue with productivity timers is that it has to be manually started, The issue with getting immersed with work before a computer is that it easily leads to sedentary lifestyle; To address these two problems I made https://buttmover.com where the task timer gets automatically triggered when we sit on the chair and we're reminded to take a walk when it completes. The break timer begins automatically when we get up.The Butt Trigger is a simple ESP8266 button-switch which is DIY as its just off the shelf parts, Because I cannot build it at scale due to my disability and even if I do, shipping such niche products from my country is a nightmare.But my audience aren't necessarily DIY enthusiasts and so to address this my plan is to enable those who could build the Butt Tigger and list them as sellers for their region on Butt Mover(All profit from sale of Butt Trigger is theirs).To make things easier, The firmware flashing and communication happens through Butt Mover website via web-serial and so they have nothing to do with the code.But how do I go about finding such DIFO (Do It For Others) builders? Has anyone attempted such a strategy for selling DIY products? Is there a better alternative?

melkael · Accepted Answer

Why not lay everything on a pcb and have the factory solder boards for you ? Jlcpcb can do this. I believe pcbway can do that too. Your product will also look a lot more neater. I would also suggest to add a video of your product in action. I believe it is about jumping on your chair to play the game but it is unclear to me.

TheBill · Answer

Two options as I see it: Partner w/ a co like AdaFruit or another kit developer & push content via youtube/tock etc.Alternatively work w/ a fab co like https://www.tempoautomation.com/ to produce small batches, and send them to a 3PL co to package and fufil for you.

chrisp_how · Answer

You&rsquo;re looking at an extremely old problem: manufacturing. There are easily a hundred-thousand millionaires who only built things others first created, at scale. The secret is to look through manufacturers&rsquo; conferences. Don&rsquo;t think your item isn&rsquo;t &ldquo;big enough&rdquo; to be built by a big corporation- expect 10,000$US/Euro would be enough to build an assembly line, then cost-or-so to create each one. Distribution centers would love to help you handle in-state/country shipping, too. Find them alongside the manufacturers at conferences&mdash; there are 10 a year in the USA that literally publish all the manufacturers for this reason! Good luck!

the__alchemist · Answer

I skimmed your website - Don't be scared of doing things the right way. Ie, not stringing together dev boards. Learn how to design circuit boards - KiCad is a good-enough free option. Learn a 3D CAD program like Solidworks or Fusion for enclosure/part design. You can skip injection-molding an enclosure by machining a pre-made one, eg by Hammond.Just do it. You'll have to learn a lot, but it's the answer to this X/Y question. The Art of Electronics is a nice book for learning about analog circuits, but you can get away with a lot these days by wiring together ICs that do the magic internally.