How to rapidly validate a hardware idea?

Wisdom from China: Talk is cheap—test in the real world.
Source: 纸上谈兵 = Talking about war on paper

Invincible Hardware Minute: How do you validate your hardware idea and grow an audience at the same time?

Take it to Reddit.

Reddit is the ultimate battleground for ideas. If your product survives there, it might just be worth pursuing. When we started pi-top, my co-founder insisted we post about it on Reddit immediately.

At the time, we had nothing but cardboard prototypes, PCBs screwed to a piece of wood, and some truly awful 3D renders that looked like they belonged in a 80s video game. We slapped together a basic landing page, posted it, and… well, Reddit did what Reddit does.

We got roasted. Some of my favorites:

“Is it April Fools in England or something?”
“Reddit doesn’t like you and you should feel bad.”
“Nothing says serious in 2014 like 3D graphics from 1989.”

But here's the thing: not everyone hated it. Some people loved it.

“I really love this idea.”
“Dude, really? That’s sick!”
“This looks like a Kickstarter worth backing.”

And guess what? In a few days, we had 600 sign-ups. That’s validation.

The brutal feedback shaped our decisions moving forward. We realized what we needed to improve and—more importantly—that there were people who actually wanted what we were building.

It laid the foundations for our boot-strapped $200K Indiegogo campaign just a few months later.

Reddit isn’t easy. But it’s cheap, fast, and brutally honest. If you want to know if your idea is worth pursuing, throw it out there. Take the hits. Learn. Adjust.

Talking about your product on paper doesn’t win battles. Real-world feedback does.

Want to chat hardware? Book a call with me here.

Keep it real-world,
Ryan

PS - I’d give you a gif like usual, but I think these product renders for our first Reddit post are hilarious enough by themselves.

PPS - Pro tip: Use tools like Gummy Search to dig into Reddit communities and find customer pain points for even more inspiration.