OUYA founder Julie Uhrman stopped by Highway1 to give a highly informative talk on manufacturing, company vision, and crowdfunding (among many other things) a little while ago. We can’t show you the video because it’s full of secrets, but we can do the next-best thing and share some generalized versions of her extremely valuable insights! Today: some thoughts on where to focus your worrying.

What are the biggest things you have to worry about as a maker of hardware?

It depends: are you making money on the hardware, the software, or both?

If hardware, you have a lot to think about. You’ll obsess over your BOM and every cost that goes into manufacturing, transporting, marketing, and selling your product. You’ll worry about edge cases. For example: say demand picks up and you need to start air shipping your product to get it to your customers quickly. How does the increase in shipping costs impact your margin? Building awareness and an intent to purchase your product will also be top of mind. You’ll spend time thinking through your online and offline retail and marketing strategies, US vs. global distribution, and whether you should partner with a distributor or go direct. Every penny counts, and your total cost is much greater than your cost to produce.
For more: http://highway1.io/julie-uhrman-of-o...u-worry-about/
Seems like a newscycle is coming.
The Julie interviews seem to come in bunches.