u/NoviSense

Hey guys I posted a post not too long ago but should have been a little more specific. I am looking for a co-founder for my hardware smart home device startup. The first product is built already, and have more ideas and more coming. Need someone that is passionate about smart home tech, innovative design, and integration that is available to everyone.

I would prefer someone with a more "business" oriented personality but am open to almost anything. If you want to check out the smart home device, let me know and ill drop it below in a comment.

Hey everyone,

I’m an electrical foreman by trade, but have created a smart home device that turns any non conductive surface into a smart home controller for your home. I have taken it from concept all the way to full working prototype and loooking to possible start a kickstarter later this year.

This isnt my only idea preloaded as well I have other things in the works that will really make these hardware devices unique. If you share the passion for hardware, have more of a business mind and experience than I do. I’d love to chat about some opportunities and possible cofounders.

I am in Vancouver bc Canada so local is a plus!

If you want any more info about the device I’m an open book to share!

Here’s the r/hwstartups post with a co-founder ask woven in — and adding it actually strengthens the post, since this sub is full of exactly the commercially-minded hardware people you’d want, and “founder seeking co-founder” is a welcome, common post here.

Title: Solo-built a smart-home hardware product from scratch (I’m an electrician, not a startup guy) — heading to Kickstarter, looking for hard-won advice and maybe a co-founder.

Body:

Hey r/hwstartups — long-time reader, finally posting now that I have something real to show.

Background: I’m an electrical foreman by trade, not a startup person. I got frustrated that smart-home controls are either ugly plastic boxes or expensive installer-only panels, so I started building an alternative on my own bench. It became NoviSense Touch — a capacitive control that hides under a finished surface (counter, tile, glass, drywall, up to ~60mm). Tap the bare surface, the lights respond. Nothing visible. Matter-native, MQTT, runs fully local with no cloud.

I’ve taken it solo from breadboard to a genuinely working product: firmware, electronics, ISED/FCC cert path mapped, US provisional patent filed, landing page and demo done. Fully-loaded unit cost is around $46. I’m bootstrapped, low on capital, and planning a Kickstarter as the launch + validation step rather than chasing investment first.

Where I’d really value this community’s hard-won experience:

**•	Crowdfunding as a hardware launch:** for those who’ve run a campaign — what actually drove pledges, and what did you wish you’d done in the 6–8 weeks *before* launch? Pre-launch list-building feels like the whole game.  
**•	Self-fulfillment vs. 3PL at \~200-unit scale:** I’m leaning self-fulfill for the first run (Chit Chats / Stallion for cross-border). Sane, or a trap?  
**•	The capital gap:** bootstrapped founders — did you fund the first production run purely off the campaign, or did you need a bridge?  
**•	DFM reality:** anything that blindsided you going from working prototype to a manufacturable run?

And the bigger one: I’ve covered the technical side solo, but I know my gap is go-to-market — pre-launch growth, the crowdfunding campaign, D2C, distribution. I’m open to finding a co-founder who lives on that commercial side while I keep driving product and engineering. Ideally someone who’s taken a physical product to market before. I’m based in BC / the Lower Mainland, so a local partner would be a bonus (in-person counts for a lot when you’re choosing someone to build with for years), but I’m open to remote for the right person.

Happy to go deep on the engineering in return — the through-material capacitive sensing, the certification path, the firmware. I’ve made plenty of mistakes worth saving someone else from.

Hey all- trying to figure out whether an accelerator is the right thing for where I’m at and could use perspective from those who have been through one.

Quick context: I’m a first-time founder from a trades background (electrician), building a smart-home hardware product solo. It’s a touch control that hides under finished surfaces — counters, tile, glass, drywall — so there’s no visible device. Matter-native, runs local, patent pending, heading toward a Kickstarter this year. I’ve handled everything myself until this point; it’s the company-building side where I’m least sure I’m doing things right.

What I’m trying to work out:

For hardware specifically, did an accelerator actually move the needle, or is the value mostly software-flavored (network, fundraising) and less useful for a physical-product, crowdfunding-first path?

Is it worth applying pre-launch / pre-revenue, or do you get far more out of it once you have traction to build on?

Which programs are genuinely hardware-friendly? A lot seem built around SaaS metrics that don’t map cleanly to a unit-economics, manufacturing-heavy product.

For a solo founder, does the cohort/mentor structure justify the equity and time, or would that energy be better spent just shipping?

I’m Canada-based (BC), so any take on Canadian or remote-friendly programs is a bonus, but I’m mostly after the honest “here’s what it was actually worth” read. Happy to share what the hardware/cert grind has looked like if that’s useful to anyone going the physical-product route.

Hey r/Founder — most posts here are software, so figured a hardware perspective might be useful.

My background isn’t startups. I’m an electrical foreman who got frustrated that smart-home controls are either ugly plastic boxes or expensive installer-only panels, so I started building an alternative on my own bench: a touch control that hides under a finished surface — counter, tabletop, drywall, tile, glass. Tap the bare surface, the light or scene responds. Nothing visible. It’s Matter-native and runs fully local.

I’ve taken it solo from breadboard to a real, certified product (patent pending), and I’m heading toward a Kickstarter this year. The honest part — what’s been hard as a first-time, non-traditional founder:

The engineering wasn’t the bottleneck; everything around it was. Sourcing, fulfillment decisions, and figuring out what “go-to-market” even means.

Building an audience from zero with no following and no network is the thing I’m least sure I’m doing right.

Knowing when it’s “ready” enough to launch vs. polishing forever — still wrestling with it.

A few things I’d genuinely value this group’s take on:

**•**	For hardware specifically, did pre-launch list-building actually convert for you, or was the launch itself where traction came from?  
**•**	As a solo founder, what did you wish you’d outsourced earlier instead of grinding through yourself?  
**•**	How did you decide the line between “validated enough to commit money” and “still guessing”?

Happy to talk more about this product I created. What’s everyone else building?

Hey everyone,

I have built a hardware smart home device that turns any non metal surface into a smart home controller for your home through matter or mqtt.

Aka just touch the surface (granite, wood table, stone etc) and control your home directly from that surface.

Looking for some people that might be interested in joining me in this venture to truly build something amazing stuff as, there are quite a few more ideas preloaded.