Surviving the Valley of Death
The startup that I am co-founder of, Mint Tek Circuits, has just emerged from the Valley of Death. We are not yet completely out of the danger zone, but we believe the worst is behind us. The valley of death refers to the period in the early stage of a startup before it is generating positive cash flows. It has been an exciting journey, though not one for the faint hearted. I am writing this blog to share our experiences, to outline the steps we took to survive and grow, and what we might have done differently.
Top 10 Technology Gift Recommendations
We know some of you are organised and have had your Christmas shopping finished since November, but we are also pretty sure that there are a few stragglers amongst you that are still putting your list together. This blog is for you! We’ve talked to the Mint Tek team and to our customers to try to find you the most awesome technology gift suggestions.
Design & Build an IoT Device from Scratch
So we were challenged, I had been watching the Censis Innovation Group in Glasgow since meeting Stuart Simpson at an NMI event. I really liked what they were doing, supporting research in Scotland and helping ideas get connected into Industry.
When I saw that they were running an IoT Conference, I really wanted Mint Tek Circuits to be part of it.
Meet Engimake, the Startup Creating a Robotics Kit
We interviewed Josh Elijah of Engimake to find out about the startup that is creating a robotics kit for makers, educators and hobbyists, with adaptable, Arduino-based programming.
Open Source Hardware – How to Make Money
Open source hardware has been growing in popularity over the last few years. It facilitates large-scale collaboration, which can leads superior technology. According to the Open Source Hardware Association, open source hardware is defined as “hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or hardware based on that design”.
Hardware Development with 3rd Level Institutions
We interviewed Jean-Michel Rubillon, a Product Development Engineer with the Nimbus Centre, which is part of Cork Institute of Technology about hardware development with 3rd level institutions. He works with customers through innovation vouchers, innovation partnerships, commercialisation funds, European projects, and some direct funded projects too.
Meet Emma Dowling, CMO of MyOctopus – Smart Home Platform
MyOctopus are a hardware and software startup based in Dublin and Galway, co-founded by Larry Wawro (CEO), Sylwester Hyzynski (CTO) and Emma Dowling (CMO). Their device is a creative smart home platform, a feature-packed multi-tool, which is fully open source, affording full control of data, devices and options to the user.
Bluedrop on Medical Hardware Prototype Development
An interview with Chris Murphy of Bluedrop Medical to tell us more about they began development of their medical hardware prototypes for their medical device hardware startup.
The Importance of Hardware Prototyping
Setting up a new tech company can rarely be described as easy, but it is exciting, educational, and, at times anyway, emotional!
David Craig is the founder of the Dublin Design Studio and recently wrote a great article about his own experience in developing a new product – Scriba, a radical new stylus design for mobile devices – which went into great detail about the importance of prototyping.
ExerWise on Using a Microcontroller, the Ideation Process, and more!
Here’s the second part of the interview we did with Nicola O’Sullivan of ExerWise, a wearable tech startup. Nicola and her team have come up with a product to encourage young children to take 60 mins of exercise a day.
Today I ask Nicola to tell us more about ExerWise’s journey from beginning with an arduino to moving towards a smaller microcontroller.