Questions for electronics consultants / business owners - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: mr.LED
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 01, 2017, 09:20:56 pm
content: I have some questions for consultants/business owners in the electronics industry. I’m currently finishing up my second year as an electrical engineering student. I have worked the past two summers in electronics manufacturing, and this summer I have an internship at a small firm that does primarily embedded software development. I dream of starting my own business someday, so I’d like some insight as to how you got where you are today.Is it better to offer a variety of services, or is it better to specialize in one thing?Does location matter anymore? I grew up in a suburban area, but since moving to a rural town where I go to University, I have fallen in love with being out in the country.How long did you work for “the man” before you felt that you had attained enough skill to become independent?How do you stay in the hardware game? I’ve been told “get your EE and learn software on the side”.Are you a one-man-band or do you have any employees? Are there enough small projects out there for the one-man-band?Are your clients typically individuals, small businesses, or large companies?How do you find your clients? Previous employers? Online forums? Cold calls? Clients reached out to you? Local businesses?Any DO’s and DON'T’s that I should be aware of?Thanks in advance!

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2017, 09:49:01 pm
content: Starting a company isn't a big deal: it's usually a small registration fee (around a hundred bucks?) to the state, with an annual maintenance fee and some "I'm being lawful, I swear" forms to fill out.You probably wouldn't be making categorical offers like products in a catalog. Talk with the client and see what they need, and go forward if it's right for you.Read up on contract law. Your greatest liability is a poor contract, or ignoring toxic clauses a customer might propose. A contract is a mutually beneficial agreement, and your negotiations should reflect that. Even if you feel comfortable with it, you should review it with a real lawyer (a quick assessment and Q&A should be on the order of $500).Hardware? Analog is never going away, much as the software people would wish it to be so. Digital logic went from discrete to integrated over a couple decades; these days, anything that's more than a few chips will be worth using an FPGA. (Also (C)PLDs, but those are now superseded by small FPGAs as well.) Knowing how to synthesize logic in an FPGA, using description languages (usually VHDL and Verilog), is key.LinkedIn is a good start, and networking in general. Establishing a reputation is better than anything you can put on a resume.Location is important. Not that it's exclusive, but that it depends on the kind of project, what the customer needs you to do.You can do work remotely, but that's more amenable to neatly encapsulated sub-projects that you can develop independently. Projects where you're frequently meeting with teammates, examining drawings or boards or machines, building and testing prototypes, are better in person. Clients may want you to work on their network, for which you'll need site or VPN access; most likely they'll provide access to one of their computers.Tim

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2017, 01:18:06 am
content: I absolutely *hate* hardware that requires embedded firmware, proprietary/protected software or other things that are not available and I go out of my way to avoid purchasing such equipment. Personally I would like to see it legally mandated for any such information to be available, at least when support ends for the product. I repair my own gear and have had to scrap equipment because I didn't have the firmware for a microcontroller or PLD.Yes some will clone your design, but so what? Chances are any decent engineer could come up with something just as good from scratch unless it's really novel. You can't stop a determined person or organization from reverse engineering your device and the more valuable the design is, the more determined some will be to reverse engineer it. Instead of wasting your time trying to make it difficult for someone to do this, spend the effort on making the product better and making it a better value for the customer to buy from you rather than buying a clone.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 03, 2017, 01:53:14 am
content: Quote from: mr.LED on April 01, 2017, 09:20:56 pmIME the majority in this industry who start their own business do so as either:a) A side hobby business that grows until a point it reaches full time for themorb) The leave the company they work for and get hired back as a contractor or consultant, either by deliberate action in their (i.e. they quit, and the company still desperately need you), or by purpose (company restructures and makes you redundant and hires you back a contractor).QuoteSpecialist is probably more popular.QuoteIt can do, depends on the type of job.QuoteAlways.QuoteIf you have to make cold calls then your business in a toruble and likely will not survive.QuoteDon't borrow money to start your business.

author: aandrew
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2017, 04:29:24 pm
content: Dave's answer is spot-on. I spent 13 years in industrial power electronics. Learned a lot, great company, great people, and my very first "real" project became 60% of their worldwide sales. That's both a scary and an amazing thing to have happen.Company restructured, new management didn't like the idea of development being where I was, so I chose to leave.Throughout those 13 years I moonlighted as well, doing some software work here and there, some minor hardware work, etc.. It was a nice way to scratch the itches that I couldn't scratch through my normal employment.On my own now for 8 years or so. Love it. I've worked in every industry, doing hardware, software and HDL design. I've consulted for all kinds of companies and learned so many things. The best part is that the more I work, the more insight and experience I gain, and I can apply those techniques/insights to problems in completely different areas of engineering.The downsides though... sometimes the work isn't thrilling. Suck it up and do your best anyway. You will have dry periods and monsoon-season periods. Learn to make hay while the sun's shining, as the term goes. Keeping track of your finances for your accountant is tedious. Tracking hours is awful, but it's the lifeblood of your business so suck it up and accurately track your hours so you can give reasonably accurate estimates. Learn how to say "I don't know" and learn how to bill for investigatory work. Learn to shut up when your home insurance agent asks about working from home. No, you don't need insurance for most types of work. Some contracts (usually bigger companies) will want E&O/professional liability insurance; carry it only when you need to, and make sure you're billing to cover it.Don't be a pushover; insist on a retainer for new clients and don't ever let receivables get to be more than a few thousand dollars. Don't be afraid to insist on payment upon services rendered. Terms are for big companies, and you're not a big company. A particularly hard lesson for me was and still is to not get caught up in the "working with cool tech" side of things; you're running a business, not a charity. If they don't have money to pay you a retainer up front, chances are they won't have money to pay you in 30 days, which becomes 45, which becomes 60...Oh, and this will come up often with small/new companies (particularly startups): Unless you have the means to and are willing to gamble, NEVER agree to "shares in the company" or "equity when we go public" or any of that nonsense. Money now is worth a lot more than the chance of money later, even if the later money is considerably more. It's called an investment for a reason; don't invest unless you can afford to lose your investment.All said, I don't think I'd ever go back to being an employee. There's no such thing as loyalty to your employees, why put all your eggs in one basket.And to reiterate what Dave has already said: DO NOT BORROW MONEY TO START YOUR BUSINESS. No, you don't need a fancy office, or copier, or espresso machine, or car, or chair, or computer, or test equipment. Work with what you have and get good at sniffing out deals on used equipment. After a year or two you'll get much, much better at knowing when you need to spend money and when you can be cheap.Until last year, my oscilloscope was an ancient 400MHz, 30ksps digitizing scope. I bought my first workstation ($1k) for a big contract, which they paid for through a slightly increased per-hour rate and the contract assuring minimum 40h work weeks for 6 months. My latest workstation is actually a test system for another contract, paid similarly. Many new business owners get caught up in "the look" -- you're not in business to look like a businessman. You're in business to make money. It's easy to lose sight of that fact.

author: kony
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2017, 04:59:39 pm
content: Quote from: aandrew on April 03, 2017, 04:29:24 pmThis cannot be overstated. I had lost way too many years of my life due to this, with deteriorated health included as free extra on top of that.If you decide to get in under such means,alwaysstubbly stress test the people you will be supposed to be working with. If something hints for hypocriticism, narcism, abusiveness, or just plain stupidity - run, run for your life, no matter how sweet the deal looks alike!