💜 Will Allred

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Co-Founder & COO

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💙💛 Will Allred

We Design & Build Your Hardware

We design & manufacture
Industrial, medical, & consumer electronics
Small enough to fit in an oven

HQ in San Diego, CA. Manufacturing at our wholly-owned factories in Tijuana, Mexico and Dongguan, China.

Connor Bush

36 hours in San Francisco! 

Had a blast cruising around with Kassie Betts & Derek Jackson, MBA 

Great to get some on-site time with:
Dave S Desrochers Intercreate 
Jonathan Thai Hatch Duo LLC 

Super neat to see Optivolt IRL!

Bonus points for this city having some awesome gluten-free baked goods and epic sunrises for my morning run! 

Way too many cool hardware things happening in the bay area. Will be returning ASAP.

Connor Bush 🔋🖥📟

We Manufacture Your Hardware at Scale (USA, Mexico, & China) | Ecosystem, Pipeline & Partner Strategy

My microwave broke today. While shopping for a replacement, I realized it’s a perfect metaphor for the mistake many hardware teams make when vetting manufacturing partners.

Think about it:

The Baseline: It’s a given that a microwave must heat food. If it doesn't, it’s not a microwave. Similarly, a CM must be able to build your device. If they can’t meet the technical floor, they aren't in the conversation.

The Retail Experience: I looked at Walmart, Best Buy, Lowe's, Home Depot, and Amazon. The prices are all within 10-20%. Since the product and price are similar, I’m actually choosing based on the "parking lot" experience...

Is it easy to get to? What is the return policy? Is the customer service helpful when things go wrong? What else is in the neighborhood? Do I like to shop there? What other things are on my list? Do I have a rewards account? 

Here is where most founders get it wrong.

With a microwave, you buy it, take it home, and hopefully never talk to the retailer again. It’s a transaction.

A CM relationship is a marriage.

If you are just "spray and pray" quoting based on the lowest number, you are ignoring the parts of the equation that actually determine if your program succeeds:

The "Parking Lot": How is their logistics agility? Is it a nightmare to get materials in and out?

Customer Service: When a line stops, or a component goes EOL, do they answer the phone, or are you just a ticket number?

RMA & Warranty: How do they handle it when things go wrong? Because in hardware, they will.

Cultural Alignment: Do they actually care about your product, or are you just "filling a gap" in their capacity?

If you're picking a partner solely on the "heating food" part and the sticker price, you’re missing 80% of the value.

In a transaction, the parking lot is a convenience. In a CM partnership, the "parking lot" is your lifeline.

Don't just buy a microwave. Find a partner you actually want to be in the kitchen with for the next five years.

Last weekend I decided to build a storage rack system for the garage.

Drew up the plans.
Bought the lumber.
Cheaper than buying one.
Fun Saturday morning project for the kids and me.

It was step one in a master plan:
* Clear the yard > clear the garage > reorganize the house.

Everything staged. Ready to build.

Five minutes in… I realize my circular saw doesn’t have enough depth for the lumber. 

Facepalm.

Now it’s been a week.
I’m researching new saws.
Spending more than planned.
And the entire project is off schedule because of one 'tooling' oversight.

Too many parallels to hardware manufacturing.
You can have 99% of the components in place…
Missing one “insignificant” capacitor?
Whole build stops.

Tooling costs money.
Tooling takes time.
Test as you go.
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.
I should have known better.

It’s CNY. Much of the supply chain is paused.

Which makes this your quarterly reminder:

If you want to ship in 2026, you should already be in motion.

Because it’s not just quoting and tooling.

It’s:

EVT / DVT / PVT.
Certifications.
Longest lead components.
Line setup.
Test fixtures. 
Packaging. 
Shipping. 
Tariffs. 

And then the things you didn’t know you forgot.

This isn’t urgency.

It’s math.

Physics and lead times remain undefeated.

Shoutout to the homie Mike Klein for the launch of Lens Lizard!

If you drive a vehicle, this product is for you!

Open article: Lens Lizard: A remote controlled backup camera cleaner by Mike Klein — Kickstarter by kickstarter.com

Lens Lizard: A remote controlled backup camera cleaner by Mike Klein — Kickstarter

One of the most common missteps I see first-time hardware innovators make:

They build their manufacturing timeline assuming everything will go to plan.

Which is interesting ... b/c in almost no other area of life do we assume a flawless first attempt. 

You do not expect to downhill mountain bike the first time you try to ride a bike.

You do not assume you'll set your campsite up perfectly the first time you go out. 

You do not enter a chili cookoff the first time you've ever made chili.

Yet, when it comes to electronic device manufacturing -- somthing full of firsts like:

- tooling
- NPI builds
- test fixture development 
- sourcing & procurement 
- certification testing
- packaging
- logistics

... the timeline is often built on the assumption that everything will go off without a hitch.

I see this most often when a founder commits to a lunch date for kickstart, a retail partner, or an investor expectation. 

** A HUGE COMMITMENT. 

Can a product go from greenlight to production in 6 months? 

Sure. 

But in reality, 8-12 months is far more common once iteration, supply chain friction, and testing are factored in. 

We don't plan for perfection is almost ANY other area of life.

So why do we do it with hardware? 

--------
*gets off soap box

Happy Friday 😅

I'm heading to ISC West! 

See you there?

#ISCwest #iscwest2026

We're excited to help celebrate Z-Wave Alliance's 15 Years in Monitored Security during their networking event at ISC West in Las Vegas! 

Will you be at ISC West? You can join in on the celebration too! Grab a cocktail, enjoy some tacos, and connect with fellow industry leaders and smart home innovators at this fun happy hour.

Details:
Wednesday, March 25 from 5 – 7 PM
Cañonita Restaurant in The Venetian Resort 
Free to attend — register in advance here: https://lnkd.in/gaPZP8BW

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The Battle

💙💛 Will Allred

Connor Bush

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taplio

The Battle

💙💛 Will Allred

Connor Bush

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Connor Bush's LinkedIn Performance

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