Building a Hardware Startup in The Bay
Panel discussions about the people and places at the heart of the Bay Area hardware community.
Join us for a double header of panels about the places where hardware startups are launching in the Bay Area and the founders launching them.
Our first panel will feature the founders of physical spaces where hardware startups are getting their start. The second will feature founders in the thick of scaling their own hardware startups.
We'll have plenty of time for networking with other hardware professionals at the beginning and end of the event, as well as delicious southern comfort food like fried chicken and collard greens.
Agenda
6:00p Mix, mingle, and food on arrival
6:30p-7:15p Panel 1: Co-working spaces, design labs, and makerspaces
Sal Bednarz, Managing Director of Port Labs. Sal and his team are laser focused on supporting local hardware businesses and have developed numerous partnerships with local city and county governments to support innovation and startups in the Bay Area.
Nate Padgett, co-founder of Studio 45. Nate has been organizing the hardware community in cities throughout the US since 2017. He and his teams at Studio 45 and informal work with hardware founders and businesses of all shapes and sizes to launch, grow, and scale.
Dan O'Mara Dan and the Circuit Launch team provide space, resources, and community for the Bay Area's rapidly growing robotics industry. They also run Mechlabs, a DIY mechatronics education program dedicated to growing the pool of engineers working on robotics.
7:15p-8:00p Panel 2: Hardware founders and their stories
Anna Marionfounder and designer of Aivia Jewelrymake precision earrings and pendants that fold flat and store into a machined slim travel case the size of a credit card.
Gary Chen, co-founder of Raise Robotics equips contractors with an extra set of robotic hands, helping them build better by ensuring high-quality construction and safer job sites. Their robots take care of highly precise and physically risky assembly tasks to move people out of harm's way while preventing mistakes.
Scott Summit, founder of Ethereal Matter Corp, where he is exploring the intersection of VR, haptics, and robotics. Prior to Ethereal Matter, Scott was the founder of Bespoke Innovations, which sold to 3D Systems in 2012. Scott served as Design Director at 3D Systems until 2015.
Tate Sager, cofounder of Heirloom, a boutique team of physical and digital design leaders. Heirloom’s design work covers a wide variety of industries, from biotech to the future office to home audio and luxury wearables. Each project focuses on close partnerships to create unique IP and solve problems in beautiful, original ways.
8:00p-8:20p Community mic time. Share 30 second pitches on who you are, what you’re working on, and any asks you have. 2 minutes if you have a prototype to demo!
8:20p-9:00p Mix and mingle.
Thank you to our partners
This is an event by Hardware Collective, dedicated to connecting the Bay Area’s hardware ecosystem. Members include:
Circuit Launch - Robotics & Hardware Electronics Community. Over 32K Sq/Ft of Private offices, shared electronic and prototype labs for startups, growing companies, and inventors. Plus mechlabs.ai is their build-it to learn-it mechatronics education program .
Studio 45 is a coworking and event space located in Bernal Heights that provides the workspace, tools, resources, and community to build a business making physical products.
Port Labs is a home for emerging companies developing physical products. Hardware companies in climate tech, IoT, robotics right in downtown Oakland.
Silicon Valley in Your Pocket - Are you investor-ready? Check out our free hardware investor readiness self-assessment. You'll get a free report with your score and guide to investor expectations.
Panel discussions about the people and places at the heart of the Bay Area hardware community.
Join us for a double header of panels about the places where hardware startups are launching in the Bay Area and the founders launching them.
Our first panel will feature the founders of physical spaces where hardware startups are getting their start. The second will feature founders in the thick of scaling their own hardware startups.
We'll have plenty of time for networking with other hardware professionals at the beginning and end of the event, as well as delicious southern comfort food like fried chicken and collard greens.
Agenda
6:00p Mix, mingle, and food on arrival
6:30p-7:15p Panel 1: Co-working spaces, design labs, and makerspaces
Sal Bednarz, Managing Director of Port Labs. Sal and his team are laser focused on supporting local hardware businesses and have developed numerous partnerships with local city and county governments to support innovation and startups in the Bay Area.
Nate Padgett, co-founder of Studio 45. Nate has been organizing the hardware community in cities throughout the US since 2017. He and his teams at Studio 45 and informal work with hardware founders and businesses of all shapes and sizes to launch, grow, and scale.
Dan O'Mara Dan and the Circuit Launch team provide space, resources, and community for the Bay Area's rapidly growing robotics industry. They also run Mechlabs, a DIY mechatronics education program dedicated to growing the pool of engineers working on robotics.
7:15p-8:00p Panel 2: Hardware founders and their stories
Anna Marionfounder and designer of Aivia Jewelrymake precision earrings and pendants that fold flat and store into a machined slim travel case the size of a credit card.
Gary Chen, co-founder of Raise Robotics equips contractors with an extra set of robotic hands, helping them build better by ensuring high-quality construction and safer job sites. Their robots take care of highly precise and physically risky assembly tasks to move people out of harm's way while preventing mistakes.
Scott Summit, founder of Ethereal Matter Corp, where he is exploring the intersection of VR, haptics, and robotics. Prior to Ethereal Matter, Scott was the founder of Bespoke Innovations, which sold to 3D Systems in 2012. Scott served as Design Director at 3D Systems until 2015.
Tate Sager, cofounder of Heirloom, a boutique team of physical and digital design leaders. Heirloom’s design work covers a wide variety of industries, from biotech to the future office to home audio and luxury wearables. Each project focuses on close partnerships to create unique IP and solve problems in beautiful, original ways.
8:00p-8:20p Community mic time. Share 30 second pitches on who you are, what you’re working on, and any asks you have. 2 minutes if you have a prototype to demo!
8:20p-9:00p Mix and mingle.
Thank you to our partners
This is an event by Hardware Collective, dedicated to connecting the Bay Area’s hardware ecosystem. Members include:
Circuit Launch - Robotics & Hardware Electronics Community. Over 32K Sq/Ft of Private offices, shared electronic and prototype labs for startups, growing companies, and inventors. Plus mechlabs.ai is their build-it to learn-it mechatronics education program .
Studio 45 is a coworking and event space located in Bernal Heights that provides the workspace, tools, resources, and community to build a business making physical products.
Port Labs is a home for emerging companies developing physical products. Hardware companies in climate tech, IoT, robotics right in downtown Oakland.
Silicon Valley in Your Pocket - Are you investor-ready? Check out our free hardware investor readiness self-assessment. You'll get a free report with your score and guide to investor expectations.