search
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We may use the info you submit to contact you and use data from third parties to personalize your experience.
Article
This past Saturday afternoon, the Fictiv team hosted a group of 20 high school girls to teach them about prototyping and manufacturing. The girls were part of ChickTech, a nonprofit program for high school girls that creates engaging hands-on engineering workshops, in partnership with startups and big technology companies. Groups like ChickTech are doing incredible […]
Article
Ineffective meetings are a major time-suck. People straggle in late, not exactly knowing what the purpose of the meeting is. A quick review turns into a length discussion.. which turns into a debate, which ends in no-one-really-knowing-what-the-point-of-the-meeting-was-or-what-to-do-next. Sound familiar? When run properly, meetings can provide clarity, alignment, and keep projects on schedule. Thankfully, we had […]
Article
After ten years of working with hardware startups, the most common question we get is, “What do I need to provide in order to get a quote from a manufacturer?” Here’s a checklist of things we recommend you complete before speaking to a manufacturer. Completing everything on this list will help you paint a very […]
Article
I still remember the first Chinese electronics factory I visited like it was yesterday: It was an old tier-3* contract manufacturer somewhere in the sprawling Dongguan City. Its white tile facade was yellowed from acid rain, and despite the sweltering midsummer heat, only a few ceiling fans feebly circulated the muggy air on the factory […]
Article
Many people think creativity is innate, but in my experience, creativity is something you have to practice every day. In 2012, my team at Toyota was challenged to create a new user experience with the infotainment system in the car (also known as “the thing in the middle of the dashboard”). Customers had been interacting […]
Article
The week’s top hardware news. February 5th, 2016 Products TAPP Fingerprint Padlock There are so many online tutorials on how to pick a padlock that someone had to come up with a better solution for securing stuff. It comes in the form of a $29 seamless padlock called TAPP that unlocks when touched with a […]
Article
We had the pleasure of welcoming accomplished and exceptional leader Kate Purmal to Fictiv to lead us in a workshop on teamwork. Kate launched her career as a member of the founding management team at Palm and has since worked in CEO, CFO, and COO roles at multiple startups and as a strategic consultant for Hewlett-Packard, […]
Article
Hellooo 2016! Is it seriously February already? Well, in the spirit of nostalgia, we’re takin’ a drive down memory lane, looking back at our most popular posts from 2015. 1. Ultimate Guide to Surface Finishing 3D Printed Parts First up: our popular Ultimate Guide to Surface Finishing 3D Printed Parts. The guide covers different finishing […]
Article
Steve Jobs once said, “You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.” Apple makes beautifully functional—and functionally beautiful—products that people are passionate about and cannot seem to live without. The company would famously keep all of […]
Article
This article is written by: Jake Felser – Mechanical engineer and project manager at Cooper Perkins. Background in startups, manufacturing, and hardware design. Chris McCaslin – Mechanical engineer and project manager at Cooper Perkins. Fifteen years of experience bringing consumer goods and new technology to market. Developing hard goods involves many disparate and potentially overwhelming aspects, all […]
