Latest article
The Same Pocket Computer Name Can Hide a Different Processor
PocketBeagle 2’s processor changed between revisions without an extra board charge. A configuration record keeps that welcome upgrade explicit.
Read the articleLatest article
PocketBeagle 2’s processor changed between revisions without an extra board charge. A configuration record keeps that welcome upgrade explicit.
Read the articleNew here?
Step-by-step articles you can act on today, whatever you're building.
Tools, AI and infrastructure choices for people who build.
Featured
PocketBeagle 2’s processor changed between revisions without an extra board charge. A configuration record keeps that welcome upgrade explicit.
Finding customers, pricing, operations and staying alive.
Featured
Blueland sells hand soap as a tablet customers dissolve at home. That format changes shipping and packaging, while making first-use instructions part of the product.
Payments, fees, payouts and the mechanics of earning online.
Featured
LEGO's 2005 park sale separated brand affinity from the capital needed to run another business. An asset worksheet helps smaller owners examine the same tension.
Go deeper
Six focused threads for building, finding customers and creating durable value.
Everything we've published, newest first. Filter, search or sort.
Opentrons Flex uses liquid-specific transfer settings as well as modular hardware. A requirements map and first-week versus repeat-week model help scope a useful adoption test.
Field Notes gives subscribers four new notebook editions a year. Its rhythm offers repeat customer conversations while creating future production obligations.
Optical feedback helped Inkbit and university researchers remove a resin-smoothing constraint. An interface map and finishing allowance connect that advance to a specific assembly decision.
Little Bee’s production notes show how a supplier assurance can stall before an accepted order. A purchasing evidence ladder and fallback model make the risk visible.
Packsize converts folded corrugated material into boxes near the order. The useful comparison includes inventory, packing work and the costs that smaller boxes actually change.
LEGO's 2005 park sale separated brand affinity from the capital needed to run another business. An asset worksheet helps smaller owners examine the same tension.
Sila sells silicon-carbon anode material, while its factory roadmap uses battery-energy units. A worked conversion shows which assumptions connect material output to usable cells.
Nikwax separates cleaning from renewing a water-repellent finish. Its instructions suggest a useful aftercare workflow: diagnose the stage before offering another product.
Brimstone plans to make cement, supplementary cementitious material and alumina from one rock feedstock. Each output still needs accepted quality, a buyer and a cash model.
Cometeer moves coffee brewing upstream and ships frozen portions. A dispatch model shows the tradeoff between shipment costs, household consumption and the remaining cold-storage job.
Carrie Sundra explained why a cheaper manufacturing run could still leave her unpaid. Separate parts discounts, assembly costs and cash recovery before ordering.
Jeni's halted production again soon after reopening in 2015. Its experience shows why a recovery budget needs cash for continued interruption as well as repairs.
Tim Leatherman struggled to place his pliers-based pocket tool inside existing categories. An outdoor catalog offered a different route to an actual order.
Revoy puts battery-powered drive units between diesel trucks and trailers. The commercial question is whether a repeat route can keep the units and swap stations working.
Oskitone designed its Scout synthesizer for people learning electronics. It left out controls to simplify assembly and explanation while preserving a later modification path.
Danforth Pewter added established designs alongside equipment and training. A worked example shows why an acquisition price understates initial cash needs.
Melissa Bernstein described choosing creative leadership while Doug ran their later company. Use their role division to identify decisions a founder can transfer.
Jones Soda has used consumer photographs on labels since 1996. A practical workflow shows the work needed to make customer participation reach a visible finish.
Henson sells a machined razor that accepts standard blades. Its design choice makes first-order contribution more important than hoped-for refill revenue.
Niche’s home-grinder brief focused on small doses and retained coffee. Three measurements show how founders can turn a complaint into an honest product test.
The community
What readers are saying across the articles right now.
Create a free account to comment on articles and join a community of founders, builders and operators.
Create free accountFounder, engineer or operator with hard-won lessons? Publish here, with full credit and a link to what you're building.
How it works