I really, really, really wanted to be at the Open Source Hardware Summit in NYC last week. But my daughter really, really, really wanted me at her first birthday party. Ultimately, she won out.
Some of the content from the show has been leaking out over the last few days including this presentation from Massimo Banzi, co-founder of the popular Arduino Project. It’s a wonderful talk on the the state of Arduino, but I’ve edited it down to just the lessons he and his team have learned from running a thriving open source hardware business. Here are a few of my favorites:
Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity
Be careful when somebody is just too eager to help you
Your most important customers are not the most vocal ones
and finally
Don’t let the fact that you don’t know what you’re doing stop you
Regardless of the kind of business you’re running there are some real gems in here to internalize.
PS- given that it’s National Talk Like a Pirate Day, I should have called it the Aaarrrrrrduino Project.
Useful Advice.
