Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran and Adrian from the team talk about what founders need to do in order to validate their new hardware product idea in the eyes of potential investors.

You'll learn about a huge blindspot that many founders have that can easily destroy their chances of success, what potential investors and manufacturers are looking for from a startup and its idea, and some tips on how to get information at an early stage that can positively influence your design before you have even invested in prototypes!

If you have a new product idea you want to bring to market, this episode is a must-listen!

00:00 - Greetings

00:25 - Pre-chat: Hong Kong has dropped quarantine and is open to visitors!

08:36 - Today's topic: How to validate your new hardware product idea in the eyes of investors?

12:18 - The 3 key risks faced by founders with a new hardware product idea.

14:01 - An example of market risk: A new energy-efficient cooking solution.

22:33 - What to do with the feedback from target customers?

25:59 - The minimum viable product for hardware startups.

27:54 - 2 key milestones investors use to validate a new product and the startup behind it.

30:07 - The Hardware Academy - a good place to get advice.

31:30 - No market research = Higher risk of project failure, lack of investment, and difficulty in working with the best manufacturers.

34:50 - Wrapping up.

• Hong Kong drops pre-flight tests and quarantine for visitors

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran is back with Adrian from the team this week and they're discussing which communication medium is best for communicating with Chinese suppliers, why, and when it should be used. 

Learn about WeChat, email, project management software, DingTalk, and much more, as well as the importance of using clear working templates as opposed to 'freestyling' it!

Select the wrong medium and it can lead to a breakdown in communication, delays, quality issues, and dissatisfaction all round, so this episode will help you avoid those problems.

00:00 - Greetings and introducing the topic

01:59 - Common issues that cause communication difficulties

06:43 - WeChat

12:46 - Email

16:11 - Project Management Software

19:31 - DingTalk

23:09 - Working templates

30:00 - Formal legally-enforceable agreements

33:41 - Why templates for deliverables are so important

38:03 - Wrapping up.

• Communication with Chinese Suppliers: Banging Your Head Against the Wall?

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran is joined by special guest Liz Long, founder of Learn to Make a Product, a platform that supports customers to launch products, providing expert advice and assistance to set up their supply chains, develop products, and go through all of the steps needed to get to market!

American new product manufacturing expert Liz shares her own experience, best practices, and tips in this episode to help entrepreneurs and SMEs get an understanding of the first steps required to start developing their own new products.

If you've been sitting on your new product idea, hopefully, this episode will give you the impetus you need to start bringing it to market!

00:00 - Greetings and introducing the topic: How to start developing your new product

01:27 - Who is Liz Long?

04:00 - How could a would-be entrepreneur start out with their new project and how long before they see 'success' after launch?

06:20 - How long would it take to be ready to launch?

07:40 - Benefits of private labelling VS custom product development from scratch.

14:06 - Are there product types that have a lower barrier to entry or lower investment required to get to market quickly?

20:14 - What tools, sites, and resources are helpful to someone who is developing a new product?

26:38 - Finding the right supplier/factory and if working with an intermediary is OK?

31:42 - The dangers of being overly optimistic when starting.

34:47 - Wrapping up.

• Sofeast can help with your NPI process and product launch, with our engineers and supply chain experts supporting you every step of the way with product engineering solutions for every need. 

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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The Sofeast Group's head of New Product Development, Andrew Amirnovin, shares his 8 secrets for successfully implementing a dFMEA (Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis).

This approach will help you de-risk your product design at an early stage, greatly reducing the chances of failure once the product reaches customers.

Many businesses and staff members know what the dFMEA is, but not so many know the secrets to successfully implementing it so the preventive actions you come up with 'stick' and you enjoy long-lasting improvements.

00:00 - Greetings and introducing the topic: dFMEA.

01:29 - What is a dFMEA and its purpose?

04:40 - How to implement the dFMEA (10 steps included in the process)?

09:01 - The 8 secrets of dFMEA implementation that will set you up for success.

17:29 - Wrapping Up.

• FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) definition

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

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Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran and Adrian from the team are back and talking about something else you don't want to experience but may if you're unfortunate. A failed product inspection!

Renaud will explain to you why the type of inspection matters, a step-by-step process to follow to fix problems highlighted by a product inspection report now, and how to put corrective and preventive actions in place to stop the problem from reoccurring in future production runs.

00:00 - Greetings & Topic: What happens if a product inspection is failed?

01:56 - What kind of inspection has been failed?

03:42 - Actions you need to take to fix the problem/s now if a final inspection has been failed.

04:10 - 1. Insist that the manufacturer does NOT ship anything until the matter has been investigated and settled.

05:57 - 2. Examine your quality standard, the situation found by the inspector, and what the cause of the gap between them is.

17:56 - 3. Make the right people at the factory aware of the inspection report in a neutral manner to get their cooperation. 

20:43 - 4. Get the manufacturer to fix an issue.

25:12 - 5. Order another inspection before shipment to remove doubt.

26:14 - Preventing the same problem from occurring again in future.

32:54 - In summary.

• Sofeast offers an incredibly wide range of product inspections throughout the manufacturing cycle for you to take advantage of across East, SE, and South Asia.

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

There are more episodes to come, so remember to subscribe! You can do so in your favorite podcast apps here and don't forget to give us a 5-star rating, please:

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Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran and Adrian kick off the episode by talking about Hong Kong's new and improved immigration and Covid procedures and the heatwaves and droughts in China that have been affecting manufacturing there.

The main topic is getting to grips with is calculating how much money is required for prototyping and then launching your new product - a popular question for many entrepreneurs and SMEs who aim to bring their new product concept to market!

00:00 - Greetings.

00:37 - How visiting Hong Kong in August 2022 has become easier.

04:20 - What effects are the heatwave and drought in China, especially in the Western provinces of Sichuan and Chongqing, having on manufacturing?

09:13 - The psychological side of launching a new product and how ambition affects a product launch.

14:46 - What are the finance numbers involved?

• What's your investment required to be ready for manufacturing (NRE costs)? 

22:59 - What's included in these costs? (action & item breakdown)

1. NRE costs

1. Total landed cost per unit (production & shipping cost)

32:39 - Why do many products end up being sold at a loss?

35:06 - Other 'hidden issues' that don't always show up in the calculations.

37:39 - In summary.

• Sofeast can support you when bringing your new product to market in almost all aspects discussed in this episode, for instance, select our NPI support solution

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

There are more episodes to come, so remember to subscribe! You can do so in your favorite podcast apps here and don't forget to give us a 5-star rating, please:

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Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran and Adrian from the team discuss product failure analysis. Hopefully, you never need to do one, but if you are hit with quality, reliability, or safety problems with your product during development or, more likely, in the field, it may be necessary to help you decide what to do. This is especially important if problems are severe enough to warrant a recall.

Renaud explains what a failure analysis is, when it may be required, and the FA methodology you can follow step-by-step with required actions per step.

00:00 - Greetings

00:45 - Today's topic: Product failure analysis.

01:18 - The 'firefighting' or 'scattershot' approach to problem-solving by many factories that doesn't work well.

What kinds of problems warrant performing a failure analysis?

Failure analysis may be required in these 2 scenarios:

06:27 - Failure analysis during new product development 

09:41 - Failure analysis after products have been shipped

19:02 - What failure analysis methodology could you follow?

0: Who will work on this analysis and what are the timelines and project context?

1. Gather information 

35:45 - Wrap-up.

• Get help from Sofeast's experienced product engineers to perform your product failure analysis and follow-up testing if required.

• Connect with us on LinkedIn

There are more episodes to come, so remember to subscribe! You can do so in your favorite podcast apps here and don't forget to give us a 5-star rating, please:

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