Group buy prototypes with other founders to slash MOQs
Solo hardware founders face impossibly high MOQs from Chinese factories, making prototyping unaffordable without raising investor capital.
Join or create pools for identical parts/prototypes to meet factory MOQs collectively. Split costs and shipping for 50-80% savings. Ship only your share once pooled.
Solo bootstrapped founders manufacturing hardware products
Automated cohort formation for common hardware specs like sensors and enclosures
supportive
Browse open pools by part type/BOM similarity
Start a pool with your specs, invite matches
Real-time pool fill status and auto-close
One-click commit to buy your units
Pro-rata billing via Stripe Connect
AI suggests pools based on uploaded BOM
In-app messaging for pool members
Past pools for reference buys
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| text | No | |
| name | text | Yes |
| created_at | timestamp | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| creator_id | uuid | No |
| spec_hash | text | No |
| target_moq | int | No |
| status | text | No |
| price_per_unit | int | Yes |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| user_id | uuid | No |
| pool_id | uuid | No |
| units | int | No |
| paid | bool | No |
Relationships:
/api/poolsList open pools
/api/poolsCreate new pool
/api/commitmentsCommit to pool
/api/pools/:id/statusPool status and matches
/api/payments/splitHandle pool payment splits
No create pools
10 pools/mo
None
| Month | Users | Conversion | MRR | ARR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | 80 | 4% | $64 | $768 |
| Month 6 | 600 | 10% | $1,200 | $14,400 |
Group with others for low MOQs - no more solo high costs.
Seed 3 pools manually with outreach to r/AskElectronics and Twitter makers, offer free Pro for first commit, get intros from hardware Discord communities.
Electronics focus
Curated only, slow
User-driven instant pools
Trusted
Limited parts
Any spec pooling
Network effects from growing pool liquidity
Explosion of open-source hardware designs needing shared production
Pools don't fill
Seed with maker outreach + minimum viable pools
Spec mismatches
Hash + manual approve
Disputes on deliveries
Escrow + insurance partners
Success: 3 pools fill with 10+ commits
Success: 50% fill rate
Success: 100 active pools
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