joshuaperk

Thanks. I resubmitted as a post after reading those rules this morning as the intent was actually about listening to user feedback, not the campaign. Although, the "Show HN" seems very focused on SaaS offerings as hardware projects can't be "tried out".

Strange posting a hardware project in a mostly software forum but @ YC, there's a long history of "listen to your users" and so there's a short anecdotal story behind this project I figured the community would enjoy.

The inspiration behind this IoT dev kit was a personal annoyance of needing to wire the same basic components for each prototyping project. (Almost every IoT project will need Wi-Fi, maybe Bluetooth, audio for notifications, LEDs for notifications, SD cards for data logging, etc.) Before designing the board, I was able to find 173 ideal buyers in the maker community and created a voting process where they could nominate components/functionality they'd like incorporated on the boards and (much like HN/Reddit) +1/-1 the ideas.

Through their feedback I was able to affirm some of the ideas I already had, but also challenge myself to apply my ideas outside of the scope I had originally envisioned. It was through the voting system where functionality around addressable LEDs (controlling many lights with a single pin), removable jumper pins (being able to re-use the pin of the maker didn't have a need for one of the built-in components), and selectable VIN (toggling between USB and battery power) all came to fruition.

Despite the difference in physical products and software, I think the notion of "listen to your users and seek feedback" holds true.