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Comments by James W.
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Thoughts on Open-Source Hardware
- 30 May 2015I am very impressed by Pololu's extensive documentation on their products. It really helps when you want to start using them, and makes me feel very comfortable I am not being "railroaded" microsoft-style into something to make themselves rich and trapping me somehow into making more money for them.
Pololu's approach makes me feel much more comfortable dealing with the company- gives me "warm and fuzzy" feelings. Personally I dislike Microsoft as a company and would specifically NOT use their product if I didnt HAVE TO.
I dont get the same feelings with some of Pololu's competitors like Sparkfun and Adafruit. They are OK, but no "warm and fuzzies" emanate from them.
This is not a theoretically exhaustive set of comments on the subject by any means, but might help explain some of Pololu's success in the marketplace with their customers.
Ten years in Las Vegas
- 30 May 2015Very interesting story of how you founded Pololu. Sounds like you entered an already somewhat crowded marketplace, so I am curious how you decided to carve out a niche to get started.
I graduated MIT in 1967 in mechanical engineering, and have founded a number of companies in the medical field over the years ( I had always thought while I was in college I would work for some company like GM..... interesting how MIT education does somehow prepare one for starting businesses in spite of what I thought at the time).
Currently I founded a small company here in Las Vegas making LED lighting for off-road applications (we started making product in my basement for two years before getting a real manufacturing space). After attending a few of your LVBots meetings, I realized we could incorporate some of your products to add increased functionality to our products (like the A* that Ryan suggested). We have started buying a number of parts that you manufacture and are currently in production using them.
Apart from our local government having NO idea of how small business starts and grows, I moved here for similar reasons as you did- weather, low cost, and low taxes.
Its encouraging to see you guys succeed so well. Inspiring for all of us who want to be creative and see the positive results of that.