# 145: Expanding Your Startup Hardware Product Line

- Show: [Product Startup](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup)
- Published: 2022-10-12
- Length: 25m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2022-10-12-145-expanding-your-startup-hardware-product-line
- Listen: https://productstartup.com/

## Summary

Hussain Almossawi, founder of Mossawi Studios and author of The Innovator’s Handbook, draws on his tenure at Apple, Ford, and Adidas to explain how hardware startups can expand beyond their first product. He outlines three primary strategies: evolving the core product through iterations (e.g., Apple Watch versions), creating accessories (e.g., bike helmets), and developing cost-down mass-market versions (e.g., Walmart-tier footwear). Almossawi emphasizes using customer feedback, cross-industry inspiration (like termite mound architecture), and the 'First Principles' method to innovate without succumbing to feature creep.

## Chapters

- [0:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2022-10-12-145-expanding-your-startup-hardware-product-line#t=48) Introduction: Hussain Almossawi and Mossawi Studios
- [3:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2022-10-12-145-expanding-your-startup-hardware-product-line#t=195) Options for Expansion: Evolution, Accessories, and Cost-Down Versions
- [6:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2022-10-12-145-expanding-your-startup-hardware-product-line#t=411) Case Study: Footwear Molds and Mass Market Strategy
- [10:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2022-10-12-145-expanding-your-startup-hardware-product-line#t=601) Innovation Framework: Blue Sky Thinking and Cross-Industry Intersections
- [14:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2022-10-12-145-expanding-your-startup-hardware-product-line#t=862) The Role of Customer Feedback and Consumer Insights
- [16:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2022-10-12-145-expanding-your-startup-hardware-product-line#t=969) Key Lessons from The Innovator’s Handbook: First Principles and Laser Focus
- [19:18](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2022-10-12-145-expanding-your-startup-hardware-product-line#t=1158) Avoiding Feature Creep: The Nike Air Example and Simplicity
- [23:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2022-10-12-145-expanding-your-startup-hardware-product-line#t=1394) Managing Future Ideas and Conclusion

## Topics

- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Design for manufacturing & NPI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/design-for-manufacturing)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Mossawi Studios (company)
- The Innovator’s Handbook (product)
- Apple (company)
- Ford (company)
- Adidas (company)
- Nike (company)
- Tesla (company)
- SpaceX (company)
- N-cycle (product)
- Nike Tailwind (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [#066 - How to apply lean startup principles to hardware, with Ash Maurya of Leanstack, USA](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-hardware-entrepreneur/2019-01-16-066-how-to-apply-lean-startup-principles-to-hardware-with-ash-maurya-of-leanstac) (The Hardware Entrepreneur)
- [#063 - Your (hardware) product is not your product - think in terms of business models, with your host Balint Horvath, Switzerland](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-hardware-entrepreneur/2018-10-24-063-your-hardware-product-is-not-your-product-think-in-terms-of-business-models) (The Hardware Entrepreneur)
- [Hardware Entrepreneurs: 3 Critical Mistakes You Must Avoid](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/predictable-designs-podcast/2022-06-21-hardware-entrepreneurs-3-critical-mistakes-you-must-avoid) (Predictable Designs Podcast)
- [How to Know If Your New Product Idea is a Good One to Pursue](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/predictable-designs-podcast/2022-06-28-how-to-know-if-your-new-product-idea-is-a-good-one-to-pursue) (Predictable Designs Podcast)
- [S2E37 Defied the odds:  A Physical Product Development Firm That Focuses on Startups & Small Businesses, Mako Design + Invent –Kevin Mako](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-08-23-s2e37-defied-the-odds-a-physical-product-development-firm-that-focuses-on-startu) (Being an Engineer)

## Citing this page

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