How to Use AI to Help You Find the Next Billion Dollar Business Idea in Hardware
Looking for the next million (or Billion) dollar consumer electronics idea? Ask AI.
In this blog post, we'll explore how AI can be used to help identify new opportunities. We’ll also discuss how those ideas can be developed and tested quickly to find market validation and raise capital.
What Kinds of Companies are we Talking About, Exactly?
Hardware can be hard, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t real opportunity in the space for those who come out the other end. Remember when Ring was acquired by Amazon for approximately $1.2 - $1.8B by Amazon? Well, long before that it started out as an idea, raised some capital (around $300K) via crowdfunding, and made an appearance on Shark Tank. Too much of an outlier for you? Take a look at a few other HW products that raised impressive amounts of capital on crowdfunding sites:
| Company Name | Product Description | Amount Raised | Crowdfunding Page Link | Company Website Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flow Hive | A beehive that allows for honey to be harvested without disturbing the bees | $12.2 million | Indiegogo | Flow Hive |
| OUYA | An Android-based video game console | $8.5 million | Kickstarter | OUYA |
| Elevation Dock | An iPhone dock that allows for easy one-handed docking and undocking | $1.5 million | Kickstarter | Elevation Lab |
| FormBox | A desktop vacuum former that allows for the creation of molds and products | £224,665 | Kickstarter | Mayku |
| Bluesmart | A smart suitcase that allows for location tracking, auto-locking, and more | $2.2 million | Indiegogo | Bluesmart |
| Flic | A wireless smart button that can perform a variety of actions with a single click | $1.2 million | Indiegogo | Shortcut Labs |
| Glowforge | A 3D laser printer that can create products out of a variety of materials | $27.9 million | Kickstarter | Glowforge |
| Anova Precision Cooker | A sous vide precision cooker that can be controlled via smartphone app | $2.8 million | Kickstarter | Anova Culinary |
| Prynt Pocket | A pocket-sized printer that allows for the printing of photos from a smartphone | $1.6 million | Kickstarter | Prynt |
| Sondors Electric Bike | An affordable electric bike with a range of up to 50 miles | $6.1 million | Indiegogo | SONDORS |
These are just a few examples of how companies - and often solo entrepreneurs - leveraged a great idea and turned it into a real world product that captured great value in a short amount of time.
That’s great, say you, but what if I can’t come up with any of my own ideas? AI has entered the chat. Let’s say I’m passionate about children’s safety and know that if I could just find the right product, my passion, experience and background would make me the ideal person to execute. Here are some screenshots of a recent “conversation” I had with ChatGPT:
Okay, not too bad. The “Educational Toys” section has piqued my interest. Let’s see if we can ask the AI to be more granular:
Thanks, AI. You’ve laid this out very clearly, but I’d still like to understand what you have in mind when you say “toys.” Let’s dig in:
Now we’re getting somewhere. Let’s assume our passions intersect with education and music so we will go even deeper down the musical instruments rabbit hole and see what we come up with:
Okay, cool but I don’t feel like making my own instrument… What to do… Let’s ask AI for help:
Bada-bing-bada-boom. I think we’ve got something to work with here. In a matter of 5 minutes, asking the right questions, I have some really cool ideas to explore. Combine this with something like Tim Ferriss’ “”How to Create a Million Dollar Business This Weekend” (https://tim.blog/2011/09/24/how-to-create-a-million-dollar-business-this-weekend-examples-appsumo-mint-chihuahuas/) and you’re on your way. Oh, Tim’s post was from 2011 so basically everything in there can also be enhanced by AI, making it easier than ever. The possibilities are truly endless.
Once you’ve got your idea (Spoiler; shameless plug ahead) you can bring that to us at Knectiv and we can execute your vision. Since we’re already on the musical instruments theme, here is a link to one of our portfolio companies, Elmore Pedals. Knectiv’s development team helped design the enclosure and printed circuit boards, then manufactured the turnkey product, delivering packaged goods ready to be unboxed by happy customers.
For more information on Knectiv’s product development process and capabilities, please visit here. To see an overview of all our services, visit here. Our company portfolio can be accessed here.
Conclusion
In conclusion, AI can be a valuable tool for businesses looking to identify new business ideas and opportunities in the hardware electronics industry. By using AI for market research and idea generation, businesses can gain valuable insights into customer preferences and behavior, allowing them to develop products and services that better meet their customers' needs. As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative uses for AI in business innovation and entrepreneurship.