Wattage was an online platform with an ambitious goal: break the entry barrier for hardware design. The ideal future Wattage envisioned was that of a world in which anyone could customize their electronics without needing to have any in-depth knowledge in the field. Anyone with an internet connection could start creating and customizing hardware by making use of the startup software. Once the user had all the specifications ready the product would be created with 3D printing, packed and shipped to the customer.
Wattage founder Jeremy Bell shared in a Medium post some of the reason he thinks the startup failed.
Among the first reasons he listed was the fact that they failed to gain traction and validate the existence of market interest for the product. In the early phase of development, their main focus was on demonstrating that the idea could technically be carried out and it was taken for granted that people would see it as a needed solution. Without any proof that people would actually adopt the service, it was difficult to convince investors to fund the project. All sorts of doubts about viability and scalability started popping up and the team couldn’t provide definitive - or convincing enough - answers.
Wattage was on many points too much ahead of its time, and the full potential of their idea might have been overlooked by prospect investors and the target market. However, in a few years, as technological advances will render customization easier, Wattage (or another company) might re-introduce the concept and carry it out in a successful manner.
.webp){kind=small}
