Guidelines for Choosing an Electronic Design Company

In this article, we wanted to talk about our points of view on some big mistakes that small businesses make when they choose an Electronic design company, and some things to think about if and when you’re planning on hiring one:

FIND AN ELECTRONIC DESIGN COMPANY THAT HAS SIMILAR PROJECTS BEFORE

We’ve always been fascinated by people’s tendencies to listen to information and advice from people who have never actually done the thing they claim to be an “expert” at.

When you are seeking for hiring an Electronic Design Company, don’t judge them by the nice website or their booth at  events, but haven’t actually done the things they claim to be able to do.

The truth is, as small businesses you don’t have that kind of money to risk.

Try to find an someone that has actually had done an electronic design similar to yours before, or at least has a huge resume of other clients who have been satisfied by their work. This will reduce your risk significantly.

GO FOR THE RIGHT BALANCE OF COST AND QUALITY

A lot of small business struggle with finding the balance between “quality” and “cost” when hiring Electronic Design Company.

They assume that it’s always good to go for a design house that has a lower cost for development.

For example, a lot of businesses would rather go with an electronic design company that can design an electronic for $30K  instead of another company that design a product for $50K for the same product specifications. They might feel like they’re getting more for their money because they’re getting the same electronic design for a lower price.

It makes sense on the surface, but it’s actually a huge mistake.

The truth is, quality and experience are important variables too. I could have someone design a logo for my company for $50 and another person make me a logo for $5000. The biggest variable in price would be who the person is, and how much experience they really have in their craft.

An electronic design that design a product for a lower cost might actually be a “worse deal” than hiring an agency that design a product for double the price.

THE BEST ELECTRONIC DESIGN COMPANIES ARE IN IT FOR THE LONG TERM

Some electronic design companies are motivated entirely by short term economics. They’re in it to make money right now.

As a small business owner, it’s your job to sniff out whether the company you’re looking at working with is incentivized by quick money. They might be raising capital and need a strong “bottom line” for investors, or they might be doing some design service work to have enough capital to develop their own product.

If they’re incentivized by short term gains, it won’t be as likely that they’ll care about you when you’re scaling within 1-2 years. Check their history and find our more about their strategy and long term goals – make sure they can support you down the road when you need to update your product or want to launch an new product based on the existing one.