308: From Prototype to Production: Inside Chicago’s Hardtech Innovation Engine with mHUB's Bill Fienup and Kim Blomquist
Show notes
How do you explain mHUB? Chris asks the people behind it, over coffee instead of beer.
Recorded in Chicago’s West Loop, Chris sits down with mHUB’s Bill Fienup, Co-Founder and VP of Innovation Services, and Kim Blomquist, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, to explore how the company helps hardtech startups move from prototype to production.
Bill and Kim cover the labs and the accelerator, and how a startup gets its first 10 to 100 units built before it finds a manufacturing partner. They also discuss why investors are paying more attention to hardtech.
In this episode, find out:
- What a platform like mHUB gives hardtech startups beyond a building and a maker space
- Why having labs on site speeds up product development
- How the accelerator funds early-stage startups
- How startups find the right manufacturing partner as they scale
- Why hardware is harder to build than software
- How HAAS Alert brought production home after tariffs hit
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Tweetable Quotes:
- “In hardware, you’re manufacturing something that takes much longer and much more capital, and so it’s so important to get that first part right.” - Bill Fienup, Co-Founder and VP of Innovation Services at mHUB
- “We’re in the business of building new businesses. But we also want to retain them, we want them to stay here.” - Kim Blomquist, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at mHUB
- “You need to be creative about how you can extend your runway, how you can raise enough money to cover not only the development, but the manufacturing.” - Bill Fienup, Co-Founder and VP of Innovation Services at mHUB
Links & mentions:
- mHUB is a Chicago hardtech and manufacturing innovation center that gives startups a machine shop, mentors, a manufacturing network and capital.
- HAAS Alert is a Chicago safety technology company whose Safety Cloud platform sends real-time alerts to drivers when emergency vehicles approach.
- Zenblen is a Chicago food robotics company that builds fully automated smoothie kiosks.
- PTC’s Industrial Newsletter is a quick hit of clarity on how design, manufacturing, and service data can work together for manufacturing leaders looking to modernize.
- MaintainX is a maintenance and asset management platform for the technicians keeping equipment running.
Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.