Want to share and connect with IoT/hardware hackers

Say something nice to Bhavesh_Kakwani…

Post Comment

1

Hey Bhavesh - just followed you on twitter. I've worked at Fitbit from 2012 - 2016, along with some other smaller startups, so I've got some IOT experience. Great job on the home lighting kit!

tomelliot

·
5 years ago
·
Reply
1. 1
  
  Thanks! :)
  
  Bhavesh Kakwani
  
  ·
  5 years ago
  ·
  Reply
1

Hi! 👋 Nice to meet another hardware maker here. I run learntosolderkits.com. I'm new to the IndieHackers community but I've been making embedded projects (Arduino, RPi, etc) for the past 10ish years. Just followed you on twitter.

efletch

·
5 years ago
·
Reply
1. 1
  
  Hey that's awesome! Do you have any data on how learntosolderkits.com is doing, how you get new customers, costs & revenues, etc? Maybe I'm asking a lot but I'm really curious about your story and how you got it off the ground! Feel free to DM me if you prefer to not share in public
  
  Bhavesh Kakwani
  
  ·
  5 years ago
  ·
  Reply
  1. 2
    
    Love the questions! I'm happy to share. We just passed $75K in revenue for 2021 🎉My goal this year is to hit $100K and I am confident LTSK will meet that. It is important to remember that with a physical product revenue numbers might sound high but the profit margins are not the same as SaaS. My profit margin is around 20-25%.
    
    I've been shipping these kits for six years (wow time goes by fast). I was working on a different start up back then with 4 other people. The idea of a simple solder kit came out of some conversations and experiences I had within the startup and maker communities locally. I kicked it off as a side project and continued to focus on the main company. Long story short we closed that company early 2020 and I decided to focus on my kits which has always been something I loved.
    
    Amazon has been the main customer acquisition channel. It has pros and cons. My focus this year has been growing our own online store and scaling. I hired my first employee in March 2021 and that has been huge in helping me scale.
    
    Happy to answer anything in more detail just shoot me a message.
    
    efletch
    
    ·
    5 years ago
    ·
    Reply
1

Hey, outside of my startup, I'm working on an IOT project to live tweet from a lucid dream. Would love to connect!

dashbarkhuss

·
5 years ago
·
Reply
1. 1
  
  I'm currently working on a smart sleep wearable project, too - such a coincidence! I'll dm you on twitter
  
  Bhavesh Kakwani
  
  ·
  5 years ago
  ·
  Reply