[mtlynch]

Thanks!

>Why do you think hardware doesn't generally have the same level of 'respect' as software? From what I can see, it should be held in much higher regard with a correspondingly higher level of compensation. Is it literally just the current ability for hardware to be reverse-engineered and undercut?

Oh, my perception of hardware engineers is that they are held in similar regard to software developers.

If they do get less prestige, my guess is that it just comes down to money. The margins on pure software products are so high, so software businesses can afford to pay their software engineers really well. I've heard that typically hardware products sell for about 3-4x their bill of materials, so that eats up a huge chunk of your profits. And then there are all the other costs like storage, shipping, fulfillment that are nearly zero for a software business but significant for a hardware business.

I think for similar reasons, we don't see a lot of successful hardware startups. The VC money is probably flowing much more heavily toward software, so we hear of fewer hardware unicorn companies.

[pvo50555]

My findings are the same - having spoken to a founder working in robotics, with a successful product and a sizable customer base, he has spent a very long time looking for funding.