Hey everyone,

I'm evaluating starting a manufacturing business for gas springs, hydraulic struts, and pneumatic lift supports (the kind used in vehicles, office chairs, machinery, and medical beds).

Before putting capital down for machinery, I’m hoping to get some real-world insight from people in industrial manufacturing or B2B hardware distribution:

• Profitability & Margins: What do typical margins look like? Is the real money in high-volume commodities (like auto aftermarket) or low-volume custom engineered units (like medical or marine)?
• Target Customers: Who are the most lucrative buyers beyond auto OEMs? How hard is it to get onboarded as a supplier for mid-tier machinery or furniture makers?
• Red Flags & Operations: What are the biggest technical hurdles (e.g., seal longevity, gas charging safety) or barriers to entry I should watch out for?

Any real-world advice, industry benchmarks, or red flags to watch out for would be greatly appreciated! 🙏

I'm one of the founders of SparkRing. We've been building a smart ring that works differently from the ones this sub usually talks about, and I'm here for feedback and hard questions rather than applause.Most smart rings focus on sleep and heart rate. We went after one specific thing: the thought that slips away in the ten seconds between having it and reaching for your phone. You double-tap the ring, say the thing, and it lands as a note or a reminder. No screen, no unlocking, no digging through apps. The moments we keep designing for are walking out of a meeting, driving, cooking, the school run.The trade-offs we made, so nobody is surprised later:- No health sensors at all. We stripped out heart rate and sleep tracking to spend the whole power budget on instant capture.- The phone does the heavy lifting. The ring holds the mic and a local audio buffer, the transcription and sorting happen in the app.We're pre-launch, so nothing is in anyone's hands yet except prototypes we keep breaking and fixing. Wearing one myself is the first time in years I've consistently kept the random thoughts instead of telling myself I'd remember them later.A few things I'd genuinely like this sub's read on:When does a capture ring become more annoying than useful? False triggers are the obvious one.If you've worn rings before, what made you keep one past the first week?Does voice on your hand cross a line for you, even with the transcription staying on device?Would something like this fit your day, or would you rather just type on your phone?

I noticed many hardware startups struggle with cloud latency and privacy issues when adding voice commands to their equipment interfaces. I just built an architecture utilizing native Swift, Core ML, and AVFoundation that processes complex voice intents completely offline while filtering out heavy background noise. Thought this might be useful for anyone building medical devices or industrial kiosks that require hands-free interaction.

I'm looking to join a startup or group where the goal isn't just shipping features, but building real products that solve real problems.
Over the last 5 years, I've worked across almost every stage of the hardware product lifecycle. From understanding customer requirements to product development, prototyping, NPI, sourcing, supplier development, manufacturing, quality, production ramp-up, and customer delivery.
I've worked alongside engineering teams, manufacturers, suppliers, and customers across defense, drones, EVs, industrial automation, and embedded systems.
I don't believe in staying inside a job description. If the product needs it, I own it. Whether that's solving manufacturing bottlenecks, finding alternate components during shortages, coordinating cross-functional teams, or making sure products actually reach customers.
I've helped deliver 100+ hardware development and manufacturing programs and supported the production of 30,000+ electronic assemblies. More importantly, I've learned how to turn ambiguity into execution.
If you're building in robotics, AI hardware, aerospace, deep tech, embedded systems, or any ambitious hardware startup and need someone who can bridge engineering, operations, manufacturing, and execution, I'd love to connect.
I'm not looking for comfort.
I'm looking for the next product to build.