A few early-stage founders recently asked how I approached sales and fundraising.
I bootstrapped @Prototyping_io solo to $600K in revenue (~$1.5M annualized run rate) while profitable. Then joined YC and scaled to a $4M+ annualized revenue run rate, still profitable and serving some of the world’s largest hardware companies.
What worked for me: got paying customers early, personally handled every sale, and stayed close to my customers serving each one really well. Over time, their spend grew and referrals brought in new customers. Customers always first! Fundraise when it’s time to scale.
Pictured: One of our early believers
I raised a $6.2M seed round for @Prototyping_io in June from an amazing group of VCs and angel investors.
A lot has happened since! Met some incredibly talented people as I started building the team, but had to pause hiring as plans quickly evolved. It’s been a wild few months. Grateful to everyone who believed in the vision and backed along the way. More soon :)
Revanth Bodepudi retweeted
Today, we're introducing @discoveredmat . We build AI scientists that discover new materials for semiconductor chips.
We’re starting by releasing our work - hundreds of new materials discovered using frontier AI models, along with our benchmark for tracking progress in this domain, Material Discovery Bench.
To pursue our mission, we have raised $9 million from @LightspeedIndia (lead investor) , @ycombinator , @peakxvpartners , @paulg , @gokulr , @trq212 and many others.
🧵
Looking for a few exceptional people to join our founding team @Prototyping_io in the Bay Area.
1. Manufacturing Operations Lead
2. AI Software Engineer
3. Prototype Machinist
Apply here: ycombinator.com/companies/pr…
(or) reach out to me.
Just finished YC P26 at 30 with a 2 yr old
There’s no right age or better time to start a company. Just do it and figure it out as you go.
When only a few are reasonable enough to understand that 0.0001” minimum tolerance and 34 ft maximum part size were separate claims 😅
±0.0001” tolerances have been achieved by specialized manufacturers in semiconductor manufacturing equipment for decades. There’s nothing “magic” being claimed here.
Revanth Bodepudi retweeted
Prototyping.io is building autonomous manufacturing systems to turn CAD designs into high-quality mechanical parts as fast as one day.
They’re already saving weeks on hardware iteration cycles for multi-billion dollar companies by delivering high-quality parts, while doing $400k in monthly revenue.
Congrats on the launch, @Revanth279 & @ThePreritOberai!
ycombinator.com/launches/QFc…
Building hardware in the U.S. is still too slow.
Design → part takes weeks!
At Prototyping.io (YC P26) we’re fixing this - helping teams get custom mechanical parts made with ultra-fast lead times
Appreciate @dessaigne & @ycombinator for featuring us.
Hardware Supply Chain
@dessaigne
In Shenzhen, a team can go from design to a new physical part in a day. In the US, that same loop often takes weeks, and that gap compounds.
The overall stack for rapid hardware iteration still doesn't exist in America, and we want to fund the startups building it.
Turning CAD designs into real parts is still slow.
Days go into drawings, design clarification, DFM, planning, sourcing, and setup.
Parts don’t even start getting made for days.
@Prototyping_io - we’re rebuilding this entire process!
Met @PhilipJohnston at @ycombinator ! Super stoked to see @Starcloud_ bring data centers to space soon!
Revanth Bodepudi retweeted
So fun to be back at @YCombinator to speak to the batch about the crazy journey for @Starcloud_ in the last 18 months since our demo day! Thanks for hosting @t_blom! 🤩
Hardware teams aren’t slow - the process is!
We’re building @Prototyping_io to fix that.
Excited to share we got into @ycombinator P26 🚀