Upcoming Events, Courses, and Talks

This workshop explores practical UX research and product design methods tailored for hardware startups. It will cover how to gather meaningful user feedback on physical prototypes, translate insights into actionable design requirements, and navigate common UX challenges specific to hardware development. Through open discussion and real-world examples, participants will learn how to conduct observational discovery research, uncover key user flows, and identify pain points early to create solutions that resonate with real-world needs from day one.

This session will also touch on ways to understand the broader business ecosystem around your product: how to map existing workflows, analyze behavioral and business competitors, and co-design solutions with early users to foster adoption and shared ownership. Whether you’re refining a prototype or preparing for investor conversations, this session will offer tools and strategies to strengthen your product-market fit and give funders greater confidence in your roadmap. This session is designed to be interactive and participant-driven, with space for real-time questions and discussion. Will also provide a list of resources for those who want to take a deeper dive.

Led by Andrew Milmoe, a UX expert with 25+ years of experience, this session will guide participants through the essential processes of conducting observational discovery research, uncovering key user flows, and identifying pain points early in the development cycle. You'll learn how to create solutions that resonate with real-world needs from day one, a critical factor for hardware startup success.

This session is designed to be highly interactive and participant-driven, with ample space for real-time questions and discussion. Participants will receive a comprehensive list of resources for deeper exploration after the session.

Who Should Attend:

• Hardware startup founders developing physical products
• Product managers working on hardware/software integration
• Designers transitioning from digital to physical product design
• Engineers interested in user-centered design approaches
• Anyone seeking to improve product-market fit through better UX research

About the Instructor 

Andrew Milmoe is a UX and product design expert with over 25 years of experience helping startups and enterprise teams turn emerging technologies like AI, ML, and IoT into user-centered solutions. He specializes in streamlining complex systems and accelerating product delivery, with particular expertise in bridging the gap between digital and physical product experiences.

Andrew has led hands-on graduate-level courses at UC Berkeley and NYU, sharing his expertise with the next generation of designers and entrepreneurs. He is also the founder of a 3,000+ member maker community in the San Francisco Bay area, demonstrating his commitment to fostering innovation and collaboration in the hardware space.

His unique background combines deep technical understanding with practical UX methodology, making him particularly effective at helping hardware startups navigate the complex intersection of user experience and physical product design. Andrew's approach emphasizes real-world application and actionable insights that can be immediately implemented.

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