Hardware startups and electronics makers

Every component is counted, and low parts become a supplier order. Customers pre-order the next batch, and your firmware lives in Git.

A hardware startup works in one Magpie team, from the founders to the first engineers.

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Ostra Labs’ purchase order 27 to Coastline Components in Inventory: sensor modules, ESP32 modules, USB-C connectors and battery cells in the supplier’s packs and prices, for delivery to the workshop.

This combination of six Magpie areas fits a hardware startup.

Inventory
Inventory counts your components and orders more from each supplier.
Store
Store sells your device, and takes pre-orders for the next batch.
Git Repositories
Git Repositories hosts your firmware.
Issues
Issues tracks hardware and firmware bugs to the revision that fixes them.
Documents
Documents holds your specs, with the team's comments and suggestions.
Agreements
Agreements starts a SAFE or an NDA from a standard text.

Every component is counted, and low parts become a supplier order.

Inventory keeps each component in pools, such as the workshop and your contract manufacturer. A count corrects a pool to what is there.

Draft orders turns low stock into an order for each supplier, in its packs and prices. Orders over a total you set need approval. Short lines on a delivery wait under Differences.

Suppliers and orders in Inventory

Ostra Labs’ components in Inventory: sensor modules, ESP32 modules, connectors and enclosures with how many are usable, two of them running low.

Customers pre-order the next batch from your own shop.

Store sells your device from a shop of your own, with stock kept at each location. A product can keep selling at zero stock, showing the date it will ship.

Pre-orders have their own tab, and payment is taken when the customer orders. Buyers pay into your own Stripe account, with no Magpie fee.

Stock in Store

Stock for the Ostra Air monitor in Ostra Labs’ Store: white and graphite, each with what is on hand, held, its reorder point and what is on order, then the stock at the workshop, at the fulfilment centre and in transit.

Your firmware lives in a private Git repository.

Git Repositories hosts the firmware, private to your team. You clone and push over HTTPS with an access token.

The repository's page shows the files, the README and every commit. A member who can only view can clone and pull, but not push.

Clone and push in Git Repositories

The history of Ostra Labs’ ostra-firmware repository: commits on main, newest first, each with its message, author, date and short ID, from the humidity calibration back to firmware 1.4.0.

Hardware and firmware bugs are tracked to the revision that fixes them.

Issues tracks bugs and tasks with IDs, priorities and labels. A milestone can hold everything due before the next board revision.

Customers can report a fault on a public form, into Triage. Signed webhooks tell your other tools when an issue changes.

Tracking issues in Issues

Specs are documents the team reviews, with comments and suggestions.

Documents holds the product's specs, test plans and supplier notes. Teammates comment on a line or suggest new wording.

Named versions keep each revision of a spec. A document exports as PDF or DOCX for your contract manufacturer.

Sharing and review in Documents

Ostra Labs’ Rev C specification for the Ostra Air in the Documents editor: what changes from Rev B, the parts that change, and the tests before production.

A SAFE or an NDA starts from a standard text, and goes out for signature.

Agreements holds standard texts copied word for word, such as Y Combinator's SAFEs and mutual NDAs. You fill in the details, and it goes for signature with the fields placed. The texts are published by others and are not legal advice from Magpie.

The Library in Agreements

Five more areas cover screen designs, the plan, the books, signatures and hiring.

Design Canvas
Design Canvas draws the companion app's screens, with a clickable prototype.
Kanban Boards
Kanban Boards tracks the road to the next batch, as cards.
Accounting
Accounting keeps the books, with Store sales posted automatically.
E-Signatures
E-Signatures sends any PDF for signature, with a certificate of completion.
Hiring
Hiring gives each role its own page, and keeps every applicant in one list.

A batch goes from the parts order to the customer's door.

  1. The spec

    The team agrees the revision in a document.

  2. The parts

    Low components become an order for each supplier.

  3. The delivery

    Parts arrive into stock, and short lines wait under Differences.

  4. The firmware

    The release goes into the repository.

  5. The pre-orders

    Customers order the batch before it arrives.

  6. The shipment

    The batch lands in stock, and pre-orders ship.

Setting up takes four steps.

  1. Add your components

    You add each part, with its unit and pools. Help: Keep track of stock.

  2. Add your suppliers

    You list what each supplier sells, in its packs. Help: Order from suppliers and receive deliveries.

  3. Open your shop

    You add your device, with pre-orders on. Help: Set up and publish a Store.

  4. Connect Stripe

    You connect your Stripe account, so customers can pay by card. Help: Connect Stripe to receive money.

Plans

A hardware startup fits the Team plan, with each person a member of the team. A contract manufacturer you share one document with joins as a guest. A guest takes no member place.

Magpie adds no fee to your shop's sales. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment. Prices are on the Pricing page.

Prices are on the Pricing page

Other people who build products have pages of their own.

Questions hardware startups ask

Can I track components at the workshop and our manufacturer?

Yes. Each component's stock is kept in pools, such as the workshop and the contract manufacturer. Moving stock between pools is recorded as a move.

Can low stock become a purchase order?

Yes. Draft orders turns low stock into an order for each supplier. Each line uses the supplier's packs and prices. You email it, or mark it sent.

Can orders need approval?

Yes. A team admin can require approval for orders at or above a total. An order over it waits until an admin approves it.

Can I record a short delivery?

Yes. Receiving adds what arrived to stock, with its price and lot. Short, refused and re-priced lines wait under Differences until settled.

Can customers pre-order the next batch?

Yes. A product can keep selling when its stock reaches zero. It shows the date it is expected to ship. Pre-orders have their own tab.

Can we keep our firmware in Git?

Yes. A private repository holds the firmware, and members push over HTTPS with an access token. The page shows every commit.

Can customers report a fault?

Yes. A public form takes reports into Triage, with an optional email. You accept each one into a project, such as the next revision.

Can we sign a SAFE?

Yes. Agreements has Y Combinator's SAFEs, copied word for word. You fill in the terms and send it for signature. The texts are not legal advice.

Can we keep the books in Magpie?

Yes. Accounting keeps double-entry books, with Store sales and Stripe payouts posted automatically. You import bank statements as CSV files.

Can we hire our first engineer?

Yes. Hiring gives the role its own page and application form. Applicants move through your stages, and interviewers rate them on scorecards.

Plan your next batch in Magpie.

Create a Magpie account and make a team for the company.

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