I have backed a half dozen Kickstarters and Indigogos that were hardware based (consumer electronics) and chose to manufacture in China. Seeing the time and money they spend in order to fly someone over to China to troubleshoot and issue with manufacturing or testing has left me wondering - why do small startups choose to manufacture in China to begin with?
> Is it because they assume that despite the initial cost over local manufacturing the investment will be worth it if their product takes off?
> Is it because everyone else seems to do it?
> Or maybe because there aren't any good local places to have electronics manufactured? This I would find a little hard to believe given the concentration of hardware startups in SF, NYC, SEA, which have local hardware manufacturers.
> Is it because they assume that despite the initial cost over local manufacturing the investment will be worth it if their product takes off?
> Is it because everyone else seems to do it?
> Or maybe because there aren't any good local places to have electronics manufactured? This I would find a little hard to believe given the concentration of hardware startups in SF, NYC, SEA, which have local hardware manufacturers.