🌎Let's get excited about Climate Hardware Startups.

Hi, welcome to lab notes by 10x! 
Each week, we’ll give you a behind-the-scenes look at what we’re talking about at 10x, our thoughts on cool trends in student entrepreneurship, and what’s happening around the UIUC ecosystem.

Plus, you’ll get to know about what we’re building before anyone else... so stay tuned!

Why should I (not)build a hardware startup?

The sheer number of startups focused on AI is growing at a staggering rate today. Looking at YCombinator, around 17% of its portfolio is comprised of startups that are classified as AI or machine-learning related, with over 70% of those startups receiving funding from YC between 2020 and 2023. Investment trends like these have severely diminished the popularity of building hardware startups.

The data also supports this investor sentiment of not backing hardware startups. Investors typically face significant hurdles when it comes to investing in hardware startups: low median gross margins, longer times to exit, and lower probabilities of exits through IPOs and acquisitions.