Hortus Dev (LED Pin Badges)

"Handmade LED pin badges sold direct-to-consumer, a hardware side project that has grown into a self-sustaining small business."
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hortus.dev
Maker: thip
no rev. info provided; creator says 'not enough to live off, but certainly enough to sustain itself and fund some more projects')

Marketing Channels

Primary

Hacker News

Posted progress reports on HN in consecutive years, which helped the project 'really take off'

Ongoing

Direct-to-consumer website

Sells via hortus.dev as the primary storefront

Secondary

Content marketing (experience write-ups)

Wrote about the experience of making and selling badges, which attracted attention

Growth Levers

  • Continue publishing transparent progress reports to build audience and credibility
  • Expand product line with new badge designs to increase repeat purchases
  • Sell on additional marketplaces (Etsy, Tindie) to reach maker and gadget communities
  • Attend maker faires and tech conferences for in-person sales and demos
  • Address regulatory compliance (coin cell battery safety) proactively to enable international sales

First Customer Strategy

Started as a novelty hardware project and shared the experience on Hacker News. The transparency of writing about the journey attracted interest and sales. The product's uniqueness (LED pin badges) created natural word-of-mouth, and the project grew beyond expectations over the following year.

Pricing Insight

No specific pricing mentioned. Revenue sustains the business and funds future projects but is not enough to live off, suggesting modest margins typical of small-batch hardware products.

New Market Opportunities

  • STEM/education electronics A commenter who manufactures STEM/edu electronics raised product safety regulations, suggesting a potential adjacent market if the badges can be positioned as educational kits
  • Conference and event merchandise LED pin badges could serve as custom conference swag or event merchandise, a potentially higher-volume channel

Key Takeaways

  • • Hardware side projects can become self-sustaining businesses with consistent effort and transparent storytelling
  • • Coin cell battery safety regulations (introduced in US, EU, and Australia in 2023) are a critical compliance consideration for small electronics makers
  • • Posting annual progress updates on communities like HN creates a recurring marketing moment at zero cost
  • • Starting small ('never expected it to turn into anything more serious than a novelty') reduces risk and allows organic discovery of product-market fit
  • • Learning business operations through a side project provides skills that compound over time

Sentiment Analysis

2 Neu

Notable Quotes

"How will you address the product safety issues related to coin cell batteries? We also manufacture STEM/edu electronics and have encountered product safety regulations concerning coin cell batteries in Australia. — schappim"
"What are the regulations about exactly? — rnewme"

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