Minichord

"A pocket-sized music instrument designed independently and manufactured through a partnership with Seeedstudio, earning the creator royalties on each sale."
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minichord.com
Maker: BeniBoy
$500+/mo (creator explicitly states 'above the 500$/month on 2025', varies month to month)

Marketing Channels

Ongoing

Hacker News

Creator shared the product in a project showcase thread

Primary

Manufacturing Partner (Seeedstudio)

Seeedstudio handles manufacturing, shipping, and customer handling — their marketplace provides distribution and visibility

Ongoing

Product Website

minichord.com serves as the product landing page

Growth Levers

  • Add prominent audio/video demos on the homepage — a musician commenter couldn't find how the instrument sounds, which is critical for conversion
  • Create YouTube/TikTok demo videos showing the Minichord in action to reach music communities
  • Target the electronic musician community with content that showcases sound quality and versatility
  • Leverage the Seeedstudio partnership for exposure in maker/hardware communities
  • Add social proof (user demos, reviews) to the product page

First Customer Strategy

The creator partnered with Seeedstudio, a well-known hardware manufacturing company in China, which handles manufacturing, shipping, and customer handling. This partnership likely provided initial distribution through Seeedstudio's existing marketplace and customer base, allowing the creator to focus purely on design.

Pricing Insight

Revenue comes from royalties per unit sold through the manufacturing partner. No specific unit price mentioned in the thread.

New Market Opportunities

  • Electronic musicians and producers A recording electronic musician expressed interest, suggesting the product appeals to serious musicians beyond the maker/hobbyist crowd
  • Music education A pocket instrument could be valuable in educational settings for teaching music fundamentals
  • Gift market for music enthusiasts Pocket-sized instruments make excellent gifts, especially around holiday seasons

Key Takeaways

  • • Partnering with a manufacturing company for hardware products lets creators focus on design while earning royalties — a viable alternative to self-manufacturing
  • • Audio demos are essential for music products — if a target customer (recording musician) can't find how the product sounds, conversion is lost
  • • The Seeedstudio royalty model shows that hardware side projects can generate $500+/mo without handling logistics
  • • Making the product's core value proposition immediately obvious on the landing page is critical (sound samples for an instrument)
  • • Hardware products can benefit from the same indie maker ethos as software side projects when distribution is handled by a partner

Sentiment Analysis

1 Pos

Notable Quotes

"I'm a recording electronic musician and clicked through with interest. Maybe I overlooked it, but I didn't see where I could hear how it sounds. — alsetmusic"

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