Hardware founder tour

Shenzhen is hardware infrastructure. Infrastructure helps only if you know how to use it.

The Hardware Founder Tour is a structured, high-signal introduction to the Shenzhen hardware ecosystem for founders, product teams, investors, and operators. Everything is built around your category and your goal for the trip, not a generic Huaqiangbei walking tour that ends in a coffee shop.

Who it is for

• First-time hardware founders coming to Shenzhen to understand what is possible and where the time pays off best.
• Product teams from an established hardware company doing supplier discovery for a new SKU or category.
• Investors and family offices trying to develop a real point of view on China’s hardware ecosystem before they write a cheque.
• Operators exploring manufacturing, prototyping, or sourcing options before committing to a longer sourcing sprint.
• Engineering leads scouting CM partners, PCBA houses, or moulding shops before a vendor selection process.

What you get

A managed sourcing trip with named deliverables.

• Pre-trip brief: written category map, supplier longlist, market context, what is realistic for your timeline, and a draft itinerary for your approval.
• Bilingual operator on the ground for the full duration, who speaks engineering English and factory-floor Mandarin.
• Sedan or SUV with bilingual driver, routed and pre-paid.
• Huaqiangbei orientation half-day on foot: the buildings that matter for your category, the operators worth talking to, and how to read a stall in 60 seconds.
• 2–6 factory or supplier visits, briefed in advance, accompanied on the day, debriefed the same evening.
• Trade-show coverage when a relevant show is in season (Hong Kong Electronics, Global Sources, CIIF, Bauma, others by category).
• Daily evening debrief: what we saw, what was real, what was a sales pitch, what the next 48 hours should look like.
• Written trip report at the end: every supplier visited, every contact captured, photographs where permitted, your operator’s read on each one, and recommended next steps.
• No-payment-requirement intros. We never push you towards a supplier we have a relationship with, and we never take commission.

How it works

A four-phase process with a written milestone at each phase.

1. Scoping call (Day –14 to –7, 60 minutes). We confirm your category, your goal (sourcing, validation, supplier scouting, investment due diligence), your existing supplier list if any, your timeline, your budget, and your trip dates. You receive a written quote within 24 hours.
2. Pre-trip brief (Day –7 to –2). We send a PDF brief covering your category’s supplier base in Shenzhen, a longlist of candidate suppliers and factories, a draft day-by-day itinerary, and a packing and IP-hygiene note. You approve in writing.
3. On the ground (Day 0 to Day N). Operator and driver meet you at your hotel each morning. We run the itinerary, attend every visit with you, and brief or de-brief at every transition. Evenings end with a 30-minute debrief and a written note shared the same night.
4. Post-trip report (Day N+3). Within 3 business days of your departure, you receive a full written trip report: every contact, every supplier, every quote received, photographs where permitted, your operator’s read, and a recommended 30/60/90-day follow-up plan.

Pricing

All prices in USD. Service fee includes operator, driver, vehicle, itinerary, and debriefs. Your hotel, flights, meals, and any sample or tooling costs are separate.

Pass-through costs: trade show tickets (usually free with pre-registration), parking and tolls, factory entry where applicable, and your own meals. Operator and driver meals during working hours are included.

Sample timeline

A 5-day Standard tour for a consumer-electronics founder.

Case studies

Australian consumer-electronics founder, first Shenzhen trip

An Australian founder had raised a small seed round for a portable speaker. He had been quoted by three Alibaba suppliers, all promising USD-denominated FOB prices that were too good, and he could not tell which one to trust. He booked the 5-day Standard tour.

Pre-trip brief mapped the speaker category to four clusters: PCBA in Bao’an, drivers in Foshan, plastics in Dongguan, and assembly in Longgang. We rebuilt his shortlist into six candidate suppliers. Three of his original three made the cut, three were replaced. Day 1 was Huaqiangbei and SEG to give him a feel for the component market. Days 2–4 were six factory visits.

The unlock was visit 3: a Bao’an PCBA house showed him their actual production line, gave him a realistic MOQ of 2,000 units (instead of the 500 his Alibaba contact had quoted), and explained the real cost driver was his board’s two custom ICs, not the assembly. Visit 5 was a Dongguan moulder who quoted tooling at US$8,400 against the US$22,000 his original supplier had quoted. He signed nothing on the trip (that was the brief) but flew home with three credible suppliers and a tooling estimate that re-priced his entire COGS model.

European deep-tech investor, 2-day diligence visit

A London-based deep-tech fund was considering a Series A in a Shenzhen-based robotics company. The fund partner needed to spend two days in Shenzhen seeing the supply chain the company claimed to be using, plus three of their named supplier partners.

We ran a focused 2-day Sprint. Day 1 was Huaqiangbei and SEG to give the partner context for the component pricing in the company’s BOM. Day 2 was three supplier visits in Bao’an and Dongguan: one component supplier, one moulding partner, and one final-assembly partner. Each visit was briefed in advance so the supplier knew the partner was a real investor doing diligence, not a competitor scouting prices.

The debrief at the end of Day 2 included our operator’s read on each supplier’s relationship with the portfolio company (one was clearly long-standing, one had only been engaged 4 months, one was a sales pitch). The fund used that input as one of several diligence streams. They invested. The portfolio company still uses our operator on follow-up visits.

What is NOT included

Scope is explicit.

• Flights, hotels, and your own meals. We recommend hotels in Futian or Nanshan and pre-book on request.
• Visa. Referrals only.
• Sample costs, tooling deposits, or any payment to suppliers. You pay suppliers directly; we never handle your money.
• Contract negotiation or contract translation. Separate engagement, quoted on scope.
• Payment escrow, inspection (QC), or production management. That is Sourcing Desk territory.
• Investment introductions to specific portfolio companies. We are not a placement agent.
• Trade-show entry tickets where they are paid. Most are free with pre-registration; we handle the registration.

Refund policy

• Before kickoff: full refund.
• Cancelled more than 7 days before tour start: 80% refund.
• Cancelled 3–7 days before tour start: 50% refund.
• Cancelled within 72 hours of tour start: no refund (operator, driver, and factory slots are booked).
• We cancel for any reason: full refund, plus US$200 inconvenience credit against any future engagement.
• All refunds processed within 10 business days in the original currency.

Add-ons

Next step

Book a 60-minute scoping call. Bring your category, your goal, your timeline, and any existing supplier list. Within 24 hours you have a written quote and a draft itinerary. If you are flying in within two weeks, say so on the form. We triage urgent trips ahead of the queue, but factory access still has its own lead time.