TL/DR -- We built Conduit Beacon so no early-stage hard-tech startup will ever "go it alone". Sure "hard-tech is harder" (no great things worth pursuing are easy), but it's much easier when you have a "crew" alongside that has been through it all before.
We as a team and collective network have helped create, deliver and deploy thousands of hard-tech products to the market over past few decades. And in doing so, we have lived the trials and tribulations (the struggles, woes and complexities) of building technology for the real world....so we decided to aggregate, synthesize our wisdom, and the strategic relationships that we've cultivated over the decades into a single hard-tech execution and scalar platform --- what we call Conduit Beacon.
What started as a strategic initiative inside our studio, aimed to support our portfolio of originated companies pre and post spin-out. One of the largest risks for any hard-tech company is their ability to "bridge the valley of commercialization death", so we built an internal service to address that risk! In 2024 what we saw was increased demand from amazing breakout startups, scale-ups, and VCs seeking that same support. So.... this year we have decided open it up to other amazing startups, founders and operators out there solving awesome world changing problems!
More on Conduit Beacon below from my partner, and Beacon leader Susan Paley
- Amish Patel, Founder, Conduit Venture Labs
Conduit Beacon is led by Hard-Tech Commercialization Guru, Susan Paley (IYKYK)
"Beacon is designed to be the support system we wished we had while navigating the challenges of building hardware products over the past 25 years. Beacon is led by experts who have built and launched global products for Beats by Dre, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Harman, and General Motors, along with former leaders from Tier 1 contract manufacturers and key suppliers. Everyone at Beacon has done their 'hard' time in product development and manufacturing at commercial scale. We have battle scars but we love building products. We created Beacon to support the next wave of hard tech innovators...
Why Beacon?
Hard-tech development is simply hard! It seeks to find order and simplicity in the inherent chaos that ensues from managing the complexity of globally distributed network of engineering and production resources, suppliers, manufacturing partners, and a supply chain towards a single goal of commercialization, on time and on budget. To succeed in hard-tech development you must have a high degree of control over the entire process, control that enables both repeatability and consistency at scale.
For hard-tech development the old adage “Time is Money” is true!
Hard tech development is multi-disciplinary. Engineering expertise, operational insight and financial acumen is required to succeed. Seasoned builders have faced and overcome obstacles—both anticipated and unforeseen—that could derail or delay progress. These experiences sharpen their ability to "see around corners," anticipating and overcoming challenges within and beyond their control to launch successful products.
With each project, great builders refine a framework of best practices to address the complexities of hard tech development and avoid common missteps. This expertise forms the foundation of Beacon: to guide hard tech founders through the challenges of innovation and help them succeed in the demanding journey of hard tech development. This is the “Why” of Beacon.
Who are we building Beacon for?
We created Beacon to support those brave enough to undertake the challenges of hard-tech development.
- We work with hard tech founders.
- They are often referred to us directly or indirectly through our networks.
- We work with VC's to support their hard-tech portfolio companies.
- We work with academic and research institutions to help build commercialization pathways for IP as well as early stage hard-tech POCs.
👉🏽 If you are a founder, a VC, part of a research entity and are building a solution that sits at the intersection of physical and digital, we have designed a framework that de-risks hard-tech development and accelerates commercialization. (see below)
What is Conduit Beacon?
- Beacon is a focused, hard-tech execution platform that combines experiential wisdom, proprietary playbooks, tech stacks and a global network of strategic partners.
- Beacon is designed to de-risk and accelerate hard-tech development — guiding early-stage companies from proof of concept through commercialization, with support spanning from pre-seed through Series A.
- We are focused on companies that are aligned with the overall Conduit thesis of solving meaningful and impactful companies at the intersection of physical and digital!
How Beacon Extends Your Core Startup Team
Beacon engagements are structured as 3 month sprints. Each sprint delivers specific outcomes mapped to key milestones—critical checkpoints that must be met to advance to the next stage of commercialization.
Beacon's support services fall into three key categories:
- Product Readiness: Product documentation (PRD, MRD, Reliability Test Plans), technical readiness, and Design for Manufacturing
- Manufacturing Readiness: Build plans, budgets, BOM targets, supply chain design, manufacturing partner selection, and testing and reliability plans
- Commercial Readiness: Reliability test plans, certifications, financing strategy, commercial milestone mapping, and go-to-market planning
The Network Effect (for real)
Sure we love getting the “band back together”; reuniting the best hard-tech builders, harnessing their expertise on a platform purpose-built to transfer their hard-earned knowledge and skills to empower the next generation of innovators. But Beacon is more than just a platform—it’s an ecosystem designed to bring together the best builders, seasoned experts who have repeatedly succeeded at scale, to support the next generation of hard tech innovators.
This ecosystem is structured to de-risk product design, development, and manufacturing while validating product, manufacturing, and commercial readiness—all at an accelerated pace.
The Beacon ecosystem is comprised of two integrated networks spanning over 200 people and partners:
- The Fellows Expert Network: an unmatched network of hard-tech veterans across the value chain
- The Service & Supplier Network : specialized service providers, manufacturing partners and key technology/component suppliers
The value of Beacon’s ecosystem cannot be overstated. It delivers hyper-efficiency by connecting hard tech founders with the exact expertise and or partners they need, only when they need them. By leveraging decades of experience and a vast network of service providers, manufacturers, and suppliers, Beacon both minimizes risk and accelerates success for early-stage hard tech companies. Beacon significantly reduces development, manufacturing and commercialization risks for early-stage hard tech companies and their shareholders.
The Conduit Fellows Expert Network
The inner network includes over 180+ Conduit Fellows. These experts are experts in all the areas one may need to navigate the hard-tech journey. This extended network of builders includes:
- Founders and industry executives
- Product designers (industrial design, mechanical engineering, HMI)
- Technical specialists (electrical engineering, RF, computer vision, ML/AI)
- Operations and supply chain architects
- Manufacturing and quality/reliability experts
- Investors and advisors
The Service and Supplier Network
Beacon provides access to expert support services across critical stages of development, from product design and prototyping to small-batch production runs (we are proud to partner closely with our integrated partners, Igor Institute and Tactile (amongst others))
Supplier, Manufacturing and GTM Partnerships
Beacon’s reach extends to trusted manufacturing partners and key suppliers, providing founders with direct connections to tier 1 and 2 high-quality production resources.
See some of our amazing partners on our website
🤝 Lets Build Together!
The name “Beacon” is deliberate: our mission, literally and metaphorically, is to serve as a “guide” for hard-tech founders, helping them navigate the challenges of development, manufacturing, and commercialization at scale.
- Are you a hard-tech founder undertaking the challenges building at the intersection of physical and digital innovation?
- Are you a VC that wants to provide additional support for your hard tech portico's that are navigating challenges
- Are you part of the innovation team at research or academic institution that wants to commercialize your IP does not have the infrastructure to evaluate or execute against potential opportunities
If you answered yes to any of the above, Beacon is designed to help you de-risk hard tech execution and support path to commercialization.
Reach out below, lets build!
Susan Paley, Partner, Conduit Venture Labs
👉🏽 Apply Here 👈🏽
