Risk Mitigation
Risk Mapping
During assumption testing a number of key risks were analysed. Whilst not key assumptions, these risks have the potential to seriously affect the Hibearnate project. As a result they are discussed below, and potential risk mitigation methods are explored.
Smart Home Integration
Being able to integrate into existing smart home systems.
Return Rate
Lots of people failing to install and then trying to return.
Venture Raise
Being able to raise venture funding.
Intellectual Property
Risk that someone steals IP
The smart home eco-system is fragmented but we can maximise compatibility by using Matter, the cross-platform smart home protocol designed to work across devices. This common standard should improve compatibility, reduce connectivity friction, and increase customer trust. A key learning from tech-titans Apple is the AirPods, who's success is in part down to the seamless connection protocol.
Return Rate
The Hibearnate film can degrade if when damaged and returns will be difficult to navigate. A key return risk is that customers may attempt to return the product due to installation troubles. We can mitigate this through very clear instructions, and simple design cues such as a large arrow on the film indicating the correct orientation.
Venture Raise
Raising venture funding for a hardware business is tough, particularly before there is clear evidence of customer demand. We plan to raise a £250k pre-seed only after securing pre-orders, which should make the opportunity more credible whilst also keeping the cheque size accessible to both micro funds and VCs with £250k LP allocation limits.
Intellectual Property
Competitors will try to replicate our solution once the product is in market. Rather than relying on patents, which would require public disclosure, and impossible to enforce, where features such as material thickness or construction are hard to verify externally, we plan to protect the business through secrecy, tight control over know-how, and limiting disclosure of the underlying technical approach.
