First Design Win

Yes, it feels great. Anyone who says there are better things in life are probably right - but if you have gotten your first one for a brand new product you are introducing into market - the thrill is probably no less.

We were close to 18 months into the planning cycle - yes that is a really long one. 18 months of people telling you that you are probably out of your mind to be building this product. Recall I work for a hardware company, so software is a second citizen. No, software enabling is probably a second citizen, software product is clearly a third citizen. So you get the picture...

But this design win went fast. It is a small customer. I went and pitched the product - 3 hours straight. There were about 10 people in the room. I was standing on a podium and presenting to the audience (that felt funny). But the meeting went well - surprisingly. They asked about our licensing. I was baffled - well I had the licensing terms but not approved by management. We said we would get back. The account manager told me as we walked back - if a customer wants to know the terms, you know you have the sale - I should have been ready to seal the deal right there.

Next few days was quick - management approvals, what terms will work, what will not. Finally had something. Meanwhile the customer called back. Marketing wanted to hear the pitch again. Well OK??? I had already started my Holiday Season but a lesson learnt the very hard way - if a customer gives you a date, there better not be a higher priority anything.

I landed up again. The marketing meeting turned out to be a very technical meeting. And I had no engineering representation. Sigh! Plus he asked a ton of questions on hardware protocols and buses. What do I know. The account rep was extremely knowledgeable though. He was able to handle most of them. For others, we just said we have to get back. But rest of the meeting went well. He told us several challenges with adoption of our technology - I was familiar with each of them, he knew what he was talking about. But he also agreed that we needed to make baby steps instead of dreaming Nirvana.

Next we met with the technical representative to present the terms. He started off with saying - my engineering team in Taiwan feels they can build the product in-house, we are not sure we want to buy from you but would like to know your terms. Yes, I was literally shaking. It was my vacation and it was 6PM and I had slogged the last week. Well so what? I presented the terms. The customer said - wow, this is cheap. Can you share with me your specs? I said No, please make a decision first. I returned home and tried to relax by thinking of our upcoming Mexico trip.

1st week of Jan and I am back to work. A sweet one liner from the customer - We have decided to license your product. Please send us your documents so we can proceed to next steps.

How was your first design win? Write to me about it