Concept to Working Prototype in 60 Days
Here's exactly how we do it. No curtain, no PowerPoint — the actual method behind every sprint we run.
Book a 15-Minute CallHow Hardware Schedules Actually Die
Teams don't miss schedules because the firmware was hard. They miss because the firmware got eight weeks of polish on a dev board — then went into the enclosure and the antenna placement killed the BLE link. Because wall thickness got three weeks of optimization before the power supply's thermal load melted the snap fits. Because the app was built against a mock API and the real BLE connect takes 14 seconds.
Same pattern every time: optimize in isolation, discover the real problems at integration — too late, when changes are expensive.
The Buildative™ Method: Force the Learning Forward
One conviction: the biggest risk in hardware development isn't that something won't work — it's that you'll find out too late. Software refactors; hardware respins, retools, and loses quarters. So the method has one job: force the learning forward — earlier than teams are comfortable with.
Speed to prototype beats perfection
Build the simplest version that tests your riskiest assumption, run it, learn what breaks, iterate. One working prototype teaches more than ten ideas in the computer.
Integrate early, integrate ugly, integrate often
Assemble something half-baked and test it rather than polish for another week. A 3D-printed enclosure, a hand-soldered dev board, and stub firmware teach more in an afternoon than a month of parallel refinement.
Prove subsystems between integrations
Written pass/fail tests retire component risk between integration points; the integration points expose what isolation can't.
Honest cadences
Mechanical and electrical run fab-driven cycles; firmware and software run short sprints — each discipline at its natural pace, synced at integration points.
Everything under one roof
ME, EE, firmware, and software engineers plus CNC, welding, and 3D printing in one San Diego building — the build-test-iterate cycle compresses from weeks to days.
With you, not for you
We build your internal team and systems as we go. Communication over contracts: decisions get made in conversations with data on the table.
Integration Points: Where the Learning Happens
Integration points, not task lists, drive the schedule. They're fixed dates — every workstream brings what it has, finished or not — because the goal isn't to demonstrate completion. It's to surface what isolation hides.
What each workstream declares in advance — a real integration-point checklist:
- Mechanical: rough enclosure with mounting features, no cosmetics.
- Electrical: PCBA rev B — bodge wire on the regulator is fine.
- Firmware: BLE advertising and basic sensor read, no power management yet.
The checklist is a forcing function, not a quality gate: it stops teams from waiting until it's perfect, and from showing up empty-handed because it didn't feel ready.
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Tests and Gates: Prove What You Know
Between integration points, every subsystem gets its own pass/fail test — with criteria written down in advance.
Pass/fail, in writing
"Heats 60 ml to 93 °C in under three minutes on battery power" — not "thermal performance looks good." If a test can't fail, it isn't a test.
Failure has a next step
Each test is written with its fallback: what we try next if it fails. The fix path was planned before the failure happened.
Deliberately deferred
Prototype 1 doesn't get tested for drop survival, waterproofing, or aesthetics. Those tests come when they can change a decision.
Gates ask what you know, not what you finished
Traditional stage-gate asks "did you complete the work?" Buildative asks "do you know enough to commit to the next phase?" A Concept gate needs a validated problem and a feasible approach, not a finished requirements document. A Prototype gate needs the key risks retired — however rough the hardware that did the retiring.
When a test surfaces a shortfall, that's not the plan failing — that's the method working. The shortfall becomes the next build's target, found in week four instead of at the contract manufacturer.
AI Speeds Every Step. Engineers Sign Off on All of It.
AI doesn't replace the engineer — it makes the engineer faster.
Idea → spec
Vague product idea to concrete engineering spec — trade-offs argued and decided — in a conversation, not a study.
Firmware
State machines, control loops, drivers: AI-generated, engineer-reviewed, tested on real hardware — first-flash firmware in hours instead of weeks.
Patent & prior art
Prior-art and freedom-to-operate research compressed from days to minutes — before design effort is committed.
Electronics & analysis
AI-driven board layout plus first-pass thermal, battery, and safety analysis — verified by our engineers before anything is cut or ordered.
What You Hold at the End of a Sprint
Everything is yours. No licensing, no lock-in — your team ends the sprint knowing the design instead of inheriting a mystery.
"Unlike larger firms, their small, adept team brought our napkin sketch to life with a speed and efficiency that amazed us. This approach not only saved us time but also significantly contributed to securing early-stage funding by showcasing tangible progress to our investors."
— John Sjölund, CEO, Luna Diabetes
That list, for your product. Book 15 minutes and we'll scope your first integration point.
Book a 15-Minute CallWhat Buildative Rejects
More planning prevents problems
Problems are discovered by building and testing, not by reviewing documents.
Integration waits until subsystems are "ready"
Ready is the enemy of learning. The first integration should be uncomfortable — that discomfort is information.
Software methodologies applied wholesale to hardware
No story points. No velocity tracking. No sprint theater.
Compliance-driven development
If a method makes you do the work twice — engineering, then compliance — the method is broken.
Hardware products don't fail because teams move too fast.
They fail because teams learn too late.
Buildative forces the learning forward.
From Prototype to Production: EVT, DVT, PVT
The standard hardware lifecycle runs Concept → Definition → Prototype → EVT → DVT → PVT → Mass Production: engineering validation (EVT) proves the design, design validation (DVT) proves the product, production validation (PVT) proves the line. A sprint is one funded slice of that road — first sprints usually land the working prototype; later sprints carry it through validation into manufacturing, with Buildative running inside every phase.
Swipe sideways to see the full diagram →
For Medical Devices: Your DHF Builds Itself
Design controls per 21 CFR 820.30 fall out of the workflow: requirements trace to designs, designs to verification tests, tests to reports — the Design History File assembles as a view of the engineering work, not a parallel documentation exercise. One workflow, not two. ISO 13485 certified; we've carried devices through 510(k), PMA, and CE Mark.
"I have worked with Expertise Engineering for the last 12 years on multiple projects involving the design and development of novel diagnostics. They have always been innovative, quick to learn, cost-effective, and timely in their work."
— Robert S. Hillman, President and CEO, CeleCor Therapeutics
Process Questions
Is 60 days really enough to build a hardware product?
To build a product, no — and we won't tell you otherwise. Sixty days delivers a working prototype: integrated early and often, tested subsystem by subsystem, with a written list of what it taught us. Production takes more loops and the EVT/DVT/PVT validation phases. A "product in 60 days" promise is how programs end up with a demo that can't be manufactured.
Can we run this process with our own team?
Yes — and we'd genuinely like you to. "With you, not for you" means we build your internal team and systems as we go, so capability transfers instead of piling up on our side. Most funded teams still bring us in early — a team that's run hundreds of integrations, with a full shop downstairs, gets to working hardware faster. Either way, you end up able to run it yourself.
What do we need before a sprint can start?
A product vision and a decision-maker who can stay in the conversation. No deck, no spec, no CAD — turning a vague idea into an engineering spec is the sprint's first job, and with AI in the loop it takes days. The 15-minute call is where we scope what your first integration point should prove.
What happens when something fails at an integration point?
Something always fails — that's why integration points exist. A BLE link killed by antenna placement at a week-three ugly assembly is a placement change; the same discovery after tooling is a lost quarter. When a failure changes the plan, you hear it from us first, with data and options — not in a surprise invoice.
See It Applied to Your Product
Fifteen minutes with Cory. Bring the napkin sketch — we'll tell you what your first sprint would deliver.
Book a 15-Minute Call