Solving the Hard in Hardtech: What We’ll Be Talking About at SEMA 2025

Practical Lessons on Prototyping, Funding, and Scaling Your Hardtech Startup

Every founder who has touched hardware knows the same truth: the stakes are higher, the costs are steeper, and the timelines are unforgiving. The difference between success and failure usually comes down to how well you navigate the early tradeoffs, and how quickly you can learn without running out of time or money.

At Motivo, we’ve been building hardtech alongside startups and Fortune 500 companies for fifteen years. Along the way, we’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, and what keeps teams alive when the road gets longer than anyone expected. That’s the lens we’re bringing to SEMA this year for our panel Solving the Hard in Hardtech, where Motivo’s very own Chief Technology Officer Damon Pipenberg and Chief Business Officer Michael Konig will join BOOSTane founder and CEO Ian Lehn, and GLID founder and CEO Kevin A. Damoa.

Here’s a look at the ground we’ll be covering.

Prototyping When Hardware is Slow and Expensive

You can’t fake speed in hardware, but you can design for it. Prototypes that take six months and burn through half a budget don’t teach you fast enough. On the other hand, a napkin sketch on wheels won’t survive investor scrutiny. The art is in creating “right-sized” prototypes that deliver the insights you need without collapsing the schedule.

We’ll be talking about strategies to accelerate learning cycles, like running mechanical, electrical, and software in parallel instead of sequentially, or leaning on modular test beds that can evolve rather than restart. These are the practical hacks that let a startup stay alive long enough to find product-market fit.

Funding and Risk Management

Raising money for hardtech is never just about the pitch deck. Investors want to see that you understand where the risk sits and how you plan to choke it down. Is the unknown in the technology itself, in the supply chain, or in regulatory approval? Each demands a different playbook.

At SEMA, we’ll share how to frame milestones in a way that gives investors confidence while giving your team breathing room. Hardware founders often underestimate how funding strategy ties directly to engineering choices. The right plan balances the technical ambition with a set of stepping stones that investors can follow.

Scaling From Prototype to Manufacturable Product

Anyone can build a prototype that works once. Building one that works a million times, at cost and on schedule, is where companies win or die. That transition is brutal because every assumption you made during prototyping gets stress-tested by supply chains, production tolerances, and unit economics.

We’ll dig into what it takes to engineer for manufacturability early without killing creativity. This is the invisible handoff most teams get wrong, the moment where a great idea turns into a sustainable business, or doesn’t.

Building Resilient Teams

Hardtech projects rarely move in a straight line. Dead ends, failed tests, and unexpected costs are part of the process. That reality can grind teams down unless you build resilience from the start.

We’ve seen teams burn out in two years on projects that should have been decade-long journeys. We’ll talk about how to build teams that move quickly without losing the stamina to keep going, through cultural rituals, honest leadership, and a willingness to embrace failure as data rather than defeat.

Why This Matters

The theme across all these topics is simple: hardtech requires discipline without killing creativity, and speed without sacrificing durability. That’s what we’ll be unpacking at SEMA.

If you’re in Las Vegas on November 4, come to the Future Tech Stage at 3pm.

Bring your toughest questions and your hardest problems. The conversation will be raw, practical, and rooted in the lessons of people who have been in the trenches.

Hardtech doesn’t get solved in theory. It gets solved in the field, by teams willing to take risks, test relentlessly, and keep pushing when the easy answers run out. That’s the story we’re bringing to SEMA, and we hope you’ll join us.

Can't make it to the show this year?

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