I first met Nate Padgett in person a couple of years ago at CES in Las Vegas, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. From the beginning, I’ve had a deep respect for him, not just for his vision, but for the energy he brings to the hardware space. He’s one of the most optimistic and forward-looking voices in the community, and it’s clear he’s driven by a genuine passion to build something meaningful.

What he’s created with Hardware Meetups, Informal, and the countless networking opportunities he’s enabled is nothing short of incredible. Nate isn’t just connecting people, he’s strengthening an entire ecosystem.

I’ll never forget chatting with someone in the hardware world when, out of nowhere, another person came up and said, “Yeah, I know Nate.” That’s when you realize just how much impact one person can have.

Recently, Fello had the opportunity to take a closer look at what Nate’s building, and we’re excited to share more.

What inspired you to start the Hardware Meetup, and what did those very first gatherings look like?

Nate: I actually didn’t start Hardware Meetup! Nick Pinkston in SF started SF Hardware Meetup and Haytham Elhawary started NY Hardware Meetup around the same time (2011). I arrived in New York at the same time to join a consumer hardware company called Quirky that had this really cool community driven product development model. I was on the community team, so I was a regular at Hardware Meetup from the beginning. I started collaborating with Haytham on events in 2015 and then I joined him as an organizer in 2017 while I was basically living out of the shop at ITP. 

Those early events were amazing, especially in the heyday of that hardware renaissance with companies like Jump Bikes, Makerbot, Littlebits getting their public start at the meetup. There were similar vibes all over the country with Hardware Meetups started by other independent hardware pros. But the pandemic was brutal for the hardware meetup community and most of the groups died. We figured out a digital playbook in New York that allowed us to stay alive until we could start meeting in person again. It was during that time that I realized there are hardware pros and people who just love physical products all over the world, and that they want to have these meetups in their towns and cities once we’re all on the other side of the pandemic. That’s when we started recruiting organizers in most major cities and reaching out to previously active groups and offering to revive them (like we did in Boston). 

You’ve been around hardware for years — how has the culture, process, and business of hardware changed the most in your eyes?

Nate: Ok, so this is a fascinating question because it’s changed a lot and not at all at the same time. I’ll break it into two parts: 

What hasn’t changed

This is mostly the case for new hardware founders today who have very little experience scaling physical products. The AI boom has created a smaller boom in wearables and AI devices like robots, desktop widgets, etc. It’s really exciting to see and be part of and it’s pulling in a lot of first time founders who may be super skilled technically on the software side, but underestimate the physical challenges of hardware as a startup medium. There’s a lot of weight placed on ideation, prototyping and development with the assumption that the rest will be figured out later. But those are at best a quarter of what a hardware team needs to nail to be successful. The other 75% is what makes the business. The problem is, a lot of that knowledge, a lot of those insights are either locked in some grey beard’s head (figuratively speaking) or locked behind the firewall of a big company like Apple or Google. There still isn't the same blogging and information sharing culture in hardware that there is in software, probably because it’s historically just been too physically hard for there to be. But times are changing and we’re attempting to make our own dent in the problem with Hardware Meetup and my company informal’s blog. 

What has changed

A lot of the OGs are either coasting at their successful company or at a MAG7, or left hardware all together. That’s a bummer because it’s a form of brain drain: their insights and hard earned lessons don’t trickle down to the rest of the ecosystem. During the last hardware renaissance when we were all just getting started, these people were still in the community, still at startups, and still helping to shape the culture. Sadly the over hype of IoT, additive manufacturing, and DTC from 2015-2019, then the pandemic after that really sucked a lot of air out of the room and left a lot of people bruised. It’s always been hard to raise money as a hardware founder, but it’s been particularly hard post-pandemic. That’s changing now with the AI boom and the Reindustrialize movement. 

What are some of the most impressive go-to-market strategies you’ve seen in hardware, and what made them stand out as winners?

Nate: There isn’t any secret to running a killer gtm program. It comes down to three things: brand, budget, and pre-launch. Those first two are probably obvious, but the last one tends to be overlooked as a key mechanism outside of the crowdfunding industry. I’ve run a lot of crowdfunding campaigns and you alway always have a campaign before the actual Kickstarter or Indiegogo launch that’s focused entirely on list and audience building long before you start asking anyone for money. That’s why we’re starting to see so many content creators launching products and DTC brands: they have an audience primed to listen to them. I really love brands like MSCHF and the flywheel of spectacle they’ve built around their drops over the years. Reekon Tools and PeakDesign have nailed community and crowdfunding to super charge each of their launches. This is all from a consumer perspective of course. It’s different if you’re selling to businesses, or if you’re selling regulated products. The latter usually involves a small handful of customers placing bulk orders, so your gtm will look more like an enterprise sales process. Selling to businesses is a blend of the two approaches with less emphasis on lifestyle on the front end. 

From your experience, what does it take to build a great hardware team — not just engineers, but a group that can truly bring a product to market?

Nate: In the early stages, prioritize generalists who can wear a lot of hats well and efficiently compress the amount of time it takes to do things. Ie: Product Design Engineers who can handle mechanical and industrial design, an electrical engineer who can write production firmware, a marketer who can also build your brand. As you scale up and mature you’ll need to bring on specialists and subject matter experts so you can parallel path efforts, but hardware companies usually have the following roles/departments: design, mechanical, electrical, firmware, and software engineering, supply chain, branding, marketing, support. Obviously, what hardware you are making and at what scale will influence the nuances of each role and add many more, but they generally need to check those boxes. 

Where do you see the most exciting intersections between AI and hardware right now?

Nate: AI gives us a whole new way to use the Internet and the vast expanse of knowledge and connectivity it brings, but we’re still in just the prologue of this story when it comes to ways of interfacing and interacting with AI. If the smartphone is the ultimate way to engage with technology and the Internet before AI, what will be the equivalent now that AI is in the picture? It's an exciting question to ask. Then of course you have robotics and autonomous vehicles, though I see those as sides of the same coin. I think we’ve reached or are reaching the limits of what we can do with screens and the next frontier is embodied AI and technology. That’s all about hardware. 

What do you think are the biggest risks or hurdles as AI becomes more embedded in physical systems?

Nate: In general I’m optimistic about the convergence of AI and hardware and see tons of potential in not only in our ability to better utilize AI through physical devices, but also AI’s ability to help us better maintain our physical world through greater observability and preventative maintenance (the same could someday be true of our own bodies!). But these opportunities also bring the greatest risk in my mind: surveillance and the erosion of personal freedom. The more connected we are to the Internet, the more accessible we are in general. The more connected we make our physical world, the more we are inviting outside forces (companies, governments, etc) into our homes and lives. AI superchargers all of this as we’re already seeing in countries like China. There’s also the whole machines become sentient and killing us thing, but that’s not a my generation problem

Looking five to ten years ahead, what role do you think communities like Hardware Meetup will play in shaping the AI + hardware ecosystem?

Nate: I don’t have to look five-ten years into the future to see how communities like Hardware Meetup are shaping the AI + Hardware ecosystem because they already are! Founders building the next great humanoid or AI wearable in their garage are announcing their product to the world for the first time at events like Hardware Meetups. We’re the first public speaking stop for most early stage hardware founders and our hackathons in SF have spurred half a dozen new companies in the Bay. I see this trend accelerating over the next 5-10 years and Hardwares Meetups becoming the events to be at to not just see the future but experience it.

What personal habits or principles have helped you most in becoming both a builder and a connector in the tech world?

Nate: I’m pretty simple and have learned everything I know through trial and error. But things that have been consistent and I think have helped along the way: 

-Get enough sleep. I need 7 hours a night to not feel like a total piece of shit. I learned that the hard way. 

-Be open to everything, especially when your instinct is not to be. Opportunity comes from the least expected. 

-Be decisive. For example: if something isn’t working, end it quickly and for good. 

-Relationships are the most important thing. All of my businesses are built on relationships and networks. 

-You can do more and push yourself harder than you think. The same goes for your team. 

-Take care of yourself and your family. Make time for both. The work will always be there. 

-Risk is good, but needs to be measured. That also means ensuring you are taking enough risks. 

Fello's Thoughts

Nate Padgett is becoming one of the most influential community builders in the hardware world. From his early days supporting the NYC Hardware Meetup to now scaling a global movement through Informal, Nate’s mission is clear: make hardware more collaborative, accessible, and connected. His work bridges the gap between builders, engineers, and founders, offering a platform where real-world products meet real-world support.

In a space where hardware is often seen as “hard,” Nate has built a soft landing for ideas to grow, companies to launch, and relationships to thrive. Whether it’s organizing meetups that inspire new ventures or helping founders avoid costly mistakes, he’s become a vital connector in the physical tech ecosystem—and he’s just getting started.

As a founder, I’m genuinely grateful to know Nate and to watch his journey unfold. He’s built something meaningful, and it’s been inspiring to witness his growth firsthand. I’m excited to keep learning from him—and who knows, maybe one day our companies will find a way to merge forces and build something even bigger together.