The manual, called the Startups Survival Guide, is the second edition based on Digi-Key’s partnership with Startups Magazine.
The website and manual follow a 10-step journey – the Startup Roadmap – going from initial ideas and prototyping through production and support. The company says it will “provide expertly curated success factors to help mitigate the complexities and navigate towards success”.
“Being the engineer’s choice for early-stage prototyping through design and production, Digi-Key is uniquely positioned to share knowledge back to the startup community helping them navigate the particular challenges they face on their journey to success,” said David Sandys, director of technical marketing at Digi-Key.
“Our engagement with tens of thousands of startups has enabled Digi-Key to learn ways around both common and more obscure pitfalls that hamper startups’ desires and aspirations. The new microsite and guide are two of the best resources to steer through those obstacles.”
The website also includes a dozen “startup success” tools, from Scheme-it, Digi-key’s back-of-the-napkin ideation tool to bill of materials (BOM) management, reference platforms, bare PCB ordering with PCB Builder and DKRed through to its Marketplace offerings on its main website.
The Roadmap Dashboard, previously mentioned, is an interactive tool with steps, sub-steps and resources for each of the 10 stages as well as a tracking system to help startups complete all the steps necessary.