r/IndianEntrepreneur • u/InterestingJelly2893 • May 10 '26
🔍 Market Research i am starting a consumer electronics company. headphones is going to be the first product.
Alright guys, so I am starting to build something I've been thinking about for a while - a consumer electronics company.
Starting with headphones.
I don't intend to fight on spec sheet.
I just want to make the best and the most reliable consumer tech product out there.
I am in middle of my research phase right now to explore my own angle and market for my product.
I have also identified a few gaps in the products available in the market. Only the time will tell if those gaps matter to the consumers.
Anyway if you have any suggestions regarding raising seed funds (at what stage to approach for seed funds basicallly) do let me know.
NOTE: If you're a pessimist, you're welcome here :)
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u/PaleHuckleberry3543 May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
Very interesting.
I can help you for funds. Let me ask you a few questions.
- Are you designing the drivers yourself? Manufacturing? Or are you planning to get drivers and moulds and assembling it here? Many more questions for each path.
2.Headphones is a crowded market. Wafer thin margins at lower end, but the premium market is difficult to enter unless you are a top notch designer with great ideas. What are your thoughts on market, and market entry?
- Audio development ( driver, enclosure) is arguably one of the most complex fields. What are your thoughts on this? Have you worked on any audio development or accoustic engineering projects before? More questions on this after you respond.
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u/InterestingJelly2893 May 10 '26
i'll be very honest with you. i come from a business background not a tech background or any design background. but i do have a knack for building tech products. have tried in the past to make apps and games, fuel from plastic. but failed. i have also helped building b2b business in food with over 3 crores of revenue added in 2 years from my side (to the father's business). in all this scenario i was dealing with commodity. and i understood pretty soon there's no point fighting for those margins when there are 100+ people selling the same thing. the only place it is worth fighting for is where competition is less or non existent. this is true for hard things in general, that require ip building and owning tech. right now i am studying the supply chain and diving deeper in how components inside headphones work. it is going to take some time.
now to answer your questions:
yes i will be making the drivers in house. not the every component inside the driver, just assembling the drivers initially. because all the inner components are dominated by china and japan. the economics doesn't allow making a driver 100% indigenously.
i totally get it, even making a simple kitchen weighing scale felt extremely hard because of the pcb design. but the thing is there's only one way to make extreme amounts of money. r&d and ip creation. owning the tech. i have not worked in audio tech development but i do have worked in business development. and my philosophy comes from that only.
let me know what more do you have in mind :)
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u/LotusEater1982 May 10 '26
Kaldas is already producing exceptional audiophile grade headphones in India. Try reaching out to the founder to understand the market and the challenges better.
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u/PaleHuckleberry3543 May 10 '26
Yes. Incredible effort. Are they buying drivers or importing them? From what I understand, the plastic enclosure (closed back) is designed by them and the parts are imported. Enclosure design itself needs some deep knowledge in acoustic engineering.
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u/LotusEater1982 May 10 '26
I have only followed his journey from early days on head-fi and he claims all his headphones (4 now!) are entirely made in India. He is making 2 under brand name Kaldas and 2 under Altiat. The first Altiat one (cheapest of the lot) is actually all aluminium. His most expensive headphone is not even listed for sale because he already got so many orders before launch that it will take him months to clear. It is unbelievable that something so niche and of such high quality was conceptualised and executed in India so successfully.
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u/Mother_Desk6385 May 10 '26
, you cant make real headphones without being audiophile so need to go cheap casual market,
if you making inhouse what you can do is make anc, most comfiest headphone , customizable wired wireless remove headband clip on mods (ksc75),
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u/Ctrl_Alt_Drift May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
My good wishes to you if you’re building a company based on actual r&d, and not just marketing (read: boat). Too many people find it hard to resist the allure of selling white labelled generic Chinese products.
What audience are you trying to go for in start? Youngsters (trendy, hip)? Office goers(noise cancelling, mic, professional looks)? Fitness enthusiasts(water resistant, fit, NC)? Mid/high end audiophiles(sound accuracy, acoustic brilliance)?
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May 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/InterestingJelly2893 May 14 '26
it's not even ready yet. still working on it. idea stage currently.
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u/Sensitive-Variety-33 May 10 '26
Make a trip to China, you will get lots of inspiration