The Shenzhen Factory-Visit Playbook for Hardware Founders

Before you go

• A written spec with must-haves and acceptance tests. Factories respond to specifics.
• Pre-qualification by video call and samples. Visit only suppliers who have already answered the hard questions in writing.
• Agenda and questions in Chinese, sent a week ahead, naming who should attend (engineering lead, not only sales).
• NDA if needed, but keep it short; long Western NDAs slow everything down.
• Calendar check: avoid the weeks around Chinese New Year and the National Day holiday.

On the floor

• See the line that will build your product, not a showroom.
• Look at test equipment and incoming QC; ask for a recent test report.
• Ask for a sample built today, not a golden unit.
• Meet the engineer who will own your project.
• Ask how they handle firmware source, design files and data — the answers tell you how the relationship will go.

Questions that separate good partners

1. Who else have you built a similar product for (category, volume, not names)?
2. What changes are firmware-only and what require a board revision?
3. What is your lead time for samples, for modified samples and for 500 units?
4. What breaks most often in this product category?
5. What would you change in our spec to make it cheaper or more reliable?

Each evening

Debrief the day while it is fresh: score each supplier against the spec, list open questions, and send thank-you notes with those questions in Chinese the same night.

After the trip

A written recommendation with a comparison table, sample orders placed within a week, and a single owner for each supplier relationship. Momentum is the scarcest resource.

HOLON manages factory visits for founders, with Mandarin-led conversations and engineering support. Talk to us.