From Roombas to e-bikes, why are hardware startups going bankrupt? 

The recent bankruptcies of hardware companies iRobot, Luminar, and Rad Power Bikes highlight the significant challenges facing hardware startups today. Each company struggled with a combination of tariff pressures, supply chain disruptions, and changing market dynamics, underscoring the difficulties of manufacturing physical products amid global trade tensions and competition from low-cost overseas producers. These failures serve as a cautionary tale for hardware startups, illustrating how external economic and geopolitical factors can severely impact their viability. The article also references a discussion on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, where hosts analyze what went wrong for these once-promising companies and explore broader tech industry topics, including Amazon’s substantial investment in OpenAI and new AI regulatory approaches under the Trump administration. Overall, the piece emphasizes the precarious nature of hardware ventures in the current global environment and the need for startups to navigate complex supply chains and market shifts carefully.