reSee.it - Tweets Saved By @codyaims

Posted - February 11, 2025 at 1:59 AM

Saved - February 11, 2025 at 6:50 AM

reSee.it AI Summary

In 2017, I made a joke about the headphone jack and ended up with over 30,000 pre-orders. I designed a prototype and set up production in Shenzhen, but faced challenges when my Chinese supplier cheated me with subpar components. Despite my efforts to establish distribution through Amazon and Walmart, I learned the hard way about market saturation and intellectual property issues. After refunding customers out of pocket, I sold my designs and walked away with my integrity intact. This experience taught me invaluable lessons about manufacturing and resilience.

@codyaims - Cody James 🇺🇸

For those saying I have no exp w China In 2017 I made a joke online that we should bring back the headphone jack and got >30,000 pre orders Designed a prototype, got tooling in Shengzen, setup production While onboarding to Walmart, I found out the Chinese factory rekt me lol https://t.co/ek9oLJA2Wq

@codyaims - Cody James 🇺🇸

At 19 I joined the Phantom Works site for advanced composite manufacturing My small team of 4 saved Boeing >$100M on 787 in 12 mo At 23 I programmed & helped design robotic CF layup for programs like F35 & X59 @ Skunkworks Age is only a factor to those who have nothing else https://t.co/6f1uZG8KZF

@codyaims - Cody James 🇺🇸

When Apple removed the headphone jack, many of us hadn’t switched to Bluetooth yet - I wanted to listen + charge my phone at work On the left - prototype I hacked together in a weekend & a lot of YouTube On the right - 7 weeks later, working production unit https://t.co/h4OoU5nT7g

@codyaims - Cody James 🇺🇸

I didn’t know much about China at the time, early 20s small town kid Just wanted to build fast, and tracked down Apple-approved vendors building dongles & adapters We used my prototype and made a production ready version https://t.co/q8lb6SfwQz

@codyaims - Cody James 🇺🇸

Got design, mfg, packaging all ready. I needed to solve distribution. Gf at the time didn’t love kitchen being covered in boxes, so I set them up on Amazon. Huge fees but oh well I tracked down & started to talk to Walmart & other giants https://t.co/whK2yXJVEE

@codyaims - Cody James 🇺🇸

after I shipped batch #1… a portion had a “accessory not supported” …Wtf? The supplier cheated the “Apple MFI Certified” hardware I paid a ton extra for Around the same time, the buying manager at Walmart asked to chat. Fml https://t.co/uOnSlWvO4d

@codyaims - Cody James 🇺🇸

They let me know the alibaba type markets have been flooded with this exact product & design - they can’t move forward - 1) what I offered to show all the IP. My CAD, gerber files, ffs, I helped design the tooling and paid for everything to be built. Didn’t matter, REKT https://t.co/JjENofsW2m

@codyaims - Cody James 🇺🇸

Chinese factory used me to fund the ramp up, then flooded the market at 1/10th the cost I could sell for, using our design & prod They gave me knock off Apple certified chips - when I met them next, three suits asked “What’s your legal budget kid?” Lots of learning. Hahaha https://t.co/Y7YfllDi0F

@codyaims - Cody James 🇺🇸

I couldn’t stand the idea that I could’ve just sold a bunch of junk I refunded every unit from the bad batch out of pocket which put me net -25k into this adventure I said F this and sold all the designs, IP, backlog, everything. I came out ahead but with honor intact https://t.co/gMDyBQnAHM

@codyaims - Cody James 🇺🇸

Now obv this is just one experience, but a fun one, and really a great learning opportunity I don’t claim to know a ton about Chinese manufacturing, but I’m also not a layman TBH, I feel I learned about 4 years of lessons in one Summer. Highly recommend just sending it!