--- title: Startup mode · Ten questions your factory will ask | Capibara description: Ten questions every factory asks before a hardware launch. See how many you can answer today, then map your builds, budget and date in about ten minutes. --- [Skip to main content](https://www.capibaraai.com/product/startup-mode#main-content) [![capibara-color-72ppi](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-color-72ppi.png?width=1500&height=359&name=capibara-color-72ppi.png) ![](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-wordmark-white.png?width=196&height=32&name=capibara-wordmark-white.png)](https://www.capibaraai.com?hsLang=en) - [Home](https://www.capibaraai.com?hsLang=en) - Product - [For programs](https://www.capibaraai.com/product?hsLang=en) - [For startups](https://www.capibaraai.com/product/startup-mode) - [Pricing](https://www.capibaraai.com/pricing?hsLang=en) - [About](https://www.capibaraai.com/about?hsLang=en) [Book a build review](https://www.capibaraai.com/book-a-build-review?hsLang=en) Open menu - [Home](https://www.capibaraai.com?hsLang=en) - Product - [For programs](https://www.capibaraai.com/product?hsLang=en) - [For startups](https://www.capibaraai.com/product/startup-mode) - [View all Product →](https://www.capibaraai.com/product?hsLang=en) - [Pricing](https://www.capibaraai.com/pricing?hsLang=en) - [About](https://www.capibaraai.com/about?hsLang=en) [Book a build review](https://www.capibaraai.com/book-a-build-review?hsLang=en) [![capibara-color-72ppi](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-color-72ppi.png?width=196&height=32&name=capibara-color-72ppi.png)](https://www.capibaraai.com?hsLang=en) Menu [Book a build review](https://www.capibaraai.com/book-a-build-review?hsLang=en) Startup mode # Ten questions your factory will ask. How many can you answer today? A launch date is only as good as the answers behind it. Check yours before the factory does. [Take the check](https://www.capibaraai.com/product/startup-mode#check) [Try Startup mode](https://www.capibaraai.com/product/startup-mode#try) capibara / startup / builds ![Startup mode: every build scheduled backwards from the ship date](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-startup-step2-builds-2.png?width=2400&height=1880&name=capibara-startup-step2-builds-2.png) The check ## Tick the ones you could answer in a meeting tomorrow. Ten questions every factory will ask. Nothing you tick is saved or sent. 1. 1 Which part takes the longest to get? Long-lead part Your launch date is set by that part, not by engineering. 2. 2 What day does that part have to be in production at its supplier? KPR Miss it, and the parts reach the factory after the build has started. 3. 3 How many builds come before the one you sell? Proto · EVT · DVT · PVT Each one is a real build, with real parts, a real factory slot and a real bill. 4. 4 How many units go into each build, and what does each one cost? Build budget The builds are usually the biggest spend before launch, and the easiest to underestimate. 5. 5 Who decides the product is ready for the next build, and against what list? Gate Without a list, the gate is a meeting, and meetings slip. 6. 6 If one part fails qualification, how many days do you lose? Qualification The answer decides whether you air freight, second source or move the date. 7. 7 When does the factory need your design locked? Design freeze After that day, every change is a cost, and you can't push an update to a factory. 8. 8 How long from the factory to your customer, by sea? Freight Weeks that sit between the last unit off the line and the first one delivered. 9. 9 A supplier says they're two weeks late. What do you do on day one? Recovery The low-cost options expire first. Day one is when they're still there. 10. 10 Is your launch date the day the first unit is built, or the day a customer gets one? OK2Ship · Ramp They can be weeks apart, and only one of them is the date you announced. See my result ### You know the road. Now see all of it at once. You can already answer most of what the factory will ask, so you don't need a starting point. You need the answers to stay true once the builds start: one live picture of the program, shared with every team and your CM. [See Capibara for programs](https://www.capibaraai.com/product?hsLang=en) [Book a build review](https://www.capibaraai.com/book-a-build-review?hsLang=en) Starting a new program? Map it in Startup mode. Work email Open Startup mode Enter a work email to open Startup mode. ### Better to find out here than in front of the factory. Most teams can't answer these until the first build forces them to. Startup mode gets you there first. Four answers, and it lays out your builds, your budget and your date, with every open question on the record and a name next to it. Work email Open Startup mode Enter a work email to open Startup mode. Rather talk it through? [Book a build review.](https://www.capibaraai.com/book-a-build-review?hsLang=en) The builds ## Four builds and a ramp, in one line each. Every launch date has these behind it, whether anyone has named them yet or not. Proto ### Does the idea hold together? The first hand-built units. The design meets the physical world. EVT ### Does it work? Engineering finds out what the design gets wrong. DVT ### Does it work every time? Tested against the spec, at volume, until it passes. PVT ### Can the factory make it? The real line, the real people, the real pace. Ramp ### Can the factory make enough? PVT can bend. Ramp can't. This is the date you hold. Startup mode ## Four answers. Your builds, your budget, your date. Capibara schedules every build backwards from the day you ship, prices each one against your budget, and puts every question you can't answer yet on the record, with a name next to it. About ten minutes. - Scheduled backwards Freight and OK2Ship fix when ramp starts, then each build and its spin loop steps back from there. Whatever is left is float, shown as float rather than hidden in padded gaps. [Start with the check](https://www.capibaraai.com/product/startup-mode#check) capibara / startup / builds ![capibara-startup-step2-builds-2](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-startup-step2-builds-2.png?width=2400&height=1880&name=capibara-startup-step2-builds-2.png) - Sized to the budget The development builds are priced against the budget before anyone commits to a date. Over it, the tool shows two ways out: fewer units per build, or fewer builds. [Start with the check](https://www.capibaraai.com/product/startup-mode#check) capibara / startup / budget ![capibara-startup-builds-two-ways-out](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-startup-builds-two-ways-out.png?width=2200&height=1412&name=capibara-startup-builds-two-ways-out.png) - Assumptions on the record Launch market, cost per unit, supplier lead times. Each one you are not sure of goes on the register, tagged NPI, CM or PD, and stays there until someone replaces it with the real figure. [Start with the check](https://www.capibaraai.com/product/startup-mode#check) capibara / startup / modules ![capibara-startup-step4-assumptions](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-startup-step4-assumptions.png?width=2200&height=1412&name=capibara-startup-step4-assumptions.png) capibara / startup / builds ![capibara-startup-step2-builds-2](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-startup-step2-builds-2.png?width=2400&height=1880&name=capibara-startup-step2-builds-2.png) capibara / startup / budget ![capibara-startup-builds-two-ways-out](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-startup-builds-two-ways-out.png?width=2200&height=1412&name=capibara-startup-builds-two-ways-out.png) capibara / startup / modules ![capibara-startup-step4-assumptions](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-startup-step4-assumptions.png?width=2200&height=1412&name=capibara-startup-step4-assumptions.png) Get started ## Bring the date. We'll show you what's behind it. Forty-five minutes with someone who has run the builds. You leave knowing which answers are still open, and what each one could cost. [Book a build review](https://www.capibaraai.com/book-a-build-review?hsLang=en) [Take the check](https://www.capibaraai.com/product/startup-mode#check) Startup mode is free. × Startup mode ## Draft your program in ten minutes. Four answers and Capibara lays out your builds, your budget and your date. Leave a work email and it opens in a new tab. Work email Open Startup mode Enter a work email to open Startup mode. Not sure you need it? [Take the check first.](https://www.capibaraai.com/product/startup-mode#check) [![capibara-wordmark-white-1500](https://www.capibaraai.com/hs-fs/hubfs/capibara-wordmark-white-1500.png?width=196&height=32&name=capibara-wordmark-white-1500.png)](https://www.capibaraai.com/b2b-ai/home?hsLang=en) One system to run a hardware build, from concept to mass production. 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