About Us

Hardware Meetup started as a simple idea: “Let’s meetup over hardware.” At the time, software meetups were everywhere, but there was nothing for people building physical things. The first chapters launched independently in SF, NY, and Boston, bringing together engineers, designers, investors, and builders.

COVID paused everything for the community. We tried Zoom, but it wasn’t the same. As things reopened and organizers moved on, we didn’t want the momentum to go with them.

City by city, volunteers stepped up to launch local chapters. Nate, founder of informal, helped each city connect to get their community restarted. He wanted the same experience: great people, no sales pitches, and focused on hardware. Michael helped restart SF with him, growing it to 10,000+ members, and supported operations across every new city launch.

Hardware Meetup has one goal: bring people together so more hardware gets built. We’re now in over 50 cities with more than 50,000 members around the world. Each city is locally run by co-organizers who make sure it’s reflective of their own hardware ecosystem. We stay close to our roots as a meetup for people building physical things.