Today, Y Combinator backed Octopart has launched a vertical search engine for electronics parts, ideal for electrical engineers and hobbyists alike. The engine helps electronics buyers find the best deals by aggregating and normalizing product data from Allied Electronics, Digi-Key, Mouser, and Newark InOne. The site was started by two physics grad students, frustrated by continuously facing difficult price comparisons while buying supplies for their lab. They recently dropped out to pursue the development of Octopart along with other verticals.
Searching supports advanced search functions like wildcards, phrase matching, and boolean operators. The results feature price comparisons by varying quantities, availability, along with a flashpaper and pdf report on the part specifications. After playing around with the engine, I know more about the prices and specification of plug-in relay switches than I ever thought I would. The two founders, Sam and Andres, hope to integrate the engine into hobbyist websites, making it possible to find the cheapest deals on all the parts going into your latest late-night garage project.
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Now we’re talking. Hopefully some of those vendors have affiliate programs to reward their efforts, it’s a pretty good piece fo work.
Very niche!
Reading their blog, looks like their goal is to become “funded.” I really don’t get why they couldn’t make a go of it themselves. At least Allied has a distributor program, it wouldn’t take much to negotiate an agreement with them for pay-for-performance. In addition, any smaller companies wanting in are mroe likely to be willing to pay for their results as it becomes popular.
Maybe that part just doesn’t interest them. Or maybe not being “funded” is why I’m always closer to broke than rich.
Nice site, neat UI, fast results…
We will see more of niche communities soon - search, photos, blogs, video sharing etc. It would be fun. All the best to Octopart!
Works superfast, really good job! Love the clean interface
“Vertical” search is where any alternative search engine with a unique user interface and its own index can really challenge “Big Four” or GYMA. Octopart seems to be focused a small niche and this should be one of its major strengths.
Works well, super-fast results! I always dreaded searching for parts on the digikey site. Great site guys!
This received funding? Good grief. This is my industry and there are 3 other versions that are significantly better and cost very little to create. If you need to find parts and want to compare data, availability, and pricing, try…
http://www.oemstrade.com
http://www.findchips.com
http://www.chipindex.com (disclaimer: I am part owner)
All 3 offer at least 25 different vendors to Octopart’s 3, all are free to use, and all are updated in real time.
I appreciate the work that goes in to building vertical search, but this strikes me as neither Web 2.0 nor particularly innovative.
There is also an entire segment of subscription based closed-communities providing lots of in-depth tools and complex part searches that have been around for a long time making plenty of money using a real business model. (Disc: I am part owner of one of these, http://www.chiprover.com, as well)
Looks like Octopart already has 6700 fans– literally. I ran a search for a “fan” to complete a project. Good luck to the entrepreneurs!
Gisele
(very Niche) .. Isn’t everything a niche` to some degree?
- This is the perfect company to go and come Y!Comb.
- It took probably 2-4K to start, the founders got 5k Ea +
- and they own it still probably in the 80% range …
- they have proof that- they have influencial people that believe in them
- and (+) they have a freakin business plan, finally! - Rb
Rack - what business plan do they have? The site I co-own that does this gets 10k page views a day and that traffic has been extremely difficult to monetize. If these guys have a business plan, I’d love to see their ideas.
Your site needs to be simpler and prettier. Its too late 90’s
There is a better search engine for electronics IMHO - it’s called “GoPart” from SupplyFrame (SupplyFrame.com/gopart
The neat thing is that it works both on the web and on your computer. You can highlight any part number in any program and it brings up a widget with all kinds of info like part details, pricing, cross references, RoHS, etc.
I for one adore Octopart. Yes the idea of a parts search engine is nothing new, but they took the Google model of less is more and created an interface that actually allows me to focus on what I’m looking for. Adding images on the first level of search really adds scalability, and well, drool factor. I don’t know what business plan Octopart has, but if Digikey or Jamco are smart they might think about trying to corner this little business for their own. After all, how much longer can these places compete on price wars alone? It’s time for some innovation.
if this ever makes enough to pay back ycombinator, im sure google could add electronic parts to froogle in a few hours..
“After all, how much longer can these places compete on price wars alone?”
You have no idea. They don’t compete on price, they compete on availability. The profit margin on semiconductors and board level components is so high it would make you cry. Furthermore, there are enough board shops and contract manufacturers out there that availability is always a concern for the customer and on a long enough time line, everything in stock will be sold. No need to worry about price since when everyone else sells out, you can charge whatever you want.
I realize my posts are sounding crass, and for that I am sorry. But Digikey et. al are not little mom and pop electronics shops. They choose their partners wisely because they can. They have so many customers (as do the roughly 4,000 independent distributors in this country) that they can have order minimums of $100 or more (as most distributors do). The notion of picking up a $20 order from someone in a university lab is more trouble then it’s worth because it gets in the way of the long list of $1,000 orders that need to get pulled and shipped.
As I said, OCtopart is a nice product but not nearly as robust as a number of solutions out there.
GoPart (referenced above) is a better bet for searching Electronic components, and it goes beyond just price. Check it out.
Very nice! How is this different than other sites out there like FindChips.com?
Check out the GoPart widget, btw (referenced above). A very unique implementation of search…
R
“How is this different than other sites out there like FindChips.com?”
1. It offers pictures of the part.
2. It has about 22 fewer vendors listed.
Yeo…just trying to figure out what will make these guys special over the long term. There are many sites that do part searching these days. Only one I’ve seen so far that I like is SupplyFrame’s. They offer a 360 degree view of a part, plus trends and cross references. In my opinion, a much more useful tool the buyer or engineer than just a description and a price.
Colin-
That’s really interesting information. I wonder if there is room in this market then for someone to serve the little guys, the small orders, and focus on find-ability and the shopping experience? I’d say yes, seeing as the number of electronics hobbyists is growing, and electronics in general are becoming more pervasive in other fields like fashion and furniture. So some people need robustness, because they are shopping for a project that will be produced in mass, but some people just want a good experience because it’s part of what they do for fun.
Leslie,
I agree there is a market for it, but for the most part it is filled by Radio Shack and similar retail spots. Stocking distributors have order minimums because the time it takes to pull inventory, count the quantity, box it, ship it, and charge the customers credit card simply isn’t worth the smaller dollar amounts when there are lots of bigger orders to fill. If the bigger orders didn’t exist, maybe, but even new companies that start with no order minimums quickly add mins in for efficiency’s sake.
True true. Though Radio Shack in particular has phased out it’s electronics components in most stores. I’ve been shopping here http://www.SparkFun.com for small orders, but the inventory is limited for smaller components. Still, they have great photos that usually include a visual size reference (aka a quarter), and plenty of basic information. For all of these items you end up having to go to a spec sheet if you want the nitty-gritty.
Octopart is not as robust as some of the other services out there, but it’s in an early stage. If my daily job involved shopping for parts I’d be befriending these guys and trying to help push the service in the right direction.
Anyone out there have word on their business plan?
Colin,
Those sites you listed are so freaking hard to navigate. What is going on w/ them? Octopart got it right where those other sites go dreadfully wrong, getting the information to the user faster a with far less fuss than those other sites.
Wow, I am an electrical engineer, and this app is pretty cool and handy. They do a good job in displaying results. Hopefully, they’ll support more databases in the future.
Evan,
I’m failing to see what is hard to navigate using FindChips, OEMsTrade and Chip Index? Enter the part number in the box and the results come up…
FindChips and OEMsTrade are faster, Chip Index has more vendors listed. Considering FindChips has almost exactly the same UI as Octopart, you’ve lost me on the “ease of use” argument.
Colin,
“Almost exactly the same UI”?
How about:
1. Grouping by part instead of by company. This makes price comparison not just easier - but possible.
2. On 1024 x 768, a search on FindChips shows me a (useless) list of manufacturers above the fold with only 2 parts. For more I have to scroll. At OctoPart, I get to see about 14 parts before scrolling.
3. Photographs! This speeds up the part selection process immensely - I don’t have to read as many 9pt descriptions.
4. FindChips is, well, ugly. And a site that looks like it was designed in 2001 doesn’t inspire me to think that new features will be coming any time soon.
As for speed, let’s see how fast Octopart is after the TechCrunching is over.
I think Octopart is already way nicer than the sites you’ve listed and it is likely to continue to improve.
Robby,
You got to most of my points before I got a chance to respond. Thanks for saving me the post.
@26 Robby -
1. The 3 vendors they have listed are going to charge you $50 min regardless. Price means nothing in terms of comparison shopping for small quantities.
2. How on earth do you get around the internet without scrolling down? ; )
3. Good point. I certainly do agree that photos would be of great help to a hobbyist. Business class users know exactly what they want via the part-number they are sourcing.
4. It WAS designed in 2001. It cost less then $3k and 4 weeks to build. If YCombinator put in the standard “3 months salary plus some other costs” investment of 15-25k, they are likely overvaluing the product from the get go.
I realize that for a hobbyist, Octoparts may be an excellent choice. However, as many sites can attest, hobbyist users don’t drive a lot of cash flow and business users want more info (in this case, more vendors to choose from), not less. Even if a hobbyist user chooses to use Octoparts and is happy to pay a bit more per part from these three vendors, they will still be hampered by purchase minimums. Meanwhile, Octoparts is still lacking a way to make cash.
We monetized our site by creating paid newsletters to keep people informed about new releases and updates in the industry because the ad model didn’t even cover hosting fees and the vendors we list weren’t the least bit interested in sponsorships/partnerships/affiliation.
I just have a hard time seeing how Octo is going to make any money without adding features, and any added features will likely move them from “hobby” class to “business” class, at which point they have a minimum of 20 entrenched and experienced sites with significant market share ready to swallow them. My second venture in to this field is well-financed and full of experienced semiconductor veterans, yet it is proving to be every bit the challenge.
I understand my points here seem contrary to encouragement, and for that I am sorry. I applaud the efforts of Octoparts and, frankly, would LOVE to see further innovation in this industry as a rising tide helps all boats. That said, the semiconductor industry is very cut-throat due to (1) limited stock/availability (2) ridiculous profit margins and (3) ease of inventory and shipment due to small product size. You can ship 200K in parts in a shoebox, seriously.
Good luck to Octoparts. I will be paying close attention to see if they can find a way to generate revenue without alienating the hobbyist users they state they are wanting to cater to.
I wish them well, but think they have an uphill battle ahead of them.
Colin — I don’t know what you’re smoking if you think any of those other sites have good design.
David,
Where did I say any of them had good design? I said they had good functionality and ease of use, which trumps design every time as evidenced by Google, MySpace, YouTube, etc. etc. etc. Substance without design is passable. Design without substance is not.
The “Design” in search results on Chip Index is taken directly from the vendor’s websites since that is how they like their results presented. The “Design” in OEMstrade uses the vendor’s company logo and a standard format. The “Design” in FindChips is like Chip Index, using the vendor’s own display for results.
Like I said - I don’t think there is anything “bad” about Octopart save 2 things:
- First, they only have 3 vendors showing. Find fault in the other 3 sites all you want, but they each have nearly 10 times the vendors. If you use Octopart and the 3 they show are sold out of a specific part (a frequent occurrence), do you put your project on hold? Or go look somewhere else?
- Second, I still don’t know how they plan on making any money, which is kind of the point when someone funds you.
Hey all , you might want to try eem.com, icmaster.com…much more robust and complete. In fact these 2 sites have uploaded inventory from over 200 authorized dists ..and contain data on over 130 million electronic components and where to buy them….beware of un-authorized sources..
Colin,
I suggest reading some of Paul Graham’s (of Y Combinator) essays in order to see his philosophy on startups and their products. In essence, he advises to get something functional out there NOW, even if it’s temporarily limited, just as a proof of concept. You have been harping about Octo only having 3 vendors. You fail to consider that more vendors will probably come. Octo is trying to prove its concept, not be an all-out search engine just yet.
Hmmm, sounds like a story we’ve heard before. Great ‘concept’ everyone loves yet unproven in the 1st market it is suppossed to work in and they are already talking about the next markets the ‘concept’ will conquer.
What’s wrong with proving it can work in the place first before everyone crowns them as the ‘next thing’?
Yup, call me a skeptic but I’d like to see this play out a bit before getting excited.
i prefer a single fixed price/song - just like apple’s
why should popularity of a song affect price/download?
doesn’t make sense to me
http://www.ipod-mp4-converter.com
This is an interesting debate regarding search sites for our industry. The nice thing about the web is that there are many sites out there that offer different tools, some better than others.
Our goal at OEMsTrade.com is to involve the community and let them have a say in what we do. After all, the community is what makes or breaks a site and in our case we have listened to the community and tried to keep our site as clean as possible. We have plans for new features to be added this year and to revamp the site a bit to make the experience for our visitors even better.
If anyone is interested in making suggestions or comments, I encourage you to visit our site at http://www.oemstrade.com/pages/contact/ and let us know what you think and any features you may want to see.
I want to thank Colin for the unbiased comments as he is an owner of a competing site and still sees the usefulness of OEMsTrade.com.
BTW, if anyone is interested, one of the first additions to OEMsTrade.com this year will be a forum where the community can get together and share ideas, look for that real soon!
TOM
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Colin,
Consider. I’m an engineer looking for 250v rated power switch, then I want to run all those through the UL database and find a UL recognized one.
So I type in to all of the sites above:
“power switch 250v”
eem.com - Requires subscription. Busy site. Fail.
icmaster.com - No results. Really? Fail.
http://www.oemstrade.com - Not a single power switch on the first page of results. Huh? Fail.
http://www.findchips.com - No results. Fail.
http://www.chipindex.com - Does something horrible to FF3.0 and crashes the browser. Fail.
http://www.octopart.com - dozens of power switches, all annotated with pictures, prices, and distributors. Win.
As an EE, Colin, your site kind of sucks and I will not use it. No wonder you’re having problems monetizing it. Octopart, on the other hand, should have no problems. Perhaps you should take a lesson from them.
Overall I had been using findchips for a long time (4+ yrs). I discovered OEMSTrade, octoparts, and chipindex in the last 4 months. In general, though the distributor lists is slightly different, I find OEMSTrade more comprehensive. It’s my first choice for surveys. Though I find the list at ChipIndex is better, the ChipIndex interface doesn’t always work, *and* gives false positives for Future and Jameco every time. Something seems broken about it - I have a feeling if it were fixed, it could be more competitive. Due to the number of searches I perform, I find Octopart as third to OT and FC. It is not primary in my first pass surveys, but occasionally comes up with a surprising result. Is there any engine with taps into the Arrow and TTI supplies?
Octopart is innovative in the way it searches data. However, you have to ask yourself how legal and legit they are. They have clearly muscled in as a middleman through hacking the distributor websites.
What gives them the right to scrape and steal distributor information, images, and technical documents?
As with all middlemen there is a price to pay for both the distributor and customer. Do we want this?
James. I thought Octopart were given their data feeds as web services? Isn’t that part of their deal. If they are simply hacking distributor websites isn’t that illegal & something Digikey et al would fight. Databases and images are copyright protected in most countries.
Its complete madness. There is no REAL stock information on the website. If it is real you find out its old and outdated. Stick with findchips.com
I find FINDCHIPS better than any other website. The result given is instant. Octopart is also not bad. I am a computer science student and would like to know what technology are they using so that their searches are so fast. It is really amazing to the see the result of findchips.com and ocotpart it is like 2 second they are able to get the data.
Could neone plz shed light on how a user could achieve search so fast using which technology or which database.