Software eng. unsatisfied with $ -> leaves company -> makes dumb clone, steal subset of customers from former co -> iterate, grow, might end up becoming a threat
Hardware eng. unsatisfied with $ -> ask their friends in the other 2 cos in the same niche how much they are being paid -> cry
Bootstraping a software business is trivial compared to any other eng. business. That, plus the internet's existence, is what makes dev so well paid.
In hardware world that translates to contracting or hiring a Chinese team to clone your competitor and eat the lower-end of the market. This is especially true for development boards, hobbyist and supply chain stuff. Digikey vs LCSC, Sparkfun/Adafruit vs AliExpress/Taobao, Arduino vs clone boards.
Sometimes the dumb clone company gets big enough and become a legit player in the Anglosphere. Say Seeedstudio or ALINX (FPGA dev boards).
Hardware eng. unsatisfied with $ -> ask their friends in the other 2 cos in the same niche how much they are being paid -> cry
Bootstraping a software business is trivial compared to any other eng. business. That, plus the internet's existence, is what makes dev so well paid.