Hardware founder · Shenzhen
Aaron Rau
I build hardware. Co-founded Lockcard, built its own factory in Ulm and sold 300,000 products. Sold the company in 2024. Now building Operator, a voice-controlled handheld device, in Shenzhen.
Hardware founder · Shenzhen
I build hardware. Co-founded Lockcard, built its own factory in Ulm and sold 300,000 products. Sold the company in 2024. Now building Operator, a voice-controlled handheld device, in Shenzhen.
Modular wallets, designed and manufactured in our own factory in Ulm. Bootstrapped from a student dorm to €2.8M annual revenue. Sold in 2024.
A stainless-steel backup for crypto seed phrases, stamped with a position-locking jig. Designed, engineered and manufactured end-to-end, alone, in Shenzhen.
Named inventor on four filings with the German Patent Office (DPMA) and the EUIPO, 2022–2024. All of them came out of production problems at Lockcard.
The Lockcard closure: an endless elastic band whose fibres are fused to a connector by ultrasonic welding. Stronger and cheaper to produce than sewn or glued connections.
A die-cut blank from a single flat sheet that folds into a closed package with interlocking wings. Tamper-evident, mono-material, no plastic.
A tear-open strip formed from the packaging material itself: alternating slanted cut-outs steer a wandering tear back onto the line. Covers packaging, method and die tool.
Two registered EU designs for a reduced phone protection concept — a split bumper and a one-piece perimeter frame.
Filings 2022–2024, Aaron Rau named as inventor/designer.
At Lockcard I ran our CNC mills, SLS printers and the FDM farm myself. Today I live in Shenzhen — learning Chinese and working directly with the local supply chain, so a design can become a manufactured part in days.
Co-founded Lockcard straight out of high school — first product built on a single 3D printer.
Die Höhle der Löwen: pitched Lockcard on VOX and closed a cooperation with Ralf Dümmel and Carsten Maschmeyer.
Sold the company. A private investor bought it and runs it; the team stayed on board.
Traveled the world, then chose the most useful place a hardware founder can live.
Shenzhen. Learning Chinese, building Operator — and manufacturing Coinbook down the road from my apartment.