I wanted there to be discounts from the eventual retail price of $265 for early supporters. I added the following discounts tiers:

1. First 100 units → 30% off ($186)

2. Next 200 units → 20% off ($212)

3. Remainder → 10% off ($239)

I expect these to be the best prices we’ll ever offer for the keyboard. I’m happy to do it out of appreciation for your early support. This project wouldn’t be possible otherwise!

If you’re not ready to buy the keyboard but are just curious about the project, you can checkout this video I made explaining the motivation behind the project:

If you have any questions feel free to drop a comment on Substack or YouTube, I read every comment I get.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan Peterman

I would rather promise a less ambitious timeline and finish on time. There is a lot that goes into manufacturing so in this post I’ll break down what I know based on actual estimates I’ve received from manufacturers.

Then we’ll use this for a reasonable estimate for when the keyboards will arrive in your hands.

The Manufacturing Process

There are industry standard terms for hardware engineering project phases (e.g. EVT, DVT, PVT, MP). I’ll explain everything without using jargon for this post.

On a high level, the goal of manufacturing is to build a pipeline that can produce a product efficiently at scale. A large part of this is making molds which cost a lot up front but reduce the cost per unit at volume.

Therefore, a simple way to think of this project is terms of the molds we’ll need and how they will be used. Here are the major phases:

1. Before molds - Here we develop the design and prove the engineering is feasible. We also do some early thinking about obvious adjustments to make the design easier to manufacture.

   • We’ve done this work already and created samples that confirm our designs, firmware, and hardware.

2. Trial mold and sample production - These molds are expected to have many issues but will let us produce some early samples. We will fix problems and optimize the molds in this step.

   • Manufacturer estimate = ~2.5 months

3. Mold iterations - Then we iterate on the molds (usually 2-3 times). The manufacturer will produce samples doing a trial production run. Each time, we’ll identify issues in the design, reliability, and quality of the samples. Then we update the molds until we’re satisfied.

   • Manufacturer estimate = ~20 days per iteration

   • I expect at least 3-4 iterations given quality will be what should differentiate our product (otherwise I’d just keep using the Kinesis)

   • Also, I am sure something unexpected will come up here. Otherwise, why would all those other hardware Kickstarters projects ship late? Therefore I think it’s safe to add a month of buffer here.

   • Therefore, I’d expect this process to take ~4 months (assuming 4 iterations)

4. Complete mold production run - Once the molds are done, the manufacturer will produce a “golden sample” demonstrating the final product. When we sign off on that, they will begin mass production.

   • Manufacturer estimate = ~2 months

Then there’s fulfillment and shipping which I expect to add a month. Also to begin the process we’ll need to secure funding from Kickstarter now which will take another month.

Given all this, I expect the following timeline:

• Mid-March 2026 - Kickstarter Campaign

• Mid-April 2026 - Trial Molds & Initial Samples

• July 2026 - Mold Iterations & Quality Refinement

• Nov 2026 - Golden Sample & Mass Production

• Jan 2027 - Fulfillment & Shipping

• Feb 2027 - People receive their orders

I’d like for the first batch to arrive by the holidays but also don’t want to over promise. There must be a good reason why it is so common for hardware projects to run over their timelines. Until we resolve more ambiguity, we’re going to target shipping by early next year based on the above rationale.

The next steps are to finish up the Kickstarter page and launch there so we can kick off the trial mold production. There will be a limited number of discounts and I plan to let people know who are subscribed here first so you can grab one.

Also, I will share regular updates and interesting findings along the way here. As an ex-software engineer, it’s been fascinating learning about how physical products are built at scale. I’ll take you along with me as we build.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan Peterman

And to put my money where my mouth is, I’ve self-funded the entire project so far. When I was employed at Meta, I didn’t think too much about this. Now that I quit, I can’t keep burning my money forever.

Figuring out what to charge so that this project can sustain itself is necessary to make this keyboard a reality.

There are two ways to think about how to price our keyboard:

1. “Top down” - How much do our competitors charge and what do we think is a competitive price given what we’re offering?

2. “Bottoms up” - How much does the keyboard cost to produce?

1) How much do our competitors charge?

For split keyboards with tenting, here are each of our competitor’s costs as of 2/9/26:

1. NUIO /w stands = $597 (this is without palm pads which would add an extra $99)

2. Dygma Raise 2 (wireless version /w tenting) = $539

3. Ultimate Hacking Keyboard 60 v2 (w/ tenting and palm rests)= $539

4. ZSA Voyager = $365

5. KINESIS Freestyle2 w/ tenting kit = $144

This isn’t a fair comparison in my opinion since (2), (3), and (4) are all mechanical keyboards. Mechanical switches do add a lot of cost and as I said they are something we explicitly don’t want.

The NUIO keyboard (1) doesn’t have mechanical switches but is just not in the running at all due to the extreme cost. Even if it was a reasonable price, the non-standard layout isn’t for me.

The KINESIS Freestyle2 (5) is the primary competitor if you want a reasonably priced, standard layout split keyboard. Our keyboard uses more expensive materials (e.g. aluminum body, scissor switches) so our keyboard should cost more than the KINESIS at $144.

That gets us a competitive pricing range from $144 to $365.

I don’t think pricing near the cheapest mechanical keyboard at ~$365 (ZSA Voyager) makes sense. That’s almost a different product category where people are paying a lot because they are mechanical switch enthusiasts.

2) How much does our keyboard cost to produce?

The more I dig into this, the more I realize why people shy away from building physical products and the benefits of selling digital goods.

There are many different costs that go into delivering a finalized keyboard. On a high level there are three categories.

1) Manufacturing cost
The cost of producing a split keyboard is unusually high. Each split keyboard is actually two keyboards in one since the left and right sides need their own custom parts which doubles cost. Couple that with the premium build and each keyboard isn’t cheap to produce.

Besides the cost of the materials and assembly costs, there’s also a bunch of up front cost in here for the tooling, custom molds, designs, and certifications.

2) Tariffs and VAT handling fees
These are all the fees different governments charge when you import products. They vary depending on the region you’re selling in and there are two major buckets to consider where I anticipate customers: US and EU.

US tariffs have changed a lot over the last year. As of now, it seems the latest tariff situation is 0% base rate for keyboards and a 7.5% secondary rate because it’s from China. This is a 7.5% extra cost charged based on the manufacturing cost.

I thought that was bad, then I started reading about how the EU handles imports. There’s a “value added tax” (VAT) which charges ~20% (depending on country) on the retail cost.

Given that, if we sell in the EU we’ll need to charge people more there to cover the VAT.

3) Fulfillment cost
This is the cost of getting the product to you from the manufacturer. There are many options on how to handle this but I see two common models:

1. Ship from China directly to customer (ZSA does this) - Simple since there’s only one warehouse, and country specific taxes are handled by the customer. Shipping will take ~2 weeks with this approach.

2. Freight from China to regional warehouse near customer - Need a warehouse per region (e.g. US + EU) and need to handle country specific taxes up front for the customer which we’d have to bake into the retail price. Shipping can be ~2-3 days with this approach.

Because we only plan to make a limited run focused on quality, the cost of these two approaches is similar. I’m leaning towards shipping from China since it will allow us to support more markets at the expense of shipping taking longer.

To help us decide if we should support markets other than the US, can you answer in the poll below what region you’re from?

Given our cost modeling and what competitors are charging, my current thought is we should aim to retail at $265. My rationale is:

1. That’s $100 cheaper than the cheapest mechanical split keyboard competitor that has tenting and palm pads.

2. It’s higher than the Kinesis because of the premium build but not unreasonably so like the NUIO at $597.

3. It’s not overpriced given we will still lose money on the first batch since a lot of the cost is up front (e.g. development, certifications, tooling/molds).

This is how it should be. If we do a bad job, we’ll lose money and if we do a good job then I hope more people will purchase it in the future so we can recoup the development costs of bringing this keyboard into the world.

For the people who commit for the first batch, I do want it to be special in some way. For instance, I’d like to add a subtle engraving with the unit number perhaps under the palm pad so you can have a “one-of-one” keyboard.

We’ll offer a discount on the Kickstarter as a thank you for people who are early supporters of the project. After that, we’ll sell more they’ll just be regular units without discount.

If you want to get one of those early units or support this project, consider subscribing to this newsletter. I’ll drop the Kickstarter here first soon so you can secure a discount.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan Peterman

We went the extra mile everywhere we could to make something we are proud of. Here are some of the more notable improvements.

1) Removable magnetic palm pads

In my experience, palm pads often get gross and worn fast. For instance, here’s a picture of the palm pads on my Kinesis Freestyle2:

There’s some build up that’s difficult to clean because the palm pad is made of a porous material. They’re also glued on so it’s not easy to remove:

Our solution was to make the palm pad magnetic and removable so it’s easy to replace. We made the palm pads flush with the edges too so your palm won’t touch the aluminum. Here’s a video of our prototype to demonstrate:

2) Battery optimization

The less you need to charge the keyboard the better. Ideally so infrequently that you don’t even think about it. To me that means at least 3 months of battery life for someone who uses it all day long, 7 days a week.

Our initial hardware had just under 3 months of battery life under heavy use. That’s passable but not great. We dug a little deeper and found a way to operate the power intensive parts of our hardware at a lower voltage.

This change extended our estimated battery life by ~68%. This should get us over 5 months of battery life out of a single charge.

3) Extended edge keys

One of our primary design objectives with this keyboard is that you shouldn’t need to learn how to use it. So at minimum, every key should be exactly where you expect it. But we can do better than that.

With a split keyboard and standard layout, there’s a unique space in the center of the keyboard. Here’s an example of how the Kinesis handles that area:

I personally think it looks bad, but also it’s not functional. That space could be used to increase your accuracy. If you miss towards the center you could still hit the keys.

That’s why we lengthened the edge keys. This looks better and gives you more space to hit those keys all while leveraging your existing muscle memory:

4) No “ghosting” or “masking”

If you type quickly you may sometimes notice that cheap keyboards sometimes don’t register the key press. Here’s an example I kept encountering recently. I needed to type “ADE” because they were a guest’s initials on my podcast but “E” didn’t work, video of my Kinesis below:

What’s happening here is “masking”. Most keyboards are wired so that the keys share wires to conserve pins on the chip. If you press multiple keys fast enough, the chip can’t tell which keys you pressed without ambiguity. So the firmware will reject some key presses to avoid making the wrong guess.

If you want to test this out in real life, try pressing down 5+ keys on your keyboard. You’ll notice only a few of the key presses actually get sent to your computer.

We solved this problem by adding a little more circuitry so it’s impossible for an ambiguous key press. This also solves the problem of “ghosting” which is the opposite (a false positive instead of false negative).

These subtle improvements aren’t the type of thing you would notice in daily use. That is by design. If a product works well, you’ll enjoy the subtle benefits you aren’t even aware of.

In another post this week, I’ll break down how we’re thinking about pricing for the keyboard. Note that it will be certainly be cheaper than most of our higher-end competitors people are comparing us to:

1. NUIO /w stands = $597 (this cost doesn’t include palm pads which would add an extra $198)

2. Dygma Raise 2 (wireless version /w tenting) = $539

Thanks for reading,
Ryan Peterman

1. Expensive mechanical keyboards – Well-built, but most have weird layouts I didn’t want. The few with normal layouts cost a lot (like the UHK80 at $429) because of the mechanical keys. I don’t want mechanical keys though because they are noisy (I prefer scissor switches) so paying extra for them didn’t make sense.

2. Cheaper plastic keyboards – These cost less and have familiar layouts. I ended up buying a Kinesis Freestyle2 for $149. It had the features I wanted (split keyboard with tenting) but the design was lacking.

The more I used the Kinesis, the more I wanted a better keyboard that didn’t force me to buy mechanical switches. Today, I’ll show you the keyboard we’re building which improves upon this design.

Problems with the Kinesis

To understand why we built what we did, it’s easiest to show you through the problems in the Kinesis design:

1. Tons of wasted space - There are large sections of exposed plastic on the front for no good reason. Also, there are many keys on this keyboard that I never use. Imagine how much cleaner this keyboard could be without all of the below red spots:

2. Wires add visual clutter and take up a USB port - Because this is a split keyboard, there is a wire between the two sides and one for the computer. Neither is necessary. Also modern devices have limited USB ports which makes plugging in a hassle.
   

3. All-plastic build – It looks and feels cheap.

4. Bulky, plastic tenting legs – The legs are thick and not easy to collapse. This became painfully obvious to me when I tried to travel with my keyboard. Also, the keyboard is $100, but they charge $50 extra for those two pieces of plastic, which feels wrong.
   

Our design

Everything you are about to see is a real picture that we took of the prototype we have built. Let me walk you through how we are solving all the problems above.

No wasted space and completely wireless - We slimmed down everything to just what you need. Keys are in familiar places so you won’t miss any keys. In fact, some keys are even easier to hit because we extended the ones along the edges. There are also no wires anywhere.

Premium aluminum build - I knew I wanted this but I didn’t realize how much better it’d be until I held it in my hands. It feels sturdy and has a satisfying weight to it. I love how it looks too.

Novel, collapsable tenting mechanism - This one I have to give credit to our industrial designer for. While we were brainstorming how to make the legs collapsable he came up with this brilliant idea for a slim tenting mechanism that doubles as a folding case:

It’s tenting or a protective case on demand all while preserving the ultra, low-profile design:

If you’re interested in this keyboard, we’d love your support. The design is done, and we’ve already built the prototype you see above with a manufacturer.

The next step is funding the initial tooling investment needed to make the first batch of keyboards. We’ll do that on Kickstarter, and your orders there will help make it real.

If you join the email list here, you’ll be the first to know when the Kickstarter goes live and can grab one of the limited “early-bird” discounts we’ll list for early supporters.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan Peterman

The best ergonomic keyboard is the one with the minimum amount of ergonomics that you need to prevent pain. There are so many ergonomic features on the market that are not worth it.

Keyboard Layout Changes

There are a ton of different layouts you can get that offer ergonomic benefits. However any layout change that you make better be worth it since you’ll need to unlearn your existing muscle memory. Some popular layouts:

I’ve tried all of these and they were a huge pain because I kept missing keys. I even had a friend who bought a $365 Moonlander keyboard who eventually gave up after trying hard to learn it for 2 months. Missing keys is non-negotiable.

Thumb Clusters and Programmable Layers

Some keyboards add “thumb clusters” which are customizable keys for your thumbs. This lets you replace functions that you reach for by using your thumb.

Some people also program their keyboards so that easy-to-reach keys (e.g. h, j, k, l) turn into arrows or shortcuts when you press an extra “layer” button.

Both ideas sound good but add complexity. You have to learn (and unlearn) your muscle memory, and it ties you to one setup. I didn’t want that, especially since I still use my laptop keyboard in meeting rooms and when traveling.

There are some well-built ergonomic keyboards out there, but the design is often way more ergonomic than is impactful. Plus, I haven’t seen any with the scissor switch keys I love on my MacBook.

What Is Worth It

My right wrist is sensitive to pain from typing because I played too much tennis when I was younger. After having tried pretty much every ergonomic keyboard on the market, I’ve narrowed down the features that have actually reduced my pain. The two most impactful features are:

1. Split keyboard - This lets me straighten out my wrist which removes a majority of the pain (~70-80%) along the side of my wrist. I can feel it immediately.

2. Tenting - I tested removing the tenting. Having to turn my wrists inward to stay unnaturally level with the flat desk adds immediate tension.

With just those two features, most of the upfront pain is gone for me. However, there’s also pain I get after long typing sessions. What I’ve noticed helps most with this kind of pain:

1. Ultra thin keys - My fingers don’t tend to get tired on my Macbook keyboard because the travel distance is insanely low and the keys are super light

2. Palm rests – I tried going a month without palm rests. Without them, your wrists float (especially with tenting), which gets tiring. Also, I missed the first few key presses a lot because my hands weren’t anchored and I don’t look at the keyboard.

I haven’t seen anything on the market with all of these features so I’m building it with a few friends. Hopefully this info was helpful for you to learn whats actually important in an ergonomic keyboard. Right now I’m using a Kinesis Freestyle2 but there’s a lot I wish I could change about it:

If you like your MacBook or laptop keyboard but want it to be split and ergonomic, you might be interested in what we’re building. I’ll keep posting updates on this newsletter as we go and hope to launch on Kickstarter soon. Follow along if you’re interested!

In the coming weeks I’ll reveal the design which to me is one of the most exciting parts of this project.

Best,
Ryan Peterman

For ultra-low profile designs, switches are the most important decision. They determine most of the keyboard’s height.

When I started this project (rationale here), I first considered using mechanical switches. They’re often the premium option because of their reliability and feel. However, mechanical switches have a few problems:

1. They’re loud – Some people like that, but to me it’s more of a nuisance. They bother people nearby and on Zoom calls.

2. Most aren’t low profile – I found one reliable ultra low profile switch (”Cherry MX ULP“), but it was hard to source.

3. Limited sizes – Mechanical switches only come in set sizes. We needed custom-sized arrow keys to match a 75% laptop keyboard layout.

Instead of mechanical switches, we decided to use scissor switches. These are what you see in pretty much every laptop keyboard these days. They are quiet, ultra low profile (~1mm), and can fit our custom key shape requirements.

The issue with scissor switch keyboards though is that you can’t produce them easily unless you go to a manufacturer. It has to do with the way they are put together. Some examples of what makes it hard:

• The switches and keys are too thin to 3d print reliably, so you need molds to produce them

• The switches fit into tiny hooks in the frame that machines assemble best

• Making a flexible PCB and getting the rubber domes for the keys would be hacky to do yourself

Hobbyists can’t solve these problems on their own. Manufacturers, on the other hand, have the machines and the expertise to churn out scissor switch keyboard modules easily.

Because we need manufacturing help to produce this keyboard, I flew to China with a few weeks notice to find manufacturing partners (which is a story for a future post).

Why doesn’t this exist yet?

I think there are a few reasons:

1. Ergonomic split keyboards are niche - For me, the minimum I need to prevent pain is a split keyboard with tenting (or upward tilt from the inside). These exist but are not that common in the broader market.

2. People want mechanical switches - Keyboard enthusiasts tend to want mechanical switches. There’s a whole ecosystem that cares about if a keyboard sounds “thocky”, “creamy” or “clicky.” I don’t care about any of that.

3. Manufacturing hurtles - People who would love an ultra-low profile keyboard don’t want it enough to fly to China and figure out how to build one.

I’m a relatively uncommon user who wants these scissor switches badly enough to try and mass produce a keyboard.

My hope here is that there are enough of us that want this to fund our first mass production run. Consider subscribing to this newsletter to follow along as we build it.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan Peterman

🔸 We will launch on Kickstarter to fund the creation of this keyboard. There will be a limited number of discounted “early-bird” units. People who subscribe to this newsletter will have the option to get one at a discount:

Subscribe now

Playing a lot of tennis when I was young gave me wrist problems. I felt wrist pain when I used to write a lot during college and again when I started working long hours as a full-time software engineer.

Since I still have a long career in software engineering ahead of me, I want to make sure my wrists last. That’s why I’ve been a heavy ergonomic keyboard user for a while now.

After doing a lot of searching, I could never find exactly what I was looking for. My most important criteria are:

• Ergonomics - A split keyboard with tenting. This helps you position your wrists to prevent pain. When I use a keyboard like this, my pain goes away.

• Standard 75% layout (like a MacBook keyboard) - I didn’t want to relearn the keyboard layout I had used my whole life. Many ergonomic keyboards have unusual layouts:

When you look at the available ergonomic keyboards on the market today, many of them are:

• Too ergonomic - See examples above; they are trying to lay out keys to align with the shape of your hand for less strain.

• Not ergonomic enough - Some popular keyboards like this one have a little tenting and are not split. These don’t fix the wrist pain for me:
  

• Poor design and build quality - Keyboards that have the right level of ergonomics are often poorly made, like the Kinesis Freestyle2 (all plastic, lots of wasted space, multiple wires).

Still, I’ve used the Kinesis Freestyle2 since it has a standard layout and just enough ergonomics. It works, but the design and build are bad. Can you imagine Apple or Logitech making something like this? Plus, the plastic legs you need for tenting cost half as much as the keyboard itself. That feels like price gouging.

I did some searching for a better option and never found anything that was perfect. Given that I couldn’t find what I wanted, I decided to build my own ergonomic keyboard.

The Perfect Ergonomic Keyboard

If you weren’t stuck with what’s on the market today, what would the perfect ergonomic keyboard look like? For me, it’s simple:

• Just enough ergonomics - Should have the ergonomic features that make the biggest difference in removing wrist pain without going too far.

• Familiar layout - Should feel as familiar as your laptop keyboard. There should be no learning curve. I always hated trying out new ergonomic keyboards and missing keys. I don’t want to maintain multiple muscle memories for my keyboards.

• Beautiful, minimal design - Should be simple, clean, and entirely wireless. It should be visually appealing to anyone. I’ve always felt like a captive user with ergonomic keyboards. My wrist pain forces me to put up with keyboards that aren’t designed well.

• Portable and quiet - Should be easy to take with you if you’re a hybrid or remote tech worker. Also, the keyboard should be quiet so you can work near others or on Zoom without others hearing you type.

I’ve been working on prototypes of this keyboard with a few friends for a while now, and after several iterations I think we’ve made something special that I can’t wait to share! In the coming weeks, I’ll share pictures of the keyboard and talk more about some of the design decisions we’ve stressed.

We’re a small group of Bay Area tech workers trying to build something special on the side. At this point, we have all the designs complete, but there are going to be some major challenges in figuring out manufacturing from the ground up.

Follow along if you’re interested in the keyboard or just curious to learn about how the next steps in our project go. I’ll be sharing lessons learned along the way as we build this in public.

Thanks for reading,
Ryan Peterman