Patent Pending prototype to market

Don't rush bringing your product to market. First do your market research and spend time prototyping until you end up with a product that:

• Works
• The market likes the look of
• You are legally allowed to sell
• Can be made at a low enough cost to reach the end‐customer (via your chosen market channel) at a price that the market will accept

Product development

Start by creating functional prototypes. These are very affordable, as they are designed to be 3D‐printed. We like Idaho Russet ‐ product designers and engineers that specializes in making functional prototypes:

Photorealistic posters developed during the functional prototyping phase are effective for closed‐group initial market research.

Designing for manufacture comes at a later stage. Only consider entering this phase when you have clarified the "maximum manufactured product cost".

Market research

Start with closed‐group market research.

Tips:

• Don't ask your friends and family - they like you, and everything you do … hopefully
• Don't let the group know that the product is yours
• Ask "would you buy the product?" instead of "do you like the product?"
• Ask "how much would you pay for the product?"
• Ask "what are your concerns?"
• Ask "what would you add / change?"

You can use photorealistic posters for this purpose. Photorealistic posters, which are rendered from a CAD file, show the "final product" (made of any material and in any colour) and cost only a few hundred Dollars.

Make sure the closed‐group signs non‐disclosure agreements (NDAs).

After designing the product with the end‐customer price point in mind, conduct further market research using pre‐production prototypes. Only thereafter invest in tooling.

If your further market research uses an open‐group, get a Patent Pending Number before disclosing your product.

Channel to market

Your channel to market will dictate your "maximum manufactured product cost". The ratio of manufactured product cost to end‐customer sales price decreases as your channel evolves from direct sales via your own website to:

• Sales direct to retailers
• Sales to retailers via distributors
• Sales to direct marketing companies (e.g. "as seen on TV")

Legal restrictions

If your product is electrical, consider the applicable "Standards". Certification may be required. Also, consider information that the law obliges you to add to the packaging - this is particularly relevant for foodstuffs.