Conceiving, designing and bringing to life a new product can be challenging and risky. Many times the product idea we conceive of ends up changing some as we work through the engineering and testing process. After many years of product development, including successes and failures, we’ve developed these 20 steps which we follow on any of our own products:
Non Disclosure: Never share your concept online or with others without an NDA. This is important for the patent filing!
Project Overview: Customers and partners generally give us an overview of their idea. Sketches and notes are fine but we can also just listen and document as we go.
Estimate: We always try to provide an estimate for our clients ahead of time. While there are many unknowns, we can approximate scale and scope early on.
Agreement and Downpayment: We work as an extension of your team. We only do what you need and want us to do. We bill for actual time and materials and are affordable and fair compared to adding a team of electrical, mechanical and software engineers to your business.
Stakeholder Map & Market Evaluation: We use Stanford’s Design Thinking Model to map user needs and project stakeholders, helping to define a better product.
Version 0.1 Concept: Using flow diagrams, use cases and product concepts we develop and all agree on a concept.
Test Product & Dev Environment: How can we design, mock-up or otherwise test the core technology or design early on? What is the development environment? We use Slack to communicate as a team and will invite you to participate if you’d like. All source code and schematics are stored in Google Drive and Github.
Software and Hardware Architecture: What are the key applications, functions, power needs, motors, nuts, and bolts required? How will they work together?
Patent Search: Who is doing something similar and do they own the intellectual property? We like to have a prior art roadmap early on and then be free to invent and create.
Go/No Go Meeting: Sometimes products won’t work. It’s rare. But we’d rather know early on than invest the bulk of your engineering budget on something that isn’t feasible.
Website/social media: While you shouldn’t show your product yet, it is important to start early on building a brand and gathering potential pilot customers.
MVP Built: Minimum Viable Product – let’s make one and test it. It will be large and clunky potentially, but this is where the fun starts!
MVP Tested: There is no substitute for letting people try it out. We have a range of testing options including online and in-person focus groups.
Refinements: What did we learn and what is not working?
File Patent: We now know what the final invention will be. It’s time to get the patent process started if needed. We have attorney partners or use your own. We provide a patent discovery form which any lawyer can start with.
Kickstarter: It’s not a free marketing channel. But it’s a great way to test the market and raise money for engineering and manufacturing.
Full Prototype: You’ll need a version that is pretty close to the final to film and fully test and break through use.
Manufacturing: We have a number of partners we work with for large and small scale manufacturing. We do all of our prototyping and light manufacturing in Longmont, Co!
Q/A: Testing. Is the product compliant? Do we need to get it certified or registered? Does it work correctly over a large sample?
Logistics: How will your product be assembled and packaged? Who ships it out? How will instructions and support and customer returns work? What about insurance and pricing strategies?
LAUNCH!