I have an idea for a product that I think it is remarkable it’s not already a thing. It would be easy to make and produce, and I imagine manufacturing would be cheap, but could be sold at a decent price.
I know I’ll need a designer or engineer to help me with a virtual design. I’ll also need a programmer as the product is a “smart” product and would link back to an app. So I’d need an app dev and someone to program the functionality of the device.
So assuming I get all that, then what? How does one get something like this manufactured, assuming it gets that far? I have a potential source from which I could get a business loan, but would at least need a virtual mockup and a plan.
I would love to see this become a reality but it feels daunting and I have no idea how to make it all come together. Any insight from the lemmings is much appreciated.
Edit: I’ve seen some prototyping and invention help companies, but they feel skeevy and Id have no doubt the terms end up with most of the profit going to them.
Ideas are incredibly cheap. It’s absolutely unlikely that no one ever had your idea. It’s even likely that someone had your idea and it failed, and you don’t/can’t even know about it because no one bothered to record the failure.
Other people have mentioned all kinds of ambitious/proper ways to do this. I’ve got a different view: if you truly think this will work, do a basic version yourself.
Learn basic blender, design 3D printed parts yourself and let someone print them. Use some app builder and tutorials, or hire a programmer for a very rudimentary prototype work. Buy generic electronics. Just get it working once. Then show it to people, let them use it, ask if they would buy it, preferably let them sign a slip of paper not to talk about this product or compete with it (there are standard NDA/non-compete contract clauses online available) or talk to people you can trust.
If you do all this and get positive feedback, then you can start doing this properly and get more people on it, like the other commenters mentioned.
For some reason, commenters are focusing on patenting your product. But products as a whole are very seldom patentable. More often, one or more features of a product may be patentable, but there’s a fair chance that your product won’t have any patentable features, either. Since you haven’t told us anything at all about your product (a toaster? a time machine?), we couldn’t begin to guess if it’s patentable. In fact, for all we know, your product might violate others’ existing patents.
Well for one thing - document heavily on the idea of the product. This is a must. Figure out your target audience - who or what is this for? Figure out an rough draft of costs and ideas how much you’d like to have sold this for.
And then once you figure all of that out, you’re going to need to file a patent.
Wherever and however this idea of yours will come about, these are the kind of things that are important to deal with.
Thanks for all the advice and responses. Sounds like anything coming to fruition is pretty unlikely, as I don’t have $100k to work with. The product was a programmable wall/ceiling mounted laser pointer for cats. Could map your space, design patterns, and maybe have some tracking to keep the laser in front of your pets and avoid it shining in their eyes. The controller app would connect via Bluetooth so it’d be local and no personal data like video or mapping would get stored, as I wanted to emphasize privacy.
Maybe someone more qualified can do something with it. Or Amazon will build it. Idc, it’s just something I’d like and thought it was a pretty good idea. One that, admittedly, I probably won’t do the work required to actually make.
I’m not part of the target audience as I don’t have a cat, but I don’t see the value in this over a cheap red laser pointer. Automatizing play with your pet sounds super dehumanizing, like, you can’t even be bothered to spend 5 minutes entertaining your pet?
like, you can’t even be bothered to spend 5 minutes entertaining your pet?
And this is the method of play that requires the least amount of effort since you only need to press a button and flick your wrist around.
That said I might buy something like this just because I like to nerd out on electronics like this.
I can, but we’re gone at work all day. Having something that can engage them when they want would be very useful. We play with them, but I think it’s a bit of a generalization to say it’s dehumanizing or we can’t make the time. There’s nothing wrong with wanting an additional thing besides myself to enrich my pets lives.
Edit: also, the angles. Our home is narrow and so to give them a good workout it requires a lot of moving around and holding the laser pointer over my head to get a good angle on it. Clearly you don’t have a cat, cause it’s 20-30 minutes when I bust it out, not 5. They fucking love the thing. Having something that knows the bounds of the space and can move through it smoother and more consistently than I can would be great.
FYI
Laser light play alone, however, does not allow cats to complete the hunting sequence; cats cannot ‘catch’ the prey. It has been suggested that this might trigger frustration and stress, both of which can contribute to compulsive behaviors.
Yes, I’ve seen this before. Well not this specific article, but the idea that the laser pointer doesn’t give them that tactile satisfaction. Again, we do play with our cats with lots of touch toys. Just thought this may be a fun other toy.
The biggest issue with the idea is power. Needing a bunch of batteries or a wall plug to keep this thing spinning a few different motors, and possibly a camera with a computer running depending on features mentioned here. This would likely only run for a few hours on battery.
Yeah, that’s something I’ve been trying to work out. I was thinking it would be plugged in and included those wall covering tracks in the package, but ultimately that’s no solution. And if it’s mounted getting it down to charge or replace batteries doesn’t make much sense.
Most niche/novelty electronic devices like this give you a USB port and a 1M USB cable and make you figure the rest out on your own.
I’d also like to add that even if something isn’t super feasible to build out as a product, this could be an amazing opportunity for you to create something and learn some new skills. There are electronics platforms like arduino that are easy and approachable for you to design your own hobbyist level circuitry. I used it when building out a company more than a decade ago, and it got us through our proof of concept phase.
Writing apps is also getting more approachable, and you could potentially build something yourself and learn a bunch of new stuff, and you might be a bit more prepared when the next idea strikes. 🙂
You should find a startup incubator of whatever is the equivalent around you.
You have a product idea, it’s great but is just the start. I’m sure 10 other people got up this morning with the same idea. What matters is what you do with this idea.
Now you need to learn how to refine this idea and turn it into a business and for that you need help. This is exactly what startup incubators are here for.
10+ years experience in product design here. There is nothing about a “simple” product that is cheap or easy. Say you hire a design engineering firm to design it, who is going to make the parts? Have you ever worked with manufacturing in Asia? Who is going to assemble it? Who deals with the inevitable issues?
Then you have to think about selling it. What certifications do you have to get?
That is just hardware, now repeat many of these same questions for firmware and app development.
Now you have a product, what are the customers and who do you need to hire to market and sell to them? Assuming someone is interested in purchasing it how much money do you have to pay for all the product up front and warehouse it?
There is a damn good reason why so many Kickstarter projects never actually ship. Hardware is hard even if you know what you are doing.
you’ll probably need to talk to some people about it before you secure patent protection. whenever this comes up, have people you talk to sign a non disclosure agreement first. talking about your idea outside of an NDA would most likely be considered public disclosure and could limit your ability to get a payment for it.
talk to a patent attorney
I would first enquire if this idea can be patented. This could ensure your intellectual property remains with you. This should be your first step, I think. Also, are you able to prototype this yourself?
This question is really wide. You’ll have to narrow down what the challenge really is.
Start by doing a mind map on a piece of paper.
You’ll need one for the product, but you’ll also need one for the business.
Once our have the entire idea spread out like that, you can start researching the things you don’t know or contact people who do know those specifics.
First: make a prototype. If you can not do it, learn how.
No, really, just a basic minimum viable product. As you said, it should be simple. If some things are over your head, find someone to do these things for you.
Prototype manufacturing is cheap these days with services like JLCPCB or JLCNC.
