Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Dear Tom,

It's probably not a question of do you need a prototype,
it's more the case of what kind of prototype you need.

If I'm your buyer or your investor and you come to my office,
what will you show me? Just a patent form? Will that be impressive enough? Will that alone sell your idea and make me want to hear
more or get involved.

Probably not.

There are lots of contributors on this forum who have MASSES more experience with this than I do, but I'll tell you this: to engage your customer—whether that person is a maker, or an investor, you need something to show off.

A prototype could be a highly detailed rendering and a series of cross sections. But even better is an actual physical thing people can hold in their hands, weigh, pass around a table, and make comments on.

To do this you'll need to hand drawings to someone who can then feed that information into a scanning system that then maps the proposed surface area of your toy. From this the system can then create a three dimensional image. The great thing about these systems is that the image can then be fed into a lathe and pretty much sculpted from
a solid block of substrate.

Welcome, to the world of rapid prototyping!

I know of a company in the mid west that makes precast building sections from milled blocks of styrofoam. I know of a foundry just outside Philadelphia that can take a real time scan of any size model, scale that up, and do the same thing out of HUGE blocks of foam from which then then make final molds and into which they cast in bronze. The process is simply stunning!

Here are some resources that migth be of further interest:

https://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/rapid.htm

https://www.empireprototype.com/rapid_prototyping_cnc/rapid_prototyping_cnc...

https://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/new_product_devt_prototyping.ht...

https://www.buildmyproduct.com

https://www.moellerdesign.com/home.htm

www.tarlowdesign.com

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Depending on what you want to do with the product/concept, you probably need a prototype AND a rough business plan, including some evidence that someone might want to purchase the product.

If you need help structuring a simple concept test (using just an illustration of the product) let me know via email, using the contact information in my profile. It doesn't make sense to create a prototype until you have a sense of whether the concept is attractive/appealing to your target audience.

A prototype (not just one, but many) will prove that your idea is well-loved. No one cares about your pet toy design. But if every time you introduce prototypes to pets (your local pet shelter, for example), the pets go wild for it - you've now got not just an idea, but a story (aka proof). That's what investors will be looking for (along with a business plan that Michael mentions).