Manufacturing/Sourcing:

This part of your journey encompasses a few other categories from your prototype, to your design, to the chemical composition. We recommend you start somewhere…even if you make a homemade prototype, and ask a manufacturing to make for you a sample. We recommend negotiating with a potential manufacturer, to make for you a couple of samples before you have tooling done. You want to check functionality very carefully before ordering expensive tooling to make your product. Yes, you will pay for tooling.

We don’t recommend telling them exactly what your product is used for. Once they understand the product, and its application, they might want to copy it. Keep as little as possible disclosed at the beginning of your exploratory journey. Your product may be composed of the few already existing materials. You might want to seek out similar product manufacturer for negotiation and leverage. Manufactures usually allow much room for negotiation. Sometimes hiring a middleman, a sourcing agent, would be beneficial to lower cost of manufacturing.

Usually a local sourcing agent is best. One, who speaks the language and understands the culture. Keep in mind, initially the manufacturer will be very costly. You must start somewhere! You could source more later, after you’ve tested your market a little.