Successful PRODUCT Development – HERE’S HOW!

This video covers all the risks when designing, prototyping and developing a new product and gives basic information on how to manage these risks to give a product idea a better chance of success. 

Quick Summary

• Tip 1 – Prove it for as little money as possible.
• Tip 2 – Always Design a Minimum Viable Product
• Tip 3 – Patent your Design don’t Design your Patent
• Tip 4 – Design for your Customer Not for Yourself
• Tip 5 – It’s all about the MONEY.

#1. Prove It! For as Little Investment as Possible

Test and try everything as early on as you can in terms of the functional requirements of the product because if there’s something wrong, it really does help to find that out as quickly as possible.

#2. Always Design a Minimum Viable Product

A minimum viable product is a great way of testing your market. Keep it simple, get it out there and once you’ve got the feedback and revenue coming in, you can develop it further. Anything you want to do can wait.

#3. Patent your Design. Don’t Design your Patent.

It is really important to patent your design rather than design your patent. The important part is to create a product that solves a problem and is useful. Not design a product with just the focus of patenting it. You want it to be done right and to be a good product and that should be your priority. If it is patentable at that point, then that’s great but the number one priority should be creating a good product that can have success on the market.

#4. Design for your Customer and not for Yourself.

Sometimes clients come to us with a product that they want to design, in the way that they want to design it, but it’s really important that you always design your product for your target market. Best way to ensure this happens is to do a market lead development process. Whether it’s through online surveys, focus groups or interviews. Make sure you’re designing a product that your customer really wants.

#5. It’s all about the Money!

The final tip on how to minimise your risk through the innovation process is to focus on the money. You really need to ensure you don’t run of cash before you’ve either launched your product and you’ve got enough budget left for marketing to start to get some sales coming through so you’re getting some return on investment. Or you’ve got your product to a point where it’s investable and you can bring in some outside funds to complete the product development and get your product to launch.

Whether you’re a start-up with a new innovative product, or an SME with an existing range that you would like to refresh. Get in touch today and we can discuss your requirements.

Links for further info on each tip:

• Tip 1 – Prove it for as little money as possible.
• Tip 2 – Always Design a Minimum Viable Product
• Tip 3 – Patent your Design don’t Design your Patent
•  Tip 4 – Design for your Customer Not for Yourself
• Tip 5 – It’s all about the MONEY.

D2M Innovation is a full-service product design agency based in Cheltenham. We work with start-ups and SMEs to design and develop market-leading products for our clients. Unlike other product design firms, we specialise in textile product development with hard goods integrations.