What is the angle to take for a new product idea in order to get from the manufacturer, to the product vendor and end-user?

There are a few things to keep in mind with physical good startups: small batch vs. large batch production: the economics and logistics are materially different at scale, meaning your early runs will possibly be very expensive.  Plan for this you probably need a bunch of sample products for demos: unlike a tech startup where you can walk someone through UX wireframes or some skeleton code digitally, a lot of people need to see a thing to understand its value.  So you will likely need to produce some product up front working capital (aka days payable aka cash flow death): one thing you have to be cautious about, even in getting pre-orders, is the payment terms of your contract.  I have rarely seen a situation where a large or medium entity pays a vendor up front - its usually X days after delivery.  Which means you will need to have cash up front to execute the deal, get the goods, and carry the company for a period of time after the goods are delivered before you get your cash windfall.  Credit cards are ok for this, but depending on scale, you may not want to use personal credit There are many platforms that allow you to raise a little get started money without a product (crowdfunding, some of the peer to peer lending sites, etc).  Those can be good places to start to pull together some startup capital.  Aside from that, perhaps a small friends and family loan or some side consulting projects to fill the coffer before launch Hope this helps some.

Hi Jeff you are right... I am new to this and am learning about business and product whole sale little by little. This site I just found and realized that it is a great tool to get these questions answered. I did just blab my head out all at once. lol I will help you understand with your reply which is great information by the way. 1- Yes I have IP with this product I am starting for my industry. I have worked in the tv business for 11 years now and have developed a product for my industry. I have designed the product with a business partner with a CAD program and as well made several prototypes. I then filed for a provisional patent and will move forward with the non provisional patent after I know this product is going to be purchased in my industry. As of now I have completed several industry focus groups and have received great feedback about this product. I have thought about licensing out this product idea but want to make the most out of what I really feel is going to be an industry standard and really take off and want to take a full ride with my baby! 2- Yes I have been in the tv industry for 11 years and have develop strong relationships with major venders, rental companies and studio heads. I feel confidant in being able to reach out to these venders and or be connected through others in a network. 3- this is a great thought and am not sure what this type of experience would cost us as a start up business? We are looking to manufacture at a small quantity like 200 to 1000 units and trickle out the product to gauge the industry feed back prior to hitting the major market and manufacturing 50,000 units or more. these first runs of product will be manufactured in smaller companies by multiple manufactures and assembled and packaged by us at the beginning. 4- I have been in contact with allot of my venders already asking them about existing product sales on the product that is completely outdated and has not evolved until my product design. I am taking these numbers and gauging how my product will be able to be marketed in to these companies to basically wipe out the old standard and replace with my new standard. I am half way through my business plan for this product idea and it has beens a very good experience so far as I am learning a lot about the tv industry and how to market my product. My business partner and I are willing to put in the hard work ad time to be sure this product hits the market and does a massive take over in to the tv and film industry. I also want to be proud of the contribution I have made to my industry along with some huge returns I hope! Like I stated earlier in my original questions I am still wondering the best way to get my product manufactured and have the product paid for. Not sure if I have to front the money then reach out to the venders or reach out to the venders and see if they would do a pre order and pay in full at a lower cost for the first production run? Thank you so much for your reply it all helps me through this process that is not my expertise as I am just a guy in my field that has a great idea that i am just trying to get out to the market!

I would invest the money during your first run. If you are pioneering a new product, then you need to take majority of the risk. To be successful, the vendor needs immediate access to your product, at any given time. If the vendor has 3 leads of interested end users, and they give you your first PO, you better deliver soon. There's nothing worse then not delivering your product. It kills all the buzz you generated. I wouldn't worry about discounts, because all you'll do is screw up your pricing structure in the future. A Satisfaction or Money Back Guarantee over a set amount of time is good enough. Whenever I am responsible for pioneering a new product, I first go to my Distributors and physically bring in the product. They immediately provide feedback on whether than can stock and move inventory, or not. They usually always ask for samples, or want me to make joint sales calls on End Users. I never get asked for a special discount because they have no idea what the current pricing is anyways. What they do want, is an exit plan. So I usually have a Guarantee to Sell on the original PO. In return, I put pressure on my vendor to sell, to make them accountable, as well. You might have to do a lot of legwork to sell through your vendor, right down to the end user. Whatever it takes to make that original PO inventory to sell out, and get that re-order.

I was once in your shoes and started with an idea for a simple product. Let me share some of my experience: Fast forward through design and working prototype, I got a major retail chain (Apple Store) to agree to carry my first products (accessories for Apple's products) after I showed them some working prototypes. I lined up a distributor who supplies retailers worldwide - easily since I already had a retailer willing to buy. I asked the distributor for his advice on how many I should manufacture - he didn't really know how popular the product was going to be, so I asked how long 5,000 units would take to sell (which was the minimum run by most factories in China) - he said it would probably take a year, so that's what I planned around. I had used a company in Silicon Valley to help make the prototype printed circuit boards. That company also had connections to factories in China and got a quote for me for manufacturing 5,000 units. I had to hire a small engineering firm to make testing fixtures for the factory - this is critical for quality control that you provide the test tools and testing protocol. I had a choice to pay for tooling up front (plastic injection moulds) and a lower per unit cost, or to basically amortize the cost of tooling across a number of units I was willing to guarantee the factory. Since I had only want to commit to 5,000 units, it made no difference in this particular case. I only had to pay the factory when the units were made and ready to ship. You may be able to negotiate different terms. When the first production units were ready to ship, I informed my distributor and he in turn got the orders from the retailers for their first orders. I was fortunate that the very first orders nearly consumed the entire 5,000 units - so between the time I had to pay the factory and my receiving payment from my distributor was only like a month or two. (This is where good cash flow management and working capital are required for larger volumes and/or higher cost products). These first products (two models) sold many times that initial factory order and was decently profitable.

Do you know what the processing it should be?If it is made of metal, do you know what the processing it should be? If not sure, do you have samples or prototypes available? All manufacturers custom make parts as per samples or prototypes or 3D drawings. If you have more than one samples/protoypes available, you can send one to the manufacturer to know whether it is in their field.For us, if it is not within our capabilities, we can usually help to transfer the sample/prototype to other factories as per the customer's request. Metals are usually made by die casting(it is also called metal injection molding or MIM), stamping, or extruding.If it is made of plastic, they can usually be made by plastic injection molding, blow molding, rotocasting, extruding, rotational molding,etc. Also, plastic injection molding is the widest used method. For which processing, it depends on the design or constructure of the part. If you are not sure, come to us for help. For any assistance, you can get in touch with me: sales01(at)rpimoulding(dot)com   Vicky Liu from Respon Plastic Industrial Co., Ltd. in Xiamen,China