Any sex-toy developers? A long-shot I'm sure...

[Vigilante]

@Walter Hay has a megathread on here about sourcing products directly from manufacturers (in China or otherwise) and might have some specific experience in this industry.

@Vigilante might have some pointers about licensing and what kind of protections/patents you might want if you're going to explore this route.

Competition is stiff, so I might suggest you consider poking around before you dive in. Take it slow. You might have a hard time if you start out with a weak hand. Experience is the best teacher here. I would avoid inserting yourself in unknown wells. Are you thinking of doing this by yourself, or with a partner or two? Solo is probably the way to go. Charge up your batteries and commit to sticking in there for the long haul. You're not the first jockey to ride this horse, but you have a chance to do it big. Don't expect to get everything right the first time. Trust your feelings. Make sure though that unbridled passion doesn't overrule using your head.

 

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[Marigold]

I'm Emma.

I "invented" (using that term loosely) a sex-toy related piece of equipment based on initially my need and then from doing some research I see there are other people with the same idea.

It's not so much a toy as an accompaniment - your mind is probably wondering WTF that is?

Anyway, I saw there's a sex-toy entrepreneur who managed to fund through indiegogo two or three major sex toys and he's obviously very successful.

He offers consult calls but my gut instinct was that telling a guy already successful in making toys about a toy might not be the smartest move.

Anyhow. I need this thing made. Don't even ask me what a 3D printer is because I haven't a clue. I don't know how to prototype - this is my next move research wise.

I'm sticking my hands right up here to say that I am doing everything all at once because a) I'm ignorant and b) I'm excited (not like that).

I have a name for my thing. I have a website (not built but reserved) and I have an instagram account.

WHAT'S THE DAMN QUESTION, EMMA???

I just wondered if anyone on here had experience or advice in this field - making a toy, not masturbation in general. Or any pointers as to prototype makers and developers?

Thanks in advance.

Emma

 

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[AgainstAllOdds]

• Get some sort of provisional patent.
• Fly out here: CHINA ADULT-CARE EXPO

Two steps. Then start talking to manufacturers and what it would cost to develop your product.

All sorts of weird shit at that trade show. I'm sure you'll find someone capable of creating your product, and they'll walk you through the steps and costs.

 

[RazorCut]

Oh another alternative is to licence your idea for a royalty. Can potentially be more lucrative than trying to sell the item yourself if you find the right company to partner with.

Just google Stephen Key for info on that.

-

 

[Vigilante]

I have done about 20 license deals over the years (maybe less, I didn't count). But, here's what I think :

1. You are in an unbranded category
2. There are very few companies that would be license candidates
3. They all probably have 100 products on the drawing board that they haven't built yet
4. There is little barrier to entry into generic products in this field
5. You talked with someone in the space, that knows more than you and I do, that makes money mentoring, and he wouldn't take you on

Here's my takeaway. This isn't going to license.

So, copy his roadmap. Croudfund the startup.

A lot of people look at licensing as a shortcut to riches. Someone will take my idea, run with it, and send me money every month.

Does that happen? Yes. Does lightning strike? Yes. Are there about a MILLION sex toy ideas people have that have never been manufactured? Yes.

I don't think you are going to license it. Here's where my OPPOSITION to my license thread comes in. Everyone's got an idea, and not everyone is capable of making it happen.

I have had relatives over the years bounce their ideas by me. One of them was a toilet seat that you step on a lever on the ground (like an automatic garbage can lid raiser). The guy wanted me to take his idea, run with it, and when I made millions on his brilliance, give him millions. His share.

Here's where the rubber (pardon the pun) meets the road. Nobody cares. You are in a tough category to ever get anyone to care, and you might spend two years trying to find someone to care and never find it.

So what do you do? Go around the obstacle. Go over it, go under it. Door closes, find a window. You CAN do it. I just don't think it is going to be a license deal. The license deals I have had were all natural fits. They all paired a perfect brand with a perfect product. NONE of them were "I have this idea... now I want someone else to make it happen and pay me."

Everyone has ideas. Everyone has a sketch on the back of a napkin. The difference between Sarah Blakely and you? She DID IT. She thought she had a better solution, so she brought it to market. Now she's a guest shark on shark tank.

If you believe this product is an answer to a problem, then bring it to market AND THEN someone will pay you for it. One concern I have for you is you know about zero about the industry you are embarking in. Spend some time as a student of the industry first, and really study product trends, marketing trends, manufacturing, and market share. Then and only then would you be ready to really invest your time and money into something as complicated as what you have on the table in front of you.

My .2 cents. Take it for what it is worth. Do I think you could do it? Yes. Do I think you will do it? Mmmmm... not sure yet.

 

[RazorCut]

And if you're up for a laugh let me see if I can attach a copy of my drawing so far ha ha ha

OMG, maybe you need to get a friend who is a better artist to do the 2D sketches first. Does it come back if you throw it? lol

In answer to your question you don't usually need a patent if you go the licensing route so it is not an expensive process but does take work to research (to see if your idea is patentable and to find suitable companies to approach).

The benefit is once you have done a deal it becomes a passive income stream so allows you to move on to the next project unhindered.

The downside is you could *potentially* earn more money by manufacturing and distributing it yourself.

 

[Xavier X]

Hardcore Pun

 

[Vigilante]

That's very helpful, thank you.

You're right, I didn't want to go the whole hog with it. Now I need to give consideration as to whether I love it enough to see it through.

Thanks!

And a good introspection on your part.

Looks like this.

If you aren't willing to go 100% in (all your money, time, resources, risk)

nobody else will.

If it's that good, you would. But very few things in life are no brainers. I have been very, very wrong some times.

So proceed with a TON OF RESEARCH. Research is only a function of time. Study, study, study and that will help you make your decisions.

I was talking with a friend the other day who was looking for an investor, but my friends money... was in the bank.

Why should an investor invest when my friend wanted his money safe? Answer... he didn't sell out to his idea.

He was willing to give up capital percentage to mitigate his own risk. He must not have believed very much in it.

 

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[RazorCut]

Seems to me you need to draw it out so that someone can create a 3D model (hire one on Upwork or Peopleperhour etc.) then send it to a 3D printing company (after discussing the physical qualities of the material you require)

Does it require any electrics?

He offers consult calls but my gut instinct was that telling a guy already successful in making toys about a toy might not be the smartest move.

Yeah probably not a smart move.

-

 

[amp0193]

Competition is stiff, so I might suggest you consider poking around before you dive in. Take it slow. You might have a hard time if you start out with a weak hand. Experience is the best teacher here. I would avoid inserting yourself in unknown wells. Are you thinking of doing this by yourself, or with a partner or two? Solo is probably the way to go. Charge up your batteries and commit to sticking in there for the long haul. You're not the first jockey to ride this horse, but you have a chance to do it big. Don't expect to get everything right the first time. Trust your feelings. Make sure though that unbridled passion doesn't overrule using your head.

#featuredpost

 

[Marigold]

UPDATE:

So I'm 2/3rds of the way through the book (One Simple Idea Stephen Key) and it's AMAZING. I'm following it to the letter.

I attempted to make a prototype (after a glass of wine) MOST RIDICULOUS THING YOU'VE LITERALLY EVER SEEN. But fun. And actually when I tried to test it I realised the whole design was flawed.

When I did some additional research I discovered that my 'invention' is basically three existing inventions rolled into one. So that's brilliant.

I've now got a bunch of pictures sent to a guy on FIVERR to try and mock up my idea so I can visualize it better.

I still have to work out some design challenges but I'm super stoked because I legit know this is a thing and have pored over the reviews of competitor items on Amazon.

I've gone from basically believing there isn't a chance in F*ck of me being able to pull this off (ALLLL THE PUNS!) to a I might actually be able to make this happen. Which is GREAT.

 

[Longinus]

I know somebody who's into this business. If you're planning to manufacture in China, expect massive headaches with customs and inspection for every shipment. This makes it a high barrier to enter for competitors, but it's something you must deal with.

 

[Raoul Duke]

She's Chinese and a trader of Chinese sex toys. It's a hard product (no pun) in general, high return rates also. Pretty sure you will find alternatives, but perhaps it's still worth the headache to get them from China.

Spoiler: i like where this is heading

 

[WJS]

Thanks! Luckily it doesn't require any electrics but in all honesty I've no idea how it really works because I'm not mechanically oriented shall we say.

I mean, I know how I wanted to work I just don't know how somebody would make that happen with plastic? Does that make sense?

@Calvert79 since your product doesn't require any electrical parts you should totally make a prototype yourself. It will be very useful for you whether you want to license it out to companies or produce it yourself in the future. At this stage you probably don't need to engage a 3D printer yet.

Check out InstaMorph (you can get it from Amazon at at a very cheap price). It's a plastic resin that turns into jello-like material in warm water and turns solid when it's cool. You might need to buy a few packets of them, depending on how big your product is. Mould it with your hands like how you would with clay, wait for it to cool, and voila, you have your crude prototype! You can make multiple different parts and glue them together, and paint them with colours or mix them with paint powders. Best of all, InstaMorph can be reshaped over and over again so it will come in very handy for you (pun not intended, lol)

 

[Roli]

It's not so much a toy as an accompaniment - your mind is probably wondering WTF that is?

Actually the second I read it, I immediately imagined what it is.

Then I saw your drawings and I was like; WTF?!?!????

Let me just say this thread has brought a smile to my face, and @RazorCut has given some really golden advice.

Please turn this into a progress thread, I have to know how this turns out!

Special mention to @Vigilante, with such smutty, childish, and silly double innuendos like that, you could pass for an Englishman! Well played sir!

 

[Marigold]

Seems to me you need to draw it out so that someone can create a 3D model (hire one on Upwork or Peopleperhour etc.) then send it to a 3D printing company (after discussing the physical qualities of the material you require)

Does it require any electrics?



Yeah probably not a smart move.

-

Thanks! Luckily it doesn't require any electrics but in all honesty I've no idea how it really works because I'm not mechanically oriented shall we say.

I mean, I know how I wanted to work I just don't know how somebody would make that happen with plastic? Does that make sense?

And if you're up for a laugh let me see if I can attach a copy of my drawing so far ha ha ha

 

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[Rearden]

Hi @Calvert79
I can help you. I am mentioned a couple times in One Simple Idea, I presently work with Stephen the author. I would love to help out in any way I can.
First thing I do after you get done with the book is build your list of companies while doing research on competitive products to understand your competitive advantage.

 

[Longinus]

Forum members be like:

 

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[Autoblow2]

Hi Calvert79, I'm Brian Sloan the guy you contacted via Clarity.fm. I get an alert anytime my name appears online so I found this thread. I have an old account I made back in 2014 here!

There is a lot of good information from other people on this thread about how to get started, but to be totally honest, I don't like when people contact me asking questions they can find the answers for online or by reading books or by taking actions they haven't taken yet but should have. I like when people come to me (and actually had many free Clarity calls with such people) when they already have a clearly developed plan of action and want me to share experiences with them.

Example: "Hi, I have prototyped my new sex toy, applied for a patent, and have been struggling to find a factory to make it for me. I dealt with 1 factory so far but it seems they are stringing me along, and I'm not sure when I should give up on them and move to another factory."

Or, "I've been working on a sex toy prototype and I think a good way to start selling it would be to get it into a chain store near me called xxxxxxxx. What is the best way to approach a big sex toys chain to get them to want to talk to me?"

One of the other members here pointed out that you should attend the sex toys expo in Shanghai. That is true, and when other people interested in the industry have contacted me and I find out they don't know about the Shanghai show, I do not consider them serious and I do not spend my time helping. I have spent a bunch of time on the phone with people I don't know sharing my experiences and love to do so just because I think its fun and interesting and I feel I can make a positive impact. But if you didn't yet google "sex toys trade show china" and find that the first result is the only important sex toys trade show in the world, then I don't feel my time input into helping will be impactful.

For the sake of the others on this thread, I will get a bit more into the licensing issue and I'll use my current product that's on Indiegogo (Autoblow A.I.) as an example to explain why I think no one will license your idea and why I think it doesn't make sense in general. First to the guy earlier in the thread who said he has licensed product ideas/patents to companies, I'd love to get on a call with you and talk about it, not because I want to do it but because I'm really curious the circumstances under which you have been able to do so, and perhaps there's something I can share with you that you will also find interesting.

The development cycle for Autoblow A.I. was 3 full years and its not done yet. There is no "idea" that is a part of the device that I couldn't have paid for from the engineers I hired or come up with myself. If someone came to me with the entire idea of the completed product with drawings and everything, even that would be of limited utility because the real value isn't just from the concept (good engineers are paid to come up with such concepts), its making it manufacturable. I won't tell you what my Autoblow A.I. will cost to make per piece, but frankly half the innovation in the product comes from the fact that my factory figured out how to make it for the cost we're going to pay them for it. Without hitting our cost target, it will be too expensive to sell in stores. That is why Fleshlight Launch for example, the closest competing product, isn't in stores and loses a lot of volume in sales. It's too expensive to produce making the retail price (if sold in brick and mortar stores) too high.

The idea for the product itself is such a tiny part of its success in the market that it's just not worth dealing with someone over it. I didn't even mention the marketing costs and experience necessary to make people want to buy the product. I could launch Autoblow A.I. with a different name and different marketing and without the A.I. part and no one would want to buy it, even though it does the same thing. Licensing an idea doesn't even touch upon all of this experience necessary to make people choose it over competing products.

I know one case in the sex toys industry of a large distributor who did license a male sex toy from an inventor. But the inventor was a mechanical engineer and supported the distributor through the manufacturing process, giving constant feedback on the development and frequently interfacing with the factory. He didn't supply an idea and go away, he became an integral part of the development cycle and the distributor needed his involvement to bring the product to market. I don't know what he gets out of the deal but frankly he could have made a LOT more money if he fully invented the device himself, put in the time to learn how to make it in China, and then brought the finished product to the distributor for them to buy from him.

This was a very long way of saying that I don't believe in shortcuts (or only in very rare cases) when it comes to making money from inventing things. For me that meant living in China for 10 years and learning how to speak (medium level) Chinese, but more importantly, understanding Chinese culture.

If you are serious about making a sex toy, get serious about making a sex toy and put your all of your time and most of your money into it. Crowdfunding is an option as well, but the safest way to run a good campaign is to make sure that backers know its not your first product and that you have been active and/or successful in your industry beforehand. Plus, to safely pre-sell your product (and not end up not delivering), you should already be something like 80% finished with the development before hitting Indiegogo.

Ok my fingers hurt so I will end this answer now!

 

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[Scot]

$400 is a STEAL for a prototype.

I know it seems like a lot, but I would do it. You’ll never know it it works unless you try.

After all, what’s more expensive:
A $400 prototype
Or a full production run of a product with major design flaws?

 

[Raoul Duke]

Is there a reason you are opposed to filing for a patent?

That seems to be one of the major advantages to creating a physical product, and offers both a legal and psychological barrier to someone directly copying your idea.

Seems a no brainer for mine! I’d love to be able to file for a patent in my business

Filing a provisional patent is a better route in most cases. If you do find a company to move forward with your product aka license with royalties. You can have the company itself pay for all of the patents during the agreement process. Or if they can't sell "X" amount in a quarter... You can take your product and go else where.

It has been a while since I have read One Simple Idea. So I may be wrong in some areas.

 

[Marigold]

If you ever get it made do we get free samples?

I guess.

Competition is stiff, so I might suggest you consider poking around before you dive in. Take it slow. You might have a hard time if you start out with a weak hand. Experience is the best teacher here. I would avoid inserting yourself in unknown wells. Are you thinking of doing this by yourself, or with a partner or two? Solo is probably the way to go. Charge up your batteries and commit to sticking in there for the long haul. You're not the first jockey to ride this horse, but you have a chance to do it big. Don't expect to get everything right the first time. Trust your feelings. Make sure though that unbridled passion doesn't overrule using your head.

haha so you can do my copywriting then.

Trying to figure out what this is or how it works makes me feel like I'm 12 in Sex Ed class all over again

I can only repeat whats already been said about reading Stephen Key's book, and good luck!

Hahahaha. I know, right? Wait til you see the prototype hahaha...

Yep, loving the book. Half way through. Definitely provisional patent.

 

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[LuckyPup]

OMG, maybe you need to get a friend who is a better artist to do the 2D sketches first. Does it come back if you throw it? lol

In answer to your question you don't usually need a patent if you go the licensing route so it is not an expensive process but does take work to research (to see if your idea is patentable and to find suitable companies to approach).

The benefit is once you have done a deal it becomes a passive income stream so allows you to move on to the next project unhindered.

The downside is you could *potentially* earn more money by manufacturing and distributing it yourself.

"Does it come back if you throw it?" lol. I have a name for it: The Boomabang

 

[Marigold]

First couple of stumbling blocks...

Contacted Brian Sloan, who raised $$$$ to manufacture his sex toys on indiegogo. He offers mentoring via Clarity and I reached out to see if he could help me with the licensing route - i.e. his experience.

He replied

"Hi, my position on licensing issues is that almost no company will ever pay license an idea. Maybe they would if its patented and the product FULLY developed. But owners of sex toy companies unsurprisingly aren't low on ideas! I would be unable to help."

I'm trying not to let it rain on my parade. In my head I'm thinking "well, they aren't doing my idea my way so up yours" but this is only my FIRST rejection and I need to prepare myself for a shit tonne more of those, right?

Also for anyone doing this in the future - don't be surprised if a few of the FIVERR gigs will not entertain helping you illustrate a sex toy design if they are from predominantly Muslim countries. Should've been more aware of that one.

Ho hum. Onwards and upwards - PUN! Is it? Shut up, Emma.

 

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[Richard Peck]

I have done about 20 license deals over the years (maybe less, I didn't count). But, here's what I think :

1. You are in an unbranded category
2. There are very few companies that would be license candidates
3. They all probably have 100 products on the drawing board that they haven't built yet
4. There is little barrier to entry into generic products in this field
5. You talked with someone in the space, that knows more than you and I do, that makes money mentoring, and he wouldn't take you on

Here's my takeaway. This isn't going to license.

So, copy his roadmap. Croudfund the startup.

A lot of people look at licensing as a shortcut to riches. Someone will take my idea, run with it, and send me money every month.

Does that happen? Yes. Does lightning strike? Yes. Are there about a MILLION sex toy ideas people have that have never been manufactured? Yes.

I don't think you are going to license it. Here's where my OPPOSITION to my license thread comes in. Everyone's got an idea, and not everyone is capable of making it happen.

I have had relatives over the years bounce their ideas by me. One of them was a toilet seat that you step on a lever on the ground (like an automatic garbage can lid raiser). The guy wanted me to take his idea, run with it, and when I made millions on his brilliance, give him millions. His share.

Here's where the rubber (pardon the pun) meets the road. Nobody cares. You are in a tough category to ever get anyone to care, and you might spend two years trying to find someone to care and never find it.

So what do you do? Go around the obstacle. Go over it, go under it. Door closes, find a window. You CAN do it. I just don't think it is going to be a license deal. The license deals I have had were all natural fits. They all paired a perfect brand with a perfect product. NONE of them were "I have this idea... now I want someone else to make it happen and pay me."

Everyone has ideas. Everyone has a sketch on the back of a napkin. The difference between Sarah Blakely and you? She DID IT. She thought she had a better solution, so she brought it to market. Now she's a guest shark on shark tank.

If you believe this product is an answer to a problem, then bring it to market AND THEN someone will pay you for it. One concern I have for you is you know about zero about the industry you are embarking in. Spend some time as a student of the industry first, and really study product trends, marketing trends, manufacturing, and market share. Then and only then would you be ready to really invest your time and money into something as complicated as what you have on the table in front of you.

My .2 cents. Take it for what it is worth. Do I think you could do it? Yes. Do I think you will do it? Mmmmm... not sure yet.

I didn't want to p*ss on your parade so held back from posting.

Since Dave (@Vigilante) is the real deal (someone I vehemently respect), and since he iterated some of my own reservations, I'll give you some insight that took me a long time to find out (and no, I'm not successful - but I've done products before).

The problem you're quickly going to discover is when you exit the honeymoon period (and this may actually be harder for you because you're female), you're going to wake up with boxes of prototypes, products and other stuff... with very few people wanting to buy them.

I'm not saying your idea / product / whatever isn't going to fly. On the contrary, I would implore you to try it just to [potentially] get egg on your face early on... but I wouldn't bank on it creating a pot of generational wealth (I don't know you or your intentions, but as this is an entrepreneurship forum, I have to imagine your aspiration is to earn decent money).

You seem to have fallen into a trap which I have fallen into myself - putting the product first. The product is obviously important, but why the product exists is moreso. Every product has a "value" that exists beyond the nuts-and-bolts. I call it the "offer" but it's really the "USP" (Unique Selling Point). Every product is purchased because it has a unique "thing" that is better than the other guy's. MJ calls it the "value skew"; there are tons of ways to describe it...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr_sj4Cq6GM

The point is that from what you've posted on here, you're still in the phase of "oh shit, I made something - look at it!!". This is absolutely fine. But when it comes to making paper, you have to get into the mind of the consumer. If it's a choice between your sex toy and some other thing... why is your sex toy going to win? What's the underlying reason why they need your toy in their lives?

If you can't answer that, it's highly likely your product will be a dud. And no, I'm not being a pessimist. I'm being pragmatic. You have to fail in order to succeed; I've indulged in my fair share of the success sniffing salts where everybody circle jerks to Tony Robbins. Brutal reality (and why some people are perpetually successful) is that you have to be real sometimes. So I'll be real here...

The trick to building a perpetually successful "business" (NOT a product... a business) is to focus on the service you provide. The real secret to getting people to buy stuff from you is to focus on the thing that you actually "do" beyond the product.

I'm in software. I never tell people I'm a software developer - I just do stuff and show them. I ended up doing software because I've been glued to a computer screen since I was 13 years old. I'm not a typical nerd, but I got infatuated with it for some reason.

When I talk to people in a professional setting, I'm able to break down their entire digital stack and tell them what's good and what should be ditched. Many others can do that... but I have a trick. I know marketing. I love marketing. The reason I don't tell people I'm a software guy is because I tell them I'm a marketeer. And it's true... I am a marketeer... except rather than being a "Google SEO expert", I'm able to build out a "Google" and all the other technical services that make up the modern media mix.

Take from this what you will; I'm trying to say that what you "see" from a business (a product that's wildly successful) is not dependent on its existence, but its necessity. You've never considered the huge infrastructure required to run Google, but it's there... and people are paid very well to maintain + improve it.

*EVERY* successful product I've observed came from an underlying "need" from the market. This is somewhat cliche on this forum (it's one of MJ's core principles), but it's true. Every time I tried to change the need, I failed. When I worked around the need, everything started to work well.

It's the same with every product. Buyers want what it's able to deliver.... but they want it to be bigger, better, faster, cheaper, better looking than the other guy's. This is where your opportunity lies → what does your toy do that others don't? If I shove it up my a$$ is it going to make me hallucinate? Is it for couples? Is it for elderly folks?

Consider this:
Why Are Young People Having So Little Sex? – The Atlantic – Medium

This is an example of a need.

Kids today aren't F*cking. Great! You may say (I remember when teen pregnancy was the major taboo)... but the question is why? This is the type of thing that determines how a market may take to a product; particularly this line:

From 1992 to 2014, the share of American men who reported masturbating in a given week doubled, to 54 percent, and the share of women more than tripled, to 26 percent.

Means nothing on its own, but is highly suggestive of the cultural move towards _____ ?

Whatever the _____ is, is your opportunity.

If you believe this product is an answer to a problem, then bring it to market AND THEN someone will pay you for it. One concern I have for you is you know about zero about the industry you are embarking in. Spend some time as a student of the industry first, and really study product trends, marketing trends, manufacturing, and market share. Then and only then would you be ready to really invest your time and money into something as complicated as what you have on the table in front of you.

This is the most important part of this whole thread. Business is brutal. Where money is involved, the shroud of civility falls away and primal instincts reign. You're still a novice (which is great) but don't be tempted into thinking you know more than you do. 99.9% of the people giving you advice have no business of their own and the ones who do will not reply on here anyway.

The likelihood is you won't strike it lucky first time. That's okay... but don't be surprised if you go through hell to make something you want and no-one cares. This is why many women are unable to handle this type of stuff (many do, but the majority don't). The feminine ideal of everybody having their own unique value just because they survived birth doesn't work in the real world.

-

I would personally treat what you're doing as a "project" (a step above a hobby) in order to learn about product development.

I would allocate a budget of $1.5k-$3k to get it to prototype stage. Don't do crowdfunding because you need a prototype designed to get it funded. What you're doing isn't a "business" because you don't know how you're going to market it (unless you can legit tell someone to stick the toy somewhere and it will give them the best orgasm they've ever had); there's no underlying "service" you provide beyond the product itself (hence the licensing assertion).

I hope this doesn't bring you down too much, but it's shit like this - practical but realistic insight - that I wish I'd looked at back in the day. Again - I would definitely implore you to do something, but as Dave (@Vigilante) has mentioned - I would treat it as part of a learning process rather than a money-maker.

 

[Marigold]

ME AGAIN!

Thought i'd vanished, didn't you?

So I got a design done by a guy on Fiverr and it looked like the least sexy thing you could possibly imagine.

So I got another design and he's just sent me the files. It looks good. Or promising.

I've been quoted £400 to get it 3D printed. This is why I'm here today. I'm having such a mental block making the damn 3D model to print to TEST that it works that I'm wondering whether I'm cut out for this.

I have the money - didn't before but I got a side hustle business that raised enough funds to help see me through the process.

Do I even have to 3D print it to test? I can't see another way and I don't want to press ahead and register the design or even approach manufacturers until I know the damn thing works.

I'm looking for

Kicks up the arse
Advice
Support
Insights - something I haven't thought of.

Or any combination of the above.

Thanks!

Emma

 

[kkoasdfawfqwe2]

ME AGAIN!

Thought i'd vanished, didn't you?

So I got a design done by a guy on Fiverr and it looked like the least sexy thing you could possibly imagine.

So I got another design and he's just sent me the files. It looks good. Or promising.

I've been quoted £400 to get it 3D printed. This is why I'm here today. I'm having such a mental block making the damn 3D model to print to TEST that it works that I'm wondering whether I'm cut out for this.

I have the money - didn't before but I got a side hustle business that raised enough funds to help see me through the process.

Do I even have to 3D print it to test? I can't see another way and I don't want to press ahead and register the design or even approach manufacturers until I know the damn thing works.

I'm looking for

Kicks up the arse
Advice
Support
Insights - something I haven't thought of.

Or any combination of the above.

Thanks!

Emma

You never know what the right choice could be, maybe you'd waste £400, maybe not.

But from my experience when I was in these kind of situations, the right choice was always to do it.

Sometimes I look back and think "I wonder where I would be if I didn't throw in those $1.000 to get the very first version done of this or that".

Essentially what I read you asking is if you need the product in order to test the product?
In which case I think you really do need the physical product and to have it tested.

Its a risk but in my opinion its a necessary risk that you will not get easy around.

Good luck, I vote that you go for it!

 

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[JAJT]

For what it's worth - upwork tends to be a far "higher quality" marketplace for the kinds of jobs you're describing.

Fiverr is basically a race to the bottom. There's good in there, don't get me wrong, but it's a discount marketplace by and large.

Upwork, by comparison, has tons of real professionals doing very real, very professional work. When you see someone who has billed $100k for their services and has a 99% positive rating - good chance that person knows what the hell they are doing.

On fiverr I never know what I'm getting and I've had less than a 50% success rate on there. On upwork, I've had almost a 90-95% success rate.

Upwork also lets you sort better than fiverr. Things like "english skills" and "hours worked" and "total earnings" and other hard credibility indicators like their scores on skill tests.

Upwork also tends to cost more, but it reflects the skill of the worker more often than not.

Food for thought.

 

[RazorCut]

I'm about to submit my idea (with a slightly better drawing) to a company. I f*cking HATED tech drawing at school

If you are doing this for a licensing deal I would hold on. There is a lot of work required before you contact a potential partner. I'd suggest you start with reading One Simple Idea first.

Here's a preview:

One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work

 

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[RazorCut]

Filing a provisional patent is a better route in most cases. If you do find a company to move forward with your product aka license with royalties. You can have the company itself pay for all of the patents during the agreement process. Or if they can't sell "X" amount in a quarter... You can take your product and go else where.

It has been a while since I have read One Simple Idea. So I may be wrong in some areas.

No, I think you are pretty spot on. The sales quota's would need to be agreed and in the contract as well of course. Emma really needs to read the book though.

 

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