Over the past couple of years, I’ve had to do take several of my ideas and bring them to life. In the following post, I’ll go through the steps needed so you can do the same. I’ll use the methodology used from my current startup: PowerHookah.
A little background on me and the product:
I graduated as an industrial engineer in uni. A few years later, I got into the startup scene (when I found out about thefastlane). My partner and I came up with an idea of creating an all-in-one hookah that didn’t use charcoal. It also replaced the need to manually pack shisha tobacco by using pre-packaged capsules “à la Nespresso”. We got a huge positive response, so we went forward.
Before going forward:
You should have a vague idea of what you want to make. You should know where the product will be used, this will help with designing it and picking the right materials.
Step 1
Grab a notebook to document your products journey. Here’s where you will jot down your ideas and sketches. You will think of improvements you will want to make, so it’s a good idea to log these with the reason for the change. Start out by loosely sketching out your product in your notebook. Try to get all the details out, put down descriptive text on specific features that you can’t draw out.
Step 2
It’s time to get your sketches on the computer. If you do not have the skills to use CAD (computer aided design), you can either learn or hire someone for this. There are plenty of programs out there: AutoCAD, Inventor, Catia etc. Check to see if any of these programs offer student rebates. Here’s where the notes you made in step 1 will help you/the person you hired get the details of your product right.
Pic coming
Step 3
Once you have your product in CAD, it’s time to see what it will look like and function in the real world. In my startup, we decided to buy a 3D printer since it would be more economical; just because of the shear amount of parts we would need to make. Also, as soon as I had an idea, I could sketch is out and print it right away and physically play with it. Your case might be different. You can use 3dhubs.com to find someone locally with a 3D printer that make your part at a reasonable price.
Pic coming
Step 4
This is where you test your physical product vs your original idea. There’s a big chance that there will be some adjustment to be done. You’ll have to go back to your CAD model and make some tweaks; basically repeating step 2 & 3 until you have your desired outcome.
Step 5
Having cycled through steps 2, 3 & 4 a couple of times, you will be left with a functional prototype. This in no way means that you can go and build thousands of units of your product. There is still some work to be done before your product will be ready to manufacture.
If there’s interest, I’ll post on how to get your product ready to manufacture.
There are obvious things you need to account for before launching a product: customer demand, marketing, cashflow etc. I am assuming you’ve done all that research beforehand.
A little background on me and the product:
I graduated as an industrial engineer in uni. A few years later, I got into the startup scene (when I found out about thefastlane). My partner and I came up with an idea of creating an all-in-one hookah that didn’t use charcoal. It also replaced the need to manually pack shisha tobacco by using pre-packaged capsules “à la Nespresso”. We got a huge positive response, so we went forward.
Before going forward:
You should have a vague idea of what you want to make. You should know where the product will be used, this will help with designing it and picking the right materials.
Step 1
Grab a notebook to document your products journey. Here’s where you will jot down your ideas and sketches. You will think of improvements you will want to make, so it’s a good idea to log these with the reason for the change. Start out by loosely sketching out your product in your notebook. Try to get all the details out, put down descriptive text on specific features that you can’t draw out.
Step 2
It’s time to get your sketches on the computer. If you do not have the skills to use CAD (computer aided design), you can either learn or hire someone for this. There are plenty of programs out there: AutoCAD, Inventor, Catia etc. Check to see if any of these programs offer student rebates. Here’s where the notes you made in step 1 will help you/the person you hired get the details of your product right.
Pic coming
Step 3
Once you have your product in CAD, it’s time to see what it will look like and function in the real world. In my startup, we decided to buy a 3D printer since it would be more economical; just because of the shear amount of parts we would need to make. Also, as soon as I had an idea, I could sketch is out and print it right away and physically play with it. Your case might be different. You can use 3dhubs.com to find someone locally with a 3D printer that make your part at a reasonable price.
Pic coming
Step 4
This is where you test your physical product vs your original idea. There’s a big chance that there will be some adjustment to be done. You’ll have to go back to your CAD model and make some tweaks; basically repeating step 2 & 3 until you have your desired outcome.
Step 5
Having cycled through steps 2, 3 & 4 a couple of times, you will be left with a functional prototype. This in no way means that you can go and build thousands of units of your product. There is still some work to be done before your product will be ready to manufacture.
If there’s interest, I’ll post on how to get your product ready to manufacture.
There are obvious things you need to account for before launching a product: customer demand, marketing, cashflow etc. I am assuming you’ve done all that research beforehand.
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