How to develop a new product without risking everything
The biggest danger when launching a product isn’t a bad idea, lack of funding, or not having the right skills. It’s overconfidence.
Most entrepreneurs—especially first-timers—are so convinced their product will sell that they start throwing money at it. They spend thousands on patents, development, manufacturing, and advertising before they’ve even proven if anyone will buy it.
And I get it. If you truly believe your product is going to make millions, then spending money on it feels like a no-brainer.
But the truth is, confidence doesn’t equal success. Data does.
Instead of treating your product like a guaranteed success, treat it like a science experiment. Never assume, always test, and adjust based on real-world feedback.
That’s exactly what I’m going to show you here—how to launch a product step-by-step while minimizing financial risk, making data-driven decisions, and avoiding the biggest mistakes that will drain your bank account.
So let’s get into it.
Step #1: Market Research – Prove There’s Demand First
Most people start by designing their product. That’s backwards. You have to prove there’s demand first.
Are similar products selling well? What are customers complaining about in reviews?
Can you reach enough people in your target market? If you can’t find an audience already buying something similar, that’s a red flag.
You need to validate demand before you go any further, but don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis.
You can’t truly know if there is demand for your product until we get to step 7 and you start talking to customers. So don’t spend too much time here.
Step #2: Use NDAs to Safely Get Feedback from Experts and Potential Customers
Once you’ve confirmed a market need, the next step is getting feedback from experts and potential customers—but in a way that protects your idea.
I used to be afraid of sharing my idea because I thought someone might steal it. But the real risk isn’t theft—it’s spending months developing something with a fundamental flaw you didn’t see.
That being said, you need to be strategic about who you share it with, and you don’t want to expose it publicly yet, since that will eliminate your ability to patent it later.
At this stage, use NDAs to safely share your concept with engineers, manufacturers, and industry experts who can help you avoid costly mistakes.
But you also need feedback from potential customers—people who aren’t friends or family. You should never assume you know what people will think about your product. Always ask them. In almost all cases by doing so you’ll get a ton of helpful insight.
Step #3: Start Building Your Audience NOW
Here’s a step that most entrepreneurs skip, and it kills their product later. You need to start building your audience now—way before you even have a product to sell.
Start a YouTube channel, build a helpful website or some kind of PDF guide, or join online communities, or get popular on social media.
But no matter what, build an email list of people interested in your industry.
And yes, I know email is old-school, but nothing comes close when it comes to building relationships, trust, and eventually, making sales.
Step #4: Build a Functional Prototype (Even If It’s Ugly)
Now it’s time to start building—but don’t spend money on expensive custom design yet. Instead, use off-the-shelf components and development kits to create a quick working prototype.
The first prototypes for my own product were made out of clay. They were ugly, rough, and of course, didn’t actually do anything. But they were good enough to help me test ideas and make early refinements.
Later, when I successfully pitched my product to executives at a billion dollar company, all I had was an ugly, barely functional, 3D-printed prototype.
It was far from a finished product, but it didn’t matter. It got me in the door. No longer did I just have an idea to present likes millions of other people, I had a real, physical product prototype.
Your first prototype doesn’t need to be perfect. This is where so many people get stuck.
The truth is, even if it existed you can’t even define “perfect” yet because you don’t really know what the market wants. And you won’t even begin to know that until step 7.
At this stage, the goal is to get the product refinement process started. For most products, it helps to separate function from appearance.
Build an ugly functional prototype using development kits and off-the-shelf boards.
Then separately, build a good-looking prototype with no functionality.
Eventually, they’ll be merged, but right now, it’s usually best to keep them separate.
Step #5: Build a Pretty Prototype or a Photorealistic 3D Model
People don’t buy ideas—they buy products.
At this stage, you need to make your product look real, even if it isn’t.
The best option is to build a pretty prototype that looks like the finished product, although it won’t be actually functional in most cases.
If that’s not possible, another option is to create a photorealistic 3D model—a digital render that makes it look like your product is already manufactured.
When I was first pitching my product, people didn’t fully understand it—until I showed them a professional 3D model. Suddenly, they could visualize it in their hands.
This step is critical because when you test the market in step 7, you need your product to look real so people will actually commit to buying it.
Step #6: File a Provisional Patent for Protection
Now that you have a clear concept, it’s time to protect your idea—but without wasting thousands of dollars and months of work on a patent, at least not yet.
A Provisional Patent Application gives you one year of protection and doesn’t require an attorney and will only cost you a few hundred dollars.
The purpose to buy you time to validate market demand before making a big investment in a full patent.
That year goes by fast, so I suggest making as much progress as possible under NDA before filing for a provisional patent.
Step #7: Validate Demand with a Reservation Funnel
It’s now time to prove that your product will sell!
Before you spend larger sums of money developing your product, or especially before you invest in inventory, you need to make sure people will actually buy it.
A reservation funnel is the best way to do that.
With a reservation funnel, people put down a small fee to reserve one of the first units when it’s available. This could be anywhere from a dollar to ten dollars for a typical product, and sometimes more for expensive items.
But for this to work, you can’t just describe your product. You need to show it to them. That’s where your pretty prototype or 3D render comes into play.
For my own product, one of the biggest mistakes I made was relying too much on surveys. What people say they’ll buy almost never aligns with what they actually will buy.
The only validation that matters is when money changes hands, even if it’s just a dollar.
A reservation funnel isn’t just about yes or no. It also helps you refine your product and pricing based on real customer feedback.
Step #8: Finalize the Prototype
Once you’ve confirmed demand, you can combine your functional prototype with your looks-like prototype into a final version optimized for manufacturing.
This step is one of the most expensive, especially if you’re outsourcing the design.
That’s why it’s important to wait until after you have solid market validation from the reservation funnel.
Step #9: Pre-sell the Product
The reservation funnel showed there’s demand, but in a limited way. Pre-sales take it to the next level because now people are paying closer to full price.
Not only does this validate demand even further, but it also generates funding to finance your first production run!
You can pre-sell on your own website or use a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter.
Either way, success will depend on the engaged audience you’ve been building since step 3.
Step #10: Use Pre-sales Success to Drive Manufacturing
Once your pre-sales campaign succeeds, you now have the funds to place your first manufacturing order—without risking your personal savings.
Also a successful campaign makes it much easier to find manufacturers willing to work with you.
When I started reaching out to companies to manufacture my own product, I already had market interest from a big retailer, and this greatly increased my credibility with manufacturers.
In fact the manufacturer I selected invested over $100k in my project and when I first contacted them they said:
“We get pitched product ideas all the time by entrepreneurs, and we ignore 99% of them. But we feel your product, and the progress you’ve made, warrants an exception.”
That never would have happened if I had contacted them too early with just an unproven idea.
