Hello Ladies & Gentlemen,
Some of you have already contributed to some of my threads but I'm setting this up for accountability and execution progress. I'd like your trademark bluntness and pearls of wisdom please.
Background Info:
2. Idea 1 - In progress (less capital intensive, no need to dilute equity etc.). Execution/accountability on this please!
3. Idea 2 - In (less) progress than Idea 2 but capital intensive and most importantly I don't possess the technical expertise (market exists/makes CENTS etc). However, important to execute/be accountable for this as I go along. I have a meeting with my alma mater for 13th August where I will be working with the materials engineering department (I get the benefit of technical expertise and give back by way of funding to my alma mater; shout out to @Late Bloomer for the suggestion!)
Other background info - I'm a lawyer on the equivalent of Wall Street. No prior experience of entrepreneurship (except learning an awful lot about API/MVPs re: an idea in 2017 before someone beat me to it!).
Execution of Idea 1:
1. Focused on ladies (and the occasional gentlemen!) beauty. Improvement of an existing design. Market in USD is 600m per year (in US alone). It is 'recession proof' i.e. this means people tend to buy it regardless of the economy so sales are repeatedly shown in my market research as constant.
2. What I've done so far: the idea came to me circa April 2018. I simply never have enough confidence to go 'oh let's run with this' so I have to do my research/analysis. I took time to do this to make sure it was viable. I told my family and a trusted friend of my idea. They all agreed it was worth pursuing.
3. I looked at two options: standalone product on Amazon or licensing.
4. Problems with standalone on Amazon identified as follows: inventory, customer service issues, loss of control over customer experience, liabilities etc.
5. Licensing: this is my preferred route. I would like to approach a luxury design house. Any ideas on how to do this are welcome. The average cost of the product is approx $30USD. If I can get a small slice of that for each unit sold (passive income) to then launch idea 2 - this would be great!
6. Prototype: 2 manufacturer's identified. 3D printing doesn't work for what I'm trying to achieve. They both said they can help with refining design but would need CAD file
7. Early July: reach out to a designer I worked with on 'failed' idea last year to see if he knew anyone who could help with CAD file. NDA signed last week (19th July).
6. As at 26 July 2018: I am waiting for a design engineer to put forward a proposal for CAD file. I will then approach prototype manufacturer to make first prototype. They are on standby and turnaround is quick so I expect this to be done by end of August.
7. Things I've not yet addressed: registered design rights versus unregistered design rights versus patent. Licensing - getting past the gatekeepers to get in front of a snobby design house! Liability issues etc. all the legal stuff. This is on my to do list. Today I will look at licensing in more detail.
That's where we are right now. Please let me know what other actions I should be building in. I worry that I action-fake sometimes but then writing this stuff down I've realised between April and July I've done quite a bit. Could that have been done quicker? Perhaps but I'm analytical and I definitely need research to reassure me that I'm on the right line. I also have this gnawing sense there's stuff I'm simply missing i.e. action that I should be taking but I don't know what. I have no entrepreneur network (i.e. no one to bounce ideas off; all my friends are slow-laners although I'm changing this). I'm obviously on this Forum and it's yielded more than I could have ever expected
Any input welcome as always. I'll try to do a mini-daily post as accountability but may not be able to. I will definitely do 2 posts per week re: progress
Some of you have already contributed to some of my threads but I'm setting this up for accountability and execution progress. I'd like your trademark bluntness and pearls of wisdom please.
Background Info:
2. Idea 1 - In progress (less capital intensive, no need to dilute equity etc.). Execution/accountability on this please!
3. Idea 2 - In (less) progress than Idea 2 but capital intensive and most importantly I don't possess the technical expertise (market exists/makes CENTS etc). However, important to execute/be accountable for this as I go along. I have a meeting with my alma mater for 13th August where I will be working with the materials engineering department (I get the benefit of technical expertise and give back by way of funding to my alma mater; shout out to @Late Bloomer for the suggestion!)
Other background info - I'm a lawyer on the equivalent of Wall Street. No prior experience of entrepreneurship (except learning an awful lot about API/MVPs re: an idea in 2017 before someone beat me to it!).
Execution of Idea 1:
1. Focused on ladies (and the occasional gentlemen!) beauty. Improvement of an existing design. Market in USD is 600m per year (in US alone). It is 'recession proof' i.e. this means people tend to buy it regardless of the economy so sales are repeatedly shown in my market research as constant.
2. What I've done so far: the idea came to me circa April 2018. I simply never have enough confidence to go 'oh let's run with this' so I have to do my research/analysis. I took time to do this to make sure it was viable. I told my family and a trusted friend of my idea. They all agreed it was worth pursuing.
3. I looked at two options: standalone product on Amazon or licensing.
4. Problems with standalone on Amazon identified as follows: inventory, customer service issues, loss of control over customer experience, liabilities etc.
5. Licensing: this is my preferred route. I would like to approach a luxury design house. Any ideas on how to do this are welcome. The average cost of the product is approx $30USD. If I can get a small slice of that for each unit sold (passive income) to then launch idea 2 - this would be great!
6. Prototype: 2 manufacturer's identified. 3D printing doesn't work for what I'm trying to achieve. They both said they can help with refining design but would need CAD file
7. Early July: reach out to a designer I worked with on 'failed' idea last year to see if he knew anyone who could help with CAD file. NDA signed last week (19th July).
6. As at 26 July 2018: I am waiting for a design engineer to put forward a proposal for CAD file. I will then approach prototype manufacturer to make first prototype. They are on standby and turnaround is quick so I expect this to be done by end of August.
7. Things I've not yet addressed: registered design rights versus unregistered design rights versus patent. Licensing - getting past the gatekeepers to get in front of a snobby design house! Liability issues etc. all the legal stuff. This is on my to do list. Today I will look at licensing in more detail.
That's where we are right now. Please let me know what other actions I should be building in. I worry that I action-fake sometimes but then writing this stuff down I've realised between April and July I've done quite a bit. Could that have been done quicker? Perhaps but I'm analytical and I definitely need research to reassure me that I'm on the right line. I also have this gnawing sense there's stuff I'm simply missing i.e. action that I should be taking but I don't know what. I have no entrepreneur network (i.e. no one to bounce ideas off; all my friends are slow-laners although I'm changing this). I'm obviously on this Forum and it's yielded more than I could have ever expected
Any input welcome as always. I'll try to do a mini-daily post as accountability but may not be able to. I will definitely do 2 posts per week re: progress
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