If you’re the founder of an invention startup about to spend your personal savings to build a prototype that will allow you to raise seed money through crowdfunding, angel investors or venture capital,  consider this alternative model instead.  We call it innovation driven ecommerce. 

So, if for example, you’re looking to create a device that kills mosquitoes with UV light, instead of hiring engineers directly to develop a prototype, first, find a similar product, perhaps an electronic mosquito repellent, source it from a manufacturer in Asia and start selling it on amazon.

The next step is to do private label. This means that you’ll ask your manufacturer to make custom versions of your design that have improvements over the ones already on the market, these are called “minor differentiators”. This step will allow you to establish your brand and gain more market understanding.

And only after you’ve achieved this and it becomes profitable, you should hire an internal product development team. 

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