Florida, my partner is an engineer and I have experience with design and sales. Honestly, it's been a fun process creating it and solving problems that were thought to be impossible. It's hard to say right now the exact amount we need but I can tell you we need enough money for a successful marketing campaign, mass production (hiring a good manufacturing and production company), and other variables.Where are you based? Do you or your partner have any existing experience with product design/development?
Just generally curious, as I'm sure others will be. The process is fairly unforgiving, but it's always interesting.
I think this might be a good place to start, it really depends on the amount of capital you require to get started though.
How far along is the prototyping process? Have you built initial samples or how many iterations?
I think this is really the most telling aspect when it comes to future success, this industry is ripe with great theory and bad practices. There's room for more contenders for sure, but I would stress getting the mechanical and electrical design dialled in practice before scaling up small problems into huge ones. It's a common and easy mistake to make.
I am receiving the last prototype next week, this will be the 5th prototype. The first three were 3D printed and functional, the last two were from the intended material (aluminum). And this is the third iteration since the first design.
In all sincerity, the only issue I am having is overheating on the outside. We tried fixing that issue with silicone padding on the inside but it's not as effective as I would like it to be.