From an idea to units in people's hands: each step as we run it at ONMOTIO, what it gives you, how long it takes and what it costs.
CSClement Simon, co-founder of ONMOTIO Published · Updated · 14 min read
[ The road at a glance ]
Seven steps, about 41 weeks to a tested prototype.
Time runs left to right, in weeks. Each step is a level: the product is a little closer to something people can buy. Concepts branch out and most branches stop there; prototypes try variants side by side and the one that works carries on. The road ends in funding and production, and usually in both.
In seven steps. Write a brief, design the concept, prove the key function, develop the product in 3D CAD, build and test prototypes, make a small batch, then launch: fund the product, through investors, a grant or a crowdfunding campaign, and make it, with a first production run. Often both. For a molded consumer product, the first four phases of work take about nine months.
150+ projects since 201750+ products shippedRenders behind campaigns that raised $20M+
[ The road ]
Seven steps from idea to launch.
Each step ends with something you can hold, show or send. We follow one product through all of them, the Photonix solar mower, with our other projects where they show a step better.
01/ 07
StepBrief
Brief
Concept
Proof of concept
Development
Prototypes
Small batch
Launch
Product briefPhotonix
Professional gardenerFamily with childrenYoung couple
What it does
Mows the lawn on solar power
Market
United States
Retail price
Unit cost
Standards
Photonix. The brief starts from three user profiles.Case study →
KORU concept in two finishes · Photonix sketches.KORU →
Orphey. Electrode architectures for the headband.Case study →
Photonix. Architecture study, then the CAD model.Case study →
Photonix. Working prototype, and the painted shell.Case study →
eXalt SOLO assembly · KORU casing for molding.eXalt →
KORU. Launch render, and its Indiegogo page.Case study →
01Brief
Write the product brief
Time
About 3 weeks
Indicative budget
$250 to $1,000
You get
A written brief: who the product is for, what it must do, the price it should sell at, the standards it has to meet.
Product briefPhotonix
Professional gardenerFamily with childrenYoung couple
Every decision after this one is measured against the brief, so it comes first. A good brief turns wishes into numbers a designer and an engineer can work to. "Light enough to carry up the stairs" becomes a weight. "Affordable" becomes a retail price, and from it a cost per unit the factory has to meet.
It also names the markets early, because each market has its rules. A product with a battery, a motor or a radio sold in the United States and in Europe needs FCC and CE testing, and knowing it now shapes the electronics from the first sketch.
Photonix, a solar-powered mower for US homeowners, started from three user profiles: a professional gardener, a family with children, a young couple. Each pulled the design a different way: runtime and durability, safety and price, looks and ease of use.
Two or three design directions, then one concept with its proportions, its colors, materials and finishes (CMF), and renders you can show.
Industrial design gives the product its shape, and the shape has to hold what goes inside. We sketch wide, narrow to a few directions, and check each one against the brief: does the battery fit, can it be molded, does it feel right in the hand or in the room.
The chosen concept comes with a CMF study and photorealistic renders good enough to show investors or early buyers. Many founders raise their first money here, with the renders and the brief.
KORU, an air purifier with a living plant on top, had the opposite brief from most tech products: look like a design object on a shelf, not an appliance. That set its materials: a white body on cork, or a black body on wood.
Prove the key function: the proof of concept (POC)
Time
When the product needs it
Indicative budget
Scoped with development
You get
A working test of the one function the product depends on, built before the final design.
Some products depend on something not done in that form before: a new mechanism, a sensor in an unusual place, heat in a small volume. Before investing in the final design, we test that function on its own.
A POC is rough on purpose: development boards, 3D printed brackets, parts bought off the shelf. It answers one question, and the rest of the project is then built on a fact.
Orphey, luxury headphones that read brain activity (EEG), depended on electrodes reaching the scalp through hair without discomfort. Before drawing the headphones, we studied that one function on its own: four electrode architectures, from legs that spread apart under the pressure of the head to a second headband that pushes the contacts out.
If your product uses known technology in a new shape, you go straight to development.
04Development
Develop the product in 3D CAD
Time
About 16 weeks
Indicative budget
$5,000 to $25,000
You get
The 3D CAD model of every part, the internal architecture, the material of each part, the electronics layout, and a first release of drawings to build the prototype from.
This is where the concept becomes parts. Mechanical engineering works out how the product holds together (walls, ribs, screw bosses, snap fits), how it opens for service, how heat leaves it and which plastic or metal each part is made of. Electronics and firmware run alongside: the circuit board has to fit the space the enclosure gives it.
We design for the production process from the first part. A shape that 3D prints well can be impossible to injection mold, so draft angles and even wall thickness go in now. That is design for manufacturing (DFM), and it costs less here than at any later step.
Photonix's architecture study placed the main components before the body was drawn around them. The CAD model then carried the chassis, the solar panel and the electronics.
Build and test prototypes: looks-like and works-like
Time
About 16 weeks
Indicative budget
$7,500 to $30,000
You get
A looks-like prototype for photos, investors and hands, a works-like prototype that runs, the test results, and the design revised until it works.
A looks-like prototype has the final shape, colors and finish, and nothing inside. A works-like prototype has the real mechanism, electronics and battery in the real volume, even if it does not look finished. Most products need both, and a later round can combine them.
We build with CNC machining, 3D printing and vacuum casting, in materials close to the production ones, then test where the product will be used. Each round sends changes back to the CAD. A part that rubs or a board that runs hot costs a revision here, not a mold.
Photonix went through several prototype rounds: a chassis cut on a CNC to test durability and weight distribution, a painted full-size shell, then working prototypes tested in the field for efficiency, traction and blade performance.
A design adjusted for its production process, then units made by vacuum or gravity casting for testers, certification or your first backers.
Before production, we check whether the prototype can go to a factory as it is. It usually needs a pass of detail design and DFM: splitting parts along the right lines, choosing where each mold opens, adding draft, simplifying assembly.
Between one prototype and a production mold there is a step many founders don't know about. From a master part we make silicone molds and cast small batches, by vacuum or gravity casting, in resins that behave like production plastics. It covers testers, the certification lab and the first backers, without paying for steel tooling.
eXalt Aircraft's SOLO, a light aircraft sold as a kit, was engineered so a builder assembles it in 40 hours without special tools. KORU's casing was developed for injection molding, with its parting lines, assembly points and fastenings defined.
07Launch
Launch: fund it, make it, sell it
Route
Funding, production, or both
Indicative budget
Quoted per project
You get
Renders and animations for a campaign, an investor deck or a grant application, the campaign page if you want it; the 3D files, drawings and parts list a factory needs to quote and cut the molds.
A launch is rarely one thing. Our founders fund the product and make it, often at the same time: money from investors, a grant or a support programme, or a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter or Indiegogo with prototypes and a small batch behind it; then a first production run with a factory, and a market launch online, in shops or both. Every route needs images that sell the product before it exists in numbers, and a technical file a factory can quote from.
We make both. Our renders and animations are behind campaigns that raised $20M+. The campaign itself, ads, press and community, stays with you or a specialist agency.
KORU raised over $110,000 on Indiegogo, 1,000% of its goal, with the renders, technical visuals and explainer animations we made. Its founder tells us the renders are often mistaken for product photos.
For a molded consumer product, here is what each phase usually takes with us. Orders of magnitude, not a quote: you get a fixed price once the brief is written.
About 41 weeks of work from brief to tested prototype; development and prototypes overlap. Budget on a log scale.
Week 0816243240
BriefStep 01 · 3 weeks
3 wk
$250 to $1,000
ConceptStep 02 · 6 weeks
6 wk
$3,200 to $10,000
DevelopmentSteps 03 and 04 · 16 weeks, POC first when needed
16 wk
$5,000 to $25,000
PrototypingStep 05 · 16 weeks
16 wk
$7,500 to $30,000
Small batch and launchSteps 06 and 07
→
Quoteddepends on the product
About 41 weeks of work from brief to tested prototype. Phases can overlap.
Production molds are paid to the factory, separately, and depend on the size and number of parts.
What moves the budget
A water bottle and a jet ski are not the same project. From one product to another, the effort can range from one to fifty times.
×1×50
A water bottleA jet ski
+ Number of partsEach part is designed, drawn, prototyped and later tooled.
+ Electronics and a batteryA board, firmware and heat to manage add a discipline to every step.
+ CertificationFCC, CE or UL testing adds preparation, samples and lab time.
[ When to change your mind ]
Change it while it is cheap.
Take one change: a button moved by five millimetres. Here is what that same change costs at each step of the road. Every step of this guide exists to find that button before the factory does.
04 / 07 · PrototypesThe same change costsa new print
The part is printed again: 24 to 48 hours for a simple print.
The same change, made atcosts
The steel is cut hereno way back
The proof of concept, the prototypes and the small batch all come before the steel. That is the whole point of them.
[ Prototypes ]
Which prototype do you need first?
"A prototype" can mean four different things: a proof of concept, a looks-like, a works-like or a small batch. Each answers a different question. Answer six questions about your product and see which one to build next.
Each one moves a cost to the step where it is cheapest.
Put numbers in the brief.A target weight, size and cost per unit settle questions that would otherwise come back at every step.
Prove the risky function before the final design.A proof of concept costs a fraction of a redesign.
Design for the production process from the first part.Draft, wall thickness and parting lines are cheap in CAD and expensive in steel.
Test the works-like prototype where the product will be used.A lawn, a kitchen, a backpack: the bench does not find everything.
Make a small batch before a large order.Ten to two hundred cast units show what testers and the lab will say before you pay for molds.
[ FAQ ]
Questions founders ask us.
Something else? Ask us on a call.
Q01
How long does it take to develop a physical product?
For a molded consumer product, about 3 weeks for the brief, 6 for the concept, 16 for development and 16 for prototyping, and some phases overlap. A simple accessory takes less. A product with electronics, a battery and certification takes more.
Q02
How much does it cost to develop a physical product?
As orders of magnitude for a molded consumer product: $250 to $1,000 for the brief, $3,200 to $10,000 for the concept, $5,000 to $25,000 for development and $7,500 to $30,000 for prototyping. The effort can vary fifty times from one product to another, so we give a fixed price once the brief is written. Production molds are paid to the factory, separately.
Q03
What is a proof of concept (POC)?
A rough, working test of the one function your product depends on, built from off-the-shelf parts before the final design. It is not meant to be shown; it is meant to answer one question.
Q04
What is the difference between a looks-like and a works-like prototype?
A looks-like prototype has the final appearance and nothing inside. A works-like prototype has the real mechanism and electronics in the real volume, even if it does not look finished. Most products need both.
Q05
What is vacuum casting, and when should I use it?
Vacuum casting makes copies of a master part in silicone molds, in resins that behave like production plastics. It suits 10 to 200 units: beta testers, certification samples, first backers. Above that, a production mold becomes cheaper per part.
Q06
What is design for manufacturing (DFM)?
Designing each part for the process that will make it: draft so it leaves the mold, even walls so it doesn't warp, fewer parts and screws so it assembles fast. It starts in development and is finished before production.
Q07
When should I talk to factories?
Once the works-like prototype is settled and the DFM pass is done. Before that, every revision changes the quote.
Q08
Can I start before I have raised money?
Yes. Many founders start with the brief and the concept, then use the renders to raise the money for development and prototypes.
Q09
How is my idea protected?
We sign an NDA from the first exchange if you want one, and under our standard contract the intellectual property is transferred to you once all invoices are paid. If you plan a patent, speak with a patent attorney before you show the product in public, a crowdfunding page included.
Q10
Can ONMOTIO take my product all the way?
We cover the brief, industrial design, mechanical engineering, electronics and firmware, prototyping, small batches with certification support, and the renders, animations and pages that sell the product. A team of nine with two prototyping workshops, 150+ projects since 2017.
[ Terms ]
The terms you will hear.
Brief
The written targets of the product: users, functions, price, standards.
CMF
Color, material, finish: how the product looks and feels.
Proof of concept (POC)
A rough test of the one function the product depends on.
CAD
The 3D model of every part, and the drawings made from it.
PCB
Printed circuit board: the board that carries the electronics.
DFM
Design for manufacturing: shaping each part for the process that makes it.
Draft angle
The slight taper that lets a part leave its mold.
Parting line
Where the two halves of a mold meet, a thin line on the part.
Looks-like prototype
Final appearance, nothing inside.
Works-like prototype
Real mechanism and electronics in the real volume.
Vacuum casting
Copies of a master part cast in silicone molds, for 10 to 200 units.
Gravity casting
Resin poured into silicone molds without pressure, for small batches.
BOM
Bill of materials: every part and component of one unit.
EVT and DVT
Engineering and design validation tests: the names large hardware companies give their late prototype rounds.
MOQ
Minimum order quantity a supplier or factory accepts.
[ Next step ]
Where is your product on the road?
Send us what you have, a sketch, a brief or a prototype. On a 30-minute call we tell you the next step and what it takes.
