113: How Founders Develop Complex Hardware Products Product Startup

Bob Christopher is the founder of Pleo, a massively successful robot dinosaur kids toy with hundreds of parts. This is one of his many products and product companies over a long and successful history in the product innovation world. He was also the director of innovation at Panasonic, and sits on a number of advisory boards at hardware accelerators. Today Bob is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers can understand what it takes to design and develop complicated mechanical and/or electronic consumer products, with many development lessons he has learned along the way.
Today you will hear us talk about:

Being close with your design and development team

Engineering for half full, not half empty

Define what the end experience should be

Test and refine

Prove your worth to the manufacturers

Ensure your different types of designers work together

Be willing to learn, both the founder, and the designers

Build and break your prototypes

Listen to your stakeholders, especially further down the development process before you go to market.

The journey is part of the fun


EPISODE LINKS
Bob Christopher / Pleo Links:


Website: https://www.pleoworld.com/



LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ugobe2/



The Product Startup Podcast Links:


Website: https://www.ProductStartup.com/



Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/



LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/



Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/



Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/



Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/



Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup



YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MakoInvent



Mako Design Links:


Website: https://www.makodesign.com/



YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MakoInvent



Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MakoInvent/



LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/MakoDesign/



Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakoInvent/



Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/MakoInvent/



Twitter: https://twitter.com/MakoInvent/



Kevin Mako Links:


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/



LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/



Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako



Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/



Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/



About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry’s leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about Mako Design + Invent!