We’ve all seen Kickstarter campaigns fail due to one issue or another–manufacturing problems, design issues, poor scheduling. Raise your hand if you’ve contributed to a failed campaign. Yes? I’m with you. It seemed like it couldn’t fail, right? More often than not, however, the issue all others stem from is a lack of planning–Planning that starts with those who have been there before and have knowledge of the many intricacies involved in getting a product to market.
Enter Dragon Innovation, a company whose purpose is to provide an engineering consulting and certification service to those who need help getting from garage to factory along with company scaling services once they get there.
The Certification process begins with three questions designed to see if your product meets or exceeds important requirements for a crowdfunding launch.
- Can it be manufactured?
- How much will it cost?
- When can it be delivered?
Once those questions are answered, the process moves onto a 6-factor review and detailed analysis of the product, showing you what’s necessary for success and ultimately, if the venture measures up.
These six factors include:
- DFM Analysis: Product breakdown to see if it can be manufactured reliably.
- BOM Review: Itemized material and component list, cost overview.
- Mechanical Teardown: Product disassembly for design integrity encompassing cost, quality, and reliability.
- Packaging Considerations: Determine suitability and cost of packaging design, offer redesign when necessary.
- Estimation of Manufacturing Costs: Both domestic and overseas cost optimization options.
- Pro-forma Manufacturing Schedule: Provides a manufacturing schedule and produce realistic shipping dates.
The breakdown is straightforward and benefits both newcomers and seasoned crowdfunders alike. Considering Dragon has helped some of the more familiar brands, brands with successful crowdfunding campaigns (including Pebble, MakerBot, Sphero, IDEO, Formlabs and other), it’s a testament to their knowledge and ability to navigate the production lifecycle.
Dragon’s certification program also provides personalized feedback from engineers to help navigate any design and manufacturing issues that could arise. They also have an online Product Planner, currently in Beta, they say is “More powerful than spreadsheets, easier than PLM or ERP”. With their customer list and clear approach to making sure a product launch is feasible, Dragon Innovation may be exactly what’s needed to reduce the number of failed campaigns.
