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2010-08-17 10:12:12 (8328 views) Just a quick update on the current status and ETA.
- LEGAL: The company was formed and the bank account created. This is a big deal! The first Male Management company owns the financial and juridic structure necessary to bring our dreams to reality. We are now able to accept funds by wire transfer and we are trying to apply for card processing.
- PLASTIC: The mold was created and revised, we should get new parts this week to test all dimensions are perfect, then send it off for polishing. With some luck early next week we can start producing perfect parts that will go into the final product; actual production will not take a week. This is also a big deal, we've gone from messing around with square black boxes to having a miniaturized waterproof custom enclosure that attaches to CB devices comfortably.
- RUBBER: We've tested the glow in the dark pigments, everything works as planned, whether we choose these glowing colors or not rubber part production should start concurrently with the plastic and take no longer than 1 week.
- AROUSAL INDUCERS: Overmolded motor production will happen concurrently with the plastic and rubber. Won't take more than 1 week to have enough motors to start selling. This was one of the hardest technical challenges, although it didn't really slow us down much because we were waiting for the company to be created. Still, the engineering challenges were formidable.
- OVERLAYS: Well, you've read the story, they basically cheated us and made a cheap sticker instead of a real 0.5mm plastic overlay. We're talking with 3 new suppliers, one turned us down, one is playing games, one seems to be all right. These things can be created in a week or so, so they will be ready by the time everything else is ready
- EMC TESTING: Was scheduled for Tuesday but the lab ran out of a specific part we need, we're rescheduling and should be done with it by early next week. If we pass all tests we're officially authorized to sell in the US, and in the EU shortly thereafter once we do a bit more paperwork. This is the biggest waste of time/money and the largest pain in the rear, but it's necessary.
- PCBs and assembly: As soon as we pass EMC testing we'll do a component count, place an order for the needed lots and sync with the PCB assembly guys. If they don't flake (long time since we contacted them) and if they aren't super busy they may be able to put together boards for us within 2 weeks of EMC testing. If this turns out to be one of those 1 or 2 month delay things we'll just hand assemble boards until automated assembly is in place so fear not.
There are still a few issues with everything (programming, LEDs, issues with the keypad, custom screws quality), but they can be solved as we go along.
At this point it looks like none of the milestones are beyond the 30 day mark, except, possibly, fulfillment (we need to transport the stuff to our US fulfillment house, all materials must go through customs).
We are slowly but surely coming to the end of a long and fantastically complex development phase...
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As soon as we pass EMC testing and accept quotes for the last parts (overlays, boxes, body bands, screws) we'll know what our real costs are prior to taxes, shipping & customs and we'll sit down and focus on this very seriously, including payment methods, sales price, initial quantity, beta testing or not, distributors or not, and so forth.
It's not so simple because we don't really know how big the market is. All we have is our website stats...
If anyone wishes to contribute an opinion (with data) about the target market size, taken from whatever source, that would be helpful in guiding us!
The correlation between their target market and yours is nearly identical - people who want to control men sexually. They probably get some gag-bachelor-party sales that you won't, but the desire is the same.
The question, then, is price. If you priced the unit at $100, you could probably sell one unit to at least half of Miller CB owners (I think half is super conservative; I can't imagine there are many people who want a CB but are uninterested in the additional control DL provides).
However, I'm not sure you can even make that many units that fast. And since your product makes CB products many times better than they already are, there is an argument that they should be priced many times more. ﾂIf you were to price your product at $1,000, you could probably still sell a healthy number. ﾂThere are a few problems with this price, though:
ﾂﾂ- your product is targeted at Miller CB users, who do not have a high price tolerance
ﾂ- when you sell chastity related products in this price range you are now competing with custom metal chastity belts, which are undoubtedly more attractive to at least some of your customer base.
So I think a good price would be a price such that the combined price of a CB-3000 and a DL-2000 is significantly less than a custom metal belt.
Good custom metal belts start at around $700, so I'd start your product price at around $200-$300. ﾂHopefully this gives you a healthy profit margin.
What I'd suggest next is that when your newer model comes out in a year or so, price that model at the same $300, but sell the DL-2000 at $150. ﾂThis will allow you to increase your market share without sacrificing the high profit margin of your most loyal customers, the early adopters.
I am very eager to hear your thoughts on this. I will end with one piece of advice: it is very easy to lower prices to increase demand for your product. It is very hard to raise your prices if you've set them too low.