Scaling Innovation from Prototype to Market

Bridging the "Manufacturing Valley of Death." If you're building a hardware startup, you already know: prototyping is hard, but scaling to production is where most ventures die. After helping dozens of hardware founders, I've seen one stage consistently kill great products: the transition from prototype to mass production. Why is this stage so so so brutal? You’re stuck in manufacturing no-man’s-land: ✅ Too big for prototype shops (their unit costs explode beyond 100 units). ✅ Too small for traditional contract manufacturers (they want 10,000+ units). ✅ Facing a 5–10x cost jump for tooling, molds, and compliance testing. ✅ Every delay cascades—supply chain hiccups, redesigns, and cash burn pile up fast. 1 day becomes 1 week becomes 1 month and so on... This is the "Valley of Death"—where startups hemorrhage money, time, and morale before reaching real customers. How to Survive (and Even Thrive, maybe): 1️⃣ Find a "Bridge" Manufacturer Look for CMs specializing in low-to-mid volume (500–10k units) with soft tooling or modular assembly. 2️⃣ Use Hybrid Prototyping Combine 3D printing, CNC, and hand assembly to defer expensive tooling until you validate demand. 3️⃣ Secure Flexible Funding Crowdfunding, pre-orders, or strategic investors who understand hardware’s scaling risks. 4️⃣ Design for Manufacturing (DFM) EARLY Involve manufacturing experts before your first prototype to avoid costly redesigns later. 5️⃣ Expect (and Budget For) Delays Assume your first production run will have 30% higher costs and 2x the timeline you planned. The Bottom Line: Crossing the hardware "Valley of Death" requires planning, partnerships, and patience. The startups that survive are the ones who: Treat scaling as a core risk (not an afterthought). Raise more capital than they think they’ll need (because they will). Build relationships with manufacturers before they’re desperate. If you’re in this phase now—keep pushing. The other side is worth it. What is your best tip for surviving the manufacturing valley of death? #Manufacturing #Electronics #Nearshoring #ContractManufacturing

The healthcare landscape is filled with brilliant insights and promising pilots that never scale. As human-centered designers, we excel at uncovering needs and creating compelling solutions—yet implementation remains our greatest challenge. Transforming promising pilots into widespread practices represents a profound opportunity to shape healthcare's future. When innovative approaches successfully scale, they create ripple effects—enhancing patient experiences, improving outcomes, and often reducing burden on care teams. Our opportunity lies in developing implementation approaches as thoughtful as our initial designs. Institutional inertia often presents the first major hurdle. Overcome this by starting with targeted 8-week interventions that demonstrate immediate value. Identify informal leaders who shape culture—the veteran nurse or respected physician whose opinions influence others. Create visual artifacts that make pain points undeniable and build emotional connection to the need for change. Regulatory concerns require thoughtful navigation. Invite compliance partners into design sessions from day one, giving them ownership in finding solutions. Distinguish between actual requirements and accumulated practices—you'll often find more flexibility than assumed. Consider modular implementation where less-regulated components can advance first. Address the human element of implementation. Design changes that reduce workload in visible ways—for every new step added, eliminate two. Create a "change budget" that acknowledges the cognitive costs and limits concurrent initiatives. Develop frontline champions who receive dedicated time for implementation support. For measurement challenges, create simple dashboards that include both traditional and experience measures. Develop visual data stories showing impact through multiple perspectives to build a compelling case. Establish 30-day feedback cycles where users shape refinements. When moving from pilot to scale, build solutions with a stable core and flexible edges that adapt to different contexts. Document "implementation recipes" with specific steps and resource requirements. Connect implementation teams across sites to share adaptations and solutions. By addressing these barriers with practical strategies, we can accelerate human-centered innovation in healthcare—moving from isolated bright spots to transformative change at scale.

From BUILD to Business & Market Fit: The Foundation for SME Product Success Last week, I introduced BUILD, a simple yet practical framework for product management in New Zealand’s SMEs. The response was fantastic, with insightful comments on how product management should be adapted to SMEs rather than startups. Now, it’s time to look into “B” – Business & Market Fit. For SMEs, "B" is about ensuring products solve real problems and align with business goals from the start. As one comment on my original post pointed out, NZ SMEs begin with a practical insight from their own industry—a customer challenge they see firsthand. They develop a solution, secure a few paying customers, rely on word-of-mouth, and expand gradually (often to Australia next). But how can SMEs do this more effectively, with less risk? That’s where the practical tools we teach in BUSDEV 722 (product management) and 723 (new product development) come in: ✅ Customer Problem Validation – Before investing in development, test assumptions. ✅ Value Proposition Testing – Tools like the Lean Canvas or JTBD (Jobs to Be Done) framework help SMEs articulate how their product solves a critical pain point. ✅ Market Sizing for NZ & Beyond – NZ is a small market, so thinking globally early is key. Mapping niche expansion opportunities and barriers to entry in Australia or other target markets can save time and money later. Take, for example, an agritech SME developing an automated irrigation sensor. A traditional approach might be: “Build the product, then sell it.” A BUILD approach would be: 💡 Talk to 10+ farmers to confirm the pain point and willingness to pay 💡 Prototype and pilot with early adopters, refine based on real use cases 💡 Design and plan for scaling before committing to manufacturing By doing this, firms can improve their chances of launching a product the market actually needs, want and can afford. In your experience, what process do SME's follow? What tools do they use? And, how can this advice be improved? #ProductManagement #SMEs #BusinessGrowth #BUILDFramework #NewZealandBusiness #BUSDEV722

Pilots are easy. Production is hard. A recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology study echoes what we’re seeing at @M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund: the real challenge isn’t launching a pilot—it’s scaling to production. Startups that succeed don’t just ship features. They build systems: instrumented, auditable, and continuously learning. Feedback loops (often with human still in-the-loop) are essential. So are the fundamentals: usability, reliability, compliance, and cost discipline. In recent conversations with enterprise customers and M12 founders, one theme stood out: reducing friction in existing workflows creates the “magic moment.” One buyer summed it up after a 30-minute pitch from one our port cos: “Your product is magic.”  Sometimes the magic is in the product. Other times, it’s the product combined with services that make integration seamless. Both are powerful. And today’s LinkedIn research shows many employees feel overwhelmed by new AI tech—so at least today, fitting into existing workflows isn’t just a nice to have, it can be critical. Some of questions we keep asking as we evaluate startups: How are you crossing the chasm from pilot to production? Where are you removing friction? How do you retrain and adapt to existing workflows to drive adoption?