Where would you start if you wanted a simple product turned into something with electronics in it ?
I make plant trays and sell them in my own shop. That part runs fine and I do not need help with it. But for months the same request comes in by mail and in reviews. People want a version with a built-in watering timer. I counted last week and it was more than twenty people asking for it.
Problem is I know nothing about this side. I can handle the shop and the product pages myself. I have no idea who designs a small pump with a timer or what a first version even costs. Maybe it is a product designer or an electronics person or a factory that does all of it in one go. I really do not know.
I looked at cheap timer kits online and on paper this sounds easy. Buy kit, put it in tray, sell it for double. But that is not a product. I can't give warranty on a kit I did not make. Water and cheap electronics in one box on someone's windowsill is not something I want my name on. And if half of them leak I am the one answering those mails.
Also twenty people asking does not mean twenty people paying. People ask for lots of things in reviews.
So I would like to hear from anyone who went from selling a simple physical thing to something with a pump or a battery in it. Who you talked to first and roughly what that first prototype cost you.
Cheers
