As the owner of a startup, the two factors that Conner Trebour considers in every decision are efficiency and value. When his company set out on the product development journey, those thoughts were always at the forefront.
At the time, Conner thought the fastest and most efficient way to develop their product was internally—who could understand their idea better than them? But he soon realized the value of contracting the whole project to a turnkey product development shop.
What made you turn to SPARK?
As the project manager, part of my job was to hire independent engineers on a case-by-case basis when certain expertise was needed. I soon realized that this method was far less efficient than I’d originally thought. I was wasting time and money to try and get things moving.
Another engineer in Newport News referred me to SPARK Product Development. I had lined up some other options to shop around—but after an initial meeting with Bruce, we decided on SPARK pretty quickly.
It only took one team meeting to realize that I should have called them months beforehand.
They were able to help me see that I didn’t even know what I didn’t know. They quickly pinpointed what I needed to put into place and the best way to do it.
It was a big step for us to outsource our product development. For an entrepreneur, it is sometimes difficult to outsource because it feels like you’re losing control of part of the process.
In hindsight though, I never felt like there was any loss of control. Rather, I got to work with a team of professionals that heard and respected my decisions, while also giving me much more experience and insight into how the process should be done.
How did working with SPARK affect your process?
Before I started working with SPARK, I had spent six months organizing a variety of fragmented resources. After bringing SPARK on board, we made more progress on the product design in the first month than I had in the six months prior.
SPARK’s efficiency and knowledge cut my development time in half, saving me thousands of dollars and easily paying for themselves in the time and money they saved me.
While handling this project internally may have eventually been successful, that process would have cost time, money, and resources that we didn’t have. Each month of development before this product launched was another month without that revenue, another month of overhead expenses, another month of inefficient spending.
What was something SPARK helped you realize you didn’t know?
They designed for manufacturability (DFM); something that we wouldn’t have done ourselves. DFM was a tremendous step forward when it came to setting up the injection molding process and integrating with our manufacturer.
The value of this partnership went beyond the initial development process. SPARK got us into the market much more quickly—while also setting us up for future efficiency.
They also helped us balance ongoing part cost with upfront setup cost—and were always available to discuss any adjustment or question that came up. Nothing seemed to be an issue for them; they just worked through any hiccups quickly and professionally.
What was it like working with SPARK’s team?
From being friendly and approachable to being knowledgeable and informative, I couldn’t say enough positive things about my experience with SPARK.
Bruce’s simple explanation of the process put us at ease. We felt as though Bruce and the team had all the resources and abilities we needed, but weren’t going to try and push services that we didn’t. We had an immediate trust in SPARK, and that was comforting for a group like ours with no product development experience.
For example I had not initially thought about bringing in an industrial designer but once I connected with SPARK, their industrial designer was able to help design a new casing for us, making it better for our end customer—both aesthetically and functionally.
What would you say to someone who’s considering SPARK?
SPARK provided our company with two things that every company should look for: efficiency and value. From discovery, industrial design, product design, and manufacturing support they were a great choice for us.
I was impressed with how far SPARK pushed the industrial design process. We had several meetings where they asked deep questions around the usability of our product, the pain points of our current customers, and the problems we were trying to solve—as opposed to the product we wanted to create. Which in the end helped us design something that really fit the brand/feel we were going for.
To companies of any size looking to develop the best product for the best value with the greatest efficiency, I would highly recommend SPARK Product Development.
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Produced with Quillpower