Brent Erwin worked with Ian Peterman to turn a conceptual idea into a real product. He chose Ian for fast communication, patience, and reasonable pricing, and learned to use a 3D printer while iterating designs. Brent plans to keep working with Peterman Design Firm on more products.
Chapters
Hello, my name is Ian Peterman with Peterman Design Firm, and I'm here with Brent talking about a design project that we worked on together. And the first question is, when you came to me, what were you looking for exactly? What were the services you really needed?
So it all just started from a crazy idea, you know, in your head concept, just imagination was running wild. And then how do you properly apply that to making something happen and ultimately try and get an idea to market? The latter 80% of that last conversation I knew nothing about, so I needed someone like Ian with the technical expertise and some design background to kind of start putting something down on paper and making a crazy idea happen.
And so From there, what was it— what made you decide to work with me over anybody else? Or did you— had you talked to more people? Kind of what was that like?
Yeah, so, you know, with the access of the internet, I got on the World Wide Web. I think the thing about yourself that made me kind of hooked and/or want to come back for future work is that you were extremely quick and precise as far as communication, which was nice. I was juggling school and busy with everything. You were super patient. And also, you know, a lot of it comes down to money and just the kind of the resources that I had at the time. It was very reasonable for the project we were trying to undertake.
Awesome. Well, glad to hear all of that. Had you done this before at all? Had you gone through this process in any way, or is this your first First time really entering the design and manufacturing world?
Brand new. You know, we have all these crazy ideas and wild imaginations since we're little, but it's one thing just talking about it or thinking about it versus actually, you know, putting something down and having a prototype in your hands X amount of months down the road once you find the right help. So totally new for me coming from a military background in which Everything is done for you. So this was, this was all brand new, uh, first time. I'm very pleased with how it's, how it's going, even though it's taken about a year, but that's life, um, and trying to juggle everything. So things happen. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. So tell me a little about your experience and what was, what was your favorite, I guess, what was the best part of working through this project with me?
Um, I would easily say, so picking up my first 3D printer, um, that I had no No expertise in prior, completely amateur, just doing that kind of DIY trial and error at home. And it was nice being able to talk about design changes when we're going through the prototyping stage and then having you send the newly updated files over to myself and I'd get to throw them on the printer and kind of see the evolution of this thing progress. And that was, that was pretty fun.
Awesome. So, uh, one of the last questions here, would you recommend me and anything else like that?
Oh, absolutely. I, um, I'm gonna be bringing future work to you now that I'll have a more full-time dedication to getting this silicone game off the ropes, I would say. Um, I think just going through the first one is gonna be the most difficult, just like any other startup or venture, but having your support, um, made it much more comfortable. And I was also able to watch kind of a tentative budget that I had set out from just scholarship and military money too. So all in all, I'm very happy. And, you know, I have already the second, third, fourth idea. So once I, once I can get through the launch of this first one, then I'd like to sit and talk. And I've always appreciated the patience just because, you know, we'd stay in contact sometimes a day or two ago, you know, go buy your work in. Everyone's busy doing everything, but we'd eventually come around, square back up, and continue moving forward.
Awesome. All right, well, I guess, is there anything else you'd like to add, or—
Yeah, no, no, it was just a real pleasure. If anyone is, I would say, hesitant and/or nervous about taking a risk and going into a new venture or trying to launch a new product, build the right team. Ian's gonna be one of those guys you want on that team, and hopefully you can see a lot of fruition come to, uh, that hard work. So I appreciate everything.
Great. Well, thank you for your time, and, uh, we look forward to the next project.
