In this instructional video, Ian Peterman, CEO and founder of Peterman Design Firm, outlines five primary avenues inventors can pursue to obtain a prototype for their idea. He begins by emphasizing the critical role of prototyping as a proof‑of‑concept tool that validates feasibility and helps attract investment or partners. He then details each option: 1. Prototype Shops – specialized firms that focus solely on low‑volume prototype production (typically 5‑10 units) using methods such as CNC machining, textiles, and 3D printing. They are not suited for short‑run or full production. 2. Design Firms – companies like Peterman Design Firm that either have in‑house prototyping capabilities or strong relationships with prototype shops, offering a one‑stop resource for design, engineering, and prototype sourcing. 3. DIY / Home‑Built Prototypes – inventors can create their own early‑stage prototypes to explore concepts, identify issues, and iterate before seeking external help. 4. Short‑Run Manufacturers – manufacturers that can produce limited production runs (under 5‑10k units per year) and may also offer prototyping services, allowing a seamless transition from prototype to first‑run production. 5. Full‑Scale Manufacturers – the final step for mature products with complete documentation, tooling, and specifications. Some manufacturers provide in‑house prototyping, but they are generally recommended only when the design is well‑defined or when only minor modifications to existing products are needed. Peterman concludes with practical advice on selecting the appropriate path based on the invention’s maturity, documentation, required volume, and budget, and ends with a call to action to subscribe and visit his firm’s website.
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Hello, my name is Ian Peterman. I am CEO and founder of Peterman Design Firm, and today I'm going to talk about who can make a prototype of an invention. So if you're an inventor and you have an idea in your head, you come up with something and you want to prototype it, there's a few different places you can go. in order to get that prototype actually made. And I'm gonna go over 5 places that, or 5 people, 5 resources that you can use in order to get your invention actually prototyped, which is, you know, I just wanna take a second here. Prototyping is a really important, really crucial part of validating the idea, making sure that it can work, and being able to show other people that your idea works and that it's worth investing or worth buying or even trying to get people to help you with it in any way, having a prototype is a huge step. It doesn't have to be a perfect prototype, but just a proof of concept showing that it is possible, the product or idea can be done. All right, so the first place that I wanna talk about that you can go to is Prototype Shop. Now there's many different kinds of prototype shops, but they only specialize in prototypes. They're not going to do short runs. You'll maybe get 5, 10, you know, prototypes out of them at a time, and they're not going to— but they're not going to be anything that you'll use for actual production in any way, shape, or form. Now, they'll have all kinds of different manufacturing methods. They'll be able to, you know, have maybe a machining shop. They'll have A, you know, if you're looking at textiles, they'll be able to have all the different materials that you need. They'll be able to make all kinds of stuff that you might want, and they often have 3D printing. That's very common for prototype shop, just because 3D printing is not often used in production, though it's starting to be used in production by some places for certain specialized products. Now, the next thing that you can go to, the next place you can go to, are design firms. Now, this is because design firms will either have their own internal prototyping resources. So firms like Peterman Design Firm, we have internal capabilities and we have relationships with larger, more specialized prototype shops and manufacturers. So If you're not sure what kind of shop to go to, or if you know that you're going to go through a few different shops and you're going to need a lot of different resources to prototype something, you can always go to the design firm and, you know, see if they have the internal capability, or if they have really good relationship with other prototype shops and, and whatnot, have those resources. They can be a great place to go get your Third option, you. You can make your own prototype. As I said in the very beginning, we don't need it to be perfect, especially if this is just an idea, early-stage proof of concept. You just need it to be a prototype to show that it can work. So I've worked with a lot of inventors that have built their own prototypes, and it's really helped the process. They've been able to think through their own invention and idea and refine it some or figure out issues. Yeah, and I think that's a really good point. Just by prototyping it themselves. And then, you know, I then I've worked with them to get additional prototypes and refine those prototypes even further. But just having that is going to help you with your own invention. Next, number 4, I want to talk about short-run manufacturers. So these are different than prototype shops. They will do short runs, and a short run is It can vary, but usually if you're going to order under 5,000 or 10,000 units a year, that's a short-run manufacturer. They're only going to produce a few. They'll do a run of 500 and they'll scale down. So if you can find a short-run manufacturer that does prototyping as well, that's even better because you can have prototypes and then you can have even your first run of product that you're going to sell or give out to influencers or get reviews on. Do product testing with, you'll be able to work with the same shop in order to have them both prototype and then make that short run for you. Now the last option here, number 5, is manufacturers. And this is the last option because this is the last place you should go, but it can work out. So depending on what your product is and how well you have designed it, how well you've scoped, if you have all the drawings, if you have all the documentation, the product specifications, all of those components put together really well, and you are not finding someone to prototype it, or you want to be able to save some time and possibly cost, you can go to a manufacturer and say, here's my product. And they will— some of them will be willing to produce a prototype and say, here is this what you're looking at. And all manufacturers will produce prototypes. But typically a manufacturer will produce a production prototype where they build all the tooling and you spend all the money and they run a couple and they make sure that that is going to work for you. And that happens no matter what. Well, it should happen no matter what. You should always get a production prototype from whoever is the final manufacturer. But some manufacturers will have in-house prototyping capabilities because they offer a little bit more of a one-stop service. And so you may be able to find a manufacturer that can do prototyping. If you don't have all that documentation, you need one that actually has prototyping capability as well as design capability, because in the end, you're really going to them for production. And if they don't have design capability and prototyping, it's going to be really hard for you to go straight to them. The exception to that, of course, is if you're working with them to really kind of modify— say they produce glassware and you just want to create a slightly different version than somebody else's and you're just off a standard glass, you're trying to make a new wine glass, for example. You're not doing anything too crazy. You're making a little bit of change or you're just— engraving your logo on, on something that exists, then you don't need— you can go straight to a manufacturer. They'll be able to produce a prototype, you know, in your version, and you can work directly with them, and you don't need all that documentation part. So that's an option, but it's usually the last option that I ever recommend anybody to go to for prototyping, especially if you're prototyping an invention and it's really early. Like you just— this is your first prototype, manufacturers can but rarely are a good fit. I hope giving you these 5 places that you can go and resources you should be looking at in order to get a prototype of your invention will help you in actually prototyping your invention and bringing it to the next step that you need to go to to make your product a reality. Hey, thanks for watching. We really appreciate our viewers, and if you haven't subscribed yet, please do subscribe to our channel so you can get more great videos like this in your feed. And like the video. If you want to learn more about the Peterman Design Firm, please check us out on our website, petermanfirm.com. You'll find link and information and The description. And of course, we're on all social media as well, so check us out there. All right, thank you. Thank you.
