"Chuck Cox" wrote in message
...
RCE wrote:
I've been following with interest your market research for this little
generator. It sounds like a great product technically, but I think Wayne
may have hit upon the real world implications of it's use as a consumer
type product. Your small company will need to resolve problems that
arise from some customers with no technical comprehension of what they
are doing and somehow maintain a good reputation for responsive service.
Not to throw a wet blanket on the concept, because it's good, but this is
a prime example of something that will require product liability
insurance. Depending on who you chose to underwrite a policy, it may
force you to jack the price up significantly.
That is true. We have priced in a certain amount of insurance, but our
estimates could be wrong. There is a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem in
regards to product insurance pricing because you can't get a real quote
until you have a real prototype and solid price-point.
Not to be nosey - and no need to answer if it's none of my business - but
how are you funded?
We are privately funded. We have a small group of loyal investors that we
have been good to over the last 22 years.
I have the impression of a small, startup company somehow connected to a
university (Harvard).
SynchroSystems is not affiliated with any University although we have good
relations with local schools because we occasionally hire interns to help
us with non-technical stuff. I am a (very) part-time undergrad degree
candidate at Harvard, hence my backup email address. My partner is an
alumni of the trade school down the street (MIT), so we have close ties to
those schools, but nothing official.
We are small, but since we were founded in 1984, I'm not sure if we are a
start-up. Although our in-house product development is new, we have been
developing products for other companies for 22 years.
At some point in the development and introduction of this generator the
question will come up. Is the development privately funded?
Yes.
How do you intend to market it? (May cost much more than the development
costs).
That depends on what our market research indicates. We will certainly
sell online, but other details remain TBD. A certain amount of marketing
expense has already been priced in, but our market research will help
refine that number. This is the kind of thing we hire an MBA student to
figure out for us.
BTW, I am sure you realize that there are other consumer markets for a
product like this that may be bigger than the boating industry.
Yes, this is really just a variation on something else we are working on
for a non-boating application.
--
Chuck Cox - SynchroSystems - Synchro.com
,
my email is politician-proof, just remove the PORK
Interesting company and potential new product. I wish you success. I am
not far from you (Duxbury) and would be happy to be a beta site! :-)
RCE