Yes, we do sign an NDA to protect your product idea. This is something we take very seriously at Analogy. Many founders come to us at a very early stage, often with nothing more than an idea, sketch, or rough concept. We are completely comfortable signing NDAs before any detailed discussion begins, so you can speak freely and openly with our team. Confidentiality is built into how we work. Over the last 10 years, we’ve collaborated with founders, startups, and global brands like Panasonic, Unilever, Google, and Maersk, all of whom trust us with sensitive IP. Our internal processes are designed to keep your information secure across design, engineering, and manufacturing stages. Every project is handled by a dedicated cross-functional team. That accountability matters when ideas are still fragile.

Once an NDA is in place, we focus entirely on helping you move forward with clarity and confidence. Our goal is to turn your idea into a real, validated product without risking ownership or control. If you’re serious about building something meaningful, we’ll make sure it’s protected while it grows.

Yes, we help founders prepare their product ideas for patenting. Many ideas fail at the patent stage because they are unclear, poorly defined, or technically weak. Our role is to make your product idea patent-ready by strengthening the design, function, and technical logic before you approach a patent attorney. This dramatically improves the quality and defensibility of your patent application.

Through our product design and engineering process, we help you clearly define what makes your idea novel. This includes refining the product architecture, mechanisms, user interactions, and technical features. We also help identify what should be protected and what should remain flexible for future versions. Founders often tell us this clarity alone saves them time, legal costs, and multiple re-filings.

Here’s how we support you for patenting your product idea:

- Idea clarification: We turn your concept into a clearly defined product with purpose, structure, and function

- Design documentation: We create detailed CAD models, technical drawings, and exploded views needed for patent filing

- Novelty identification: We help highlight what is unique, functional, and worth protecting

- Technical readiness: We ensure the idea is feasible, not just theoretical, reducing rejection risk

- Attorney collaboration: We work alongside your patent attorney to provide all required design and technical inputs


While the legal filing is handled by licensed patent professionals, our process ensures you enter that stage fully prepared. This approach protects your intellectual property, strengthens your long-term product strategy, and gives you confidence to move forward. Many founders choose Analogy because we think beyond filing. We think about how your product will actually exist in the real world.

No, your idea always remains yours. When you work with Analogy, you retain full ownership of your product idea, designs, and intellectual property. Our role is to help you develop, refine, and bring your idea to market. This is clearly defined in our agreements, so there is never ambiguity around ownership.

As a professional product design and engineering studio, we operate on a client-first IP model. Everything we design specifically for your project, including the concepts, CAD files, prototypes, and technical documentation, is created for you and transferred to you as part of the engagement. We’ve worked with founders, startups, and global brands like Panasonic, Unilever, and Cellairis, and IP protection has always been a core part of those relationships.

We also understand how sensitive early-stage ideas can be. That’s why we work with strict confidentiality, NDAs when required, and transparent contracts. Our focus is long-term trust, not short-term control. Your idea is your asset, we simply help you build it the right way.

Launching a product and designing a product are two entirely different paths. Our concept design services usually cost anywhere between $20,000 to $50,000 depending on what stage you are starting from and how far you want to go. The cost of launching a product depends on factors like complexity, materials, electronics, manufacturing method, testing requirements, and regulatory needs all influence cost. A simple consumer product and a connected IoT device follow very different investment paths.At Analogy, we help founders control costs by making smart decisions early. Over the last 10 years, this approach has helped founders achieve an average ROI of over 250%. We align the scope to include a higher chance of success rather than unrealistic goals with tiny budgets and quick timelines. We openly discuss costs, trade-offs, and next steps before you commit.

The Product Path™ process focuses on validating ideas before heavy spending on tooling or manufacturing. By identifying risks, simplifying design, and planning production realistically, many clients avoid costly redesigns and unnecessary expenses.

If you’re serious about building a product the right way, a strategy call is the best place to start. We’ll help you understand what it will realistically take to go from idea to product.

You don’t need a technical or engineering background to work with Analogy. In fact, a large percentage of the founders we work with are non-technical, first-time product builders. Our role is to bridge that gap by translating ideas into clear design, engineering, and manufacturing decisions. We guide you through the entire hardware product design process in simple, human language.

Product Path™ was built specifically to remove complexity for founders. We explain trade-offs, costs, timelines, and risks without jargon or assumptions. Whether it’s materials, electronics, tooling, or manufacturing constraints, our team handles the technical depth so you don’t have to. You stay involved in decisions, but never overwhelmed by them.

This approach has helped over 250 products reach development across 21 industries, with clients raising over $2M in funding and winning 23+ global design awards. You bring the vision and ambition, we bring the structure and execution. Together, that’s how ideas turn into products people actually use.

On average, reaching manufacturing can take anywhere from 6 to 12 months and sometimes even more. The time it takes to turn an idea into a product depends on complexity, category, and readiness, but most physical products follow a clear product development timeline. This includes concept design, prototyping, validation, engineering, and manufacturing preparation. Rushing this process often leads to expensive mistakes later.

At Analogy, we focus on reducing unnecessary delays by validating decisions early. Through structured concept design services, rapid prototyping, and early manufacturing cost estimation, we help founders avoid rework and redesign. Our Product Path™ approach connects design and manufacturing from day one, instead of treating them as separate stages. That alone can save months of lost time.

Because we work with 150+ manufacturing partners globally, we design with real production constraints in mind. This means fewer surprises when it’s time to tool up and scale. If you want a realistic, honest roadmap for your product, our team can help you plan timelines that are ambitious but achievable.

A typical product development timeline for a physical product ranges between 6 to 12 months, depending on complexity, technology, and market readiness. This timeline usually covers concept design, prototyping, engineering, testing, and preparation for manufacturing. Products involving electronics, compliance, or custom tooling may take slightly longer. What matters most is not speed alone, but making the right decisions at the right time. At Analogy, we break the product lifecycle into clear, manageable stages so founders always know what’s happening next.

Our team plans timelines around real-world constraints like tooling lead times, supplier availability, and testing cycles. By aligning design and manufacturing early, we prevent delays that often appear late in the process. This structured approach helps founders move forward with confidence instead of guesswork.

Over the past 10 years, this method has supported 250+ products across industries like consumer electronics, mobility, wellness, and smart devices. Many of these products went on to secure funding and global launches. When timelines are realistic and well-managed, products reach the market stronger and faster.

The most expensive part of product development is usually not design, it’s what comes after poor design decisions. Tooling, molds, electronics rework, certification failures, and manufacturing errors can quickly multiply costs if issues surface late. Many teams underestimate how expensive it is to fix problems once production has started. That’s where most budgets quietly collapse. Manufacturing setup, tooling, and production mistakes tend to be the biggest cost drivers. A small change in part geometry, material choice, or assembly logic can mean redoing molds or scrapping inventory. Without early validation, founders often spend heavily on things that could have been simplified or avoided. This is why early-stage design and prototyping decisions matter more than most people realize.

At Analogy, we help control these costs by designing with manufacturing, cost modeling, and scale in mind from the beginning. Our team actively looks for ways to reduce part count, simplify assemblies, and choose smarter production methods. This disciplined approach protects capital, shortens timelines, and is a key reason Product Path™ delivers strong ROI for founders building physical products.

Yes, we support both product design and manufacturing under one integrated system. Analogy was built to remove the common disconnect between beautiful design and real-world production. From early concept design services to CAD, DFM, sourcing, and manufacturing readiness, everything flows through a single team. This ensures that what gets designed can actually be built at scale. Our design to manufacturing services include material selection, manufacturing cost estimation, vendor coordination, and tooling support. Because we work closely with 150+ manufacturing partners globally, we design with production realities in mind from day one.

This reduces rework, lowers costs, and improves overall product quality. Founders don’t have to manage multiple agencies or vendors on their own.

This end-to-end approach has helped our clients avoid costly mistakes and bring products to market with clarity. It’s one of the reasons Analogy has earned 23 global design awards and long-term partnerships with brands like Panasonic and Unilever.

When design and manufacturing work together, outcomes improve dramatically.

Most product failures happen because decisions are made too late: after tooling, after manufacturing, or after launch. Product Path™ focuses on validating ideas early through research, concept testing, prototyping, and real-world constraints. This helps founders avoid expensive mistakes before they become irreversible. We combine user insights, engineering logic, and manufacturing realities from day one. That means we don’t design in isolation, we think about materials, assembly, costs, compliance, and scalability while the product is still flexible. By testing assumptions early and often, we remove guesswork and replace it with clarity. This approach has helped our clients across 21+ industries build products that actually work in the market.

Over the last 10+ years, this method has resulted in 250+ products launched, 24 global design awards, and over $65M raised by our clients. Risk doesn’t disappear, but it becomes manageable, measurable, and informed. Founders work with us because they want fewer surprises and more control as they move toward manufacturing and launch.

Yes, we specialize in design products for global markets across the US, Europe, and Asia. Around 75% of our clients come from the US and Europe, and many products are built for international distribution from the start. This means we consider global user behavior, environmental conditions, and regulatory standards early in the design process. Designing locally but thinking globally is a core part of our mindset.

Our team accounts for product safety compliance, certifications, and regional manufacturing requirements during concept and engineering stages. This reduces the risk of redesigns due to regulatory issues later. Whether it’s materials, electronics standards, or ergonomic considerations, we design with scalability and compliance in mind. These decisions protect both timelines and investment.

Having worked across 21 industries, we bring a broad perspective to global product design challenges. This experience helps founders avoid regional blind spots and prepare products for wider adoption. If your goal is to build beyond one market, we help you design for that future from day one.

Hiring a product design agency gives you a dedicated, cross-functional team instead of relying on one individual’s skill set. At Analogy, designers, engineers, and strategists work together from day one, which means fewer gaps between concept, engineering, and manufacturing. Freelancers often focus on a single stage, while agencies are built to manage the entire product lifecycle. This reduces risk and keeps your product aligned as it evolves.

A product design agency also brings proven systems, not just talent. Our Product Path™ process has been refined across 250+ products, helping founders avoid common missteps that cost time and money. You benefit from structured reviews, real manufacturing insight, and accountability at every stage. That’s why many founders choose agencies when outcomes matter more than quick execution.

Working with an award-winning studio also builds credibility with investors, partners, and manufacturers. Global recognitions like Red Dot, iF, and IDA signal that your product is being built to world-class standards. That confidence often carries beyond design and into funding and launch conversations.

One of the biggest mistakes founders make is rushing into detailed design without validating the product idea first. Skipping research, user testing, or feasibility checks often leads to costly redesigns later. Another common issue is designing in isolation, without considering manufacturing constraints early. This creates products that look great but are difficult or expensive to produce.

Founders also underestimate how interconnected decisions are during product development. Materials, ergonomics, electronics, and tooling all affect cost, timeline, and user experience. Without a structured design review process, small early decisions snowball into major problems. We’ve seen many teams come to us after rebuilding their product two or three times.

Common mistakes we help founders avoid include:

- Designing without validating real user needs

- Ignoring manufacturing cost estimation early on

- Treating design, engineering, and manufacturing as separate steps

- Over-engineering features before market demand is proven

- Delaying compliance and safety considerations


Avoiding these mistakes early is one reason Product Path™ delivers a strong average ROI and faster time to market.

Yes, strong product design can significantly increase your chances of securing funding. Investors don’t just fund ideas, they fund clarity, execution, and reduced risk. A well-designed product shows that you understand users, technology, and manufacturing realities. It turns your pitch from a concept into something tangible and credible.

At Analogy, we design products with funding in mind, not just aesthetics. Investor-ready prototypes, clear product logic, and manufacturable designs help founders tell a stronger story. This approach has supported $2M+ in funds raised across products built through Product Path™. Good design makes it easier for investors to believe in what you’re building.

Product design also signals seriousness and preparedness. When investors see award-winning design standards, validated concepts, and realistic production plans, confidence increases. Funding becomes a natural outcome of strong preparation, planning, and execution.

Yes, we actively support founders planning Kickstarter and other crowdfunding launches. A successful campaign depends on more than visuals. It needs a product that actually works, can be manufactured, and can scale after funding. We help founders reach that level of readiness before they go live. This reduces post-campaign stress and protects your credibility with backers. Our team designs prototypes that demonstrate real functionality, not just concepts. We also support campaign-ready storytelling through product visuals, videos, and clear feature logic. Many founders come to us specifically because backers expect proof, and not just promises. A working prototype builds trust instantly.

Because we understand manufacturing realities, we also help founders avoid overpromising on timelines and costs. That realism is critical for crowdfunding success. When your product is designed for production from the start, campaigns perform better and launches stay on track.

Products built through Product Path™ program have collectively raised over $2M in funding. Investors respond strongly to products that are validated, manufacturable, and clearly positioned.  Design plays a major role in that perception. Many of our clients have gone on to raise funding after working with Analogy. We’ve worked with early-stage startups, first-time founders, and scaling companies across 21+ industries. In each case, the goal is to reduce uncertainty before investors step in. A refined prototype, clear cost structure, and production-ready design make funding conversations far more confident. Investors can see progress, not just potential.

Our award-winning work and global recognitions also add external credibility. When a product is backed by a studio with Red Dot, iF, and IDA awards, it signals seriousness and quality. That trust often carries into investor discussions and accelerates decision-making.

Our design to manufacturing services cover the complete journey from idea to production-ready product. We don’t stop at concepts, instead we stay involved until your product is engineered, validated, and ready for manufacturing. This integrated approach prevents costly handoffs and misalignment. Everything is built around real-world constraints from day one. We guide founders through design, engineering, prototyping, and manufacturing preparation as one connected system. This ensures that design intent is preserved while meeting cost, quality, and scale requirements. With 10 years of experience and 150 manufacturing partners, we know what works in production. That knowledge directly benefits your product.

Our design to manufacturing services typically include:
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- Industrial design, CAD, and design refinement

- Prototype & MVP development with real-world testing

- Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and cost optimization

- Manufacturing cost estimation and BOM refinement

- Vendor and supplier identification
Production planning and launch support


This end-to-end manufacturing support is why founders choose Analogy. Because final product outcomes matter the most, and not just the appearance of it.