Some resources:
Design firms that work on toys:
http://www.dexigner.com/directory/cat/Toy_Design/Companies.h...
MIT product design course:
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-783J...
Berkeley's course covering rapid prototyping and manufacturing, including lecture videos:
http://bmi.berkeley.edu/Me221/me221_resources.htm http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details.php?seriesid=1906...
The Berkeley videos totally opened my eyes - I was a computer science guy with no clue about making physical products.
I don't remember the details (and unfortunately I freecycled the book so I can't look it up now) but you might want to read that for yourself.
I can introduce you to a company I know personally based in Shanghai. They'll source any product you want. Send me a message if you're interested, I don't want to be seen as a shill.
How would you respond to mixmax's post above? (on the cultural differences)
Regarding the cultural differences - I'll say this: It's very difficult to do effective work with chinese companies without micro management. The chinese work very hard, but sometimes they work very hard on the wrong things. An obviously flawed product will get created and nobody will bother to inform you till its too late. And the english is terrible. Products are mislabelled, punctuation is usually in the wrong spot.
Outsourcing to china is a very hands on affair. Quality control is not an option, it's a neccessity.
I've been to china often over the past few months, and it's a very different working philosophy from what I'm used to. So yes, be careful. Very careful.
As per mixmax's comment, I don't find this to be true. It sounds like miscommunication which could easily occur across a language barrier.
Email me if you have any specific questions.
It seems that asians have a different perspective of doing a deal than Europeans and Americans. Americans and Europeans think the negotiations are over when the contract is signed. Asians seem to think that the negotiations have only just started when the contract is signed, and they will try anything to cut corners if they can. So you basically have to watch every step extremely closely, making sure you don't release payments before the priduct is secured, etc.
This, of course, is just my impression - feel free to correct me if it isn't accurate.
Though this is for software. But I know it applies to other type of work.
And yes quality is always an issue. So be careful. It's always better to have American or European company in between
There's a TV series in the UK called Dragon's Den where inventors pitch their ideas to angels to get funding. You can actually learn a lot from watching it (in terms of understanding if your product will actually suceed or not and various problems you might encounter). It might be worth your time watch a couple of seasons of it.
There is a show in the US called American inventor which sounds similar to Dragon's Den (it probably is the same thing adapted for the US, like American Idol).
I have seen American inventor and you do learn a lot. The biggest lesson is not to spend too much on something which may not sell. I have seen people go on there and state that they have put their life savings or $50,000 to $100,000 on ideas which were not so great.
I have no illusions and tend to be pretty realistic. I think there is potential for my idea, but I would first prototype it and see if there is a market before building 10k units.
It is not so easy to outsource to Asia if you care about ethics, quality, or safety. You will need some broker with experience to help you sort out the good companies from the bad ones.
I'm interested in how she got things prototyped and even how she sold things into the retail channel.