What should you research before creating a product?

• A. How much it will cost to compensate employees
• B. The number of products that will need to be produced
• C. What is required to make the product
• D. How much money investors are willing to invest in the product

Answer: (C)

The main thing to research before creating a product is what is required to make it—the materials, the manufacturing steps, the equipment and tools, the skills needed, and any constraints or standards that must be met. Knowing these production requirements sets the foundation for whether the idea is feasible, how complex the design should be, what costs will be involved, and how long it will take to bring it to life. If you don’t understand what’s actually needed to build the product, you may design something that can’t be produced efficiently or at all, or that ends up being prohibitively expensive.

Other considerations, like how much to pay employees, how many units to produce, or how much funding you can attract, matter, but they flow from the production plan and market feasibility you establish once you know the required production steps and resources.