I only have a few thousand dollars available. I know I can make a good working prototype for that much. The problem is I need realistically around 100k to get the initial design completed for real manufacturing plus maybe another 25k-50k to make the first “batch” of my product.
Is it realistic to even try getting an investor for that much off just a prototype?
Don’t waste time making a prototype if you haven’t clearly defined and tested your target market . You can have the greatest prototype in the world but if no one wants it (and you need data to support this) an investor won’t budge. Build a MVP - something that outlines to the customer how the product would work and tune and iterate that until you find your target market. Especially in hard tech you will spend months maybe even years ironing out the kinks in your design. Do it right and make sure you spend that time on something you have data will sell. Investors will appreciate that approach much more, trust me.