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?
Investment will come from demand. You need to have an airtight story for this demand.
You need a crisp business plan how the funds you get will be spent and the checkpoints you will use to measure your success along the way.
Ideas are cheap, so prove you’ll have paying customers and what your margins will look like. Since you don’t have the funds to build a prototype, you can try to get some friends and family funding to help you. However, you still won’t get any serious capital without that proof.
Just think of the fastest and cheapest way to get that proof and only build the prototype if that’s literally the only way to get that proof. Otherwise find other clever ways.
Good luck!