I’ve been taking a closer look at feasibility for our first product, and was surprised at how few options there are for one of the primary components that we’ll need.
There’s just a handful of companies creating this one fundamental component, another handful of companies who’ve built shippable modules around this component, and another handful of companies who have designed and manufactured products using this kind of module.
Some positive takeaways:
We know it’s possible—companies have successfully built, shipped, and sold products with some similar components.
We’re not in a commodity space—we have a relatively novel product concept.
Some concerns:
We might run the risk of having a single-source supplier in our supply chain.
Limited competition amongst suppliers and partners could drive up our cost
In a Five Forces analysis, we’d conclude that supplier power is potentially high for our initial business model.
Leaning into this obstacle, this just pushes us to challenge our assumptions and be both creative and patient with how we solve customer problems.
