Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi All,

I have a unique design business in thought. I am a Mechanical Design Engineer. Have a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. Working for a reputed company as Design Engineer. Just want to share my idea with you guys. I would like to design motorcycles and sell the CAD models,installation manuals,repair manuals, etc to small manufacturing firms/suppliers/mechanics/enthusiasts.

My idea is that in near future we will see a great change in consumers interest for custom made/ concept motorcycles (DIY). Since large corporations like BMW,Honda etc have shown little/no interest in bringing concepts to market I might have a great niche here.

My question : What do you think of feasibility?Bottlenecks? Things I need to be careful about.Where to find funding?

I would like to establish a neutral motorcycle platform from where customization can proceed. My clients will be world wide.As I will not manufacture the actual motorcycles I need very little money to start out with. The proposed Design Platforms for motorcycles will update every 6-12 months. I intend to charge per design, design consultancy and virtual product testing services.Since the design is open for review from peers like open source software and not closed/proprietary  I hope to get  more refined designs faster. Also I will maintain a list of suppliers in various countries of world who can manufacture these individual parts. Once a customer buys a design from my company we also give info where to find each individual part/supplier and the price to build his motorcycle essentially making it easy.

I imagine there will be lot of small manufacturing/firms who will be interested in assembling the motorcycles as per our tested designs. (Also this model if it takes off will put lot of suppliers out of misery as they dont have to depend too much on larger OEM`s).

I need funding to start this business. Still refining the business idea to consolidate my offerings. Please suggest any improvements.

My questions : What are other ways to make money off of this business?

All suggestions are welcome.

If anybody is interested in Funding please let me know.

have a trade mark ready. dont let to many ideas slip, you may end up empty handed. its a great idea! other ways to make this work, get a few people together who know the business and the skills to put your ideas on wheels and have your own shop. build the basic, and do like harley davidson is doing and supply create orders. its a hit for sure!

A first blush - it sounds plausible. Although I can`t give you a complete sequence on this forum, I suggest the following activities:

1. Decide on the business model
2. Determine what (if any) Intellectual property you will have and how you will protect it
3. Assemble your first team
4. Determine your target customer and get some initial response from them
5. Prepare for acquiring  the first capital

 

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Hi NextGen Designer,

I second Robert`s suggestions. Except that I would put number 4 on number 1. Determining your target customer and the INITIAL response.  Do a survey that can be sent to your said target market and see if you can get a solid answer of whether your services are greatly needed.

A lot can be determined by this process. 

1) Do you have a sustainable market?

2) Does your service/product have a shallow saturation level.

3) What will your customers/clients willing to pay for this services?

Just some general things to think about. 

Now here`s your answer to funding.  If you can somehow formulate a way to get some form of commitment from your said market (hypothetically), you can get that commitment in a form of a letter of intent---you can take that to the bank and they can loan money based on the foreseeable  income  coming from those letter of intents. Is it easy to slam dunk such a deal? NO. Is it do able? Yes.  We are in a process of such right now.


LT

 


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I`m not so sure there are that many small manufacturers out there

who are not already into their own custom designs.  You may not have a market for your idea.  I would suggest you start your own motorcycle design and manufacture operation.  Go to the big events with a custom bike that can either win or at least place in the top five in order to get your name in the motorcycle magazines.  Then partner up with small sellers of custom bikes in the larger markets.  If you have a good product both of you can make some money on, they will put it in their showrooms.

But, and I want to emphasize, you need to BUILD a motorcycle that can get into the monthly magazines for the exposure you will need.

 

Best of luck.