An idea can be exciting without yet being ready for development.
The Road Map is a focused initial engagement designed to translate an early product concept into a clear, coherent Product Concept Brief that professional development and manufacturing partners can understand and respond to.
FIT
Is The Road Map right for your project?
The Road Map is designed for founders, designers and brands who have a genuine product idea but need greater clarity before entering professional development.
Good Fit
- A defined product idea or opportunity
- A reasonable understanding of the intended consumer or use
- Some market or category awareness
- Funding or a realistic development budget
- Willingness to make decisions and refine the concept
- A project within David's relevant beauty, personal care, fragrance or adjacent lifestyle experience
Not Ready Yet
- No meaningful funding or development budget
- No clear idea of what is being created
- No understanding of intended market or consumer
- Expectation that the engagement includes full formulation, sourcing or production
- A request primarily for market research or business-plan development
PROCESS
How The Road Map works
Structured Questionnaire
The client provides the existing idea, objectives, background, references and known commercial information.
Discovery
A focused discussion to clarify the concept, priorities, constraints and unanswered questions.
Concept Refinement
David reviews the project and helps clarify the product direction where necessary so it can be communicated professionally.
Product Concept Brief
The project is translated into a structured document suitable for initial conversations with development and manufacturing partners.
Review & Finalisation
The client reviews the brief with David, followed by one agreed round of factual or clarification amendments.
BRIEF
What the brief captures
The exact content depends on the project, but the brief captures the information that can reasonably be defined before specialist development begins.
Project Context
- Product concept and objectives
- Intended market and consumer information supplied by the client
- Relevant category or product context
Product Direction
- Desired performance
- Sensory characteristics
- Texture, fragrance or format direction where relevant
- Desired ingredient preferences or exclusions
- Benchmark or reference products where useful for development
Claims & Requirements
- Desired claims or certifications, subject to specialist validation
- Geographic or market requirements
- Known constraints or specific project requirements
Packaging Direction
- Initial format
- Size
- Functional requirements
- Aesthetic or material direction where relevant
Commercial Parameters
- Approximate budget
- Intended volumes where known
- Target cost where available
- Intended retail or commercial context where relevant
Open Questions
- Assumptions
- Unknowns
- Questions requiring input from laboratories, manufacturers or other specialists
SCOPE
Where The Road Map stops
The Road Map prepares the project for professional engagement. It does not undertake the product-development engagement itself.
Manufacturer sourcing or supplier selection
Approaching or negotiating with laboratories or manufacturers
Formula development
Sample rounds
Detailed packaging sourcing
Regulatory assessment or approval
Technical testing
Final MOQ or production costing
Supplier negotiation
Production planning
Project management
Freight or logistics
Many of these decisions can only be made once appropriate specialists and development partners are engaged.
DELIVERABLE
The deliverable
Product Concept Brief
At the end of The Road Map, the client receives a final Product Concept Brief representing the agreed project requirements at that stage.
The brief belongs to the client and may be taken independently to appropriate development or manufacturing partners.
The engagement also includes one review meeting and one agreed round of factual or clarification amendments.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Continue with David, or take it forward independently
Once the Product Concept Brief is complete, the Road Map engagement is complete.
The client may use the brief independently or continue working with David through a separately agreed Product Development Consultancy engagement.
A further engagement may include:
- Development partner identification and engagement
- Manufacturer or laboratory coordination
- Formulation and sampling
- Packaging development
- Commercial negotiation
- Production management
- Logistics
Scope, responsibilities, fees and terms are agreed separately before further work begins.
VALUE
Better preparation creates better development conversations
Manufacturers and laboratories work best when they understand what the client is actually trying to create.
A clearer concept makes it easier for development partners to assess fit, identify technical or commercial constraints, suggest viable routes and determine what information is still required.
The Road Map is designed to make that first professional conversation more productive.
Start with clarity
If you have a genuine product idea and want to understand whether The Road Map is the right starting point, tell me what you are developing and where the project currently stands.
Discuss The Road Map