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 intended primarily for beauty, personal care, fragrance and adjacent lifestyle product concepts where David's experience is relevant.
Good Fit
- A defined product idea or opportunity
- Some understanding of who it is for and how it will be used
- Awareness of the intended market or category
- Access to a realistic development budget or funding
- Willingness to make decisions and refine the concept
Not Ready Yet
- The product idea itself is still unclear
- There is no realistic development budget or funding
- The intended customer or market has not been considered
- You are looking for a complete business plan or extensive market research
- You expect formulation, sourcing or production to be included within The Road Map
PROCESS
How it works
Structured Questionnaire
You provide the product idea, available project information and relevant reference material.
Discovery
We discuss the concept, intended user, desired product experience, commercial context and any areas requiring clarification.
Concept Refinement
I review and structure the information, identifying conflicts, assumptions and decisions that need to be resolved.
Product Concept Brief
The agreed direction is translated into a professional brief that development partners can understand and respond to.
Review & Finalisation
We review the brief together, followed by one agreed factual or clarification amendment round before finalisation.
DELIVERABLE
What you receive
Product Concept Brief
The final deliverable is a structured Product Concept Brief that captures the agreed product direction and gives potential development partners a clear starting point for meaningful technical and commercial discussion.
- Project context and product objective
- Intended consumer and use
- Desired performance, sensory direction and benchmarks
- Formulation preferences, exclusions and desired claims
- Initial packaging direction
- Known commercial parameters, requirements and outstanding questions
The final brief belongs to the client and may be taken independently to suitable development partners. Claims remain subject to specialist validation where required.
SCOPE
Where The Road Map stops
The Road Map prepares the project for professional development. It does not undertake the development engagement itself.
It does not include manufacturer or laboratory sourcing, engagement or negotiation; formulation development, technical testing or sample rounds; detailed packaging sourcing or technical development; regulatory assessment or approval; final costing, MOQ negotiation or production planning; or production management, freight and logistics.
Many of these activities may form part of a separately scoped Product Development engagement once appropriate partners are in place.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Continue with David or independently
Once the Product Concept Brief is complete, the engagement reaches a clear stopping point.
You can take the brief independently to suitable development partners, or, where appropriate, continue with David through a separately scoped Product Development engagement.
Explore Product DevelopmentStart 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.
Start The Road Map