Market research, product design and development for hardware companies

Know the cost, the risks, and if anyone wants it — before you invest the serious money.

Product development from market research through design to manufactured product. Every stage validated so there are no surprises, no runaway timelines, and no expensive guesses.

Book a call (opens in a new tab)See our work
Three Aquarate hydration cups, shown upright, tilted and inverted

Testimonials

What people are saying on LinkedIn

LinkedIn recommendation from Brigita Kisieliene, VIP Clients and Project Manager and Team Lead at TLT Electronics, dated 13 March 2024, written as Jonny’s client. She says it was a pleasure to work with him and that she was impressed by his strong product management skills. His strategic approach and deep understanding of consumer preferences allowed them to develop and scale a successful product, and his fast communication, attention to detail and commitment to quality were evident throughout the product lifecycle.
LinkedIn recommendation from Rebecca East, Founder and MedTech commercial and growth consultant, dated 19 January 2024, who managed Jonny directly. She writes that Jonny joined Aquarate as Head of Product with the challenge of taking a market-ready, tested prototype through to a fully manufactured, CE-marked system. She calls him one of the best people she knows both professionally and personally, says he works with great professionalism and moves forward under pressure, and notes that alongside design-led thinking he took on risk, compliance, supply chain and stakeholder management.
LinkedIn recommendation from Steven Valenti, who does fractional and interim operational roles and project delivery for tech startups and growing SMEs, dated 19 January 2023, written as someone who worked with Jonny on the same team. He writes that Jonny has all the technical engineering skills and talent to deliver and add value in any design or management role, and that what makes him stand out is being highly entrepreneurial and thinking and caring deeply about everything he works on. He calls him incredibly hard working, honest, unafraid of difficult situations, highly recommended and a great asset to any venture.

Featured work

Products we took from risky idea to shipped.

The Aquarate cup standing beside a tablet showing the fluid-tracking dashboard that care home staff use.

Concept > Certified > Scale

2% to 97% field reliability

Aquarate’s fluid-tracking cup for care homes had to survive constant industrial dishwashing. It didn’t: across a 250-cup deployment in a real care home, 98% of units failed within 24 hours. We found the root cause and fixed it, taking the cup to 97% field reliability, confirmed on the first 1,000 production units, and into volume production.

Read the case study

Live project (confidential)

Audiobook accessory designed for what parents actually need.

Voxblock came to us through our partner network with an idea for a screen-free audiobook accessory. We’re leading the research, product development and industrial design through to production — validating every feature decision against real parent feedback.

www.voxblock.co.uk (opens in a new tab)
A child wearing headphones, holding the Voxblock audiobook player and looking at its screen.
An Inspirit Adventure strap accessory in black, with blue and pink fittings, attached to a white pole.

Market Research > Development > Ecommerce

[Placeholder headline — Jonny to write]

[Placeholder description. Jonny is writing the Inspirit Adventure copy. This paragraph makes no claim about the project and exists only so the layout can be seen with three items in it.]

[Placeholder CTA — needs a destination]

The Product Pathway

A 10 week programme that turns your next product idea into a validated, tangible proposition — ready to develop, fund, and bring to market.

  1. 01

    Understand the risk

    We find the assumptions your product depends on, and rank them by what they would cost you to get wrong.

  2. 02

    Test it cheaply

    Rough prototypes and structured user contact answer the expensive questions before the expensive decisions.

  3. 03

    Prove the design

    A validated design intent, with the engineering evidence a manufacturer or an investor will actually ask for.

  4. 04

    Introduce the maker

    Warm introductions to manufacturers we have shipped with before — the part most consultancies leave you to solve alone.

Read how the Product Pathway works

Find out what your product is hiding.

A short call, no pitch. Tell us where the product is and we will tell you honestly what we would test first.

Book a call (opens in a new tab)