From idea to product — what happens between prototype and production
The stages nobody warns you about, between "it works on the bench" and something you can actually sell.
The gap between a working prototype and a product is not a gap in code. Most projects stall exactly there, and not because the idea was bad.
Prototype: prove it is possible
At this stage anything goes — a dev board, jumper wires, libraries. The only goal is to answer one question: does the idea work at all.
The stage that kills projects
Once it works, the real questions arrive: what happens when power is cut mid-write, what happens in summer heat, what happens when someone connects it backwards. A product is mostly edge cases.
- Real current draw, not the datasheet figure
- Firmware updates in the field
- Manufacturing: parts you can actually source, not just order one of
- Certification and testing — sometimes the most expensive part
Your own board
A dev board is not a product. Moving to a dedicated board forces decisions: which components, what layout, and how you debug once everything is soldered down.
Where we come in
That engineering stretch — from specification to a manufactured board — is what inteRFace R&D does as a service. The Academy's courses teach the tools; the development service exists for people who need the product itself to happen.