Maker U Accelerator
Our signature Accelerator has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs turn their ideas into products. Would you attempt to drive somewhere new without having directions or GPS? Probably not. And it’s no different when it comes to launching a physical product. If you've never done it before (and want to avoid delays and costly mistakes), you'll need help navigating. The Maker U Accelerator is a monthly membership that gives you one-on-one personalized guidance to design, source, and launch any product line successfully.
Here's What You Get When You Join:
Expert Mentoring
Benefit from personalized mentoring as you launch and grow your product line. Your membership includes 1.5 hours of dedicated one-on-one time per month.
Forget hour-long call blocks or inconvenient office hours… you can ask questions whenever you have them, with no time-minimum, via slack, phone, or video.
Step-By-Step Framework
Our Launch Framework will walk you through the entire process of launching a product-based business. You’ll be able to see the big picture with clarity, along with each step you need to take to design, source, and launch your product.
Our detailed framework covers prototyping, sourcing, business set up, legal considerations, packaging, shipping, photography, building a website and much more. Use a master plan for your launch and you’ll be light years ahead of everyone operating without a plan!
Factory & Vendor Intros
Finding the right partners to make your product a reality is hard work. How do you find the best factories? Does it make sense for you to produce domestically or overseas? And who can you really trust with your time and money?
With Mentoring, you get access to our network of manufacturers, plus other creative professionals like graphic designers, marketers, photographers and more. We’ll also share insider tips for vetting manufacturers and vendors and negotiating the best rates.
Creative Direction
During Mentoring, we’ll give you honest and specific feedback about how to achieve the best look and feel for your brand. This includes your logo and brand identity, messaging and copy, product design, photography, website and more.
Expert creative direction is what gives you that “professional” brand feel… the quality you can’t always put your finger on, but that you just know when you see it. And it’s what attracts customers too! You’ll benefit immensely from having seasoned, personalized creative direction as you launch your product.
Proven Track Record
We’ve helped hundreds of maker’s just like you, across a wide variety of product categories, including apparel, accessories, home goods, medical devices, toys, furniture and more!
In order to help people achieve their business goals, we go beyond providing expertise; a Maker U Mentoring Plan give you built in coaching and accountability too. We'll help you push through creative and mental blocks and stay committed to your goals! This holistic approach – combined with our deep knowledge of product making – is why we have a track record of successful product launches.
Tools & Templates
Your Mentoring Plan gives you access to must-have tools and templates for product entrepreneurs. Stay organized and grow like a pro!
Resource provided include a Vetting Checklist For New Suppliers, Cost of Goods Sold template, a "Design Brief" to share with factories and more!
Get Started With Mentoring
Launch your business faster and smarter by tapping into our physical product ecosystem. A Mentoring Plan gives you everything you need to succeed - an industry mentor, 24/7 access to ask questions as you build your brand, access to trusted factories & vendors, and more!
- Maker U Accelerator is $497/month
- Plans are flexible - you can pause, cancel and re-start at any time.
- You'll get 1.5 hours of personal support time each month, unlimited access to Maker U resources, direct factory and vendor intros and much more.
Topics We'll Cover Together:
- Strategy & Set Up - Establishing proof of concept, protecting your intellectual property, where (geographically) to produce your product, legal resources for starting your business and more.
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Product Design - How to find & vet design partners for your budget, how to outline your design in a way suppliers can understand it, how to use a “dummy” design to protect your IP during sourcing, negotiating design and sample costs with partners, best practices for carrying out product development successfully, how to test prototypes and more
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Sourcing - Find the best suppliers for your product type ,research materials and components, and vet suppliers to ensure trustworthiness
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Manufacturing - Take steps to ensure production is smooth, understand payment terms and how to protect yourself from losing money, issue Purchase Orders that safeguard your interests.
- Costs & Pricing - Set a budget for your launch, outline 'Cost of Goods Sold', understand how to properly price your product, establish healthy profit margins.
- Quality Control & Testing - How to make a simple yet effective quality control plan, finding affordable, trustworthy third-party "QC" vendors, understanding CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) requirements, finding testing labs to test and certify your product.
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Shipping & Logistics - Custom-designed shipping supplies, how to protect your product during transit, how to automate order fulfillment with a 3rd party warehouse, understanding importing and tariffs.
- Branding & Messaging - How to create a compelling brand, how to find and evaluate graphic designers and copywriters who fit your budget, practical creative direction on all brand assets
- Photography - How to create the right 'image strategy' for your product, how to design and plan a photoshoot so you get the imagery you need, choosing the right photographer for your budget and goals, inexpensive retouching services for color changes and edits.
- E-commerce Set Up - How to choose the the right ecomm platform, how to find high-quality affordable web developers, specific, practical creative direction as you build our site, including messaging strategy, image selection and more, proven tips to get your site to convert more customers into buyers, helpful apps to encourage upsells, reviews, repeat purchases and more.
- Marketing - Email marketing, including how to capture email addresses, create attractive email campaigns and sales sequences, social media strategy, how to find digital marketing partners such as paid ads specialists, SEO specialists and more, how to do your own PR outreach, how to work with influencers, setting up a wholesale program and more.
Our Mentoring Members Have:
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Launched 7 and 8 figure e-commerce brands
- Built successful Amazon & Etsy stores
- Sold to major retail chains
- Been featured by major media outlets
- Secured celebrity endorsements
- Opened brick & mortar stores
- And more!
Have Questions About Mentoring?
Read our Testimonials.
Send an email to hi@makeruniversity.com
Set up a free mini consult to discuss your project.
