You’ve done the legwork, understand the financials, and, ideally, have begun to validate your idea with early interest from customers. Now, it’s time to go deeper into how you're going to build what you sell. For a product-based business, Now you should be interested in product development because product development is very important for the continuation of the business, the development of the business and the growth of the business, developing your product could mean taking one of three general approaches:

Whether you’re making items by hand or sourcing an original product from a manufacturer, developing your own product to sell can help you stand out in the market.

Ideation. The SCAMPER model is a useful tool for quickly coming up with product ideas by asking questions about existing products. Each letter stands for a prompt: Substitute; Combine; Adapt (e.g., a bra with front clasps for nursing); Modify; Put to another use (e.g., memory-foam dog beds); Eliminate; Reverse/Rearrange (e.g., a duffle bag that doesn’t wrinkle your suits).

Prototyping. Prototyping involves experimenting with several versions of your product, slowly eliminating options and making improvements until you feel satisfied with a final sample. These days, with the innovation of 3D printing, designs can be turned into physical samples at a much lower cost with a quicker turnaround time.

Costing. Costing is the process of taking all of the information gathered thus far and adding up what your cost of goods sold (COGS) will be, so you can determine a retail price and gross margin. 

Various print-on-demand services let you add unique designs and branding to white label products, including t-shirts, leggings, towels, backpacks, and much more. This option is popular for categories where most of the differentiation comes down to design; coffee mugs can use a variety of materials, for example, but many customers are actually buying the witty phrase or branding, not the build quality. If you have an existing audience as a content creator, this model is also great for selling merch to your fans—once you know what they want.

Dropshipping is a way to sell existing products without holding inventory. With dropshipping, you partner with a supplier of existing products who ships and fulfills your customer's order only after you've made a sale; your job as the dropshipping is to handle marketing and customer support. This model is highly accessible and can be competitive in certain product categories, but it gives thousands of entrepreneurs the chance to start their business immediately without shouldering a huge upfront investment for inventory.

One last thing: as you develop your product, keep your total costs in mind when figuring out your pricing. While your product’s price is not solely driven by costs—and there are many factors that influence pricing—it’s important to price your product profitably.