MarketingIdeas¶
Just some thoughts about pricing structure and other logistics of selling Scouts if that becomes a reality.
My main theme is to have a set price that let's us make a decent return (for expansion, better tooling, etc) to companies or institutions that are willing and able to pay. For students (individual or small groups) we give a hefty discount to get our platform in the hands of young researchers.
Information We Need¶
- Cost for each subsystem (Scoutfly, ScoutBOM, chassis, etc)
- Assembly/labor time for each subsystem (only for work that we do, aka my billable hours)
- Costs that change with quantity (hopefully discount)
- This will tell us the actual system cost in materials + outside fab + (our) labor
- Also figure out turn around time for a single robot
- Can any part of the process be treated more like an assembly line?
- Just requires better process control & documentation
- Can any part of the process be treated more like an assembly line?
Pricing Tiers¶
- Full Package (Scout + BOM + Full IMU)
- Good for research institutions or purchases of multiple units, allows full robot collaboration
- Individual (Scout + Full IMU)
- BOM daughter board and hardware not needed, cover BOM holes with rubber inserts
- Can be upgraded in the future for a non-zero fee, needs shipped back to us
- Student (Any Stock Configuration)
- In the spirit of academia, a student can get up to (3) robots "at-cost" or nearly so
- Need to provide us with a research proposal, be backed by someone from their institution (faculty)
- Reviewed by us, as long as they have their act together and seem responsible, it's a go
- Would be nice (not sure how to enforce) to have some sort of publication requirement
- Must write a (length?) blog post within the first 2 weeks of research
- Over the next 6 months (not on any particular schedule) write at least XX more "quality" posts regarding research
- Student (Any Stock Configuration)
- Could we lease it to them? If after the lease period is up, they want to continue research, we can grant an extension
- Otherwise, the device is legally repossessed by us
Order Priority¶
- First come first serve? (FIFO)
- Who ever is paying the most? Students?
- Delivering large quantity orders
- Do it in stages
System Maintenance¶
- When motors or other parts break, do they ship it back to us?
- Could give them parts, but then also have to document replacement procedure (and they'd need tools...)