What we're looking to introduce is CarHatz. They're sports-related hats that customers will be able to quickly easily attach to the roof of their cars to show support for any team from professional MLB, NFL, NCAA and even local high schools.
Where we currently sit...we've recently started conducting market research to establish whether or not there is a market for our product and exactly who it is. We have a while to go before we conclude this research but the date has been showing promise so far. From there, we plan to move into the design phase. The engineer I spoke with also indicated that he had a few manufacturers that could produce something like this and that there was no shortage. I don't know how much validity there to this information but, I figured we'd cross that bridge when we got there. hopefully into finding a manufacturer. I should also note, that there is an element to the design that we plan on patenting and we plan to have a provisional patent in place before we approach the designers/engineers.
Aside from that, so far we've attempted to publicize by introducing our website (shows coming soon until we have a physical product that we can sell), Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I've thought about making a move and promoting the page on Facebook but have yet to pull the trigger. I did save the info you gave about that on another post, too.
At any rate, I've got a million questions, but I'll start with this...are we headed in the right direction? I know this question is extremely open-ended and is a "loaded gun" but can you see anything that I can do to maximize potential for the company as it sits right now? Is there anything I need to watch out for now early on?
Pending whether or not we move forward with the idea, we'd like to expand into college bookstores, sporting good stores, team memorabilia stores, etc. in combination with an online sales marketplace on our site and amazon.
My business knowledge is limited but growing as I continue to make this trek. I've scoped out /r/entrepreneur a few times and it's definitely a great place. Any info I get from you is much appreciated! Let me know if you need any further details. Thanks for doing this AMA!