Guides
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Making a first batch, explained
Fifteen guides for people who have never made a physical product before — what things cost, who actually makes them, and how to read what a factory sends back.
From idea to a brief
You know what you want to make. These turn it into something a factory can price.
From an idea to a brief a factory can actually quote
A factory cannot price an idea. It prices a specification. Here is the shortest brief that gets a real quote back, field by field, with the mistakes that cause silence.
MOQ: why nobody will make you 100 units
Minimum order quantity is not a sales tactic. It is arithmetic about changeover time. Understand where the number comes from and you can negotiate it — or route around it.
What it actually costs to start a skincare line
Not a range pulled from the air. The seven costs a first batch is made of, which three founders usually forget, and how to build your own number in an afternoon.
Private label, white label, contract manufacturing, co-packing
Four arrangements that founders use interchangeably and suppliers do not. Which one you ask for changes your cost, your minimum, your timeline and who owns the formula.
Do you need FDA approval to sell skincare?
No — with one real exception. But since MoCRA there are obligations that do apply to a first-time brand, and a few that fall on your manufacturer rather than you.
You know what you want to make. These turn it into something a factory can price.
Turn your idea into a briefFinding a maker
Who can actually make this, how to tell the real ones apart, and what to send them.
How to find a manufacturer for your product
Where the real candidates are, in what order to work through them, and the filters that save you from spending three weeks on a company that was never going to make your product.
Is this factory real? Seven checks before you send a brief
Seven checks that take ten minutes each and catch the failures that actually happen — dead domains, acquired companies, template email addresses, and brands with no entity behind them.
Factory or trading company? Telling them apart in five minutes
A trading company is not a scam and is sometimes the right choice. But you should know which one you are talking to before you negotiate, and the signals are in plain sight.
The first email to a supplier
What to include, what to leave out, and the three habits that get a first-time founder quietly deprioritised. With a template you can send today.
China, the United States, Taiwan or Mexico: choosing where to make a first run
For a first batch the cheapest unit price usually loses. What actually decides it is minimum order, cash-out time, and how expensive a mistake is to fix.
Who can actually make this, how to tell the real ones apart, and what to send them.
Start finding your makerReading quotes and costing a batch
You have numbers in front of you. These make them comparable, and make them whole.
How to read a manufacturing quote, line by line
What each line means, which ones are negotiable, and the six things that are almost never in the quote but always in the invoice.
Per piece, per thousand, per kilo: making two quotes comparable
Suppliers quote in whatever unit suits their machine. Converting them all to a cost per finished unit is the only way to compare — and the arithmetic has two traps.
Tooling, plates and setup: the one-time costs that set your first order size
One-off charges do not scale with your run, which is why a small batch costs so much per unit. What each one is, what it should cost, and how to get most of them to zero.
COA, SDS and spec sheets: the documents to ask for before you pay a deposit
Five documents, what each one proves, who owes it to you, and which of them you will be asked for later by a retailer, an insurer or a marketplace.
Landed cost: why your $1.10 unit arrives costing $1.68
The quote is not the cost. Here is everything between a factory door and your shelf, what each part tends to run, and how to price a batch before you commit to it.
You have numbers in front of you. These make them comparable, and make them whole.
Bring your quotes in