Why we build our own products
- May 21
- 3 min read
Updated: May 23
There's a particular kind of confidence that comes from having shipped something yourself.
Not advised on it. Not reviewed the business case. Actually built it, sourced it, branded it, put money behind it (and sometimes lose it...), and watched real people decide whether to buy it or not.
That's why Alter Innovation builds its own products alongside client work. Not as a side project or a hobby, but as a deliberate part of how we operate.
After working with some of the world's top firms, I always believed that consultancy has a blind spot. Most firms advise on product launches, go-to-market strategies, and innovation pipelines without ever having managed a supplier in Shenzhen, negotiated tooling costs, or sat updating and refreshing a Kickstarter page wondering if the campaign would fund. The advice is often sound in theory and fragile in practice because it hasn't been tested against the friction of making something real.
We wanted to close that gap.
When I started Alter Innovation with Prem, we agreed on one principle early: we would never just advise. We would also build. Not because we wanted to become a product company, but because we believed that building would make us better at advising. And it has.
One of the first ventures was SUNND, a CBD cosmetics line we developed from formulation to shelf. Four oil concentrations, a face cream, a serum, and a solid soap. We handled sourcing, production, regulatory compliance, brand identity, packaging, and distribution across Spain and Europe in collaboration with our friends from Studio Unika. It taught us things no strategy project ever could: how long it actually takes to get a product certified, how much packaging or ingredients decisions affect unit economics, how fragile a supply chain becomes when you're a small brand competing for factory time with larger clients. And how much investment is needed to compete in a crowded marketplace, we invested countless hours in creativity and product quality, and the product and brand we ended up with was something we would use ourselves.
SUNND eventually ran its course and we discontinued it. That taught us something too. Knowing when to stop is as important as knowing when to start, and the sunk cost instinct is real and dangerous. We carry that lesson into every product conversation we have with clients now.
More recently, we developed a launch strategy for BoomPods Tag, a 2-in-1 car charger and Bluetooth tracker. We used Kickstarter deliberately, not just to raise funds but to test demand before committing to full production. The campaign hit 190% of its funding goal, which gave us evidence, not assumptions, about whether the product had a market. Every stage was ours together with BoomPods UK: research, industrial design, prototyping, DFM, compliance, branding, and campaign strategy.
These experiences shape how we work with clients in ways that are hard to replicate through consulting alone. When we sit in a meeting and someone presents a launch timeline, we know which phases tend to compress and which ones never do. When a client asks whether crowdfunding is a viable validation tool, we can answer from experience, not from a case study we read. When someone underestimates the gap between a working prototype and a production-ready unit, we've lived that gap ourselves.
This is not about being contrarian or proving a point. It's about staying honest, realistic and grounded. Consulting without building risks tends to become abstract over time. You start optimizing slide decks instead of products. You start confusing a well-structured recommendation with a well-executed outcome. Building keeps us grounded in the reality of what it actually takes to move from idea to market.
We don't expect every consultancy to work this way. But for us, it's non-negotiable. The products we build fund our learning, test our assumptions, and give us stories that no pitch deck could replicate.
If you're working with someone who advises on innovation, ask them what they've built lately. The answer tells you a lot.
Comments