The Product Development Academy
Bring your product idea to life — and make your first sale.
You don't need to be an engineer or understand how any of it works yet. I'll walk you through the whole journey — prototyping, manufacturing, patents, marketing, and your first sale — the same way I built companies that sold 2.2M+ products worldwide.
Why we exist
Most great products never get made. Not because the idea was wrong — but because the path from idea to shelf is hidden behind closed factory doors. We exist to open them.
For decades, knowing how to take a product from sketch to manufacturing was reserved for insiders — engineers, agencies, and factories that speak a language outsiders never learn.
We believe the next generation of physical products will come from independent inventors and founders. So we built the curriculum, the templates, and the network to make that possible — without a single closed door.
This isn't a course about products. It's an institution for the people who make them.
We teach how products are actually made — tooling, suppliers, tolerances, cost — not a theory of how they might be.
The process
Six stages. One product. Start to shelf.
Concept & sketch
Translate a rough idea into a defined, drawable concept with the right constraints and intent.
CAD & engineering
Develop precise 3D models engineered for how the product will actually be made.
Prototype
Hold a real, working prototype — test, refine, and prove the design in your hands.
Manufacturing
Source vetted suppliers, design for manufacturing, and move to production-ready tooling.
Packaging
Build a brand and retail-ready packaging system that makes the product feel inevitable.
Launch
Take the finished product to market and turn it into a real, repeatable business.
Case study
One sketch. One year. One product on the market.
The Atlas carabiner began as a napkin sketch and finished as a manufactured product with a sold-out first run. Here's the actual path it took.
The idea
A founder with no engineering background and a sketch for a rugged, one-handed carabiner tool.
Development
Concept refined into CAD, engineered for injection molding, and proven through three prototype rounds.
Manufacturing
Two vetted suppliers compared, tooling commissioned, and first production run delivered at target cost.
Market
Launched direct-to-consumer with retail-ready packaging — sold out the first production run in 6 weeks.
Meet your instructor
Hi, I'm Mark — I started with just an idea, too.
I've been inventing things for as long as I can remember. One of my early inventions was picked up by General Mills and featured in the New York Times, and soon after I gave a TED talk about chasing big goals. At 22, working as a CNC machinist with a big dream and no roadmap, I set up a small manufacturing shop inside my studio apartment and launched my first company. Within two years it grew to 17 employees and millions in sales, and eventually to 37 people and more than 2.2 million products sold worldwide.
From there I founded and scaled more manufacturing companies, including a truck camper company that sold over 600 units. Across those businesses I employed nearly 70 people at our peak and earned more than 14 patents, many of them my own. I also invested in the business side of building companies, studying at MIT Sloan and graduating from Harvard Business School.
Here's what I care about most, though: I've spent my career turning raw ideas into real products, and I've sold millions of them to people around the world. Now I want to hand you the exact playbook, from the idea in your head, to a product in your hands, into the hands of people everywhere.
Courses
Four ways to take your product forward.
Start where your product is — from validating an idea to a hands-on cohort — plus a membership to keep you moving. Education only, taught by real manufacturing insiders.
Starter Challenge
$49Validate your invention idea before you spend a dollar. A fast, hands-on 5-day start.
See coursesIdea-to-Shelf: Self-Paced
$497The complete system, from idea to a manufactured, branded product, at your own pace.
See the courseIdea-to-Shelf: Cohort
$997The same method in a scheduled class of 15, with peer accountability, a certificate, and a HANNAH.MFG T-shirt on graduation.
See the cohortThe Workshop
$79/moOngoing community, recorded guest workshops, and a vetted-manufacturer directory.
See membershipYour product is waiting to be made.
Join the institution built to take inventors from idea to shelf. Apply to begin your product development track.