What is a Beta prototype? For those that are experienced in designing and engineering products the answer to that question is relatively simple. But a review of numerous crowdfunded new product development (NPD) projects is evidence enough that often entrepreneurs make the catastrophic mistake of not understanding the underlying objectives of the Beta prototype development phase. These objectives help correctly answer: “What is a Beta prototype?”
In our minds the simplistic objective of a Beta prototype phase is to produce a fully mature design. In other words, a startup company would be able to take their fully functional Beta prototype to a contract manufacturer and request a quote to manufacture a product that appears and functions just like that prototype. The design can (and likely will) be modified to optimize the production capabilities available with the manufacturer for cost and quality purposes (design for manufacturing). Also, low-risk product design changes might be introduced to affect the product features and appearance slightly.
However, by the end of a Beta prototype phase the design is mature enough to meet all the requirements of the product. All foreseen scenarios and use cases for the product have been successfully tested in a robust manner – and ideally with additional Beta Testing using real-world representative customers. Note that the testing of just key functional and core usability requirements was conducted long-prior, using Alpha prototypes, and likely had prototype iterations to correct or improve functionality prior to Beta phase efforts.
If a prototype design hasn’t previously passed testing of its key functional and core usability requirements then it isn’t a Beta prototype. It is an Alpha prototype. It is theoretically possible to take a prototype of such maturity into manufacturing, but the probability of calamity is a sure bet as evident in the number of failed, or significantly delayed, new product development (NPD) projects.