Startup Consultation
Clarify the customer, core use case, risks, business path, and the cheapest next test worth running.
Salt Lake City prototyping. Global founder support.
Prototype faster. Build smarter. Keep risk low.
Hands-on startup consultation, product design, and prototyping for Salt Lake City founders, Utah inventors, and global teams who need a practical path from idea to working version.
- 25
- years of hands-on prototyping
- Launch-ready
- from idea through manufacturing
- Flexible
- rates and work hours
Easy to talk to. Useful from day one.
A builder for the messy early stage.
The beginning of a startup or invention is rarely tidy. It might be a sketch, a prototype that almost works, a customer hunch, or a product idea that needs sharper edges. That is where I like to help.
I combine years of physical prototyping, mechanical design, metal working, 3D printing, software experiments, and AI-assisted development to help you move faster without locking yourself into a big agency scope.
I am based in Salt Lake City and available for local founder and inventor work across the Wasatch Front, with remote support for teams anywhere.
Charles McNall
Startup experience from ideation through product launch and manufacturing.
I help teams turn early ideas into real products: defining the opportunity, building and testing prototypes, refining the design, preparing for manufacturing, and supporting the path to launch. My experience spans medical devices and consumer products, with hands-on work across physical builds, electronics, software, and product development.
Contact
Tell me what you are trying to bring to life.
Share the short version of the idea, where you are stuck, and what kind of help would be useful. I am based in Salt Lake City, work globally, and keep initial conversations easy to start. Local sessions are available across the Salt Lake Valley and Wasatch Front.
Services
Salt Lake City support from idea spark to working prototype.
Ideation & Product Strategy
Turn scattered ideas into product directions, prototype requirements, pitchable stories, and focused next steps.
Prototype Sprints
Build proof-of-concepts across 3D printing, shop work, electronics, mechanical fixtures, software, and practical test rigs.
Design & Build Guidance
Review designs, simplify mechanisms, plan manufacturable versions, and avoid expensive dead ends.
Why hourly
Hourly support keeps early ideas low risk.
Big fixed scopes sound clean, but early invention work changes as soon as the first prototype teaches you something. Hourly work lets the plan adapt without forcing you into a bulky package too soon.
My goal is not to stretch the job. It is to give you high-quality thinking, honest tradeoffs, and useful progress at a flexible pace that fits your budget and schedule.
Low risk
Start with a short call, a small design review, or a narrow prototype task before committing more.
Easy entry
Useful for founders and inventors who are not ready for an agency, full-time hire, or large retainer.
No cutting corners
Right-sized scope still deserves careful engineering, clean communication, and quality work.
Flexible timing
Work can flex around customer schedules, global time zones, urgent pushes, or slower idea development.
Selected work
Medical and consumer products, built for the real world.
Medical products
Medical device imaging mechanisms
Technical product work where precision, usability, constraints, and manufacturability all matter.
Consumer prototypes
Compact tool prototypes
Fast iteration across form, fit, function, ergonomics, and the details that make an idea usable.
Consumer products
High-output flashlight conversion
Physical integration of housing, electronics, thermal management, and user experience.