The Invention World
I’m Noah McNeely, founder of Product QuickStart—an entrepreneur-focused product design and development firm based in the Atlanta area—and host of the Product Genius podcast. For the past 25 years, I’ve made a living designing, developing, and bringing products to market.
Over that time, I’ve worked with hundreds of inventor-entrepreneurs and small companies. Some have gone on to multi-million-dollar exits. Others have built successful lifestyle or side businesses. Still others have licensed their ideas to larger companies and created long-term royalty income.
Unfortunately, I’ve also seen the darker side of the invention world.
I regularly meet people who have burned through their life savings doing the wrong things, in the wrong order, with the wrong partners. Some have been outright taken advantage of by companies that prey on the hopes and dreams of inventors. Others worked with well-meaning designers or engineers who simply lacked the experience, systems, or market understanding needed to actually get a product across the finish line.
There are Plenty of Bad Actors in this industry…
In just the last two months, I’ve spoken with two people who have thousands of dollars tied up with a company that is now essentially ghosting them. In one case, an inventor I met—let’s call him Simon—is out over $50,000 and has very little to show for it. I’m doing everything I can to help him salvage his product and move forward.
To be blunt: situations like Simon’s make me angry.
They shouldn’t happen—but they do, far too often.
That’s why I’m genuinely excited about what Pronto Launch is doing.
After meeting so many inventors who have lost so much time, money, and momentum, I find the Pronto Launch approach both refreshing and promising. When Mike Ryan, CEO of Pronto Launch, first told me he wanted to build something that would help inventors avoid costly missteps and dead-end “solutions,” I was intrigued. When I saw the system in action, I was convinced.
Unlike the fraudulent companies whose business model is built on extracting as much money as possible from inventors, Pronto Launch is designed to succeed with inventors. The incentives are aligned. The focus is on execution, not upsells.
And unlike the many well-intentioned—but underqualified—service providers in this space, Pronto Launch brings together a deep network of proven experts across design, engineering, manufacturing, commercialization, and many other fields. Just as importantly, it provides the infrastructure most individuals and early-stage companies simply don’t have access to on their own.
Pronto Launch is Refreshingly Different.
Pronto Launch offers an end-to-end platform that combines manufacturing access, operational structure, and real-world execution—allowing ideas to move efficiently from concept to market with clarity, speed, and confidence. That’s the missing piece for so many inventors: not just ideas or prototypes, but a system that connects all the dots and reduces expensive guesswork along the way.
These principles closely mirror my own philosophy at Product QuickStart. I’ve always believed that good product development is about making smart, informed decisions early—and having a clear path forward at every stage.
So when Mike invited me to partner with Pronto Launch, it was an easy yes.
I believe deeply in protecting inventors, empowering entrepreneurs, and building products the right way. Pronto Launch isn’t about hype or false promises—it’s about giving inventors a real shot at success by surrounding them with the tools, people, and execution they actually need.
And after 25 years in this industry, that’s something I’m proud to stand with.
Noah McNeely
CEO, Product QuickStart LLC
Host, Product Genius