For a product development firm to engage with a start-up group, they could come in at any stage really. How a start-up is engaged depends on the goals of the companies that come in. For startups specifically, it could mean that they need help taking their idea or their prototype to develop it into a viable, commercialized solution for the end users. 

Many times, the startups looking for product development services come out of labs, or from universities. Others come from a tinkerer that's in their garage trying to put together something. Regardless of how they get to a product design firm, when they come in, they don't really know what the development cycle is or how they can bring it out. Bobby Boyer, Director of Product Development for HS Design in New Jersey explains, “These start-ups come in and just say, ‘I have this prototype. It works. What's next?’"