Business Coach & Advisor. Technology, Business and Strategist for 20 Years. Worked with companies like Microsoft, Sports Illustrated, and Dell. Passionate about helping business owners through my experience. Board Member at Project Helping.
This is a very easy answer. If you can't scope so that you have a very, very solid target on the work required to finish the project then you have to price it by time/materials.
There is no other sound way to do it and not lose your shorts. The bigger the project, the more the risk/variables, the more complex it is to scope.
I like the approach of "here are my best estimates of how far we'll be after 3/6/9 months, here is what it will cost, and here are the resources I have to commit to it. "
Cheers,
Ryan
The term "systems" is overused to say the least. In the context of the Facebook ads you're seeing you can consider their systems paid webinars, videos, ebooks, masterminds and/or a combination of any (or more) of these.
The systems that business coaches use vary greatly from no system at all to being part of a high cost/high-value group like the one run by Taki Moore (coachmarketingmachine.com). I am very familiar with Taki and what he teaches and think it is a fantastic "system".
The bottom line is, the Facebook Ads are nothing more than a targeted billboard.
Cheers,
Ryan
The hardware development arena is super competitive and the big boys hold a lot of leverage in this space with resources, patents, and enough engineering team members to fill stadiums. Computer hardware isn't really where the secret sauce is anymore, it's in the software. That said, without knowing the details of what you have, I'd take the following steps:
1. Search for any patents related to your idea: https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts&gws_rd=ssl
2. Find comparable products in the market and see if you can find reference to the type of hardware you have on anyone's roadmaps.
3. Search high and low in forums, online tech magazines, etc. to see if you can find any similar references.
If all of these come back favourably, your next step would be to engage with a partner and see if it is valuable. My strategy for this wouldn't be reaching out to the top dogs, I'd find some influential people on twitter to start engaging with.
To get too detailed on the strategy I'd want to spend some time with you asking questions about the hardware, applications, specifications, etc. If you'd like to talk in more detail feel free to schedule some time with me.
Good luck either way!
Cheers,
Ryan