I'm willing to help the hobbyist to the commercial guy build stuff it they are willing to actually disclose and share with me, as well as fully comprehend what is involved... If I had more time I would love to help out even more hobbyist with simply little pre-programmed micros at a reasonable cost for some of the projects that I know never happen because it's too involved for the casual guy... I would do this even if I don't make anything on it if the project interest me or the party was sincere... But, heck I just don't have the time right now for that...
I personally don't think sending them to any design houses would be a good idea, that is IMO better left to the diligent studies and research of the person spending the money... It's not hard for them to hit Google up for a few hours and source out some design firms that appear legit and let them do the contacting and leg work, after all it's their money...
My biggest gripe is that everyone 'believes' they have invented the wheel and it must be kept super secret, if you want to keep it that secret build it yourself... Because trust me if you hire the 'budget' design firm and your design becomes popular you can bet you booty that all the sudden an exact replica will pop up... I have experienced this first hand when I was talking to an Asian manufacture looking to build my 'own' version of a product since the competitor couldn't keep up... Guess what, they saw my design and said they already had the tooling done for a near identical product and wanted to know how many I wanted... I just happened to be talking to the same manufacture the competitor was already using and they were willing to run off his parts under the table for me...
I think a better approach is more along the lines of what Steve hinted at, a Sticky post that has valid 'input' on what is involved it taking a product from idea to prototype and how expensive it can get... People have no idea how expensive designing and prototyping is... The go to Wal-Mart (or whatever store) and get dirt cheap electronics that are mass produced by the millions, from established electronics design firms that have full time staffing churning out this stuff in mass... They see the $10 AM/FM clock radio with CD player at the store and think it can't be that much to make my little device... They have no clue that to get the injections molds made for something the size of say a key fob remote is about $25K... Heck it would cost you about $5K just to get a mold made for the buttons on that $10 clock... The general public is totally oblivious to this, they have zero concept... They also don't have a clue that generally with electronics you need multiple revisions before you dial the design in, and with each revision silly amounts of money can be consumed...
I'm not saying it's impossible to bring a small design or even a complicated one to market, it can be done, but it's cost when you have to depend and hire outside people to do the work...
My 3am rant...
