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Calculating your first customer ship date can be tricky business.  When you are engaging in product development and marketing simultaneously, you must make sure that not only are you letting the customer lead you down the path towards the product they really want, but you know how long it's going to take to get it to them before you begin promising ship dates. 

It is not uncommon to encounter companies or inventors that have done remarkable jobs of generating buzz for their product, but find themselves in a bind because they didn't realize that developing and getting a high-quality, finished product to market can be a time intensive process.  Of course, this greatly depends on the complexity and uniqueness of the product.  But, too often, inventors and smaller companies attempt to mitigate their risk by evoking demand from the marketplace before they thoroughly investigate all the steps that will be involved in getting their product into their customers' hands.  What is the second question a potential customer or distributor, who loves your product, will ask you?  "When can I get it?"  (The first question is, of course, "How much is it?")  It's very tempting to want to throw out a promise at that point.  Some experts might advocate the strategy of 'get the sale, worry about making it happen after'.  And, you might be able to scramble and hasten a few steps in the process, but if your product requires some sort of testing or certification, such as by UL, then there's no getting around that time requirement.  Timing things like media attention, product development, and product launch is an art.  It's extremely difficult to get everything right.  When taking new products to market, nail down a development schedule with some extra time for cushioning, and you'll save yourself a lot surprises and backpeddling.