A few years ago I invented a plastic toy that makes building Hot Wheels tracks more fun. Occasionally, I get feedback that my TrackJack is too expensive. In fact, the first ever Amazon review I got said it was a clever, useful, and well-made product ... but too expensive — so they gave it 2 stars. The price was $24.99 (currently it's $29.99 and 4.4 ⭐s) Now, you may know that there's not a lot of room between $0 and $25 ... because ... math 😊 Of course I realize that most people are not aware of the costs of bringing a product to market. Some think the inventor pockets the entire selling price. The reality is that we might profit a few dollars per sale if everything goes perfectly well. Here's a list of all the costs to bring my TrackJack from idea to customer. 🟢 PREPARING INVENTORY - Manufacturing (sample, make, assemble) - Packaging (make, ship, assemble) - Barcode Fees - Shipping to Warehouse in USA - Shipping to Warehouse in Canada - Customs Brokerage Fees and Tariffs - Inventory Receiving Fee - Storage Fees (recurring) 🟢 SELLING - Reseller Listing Fee (Amazon, Walmart, Etsy) - Reseller Sales Fee (per order) - Shipping Materials - Order Fulfillment Fee - Shipping to Customer 🟢 BUSINESS OPERATIONS - Refund Risk and Costs - Marketing Costs and Risk - Business Operation Costs - Foreign Exchange Fees - Insurance Costs - Accounting Costs 🟢 INVENTING - Idea & Market Research - 3D Modeling - Prototyping - Testing - Find Manufacturer - Manufacturing Mold (limited lifespan) - Safety Testing - Product Naming - Product Photography - Brand Design (fonts, logos, messaging) - Legal & Trademark - Patent Application - Packaging Sourcing - Packaging Design - Packaging Die 🟢 FOUNDER / INVENTOR - Personal time to manage all of the above - High probability of failure 🟢 PROFIT - If everything goes perfectly well with a product that sells for less than $30, you might make a few dollars per sale. - Then you lose some of that to income taxes.

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We are in the process of creating a new version that reimagines the gameplay. As a small team, it’s better that we focus our energy on the new build rather than maintaining the current version. We’ve learned a lot from our player experience with GoVenture World and our other business simulations. And gaming has also changed a lot since we originally imagined the gameplay. It’s time for a refresh. We hope to have a basic version available mid to late 2026. Thanks for playing. When we have an update to share, we will email our past players and post in our community here. If you are an instructor looking to adopt a business simulation in your school or company, check out our experiential learning programs used by thousands of instructors and millions of students at GoVenture.net