If you have the budget, you could even make different versions of your product to see which one sells the best, like the iPhone 3G & 3GS for example.
Ideally your product will be perfect both for you and your ideal user. It’s important to use your market research now you’ve done it, and not to go back to thinking you know best, no matter how tempting it may be (if in doubt, re-read the article about Porsche and Fiat Chrysler linked to above).
Of course even in the realm of ideal products, there are some things you cannot do or that are impossible to design. This is another area where leveraging the knowledge of a design company comes in very handy, as if there are parts of your product that aren’t structurally sound or are impossible to create they will explain why certain things will or won’t work, and provide you with alternative suggestions.
In most cases however, almost anything is possible to create nowadays, especially with advances in 3D printing (hey, you can even 3d print replacement hip joints, houses, or full size Warhammer armour for instance..)
When it comes to form vs. beauty, typically people will choose a product that “looks nicer” over a more practically shaped product. So try to get a good balance of functionality and aesthetics. Just because a product is a rectangular shape doesn’t mean it can’t look good with nice rounded corners (keeping with the smartphone theme here..).
You don’t need to be a designer or engineer to come up with an amazing product. If you hit design challenges along the way, the most important thing to focus on is your product’s main feature. Design with this feature as the main focus, and if something additional becomes a challenge along the way you can eliminate it to keep the core focus of your product.
Also know that you can release your product in stages. This is where minimum viable products come in.
A minimum viable product (MVP) includes just the features a product needs to have to be able to go to market to check for demand. For example, a product might be fine with an ON/OFF switch to begin with, and then later the producer can offer ON/OFF/PAUSE/TIMER or other features on the same product for a higher price. These features may not be necessary to sell the product but may be desirable to some consumers.
Creating a MVP can help to reduce overwhelm, as you don’t have to think of every single thing someone might want in the first iteration of your product. It’s typically cheaper and quicker to design and produce due to having less features, meaning you can get your product to market sooner and start making sales. An MVP also allows you to “toe into” the process of producing and selling your product rather than jumping in the deep end and realizing it’s too deep for you and you don’t yet know how to swim.