A 10x reduction in development cost is reasonable for a small company. Large corporations have to float a huge boat just to stay motionless. Another way to say it is that they burn millions of dollars per day just to exist and do nothing else. When you see cost-of-development numbers for large companies they include an element of total-cost-to-just-exist/days-per-project/number-of-current-projects (oversimplification).
A small motivated team without the baggage and overhead can certainly do thing far, far cheaper than a large corporation. In fact, it can put a large corporation to shame in terms of productivity and the ability to pivot and innovate.
Where things get difficult for a startup is when it is time to move to manufacturing. Unlike software projects, making physical products is really capital intensive. The first phase is, of course, the upfront design and DFM work that has to be done. Then comes all of the prototyping and testing. Finally, setup for manufacturing, procurement, manufacturing, packaging and shipping. If a startup isn't well funded it might be able to get through the design phase but not survive to reach manufacturing without an additional influx of funds.
A small motivated team without the baggage and overhead can certainly do thing far, far cheaper than a large corporation. In fact, it can put a large corporation to shame in terms of productivity and the ability to pivot and innovate.
Where things get difficult for a startup is when it is time to move to manufacturing. Unlike software projects, making physical products is really capital intensive. The first phase is, of course, the upfront design and DFM work that has to be done. Then comes all of the prototyping and testing. Finally, setup for manufacturing, procurement, manufacturing, packaging and shipping. If a startup isn't well funded it might be able to get through the design phase but not survive to reach manufacturing without an additional influx of funds.