I like solid colors. Blues, silver are best for me. Gold isn’t bad. I’m kind of trying to stay away from darks, but that isn’t always happening. If you’re going with colorways, don’t get too nuts! I thnk when they get overly busy, they only look decent spinning.
It might get difficult to get sponsored players to promote you, as they are already sponsored somewhere else. Conflict of interest. I’d be willing to pay a reasonable price for your models, and as a exchange for the nice pricing, I’d give these a review. I’m not good enough to be sponsored and I like to be able to buy and use whatever I feel like.
With freshman companies like GSquared, Square Wheels and I think Monkey Finger Designs and Rebel Designs coming out with impressive first offerings, the bar has been raised for new companies to put out unique yoyos that are on par with stuff in the $90-150 range. It will be interesting to see what you come up with.