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Onwards Labs
PRODUCT ENGINEERING FOR NON-TECHNICAL FOUNDERS

Code is cheap.
Finished is rare.

We take non-technical founders from idea to a revenue-ready product in six weeks — and we don't think that should be the only way in. Two ways forward from here:

AVENUE 01 — WORK WITH US
We build it with you.
Idea to a revenue-ready product in six weeks — fixed price, penalties on us if we're late. Start with a no-pressure brainstorm.
AVENUE 02 — DO IT YOURSELF
Or build it yourself.
Not ready to hire anyone? Join a growing community of non-technical founders — free weekly teardowns, templates and AMAs with Ryan.
FIXED PRICE
One number, agreed up front. No hourly meter.
LATE? WE PAY
$1,000 credited for every week we run over.
WALK AWAY ANYTIME
Stop at any stage and keep everything produced.
YOU OWN IT ALL
Repo, infra and IP in your name from day one.
FILM_01 — WHY CODE ISN'T THE PRODUCT ANYMORE 03:12
VSL thumbnail / film still — 16:9
THE RESCUE DOOR

Stuck at 70% in Lovable or Bolt?

You're not weighing $50 a month against an engineering team. You're weighing another six months of stuck — auth, payments, deploy — against a finish line. The sprint tells you, honestly, whether to salvage what you've built or rebuild it properly.

SEE THE RESCUE TRACK →
01 / THE HONEST COMPARISON

Four ways to build the same product.

PATH
REAL COST
WHAT YOU END UP WITH
DIY vibe-coding
$50/mo plus ~300 evening hours. No finish line.
A 70% demo — stuck on auth, payments, deploy.
Freelance marketplace
$3k–$8k, plus you become the project manager.
No spec, no warranty, no clarity on who owns what.
Traditional agency
$80k+ and four months.
A fine product at a brutal price and pace.
Onwards Labs
ONLY IF THE SPRINT PROVES IT
Fixed price. Six weeks. A warranty with teeth.
Revenue-ready: a stranger can sign up, pay, and use it.
DIY vibe-coding
$50/mo plus ~300 evening hours. No finish line. You end up with a 70% demo — stuck on auth, payments, deploy.
Freelance marketplace
$3k–$8k, plus you become the project manager. No spec, no warranty, no clarity on who owns what.
Traditional agency
$80k+ and four months. A fine product at a brutal price and pace.
Onwards Labs
ONLY IF THE SPRINT PROVES IT
Fixed price. Six weeks. A warranty with teeth. Revenue-ready: a stranger can sign up, pay, and use it.
SIX WEEKS FROM NOW, THIS TABLE IS ACADEMIC.
SEE IF YOUR IDEA CLEARS THE SPRINT →
03 / HOW IT WORKS

Sprint first. Build only if it's worth building.

Most founders spend $50k+ finding out what they should have built. The sprint answers that question first — and the deliverable doubles as your build plan, whether you build with us or not.

PHASE 01 · TWO WEEKS
Build Readiness Sprint

Two weeks of engineering judgment applied to your idea: what to build, what it really costs, and whether it's worth building at all — before you spend $50k finding out.

— Scoped product spec
— Stack decision
— Real budget & timeline
— Build-vs-buy calls
— Risk map
Billed in sixths as stages clear — never prepaid past the gate you're at. No viable build path inside your budget? Full refund.
PHASE 02 · SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS
The Build

A senior delivery pod builds to the sprint spec, with Ryan as your fractional CTO making every technical decision. Weekly demos, billed stage by stage at each gate.

— Revenue-ready product
— Your repo, your infra
— Docs + handover video
— 60-day defect warranty
Fixed scope, fixed date. Every week we run late, you're credited $1,000.
PHASE 03 · ONGOING
Fractional CTO

After launch: iteration sprints driven by what the analytics say, infrastructure that scales with you, and engineering resource on tap — part-time from us, or dedicated staff we help you hire.

— Post-launch iteration sprints
— Infrastructure & security
— Part-time or dedicated engineers
— Hiring & team guidance
A CTO's judgment on retainer — without giving up co-founder equity.
SEE THE FULL METHOD →
04 / RECEIPTS

Stuck, then shipped.

A few real builds — where the founder was stuck, what we shipped, and what it did. The ones under NDA lose their names; the facts don't change.

ENTERPRISE SaaS · BUILD PARTNERLIVE
$3Mfirst-year revenue
  • STUCKA 20-year enterprise operator with a rare skillset and no way to turn a career's worth of judgement into software.
  • SHIPPEDThe whole product from zero — team, multiple enterprise sales, compliance track — made simple enough to be mandated across an organisation.
  • RESULTOver $3M in its first year, built for roughly $150k — against the $2–3M, three-to-four-year quote it replaced.
VETERINARY SaaS · RESCUELIVE
27major changes, shipped overnight
  • STUCKA mobile vet nailed the product thinking, then watched two builders burn two years and ~$30k — stalled at 80%, never able to name what was wrong.
  • SHIPPEDWe kept their design thinking and rebuilt from the ground up — live and solid in weeks, for a fraction of the spend.
  • RESULTA change that used to take a month now ships overnight — 27 major changes actioned, tested and released in a single night.
EDUCATION ANALYTICS · THE 99% TRAPIN BUILD
2 daysvs the 2-year version
  • STUCKAn ex-COO, off a university venture that failed chasing 99% custom accuracy over two years.
  • SHIPPEDThe opposite discipline: the 95% that ships in days, not the 99% that never arrives.
  • RESULTA data-science trap, called out by a data scientist — and the discipline that keeps every build we run fast.
SPORTS AI · THE HONEST CALLPAUSED — ON PURPOSE
  • THE IDEAA coach with deep domain knowledge and genuinely clever tech — auto-analyse a swimmer's stroke straight from video.
  • THE CATCHThe make-or-break happens on the fringes — the instant a hand breaks the water — exactly where the footage and the models fail worst.
  • THE CALLSo we paused it, and said so. We'll tell you when something isn't ready before we'll take your money to fake it.
SEE THE WORK →
05 / IN WRITING

The mechanics nobody else will put in a contract.

G-01 / LATE PENALTY
If we're late, we pay.

$1,000 credited back for every week past the delivery date. The deadline isn't a hope — it's a clause.

G-03 / OWNERSHIP
You own everything.

Your repository, your infrastructure, documented, with a recorded handover video. No hostage code, no lock-in.

G-05 / WALK-AWAY CLAUSE
Leave at any gate, take everything.

Billing tracks the six stages — one-sixth of the fee each. Stop at the clickable prototype? You've paid for three stages, and the spec, the concepts and the prototype leave with you. No exit fees, no haggling.

READ THE FULL CONTRACT — ALL FIVE CLAUSES → BOOK A BRAINSTORM CALL →
06 / WHO YOU'RE WORKING WITH

The translator.

Ryan Richardson, Founder & Fractional CTO
RYAN RICHARDSONFOUNDER · FRACTIONAL CTO
06 / WHO YOU'RE WORKING WITH

The translator.

Ryan has spent a decade sitting between mining executives and engineering teams — at KPMG, BHP and South32, and across ventures of his own. His job has always been the same: turn what the business needs into what engineers build, and catch the expensive mistakes before they're made.

MORE ABOUT RYAN →
The Over 30 Non-Tech Founder — join the free community
NOT READY TO BOOK A CALL?

Join the club. It's free.

The Over 30 Non-Tech Founder community is where non-technical founders building their first product trade notes, post wins, and get straight answers from Ryan, before they ever spend a dollar. No pitch, no catch. A real next step you can take today.

JOIN FREE →

Not ready for a call? Run the decision engine · read the book · join the community.

08 / LET'S TALK

Let's brainstorm it.

No application, no pitch. Book a free 20-minute brainstorm — bring your idea or your half-built product and we'll talk through how we'd approach it, what it'd take, and whether we're even the right fit. You'll leave with a clearer head either way.

01
TELL US THE GIST
Three quick questions. Under a minute.
02
BOOK ON THE SPOT
The calendar opens right here the moment you submit. Pick a slot — no email tennis.
03
TWENTY MINUTES WITH RYAN
Your idea, your budget reality, an honest read. Not a sales rep.
No spam. No "free strategy session" funnel.
10 / TRACK RECORD

Enterprise pedigree, pointed at your startup.

BHP South32 Woodside Energy Rio Tinto JPMorgan Chase UBS KPMG Main Roads Western Australia Liontown Resources Orexplore Imvelo Perth Airport Murdoch University
SEE WHAT WE BUILT →