A six-week live cohort where participants take an idea from problem definition through UX flows, interface design, and a working prototype.
We’re not running a cohort this fall. Here’s why, and how to hear first
People with an idea and no clear path from it to something real. You do not need to code. You do need an idea you care about and six weeks of attention.
You have an idea and no idea what step one looks like.
You want a real project to point at, not another certificate.
You see a fix inside your own business and want to build it yourself.
A veterinarian, a cattle farmer and an 89-year-old retiree, none of whom write code. We collected nineteen of these, each one linked to the reporting it came from, so you can judge the premise for yourself.
Built a call-triage tool for her own clinic, then won $15,000 with it at OpenAI’s hackathon.
CHATGPT + CODEXPulled live beef prices into one place for Irish farmers, building it between 5am and 7am before his day job.
CLAUDE + CHATGPTShipped eleven free iPhone apps for older adults after asking roughly 1,000 coding questions.
CHATGPTThese are publicly reported stories, not Lab graduates; the Lab has not run a cohort yet. Every claim links to its source.
Define the problem, the person it belongs to, and the smallest version worth building.
Talk to real people, test your assumptions, and cut what the idea does not need.
Map the path through the product before drawing a single screen.
Turn the flow into screens, with a visual direction that holds together.
Make it clickable and real, without writing code from scratch.
Put it in front of real people, fix what breaks, and decide what happens next.
Every session is run by the same practitioner who does the client work: a Lead UX background across GEICO, CNN, and Publicis Sapient, enterprise product experience, and an app of his own, Before Us, built end to end.
GEICO, CNN, and Publicis Sapient: regulated, high-traffic products.
Design systems, research, and delivery inside large organizations.
Built from idea to shipped app, the same path this cohort walks.
Client design, AI strategy, and training across the DC/MD/VA region.
Scoping, flow, and launch templates you reuse after the cohort.
Every session recorded and available for six months.
Weekly open time for questions on your specific build.
Direct critique on your idea, your flows, and your prototype.
A small group working the same problems at the same time.
One in-person session in the Baltimore / DC area.
The other route to a finished app is paying someone to build it, which starts near $30,000 and reaches $60,000 to $250,000 at an agency. I charted the paths side by side, with sources, including the running costs you still pay every year no matter who builds it.
The cohort is small on purpose. A small group means your idea gets looked at every week, by name, with real feedback and a deadline attached.
Idea to working prototype in six weeks, with a launch plan attached.
Map your customer journey and build or improve a digital product without hiring an agency first.
No. We use AI tools to build the prototype. If you can describe what you want clearly, you can build it in the Lab.
Week one is scoping. Bring a problem you find annoying or a group of people you understand well, and we will shape it into something buildable.
Two live sessions plus roughly two to three hours of your own work. The deadlines are what make it work.
Live online, with recordings posted afterward. There is one optional Baltimore / DC meetup during the six weeks.
Your prototype, your flows, your templates, and a launch plan. All of it is yours.
We’re putting our full attention on product, UX, and web design work for clients right now, so we’re not running a cohort this fall.
The Lab isn’t gone. If you want to design and prototype your app idea alongside a small group of other founders, join the waitlist. You’ll hear from us first when we open the next cohort, before it’s announced anywhere else.
No commitment, no spam. One email when there’s something real to share.
Need help sooner? We design and build products for founders and small businesses. See our services →
Want to pressure-test your idea while you wait? Try the App Idea Worksheet
Have a question about the Lab, or about when it comes back? Send it. No pitch, and no follow-up sequence.
Email lab@fezmedia.coOne email when the next cohort opens, before it’s announced anywhere else. No commitment, no spam.
