Frequently asked questions
Questions we hear most
How engagements work, what the free AI audit includes, how we build, and what happens after launch. If your question isn't here, just ask.
Working with Launch Labs
Who we are, who we help, and what you need to bring.
What does Launch Labs do?
We help you build AI into your business. That takes three forms: AI enablement (workflows, automations, and tools that change how work gets done), software and product development (internal tools, platforms, MVPs, and digital products), and team augmentation (vetted engineers who join your team).
Who do you typically work with?
Growing businesses that run on people and process: home services, real estate networks, sports and media, consumer brands, and professional services. Our clients range from owner-led companies to teams inside Nike. The common thread is repetitive knowledge work. If your team spends hours each week on intake, follow-up, quoting, reporting, or moving data between systems, we can help.
Do I need to be technical to work with you?
No. Our job is to pull the knowledge out of your team's heads and turn it into workflows and software. You bring how the business actually runs. We bring the build. You'll never get a wall of jargon from us. Every plan is written so the person signing off on it understands exactly what they're getting.
Where are you located?
Launch Labs is based in Seattle, WA, with a global engineering team. We work with clients across US time zones and overlap with your working hours for calls, reviews, and standups.
Engagements and pricing
How a project starts, what it costs, and who owns the result.
How does an engagement start?
Three steps, no ambiguity: Tell us your vision (a direct conversation about your goals, constraints, and timeline); we shape a plan together (a clear scope, a clear engagement model, and a clear number); we build, you grow (the team mobilizes within days and is held accountable to outcomes, not hours). The first call is 30 minutes. Book it directly here or reach out through the contact form.
How much does it cost?
It depends on scope, so we won't quote a number before we understand the problem. What we can promise is how pricing works: most engagements start with a short, fixed-price discovery phase, then move to a monthly build cadence sized to the plan we agree on. You'll see the full number before anything starts, and it won't change unless the scope does. No surprise invoices, no open-ended retainers.
How fast can you start?
Days, not months. Once the plan is signed, the team mobilizes within days. Discovery usually produces something you can react to in the first few weeks, and we ship in short cycles from there so you see progress continuously rather than at the end.
Who owns what you build?
You do. The code, the workflows, the data, the accounts. Everything we build runs in systems you control, and we train your team to operate and change it. If you ever decide to take it in-house or bring in another partner, nothing is locked up with us.
What if I already have a development team?
Even better. We work alongside in-house teams all the time, either by adding engineers to your team through team augmentation or by taking a defined project off their plate so they can stay focused. We'll fit your tools, your repo, and your process rather than asking you to adopt ours.
The free AI audit
What it is, how it works, and what you walk away with.
What is the free AI audit?
A structured look at where your business is leaving time and money on the table. We score opportunities area by area, estimate the lift and value of each, and map every one to a solution path: an AI employee, a SaaS solution that already exists, or a custom build. You get an opportunity roadmap you can act on, whether or not you ever work with us.
How does the audit process work?
Two calls. The first is a 30-minute discovery call to understand your business and decide whether the audit is worth your time. The second is a longer deep-dive session with the people who actually do the work, where we walk through how things get done today. After that, we go build the report and come back to walk you through it.
What's in the audit report?
The opportunity map is just one section. The full report covers: what we found, area by area; what the status quo is costing you, with a headline opportunity cost number; market comparables (what similar businesses have already automated); quick wins you can act on immediately; what to do about each gap, and what before and after looks like; and the right solution path for each opportunity, with estimated lift and value.
Is it really free? What's the catch?
It's really free, and there's no obligation. We do it because it's the best way to show you how we think before you spend a dollar. Some audits lead to a build engagement with us. Others don't, and you still leave with a clear roadmap. Either way is a fine outcome.
What do I need to prepare?
Nothing formal. Bring the people who know how the work really gets done (often not the org chart owners) and a rough list of the tools your team uses. We'll do the rest. The more candid you are about what's slow, manual, or annoying, the better the roadmap.
AI enablement
AI employees, the tools we use, and how your data is handled.
What's an AI employee?
Software that owns a job the way a person would. An AI employee reads the incoming request, pulls what it needs from your systems, drafts the response or the record, updates the right tools, and flags anything unusual for a human. You train it once, it works every day, and your team spends its time on the decisions that need judgment. Typical roles: lead intake and qualification, quote and proposal drafting, customer follow-up, reporting, and syncing data between systems that don't talk to each other.
Which AI tools and models do you use?
Whatever fits the job. We build on the leading models (Claude, OpenAI, and others) and we're happy to recommend proven software when a good solution already exists rather than build something new. We're not tied to a single vendor, so the recommendation is about your outcome, not our margin.
How do you handle security and our data?
Your data stays in systems you control. We use business and enterprise tiers of AI providers that don't train on your data, scope access to the minimum each workflow needs, and document every integration so your team can see exactly what touches what. If you operate under specific compliance requirements, tell us on the first call and we'll design around them from the start.
Will this replace my team?
The goal is to remove the repetitive work, not the people. Most of our clients are trying to grow without adding headcount at the same pace, or to free up experienced staff for the parts of the job that need judgment and relationships. We design workflows with your team, so they become the operators, not the casualties.
Software and product development
What we build, how we build it, and what happens after launch.
What kinds of software do you build?
Internal tools, customer-facing platforms, MVPs, and digital products. Recent work includes CRM and operations platforms, customer-facing product configurators, executive dashboards, and AI tooling inside design workflows. We've also built products that were later acquired by NBC Sports and Nevco Sports.
How do you use AI to build software?
AI-assisted development lets us move from idea to working prototype in days rather than weeks, which means you see and react to real software early. Senior engineers still own architecture, review every change, and are responsible for security and scalability. AI makes the team faster. It doesn't replace the judgment.
Do you support what you build after launch?
Yes. You can keep us on for ongoing support and improvements, or we hand off with documentation and training so your team can run it independently. Either way, you're never stuck. The software is yours and built so someone other than us can maintain it.
Team augmentation
Adding vetted engineers to your team.
How does team augmentation work?
We place vetted engineers directly on your team. They work in your tools, join your standups, and take full ownership of their work as if they were full-time hires. You get senior talent without the recruiting cycle, and you can scale the team up or down as your roadmap changes.
How quickly can an engineer join?
Usually within days of agreeing on the role. We'll match on stack and working style first, introduce you to the engineer, and only proceed if it's a fit on both sides.
What if it's not a fit?
Tell us and we'll fix it. Sometimes that means a different engineer, sometimes it means adjusting the role. There's no long lock-in, so you're never paying for someone who isn't working out.