Solution Lab: a two-week design sprint

Keith Shields is co-founder and CEO of Designli, a custom software development company that's helped non-technical founders build over 200 digital products in 13 years. After struggling to build apps through unreliable agencies in his own early startup, Keith focused on fixing the many painful experiences most founders have when hiring software development teams.

Designli operates as a complete outsourced engineering department for practical software founders building SaaS and AI products, mobile apps, and web applications. Their SolutionLab program means founders invest $13,800 in a 2-week design sprint of prototyping and product planning before committing to full development, reducing the risk of expensive failures that plague most custom dev projects.

The company focuses primarily on vertical SaaS founders who understand their industry problems intimately but lack technical expertise. Keith recommends velocity to first revenue over perfect features, outside audits for struggling teams, and getting gut checks on your development situation, which is far less risky than making huge changes blindly when you feel stuck.

Key Takeaways

• Black Box Risk: Most agencies operate in the dark, leaving founders guessing what's being built, why it's late, and whether progress matches expectations.
• Dedicated Teams Win: Full-time focused developers outperform fractional freelancers because context, ownership, and velocity compound over long projects.
• Get Clarity Fast: Structured upfront design sprints align founders and teams on scope, timelines, and priorities before heavy coding begins.
• Audit Early: A quick external code and process audit can reveal hidden problems before they turn into year-long setbacks.
• Trust Your Gut: If a development relationship feels wrong, get an outside perspective and fix it before making risky, large changes.

Quote from Keith Shields, CEO and Co-Founder of Designli

"My advice for non-technical founders that already have a product is to trust your gut when you ask, Are we getting the value out of our development team in this situation?

"If you already have a product and your dev team isn't working, get an outside perspective. It's not that hard to go and get what you're doing audited by people, sometimes for free, like us, or you pay for it. You send off a copy of your code in a zip file. It doesn't even have to be the living, breathing version and say, Can you audit this and give me a gut check?

"Getting an outside review of your code doesn't happen that often, surprisingly. People feel stuck in their frustrating situation until they make a huge change, and then it's a risky, huge change. So get some outside perspective early and often."

Links

• Keith Shields on LinkedIn
• Designli on LinkedIn
• Designli website

This podcast is sponsored by Designli, a digital product studio that helps entrepreneurs and startups turn their software ideas into reality. From strategy and design to full-scale development, Designli guides you through every step of building custom web and mobile apps. Learn more at designli.co/practical.

The Practical Founders Podcast

Tune into the Practical Founders Podcast for weekly in-depth interviews with founders who have built valuable software companies without big funding. Subscribe to the Practical Founders Podcast using your favorite podcast app or view on our YouTube channel.

Get the weekly Practical Founders newsletter and podcast updates at practicalfounders.com.

Practical Founders CEO Peer Groups

Be part of a committed and confidential group of practical founders creating valuable software companies without big VC funding. A Practical Founders Peer Group is a committed and confidential group of founders/CEOs who want to help you succeed on your terms. Each Practical Founders Peer Group is personally curated and moderated by Greg Head.