DesignCreate
Your Vision.
We help you discover what's possible. Or build what you've alwaysalreadyalways envisioned.
Orbital Labs is a product, design, and engineering team led by Dan Newman and Peter Karman. Together they bring over fifty years at the cutting edge of software, AI systems design, and build experience that's evolved since the inception of the AI revolution.
Experts in the creative craft of engineering possibility — for this AI moment.
Web and application building has fundamentally changed.
It's no mystery that AI is changing the way we develop and design and presents flashy new options. But the real question is how innovative, creative, and intelligent we can be, leveraging it for real impact in a faster and faster changing landscape.
That's where we come in.
PRODUCT · BUILD · INTELLIGENCE
As design and architecture-focused engineers with over fifty years of combined experience, we're pushing the forward limits of the newest design, prototype, and build processes, infused with AI not as a shortcut but as an amplifier. The result is work that not only moves much faster, but explores wider, and reaches a level of quality and precision that wasn't possible before. We don't follow the crowd. We are crafting new agentic processes and leveraging AI with creative and strategic intention, and through this we can empower your unique vision and unlock potential that generic approaches will never reach.
The potential is unprecedented
Right now, we're able to build innovative, custom products that are more powerful and forward thinking than they've ever been. What used to require large teams and long timelines can now be conceived, designed, and shipped by a focused team in a fraction of the time. The opportunity window for building something exceptional is wide open.
Rethink what's possible
Most people are still building the way they did five, even two years ago. The real advantage goes to those willing to re-envision what their product, their business, or their idea could actually become with today's constantly evolving capabilities. We help you step back, challenge assumptions, and see the bigger picture before writing a single line of code.
Build in phases, aim beyond the obvious
Great products aren't built in one shot. We work in deliberate phases. Each one is tested, vetted, and learned from, so every step moves you toward something bigger. This isn't about shipping the first thing that works. It's about iterating toward the thing that matters, and not stopping at the surface.
Who we are
A flood of new AI-driven building is underway. The rarer skill is shaping a strategy of real evolution: knowing not just what to build, but what your business, product, or vision could genuinely become through this AI moment. We bring fifty years on the cutting edge of design and engineering, plus deep work on production AI systems from the start of this transformation. What we offer is expertise in possibility, shaped to who you are and what you're building.
Together, we cover the full arc: product strategy, design, AI engineering, infrastructure, and deployment. We also have a network of great people we work with in design, infrastructure, data, branding, social media, and more:
What are you building?
We work on the future envelope of development, for those who want to go beyond the expected and build something cutting-edge in this transformational moment, at a cost that wouldn't have been dreamt of before.
A new brand & web presence
You're launching something new, or relaunching something that's outgrown its current identity. You need a website, a brand system, and a digital presence that communicates who you are before you say a word.
A product or app idea
You have a concept for a product, a platform, or an app that doesn't exist yet. You need a team that can take it from napkin sketch to working software, designed well, built right, and ready for real users.
An internal workflow revolution
Your team is doing things manually that AI could transform. You need someone who can identify the highest-leverage automation opportunities and build custom tools that actually fit how your people work.
Your personal or professional profile
You're a creator, a founder, or a professional who needs a platform that represents you: a portfolio, a content hub, a personal brand that grows with your career and showcases what you do best.
How we work together.
A senior product, design, and engineering team, at a fraction of the cost of building one in-house. Three ways to work with us, depending on where you are.
Sprint
1–2 weeksA focused prototype or proof-of-concept. We come in, build the thing, hand it back. Best when you need to see something work fast, before committing further.
Phase
4–8 weeksA defined build with a clear scope and outcome. Discovery through launch, or any phase in between. Best when you have a concrete goal and a deadline behind it.
Fractional Retainer
ongoingA senior product, design, and engineering team you can rely on month over month, at a fraction of the cost of building one in-house. Best when you need principal-level talent over time, without the headcount.
Beyond vibe coding.
AI has transformed what's possible. But exceptional products still demand rigorous engineering and design. We bring both.
Faster prototyping
What took weeks now takes days. Exploration that was too expensive to attempt is now the default. The range of what you can try has expanded dramatically.
Not surface-level
Off-the-shelf prompting only scratches the surface. We design AI systems the way real software gets built: with evals, observability, multi-agent orchestration, and fine-tuning where it actually fits.
Custom, not generic
An exceptional product for whatever you're envisioning. Even if you don't know exactly what it is yet, we help you get to it, and make that process a genuinely enriching one of discovery.
What production-grade AI actually looks like
Our process
Depending on where you are, we can pick up at any phase, or run the full thing end to end. We do quick prototypes, phased engagements, and longer-term builds for more complex projects.
Discovery
We start by understanding what is genuinely worth building to you. Not what sounds impressive, but what actually matters to your business and your customers. We identify where new agentic processes and AI capabilities can truly move the needle, and we help you see the opportunities you might not have considered yet.
Design
We turn the concept into something concrete by building in phases that deliver production-ready product capabilities. No more long cycles of wireframes and handoffs. We design directly into the product itself, iterating on the actual thing. What you see is what you ship, and every round gets closer to exactly right.
Build
We bring decades of experience in building, scaling, and deploying software that is secure, reliable, and built to grow. From AI infrastructure and multi-agent systems to full-stack applications and cloud architecture, we write production-grade code that holds up under real-world conditions.
Launch & Evolve
We get you live and stay with you. Whether it's the immediate next steps or your longer-term vision, we can continue to expand and evolve what we've built together, or support your team as they take the reins. We're built for lasting partnerships, not just project handoffs.
Let's start a conversation.
There's no risk in reaching out. Tell us where you are and what you're thinking about. We're happy to explore it with you. No commitment, no pitch. Just an honest conversation about what's possible. We'll respond within 24 hours.