What happens during a LaunchPad build?

A LaunchPad build runs through four steps, in order: Discover, Design, Build and Launch. The steps are the same on every tier. What changes is how much gets built: Starter launches in two months, Growth in three and Scale in four.

The four steps at a glance

Discover: turning the idea into a plan

Discovery is where we work out who the product is for and the one job it must do well. Then we decide what the first release needs, and what can wait.

You pick a tier before you start. Discovery sets the exact scope inside it, so the fixed price doesn’t move.

It’s also your first exit. Don’t like the plan? Then you don’t pay for it. Each phase is invoiced in advance, so nothing for Design is due until Design begins.

Design: seeing it before it’s built

Every tier includes a user experience map, wireframes and custom UI design. Growth adds a refined user experience. Scale adds a fully custom UI and a brand system that grows with the product.

The step ends with an interactive prototype. It looks and feels like the real app, but nothing behind it works yet. Put it in front of the people you expect to use it, and watch where they get stuck.

This is the cheapest place to change your mind. Moving a screen in a design tool takes minutes. Moving it in finished code can take days, and a bit of everyone’s patience.

Build: the real product

Engineers now build what the prototype describes. We start with the hardest, most uncertain feature, not the login screen. If something can’t be done, you want to know in week one, not month three.

AI makes our engineers faster, and every line it writes still passes a senior engineer before it reaches you.

Every tier includes secure, scalable infrastructure, a CMS so you can edit content yourself, and user analytics. Growth adds SSO, third-party integrations and complex data and AI features. Scale adds advanced integrations and deeper analytics.

You see progress as working software rather than slides. How often we meet and share updates covers the rhythm.

Launch: going live

Launch means the product is live for real users. For apps, that includes getting through Apple and Google’s review, which can take days.

How much hands-on help you get scales with the tier:

• Starter: a guided launch, with training and documentation.
• Growth: a collaborative launch, plus help moving existing customers across.
• Scale: a white-glove launch, plus a certification gap analysis and long-term product planning.

Accounts, hosting and the services the product runs on are paid for until launch, inside the fixed price. From launch day they’re in your name, along with the code and IP. What will I actually have at launch lists it all.

Launch isn’t goodbye. You can run the product yourself, or hand the running of it to TotalCare for a fixed monthly fee.

What decides whether it lands on time

The process is fixed. The biggest variable is how quickly decisions get made. A design approval that waits a week moves the build by a week.

How we make sure you launch on time explains what we do about that. If you need to be live sooner than your tier allows, see can we launch sooner.

How much of your time the project takes sets out where you’re needed most. If you’re still choosing a tier, which LaunchPad package is right for me compares them, and the full feature lists are on the pricing page.

For the wider journey from idea to launch, including what to check before you sign with anyone, read the non-technical founder’s build playbook.