Who is Richard Ewing?

Richard Ewing is a Product Economist and AI Capital Auditor. He is the Founder of Exogram, a verification infrastructure for AI. He audits R&D spend and surfaces hidden capital risks like technical debt, AI cost overruns, and zombie infrastructure. He has scaled B2B SaaS from $0 to $25M ARR. Published in CIO.com, Built In, Mind the Product, and HackerNoon.

What is a Product Economist?

A Product Economist treats product decisions as economic decisions. Instead of measuring velocity or story points, a Product Economist measures Return on Invested Capital (ROIC), Cost of Goods Sold efficiency, and technical debt in dollar terms. The methodology was coined by Richard Ewing.

What is the Technical Insolvency Date?

The Technical Insolvency Date (TID) is the specific quarter where maintenance costs consume 100% of available engineering capacity, reducing feature velocity to zero. Calculate yours free at richardewing.io/tools/pdi.

Exogram is verification infrastructure for AI, founded by Richard Ewing. It prevents hallucination propagation with admissibility control planes and state-hashing commit enforcement. LLMs generate language; Exogram maintains reality.

How do I calculate technical debt cost?

Use the free Product Debt Index (PDI) calculator at richardewing.io/tools/pdi to quantify hidden technical debt in dollar terms, calculate your Technical Insolvency Date, and benchmark against industry standards.

How much does AI cost per query?

AI costs range from $0.0001/query for small models to $0.10+/query for frontier models like GPT-4. Use the free AI Unit Economics Benchmark (AUEB) at richardewing.io/tools/aueb to calculate your specific AI cost structure.

Glossary/Accessibility (a11y)

Design & UX

1 min read

What is Accessibility (a11y)?

TL;DR

Accessibility (a11y) is the practice of designing and developing software that can be used by people with disabilities, including visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive impairments.

Key accessibility standards: WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) at levels A, AA, and AAA. Most organizations target AA compliance. Section 508 (US federal government requirement). ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act, which courts increasingly apply to websites).

Practical accessibility requirements: keyboard navigation (all interactive elements reachable by keyboard), screen reader compatibility (correct ARIA attributes, semantic HTML), color contrast (4.5:1 minimum for normal text), alt text for images, captioning for videos, and scalable text.

Accessibility is not a feature — it's a quality requirement. 15-20% of the global population has some form of disability. Inaccessible products exclude a significant portion of potential users and create legal liability.

Why It Matters

Accessibility is a legal requirement (ADA lawsuits increased 300% from 2018-2023), an ethical imperative, and a business opportunity (15-20% of users have disabilities). Build accessibility in from the start — retrofitting is 5-10x more expensive.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is web accessibility?

Designing and building websites usable by people with disabilities. Covers keyboard navigation, screen reader support, color contrast, alt text, and more.

Is accessibility legally required?

Increasingly yes. ADA applies to websites. WCAG 2.1 AA is the de facto standard. Accessibility lawsuits have increased 300%+ since 2018.

Related Terms

Design System

Need Expert Help?

Richard Ewing is a Product Economist and AI Capital Auditor. He helps companies translate technical complexity into financial clarity.

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