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.

Guides/Engineering Leadership

The Engineering Leadership Handbook

From Team Lead to VP — every framework you need. Hiring economics, team topology, DORA implementation, stakeholder management, and the IC-to-leadership transition.

45+ linked glossary terms · 50 min read · For Engineering Managers, Directors, VPs

Hiring & Retention Economics

The true cost of hiring, mis-hires, and turnover

Revenue Per Engineer Engineering Allocation Cognitive Load Developer Experience (DevEx)Total Cost Of Ownership

Team Design

Structure teams for maximum throughput

Conways Law Team Topologies Platform Engineering Microservices Monolith Architecture

Delivery Excellence

Measure and improve delivery performance

DORA Metrics Ci Cd Sprint Velocity Feature Velocity Shift-Left Testing

Technical Strategy

Major technical decisions that define your org

Build vs. Buy Decision Technical Debt Refactoring Modernization Event-Driven Architecture

Stakeholder Communication

Translate engineering into business language

Innovation Tax Rd Capitalization Engineering Roi Product Debt Index (PDI)Cost Of Delay

Leadership Tools

APER Calculator

Benchmark your team's economic output against industry leaders.

Audit Interview

AI-powered technical assessment for hiring engineering leaders.

Level Up Your Leadership

Richard Ewing works with engineering leaders at every level — from first-time managers to VPs building 100+ person orgs. Advisory sessions help you navigate transitions and build high-performing teams.

Book an Advisory Session →

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