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/SaaS Metrics

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SaaS Metrics Masterclass

Connect engineering investment to business outcomes. Rule of 40 with engineering cost decomposition, NRR improvement through engineering investment, and board slides that connect sprint velocity to ARR.

40+ linked glossary terms · 55 min read · For SaaS Leaders, CFOs, Board Members

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SaaS Metrics Masterclass

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SaaS Fundamentals

The metrics that define SaaS success and how engineering drives them

Revenue Per Engineer Unit Economics Total Cost Of Ownership Engineering Roi Engineering Allocation

Rule of 40 Decomposition

Where engineering costs show up in the Rule of 40

Rd Capitalization Capex Vs Opex Innovation Tax Maintenance Load Technical Debt Ratio (TDR)

Retention & Revenue

How engineering investment drives NRR and reduces churn

Feature Velocity Technical Debt Ux Debt Product Debt Index (PDI)Cost Of Delay

Growth Efficiency

CAC payback, burn multiple, and engineering-driven growth

Build vs. Buy Decision DORA Metrics Ci Cd Sprint Velocity Developer Experience (DevEx)

Board Communication

Presenting engineering metrics to investors and boards

Enterprise Value Scalability Platform Engineering Conways Law Team Topologies

SaaS Engineering Tools

APER Calculator

Revenue per engineer adjusted for product debt — your real engineering ROI.

EV-SE Calculator

Compare engineering value creation against SaaS industry benchmarks.

SaaS Engineering Economics Advisory

Richard Ewing helps SaaS companies connect engineering investment to financial outcomes. Board-ready analysis that shows exactly how engineering drives ARR, NRR, and exit multiples.

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Keep exploring

guide

SaaS Metrics Masterclass

SaaS Metrics Masterclass

SaaS Fundamentals

Rule of 40 Decomposition

Retention & Revenue

Growth Efficiency

Board Communication

SaaS Engineering Tools

APER Calculator

EV-SE Calculator

SaaS Engineering Economics Advisory

Keep exploring

Technical Interview Redesign — Test Judgment Not Syntax

Product Economics Playbook — Unit Economics, Feature P&L & Kill Switch Protocol

Engineering Efficiency Blueprint — From Measurement to Optimization