Late Checkout Agency

LCA is a design and advisory firm. We work with you to incubate new products and bring existing ones into the agentic age.

We’ve built some of the world’s biggest technologies and brands. Now, we embed in your team to build what’s next: software, AI agents, mobile apps, robots and more.

Counterparts

TitleCompanyEngagement
PresidentDropboxReimagining Dropbox from SaaS to AI company
Global GMNikeDiscovered, designed and validated new concepts for its innovation lab
Head of Strategic ExpansionShopifyConcepted and designed a new product for creators
Chief Product OfficerGrammarlyDesigned its shift to an AI-native, multi-agent assistant
CEO & Co-founderLinktreeDefined its product for the AI age, then embedded to build it
SVP InnovationSlackDesigned its future as an agent operating system
CPO & CTOParamountWorked with its innovation lab on the future of entertainment and AI
CEOGammaDesigned and shipped its visual storytelling library

Want to learn more about our client work? Speak with us.

Thesis

Building a product in an agentic world requires a whole new way of thinking.

Building is cheap now, so everyone is shipping, and most of it looks the same. The products that win start with the right idea, carry a brand people trust, and launch to an audience that is already waiting.

LCA works with the people accountable for the outcome to find that idea, then design it, brand it and launch it with the highest odds of working.

What we believe

  1. 01

    Incumbents hold the best cards.

    Customers, data, distribution and trust are already in place. The opportunity is knowing what to build on top of them.

  2. 02

    The best ideas are already inside your company.

    Your customers, support tickets and sales calls are full of them. We help you find the one worth building.

  3. 03

    Small teams build big things.

    Get a small number of extraordinary people, give them the resources and room to execute, and they can do enormous things.

  4. 04

    Start with the people.

    The strongest new products begin with an audience that already cares. We find that audience first, then build for it.

  5. 05

    Many small bets win.

    We test ideas fast and cheap, keep what works and cut the rest. That is how you raise the odds of a hit.

  6. 06

    An outside opinion is the unfair advantage.

    Inside a company it’s hard to see what to build next. We bring a fresh, honest view from people who have done it.

  7. 07

    Every product is getting a second user.

    Soon an agent will use your product on someone’s behalf. The companies that design for both will take the category.

  8. 08

    Human-made is becoming premium.

    As AI fills every feed, craft and a visible human hand turn into luxury signals. We design for that.

How we work

01

Strategy sprints

Decide what to build, before you build it.

For leadership teams with more ideas than time, and one shot at the next big bet.

  1. Listen

    Hear everyone

    Leadership, customers, sales calls and support tickets

    Every idea on the table

  2. Map

    Find the overlap

    Where your data, your distribution and the market meet

    An opportunity map

  3. Test

    Pressure-test

    Fast prototypes and real customer conversations

    A few bets worth making

  4. Decide

    Commit

    A clear recommendation and a plan to build it

    The one to build

02

Design & engineering sprints

From an idea to a product in customers’ hands.

For teams that know what to build and need it designed, engineered and shipped.

  1. Shape

    Set the direction

    Flows, brand and the first screens

    A clear point of view

  2. Prototype

    Make it real

    A working version, never a deck

    Something to click

  3. Build

    Design meets code

    Designers and engineers on one team

    A production-ready product

  4. Ship

    Put it out

    In front of real customers

    Live, and learning

03

LCA Labs

A zero-to-one lab for your company.

The best companies have invented their future in small labs for 150 years. Each era made a working prototype cheaper. Now every company can have one.

  1. 1876

    The invention factory

    Edison’s Menlo Park, GE, DuPont

    Light, nylon

  2. 1925

    The monopoly lab

    Bell Labs, IBM Research

    The transistor, Unix

  3. 1943

    The skunk works

    Lockheed, Disney’s WED

    A jet in 143 days

  4. 1970

    The blue-sky lab

    Xerox PARC, Kodak

    The GUI, Ethernet

  5. 2002

    The big-tech lab

    Google Labs, X, Amazon Lab126

    Kindle, Waymo

  6. Today

    Your company’s lab

    Run by LCA, inside your company

    Your next zero-to-one product

The team

A small, senior LCA team that works as your company’s own lab.

The rhythm

New ideas become working prototypes every couple of weeks. Most stop early, on purpose.

The outcome

The ones that work graduate into new products your company owns and scales.

Want to learn how we work? Speak with us.

“The work was insane.”
- Founder of a $10 billion VC backed B2B SaaS company
“They saw it first.”
- Executive at $15B publicly traded software company
“Best decision we made.”
- Head of innovation of $56B public traded consumer company
Engraved portrait of Greg Isenberg
“This is the greatest time in history to be building. The question is what? Let’s work together.”

Greg Isenberg, Co-founder, LCA

LCA was established in 2020. We work with a small group of clients each year. If you’d like feedback on an idea, or want to learn if your company is a fit, write to us at hello@latecheckout.agency.