Irfan Mahmood
Founder & CEO, Startup Lab 24·Ann Arbor, MI
Why I'm building this
20 years of shipping, pointed at one problem: small businesses getting paid.
I've spent 20 years building things across technology, education, the Department of Defense, and my own companies. Launched products that are still running, hired teams, lost money, made it back, and learned most of what I actually know by getting things wrong in public and paying close attention.
Now I'm focusing that into Startup Lab 24 — a software studio in Ann Arbor that builds and owns subscription products for small businesses. Every product starts as bespoke software built for one real business — the design partner — and once it works there, we make it agnostic so it serves the whole vertical.
The simplest way to understand how I think about this: our MRR comes from our customers' MRR. When the software helps them get paid, we've earned the subscription. When it doesn't, we haven't.
The arc
Where I've been.
Building things that had to work
I started out building systems for institutions that couldn't afford for them to fail — admissions, enrollment, student records. Reliability became a habit before it became a principle.
Shipping education products across countries
Years building learning and operational systems used across multiple countries. Different rules, different contexts, same core question: does this actually help the person using it?
Working where the standard was higher
I've done work in contexts connected to the Department of Defense, where the bar for quality, accountability, and discipline was further up than anywhere I'd worked before. It sharpened how I think about specs, testing, and trust.
Running the thing yourself
Launched products that are still running today, hired teams, lost money, made it back. Half of what I know about building comes from the other half — from getting things wrong in public and paying close attention.
Startup Lab 24
I consolidated everything into one studio in Ann Arbor — owned software, direct decision-making. Each product starts bespoke: we embed with one real business, solve their problem in code, then strip the specifics and serve the whole vertical.
Software small businesses pay for
Pointing the studio at one thing: subscription products that help small businesses get paid. Our recurring revenue comes from theirs.
What we're building
Three products, three verticals.
Each started as bespoke software for one real business. Once it works, we make it agnostic — so every business in that vertical can use it.
What I believe
A few things I've come to believe.
01
I've seen firsthand what bad software costs a small business. They've been handed the leftovers for too long — and I'm not okay with that.
02
The best systems I ever built were the ones nobody needed a manual for. If you have to explain the software, the software is wrong.
03
I learned the hard way that a product's only real job is to make its customers money. Features are noise until that's true.
04
I run the studio on the same constraint I ask customers to apply: if the business isn't growing, the product hasn't earned its keep.
If you run a small business — or want to build for them.
We build and own subscription products that help small businesses get paid. Always glad to talk to small businesses, design partners, and builders who want to work on real products.