Submit
Tell me about the problem, the target customer, the proposed solution, the competitors, the business model, the market evidence, and the customer-acquisition strategy.
An idea alone is not enough.
Build-in-public experiment
You pitch. I build.
Bring the SaaS opportunity. I'll build the product. Then we find out, in public, whether it turns into a real business.
Don't just send the idea. Research the market. Talk to potential customers. Identify the competition. Work out how we reach the first users, and how the product makes money.
The arrangement
- Builder
- Codewave
- Growth Partner
- You
- Net profit split
- 60 / 40
- Documented
- In public
- Agreement
- Before any code
The experiment
Can a validated problem become software people pay for?
That is the whole question. I handle the technical side. The person whose submission is selected becomes the Growth Partner and handles business development and customer acquisition.
There is no guarantee a selected project succeeds. The point is to find out what happens when product building, market validation and customer acquisition run together — and to document the whole thing as it happens.
How it works
Six stages, in order
From a researched submission to a launched product with real numbers attached to it.
We evaluate
Submissions are reviewed on the strength of the problem, evidence of demand, customer accessibility, monetisation potential, MVP feasibility, differentiation, and the proposed acquisition strategy.
Validate
Finalists may be asked to run further customer interviews, validate pricing, build a waitlist, or otherwise prove the opportunity is worth building.
I build
For the selected project I lead the engineering, build the MVP, deploy it, and handle the agreed technical infrastructure.
You grow
The selected submitter becomes the Growth Partner: validating the product, reaching customers, running growth experiments, acquiring users, and bringing feedback back into the product.
We launch and measure
We launch publicly, track the results, and document what happens — wins, failures, pivots, users, revenue and lessons.
Who does what
Two jobs, both real
Both sides are expected to contribute actively for as long as the project runs.
Builder
Me- Product architecture
- UI/UX implementation
- Software development
- Database, API and infrastructure
- Hosting and deployment
- Technical maintenance
- Bug fixes and technical improvements
- Agreed technical operations
Growth Partner
You- Market research
- Customer interviews
- Customer validation
- Positioning
- Marketing
- Customer acquisition
- User feedback
- Growth experiments
The 40% share is not payment for submitting an idea. It reflects the Growth Partner's active role in proving and growing the business.
The money
60% Builder, 40% Growth Partner
Published up front, so you know the commercial arrangement before you apply rather than after you are selected.
Net distributable profit
60%Builder
40%Growth Partner
The split applies to net distributable profit, not gross revenue. Agreed direct business expenses come out first.
Deducted first
Where applicable:
- Hosting and infrastructure
- Payment processing fees
- Approved advertising spend
- Necessary third-party software and services
- Refunds, chargebacks and similar direct costs
- Other mutually agreed operating expenses
What submitting does not give you
Submitting an idea does not automatically grant ownership, equity, intellectual property rights, or a permanent revenue share in the resulting product or company. Selected participants receive and agree to a project-specific collaboration agreement before development begins.
You do not need to complete or negotiate that agreement to apply. The application is the first stage; detailed terms are finalised only if your idea moves forward.
Strong submissions
What gets read twice
Six things the selected submission will almost certainly have.
A painful problem
The target customer clearly experiences the problem and has a reason to solve it.
Evidence of demand
You have spoken to potential customers, collected feedback, observed existing behaviour, or gathered other meaningful evidence.
A reachable customer
You can explain exactly where potential customers are and how we reach them.
A realistic MVP
The first version can be built and launched without trying to create an entire enterprise platform.
A clear business model
You can explain who pays, what they pay, and why the product is worth paying for.
A credible acquisition plan
You can explain how we get the first 10 users and, ideally, the first 3 paying customers.
Not this
What will not make it past the first read
Better you read it here than spend an evening writing a submission that was never going to fit.
- A vague idea with no identified customer
- “Uber for X” without strong evidence
- A platform that would take years to build
- An idea that depends entirely on running ads
- A market where you have no realistic path to reaching customers
- Ideas based only on assumptions, with no validation
The challenge
You are not handing me an idea and waiting
If your idea is selected, you become part of the build. You may be expected to:
- Interview potential customers
- Identify early adopters
- Build relationships with prospects
- Test messaging and pricing
- Run outreach
- Create or coordinate promotional content
- Find beta users
- Gather feedback
- Help convert users into paying customers
- Report growth activities and results
I build the product. You help prove that people want it.
If it fails
We might build it and find that nobody wants it
That is not a failure of the experiment. It is a result. Depending on what we learn, the project may be:
- Continued
- Pivoted
- Paused
- Shut down
Whichever it turns out to be, it gets documented honestly — same as everything else.
Public build
Expect the journey to be filmed
By taking part, expect parts of the project to be shared publicly — videos, screenshots, product updates, milestones, lessons and business metrics. We agree reasonable boundaries around confidential information before development begins.
Before any code
What the written agreement settles
The terms above are the general model, published so you know what you are applying to. If an idea is selected, a project-specific collaboration agreement finalises the detail.
- 01The MVP scope
- 02Responsibilities of both parties
- 03Profit-sharing mechanics
- 04Eligible expenses
- 05Intellectual property and source-code rights
- 06Brand, domain and product ownership
- 07Customer and data responsibilities
- 08Minimum participation expectations
- 09What happens if either party stops contributing
- 10What happens if the project is paused, abandoned or terminated
- 11Any future equity or company arrangement
None of this has to be settled to apply. A written agreement must be accepted by both parties before production development begins.
Read the collaboration termsThe agreement is a template for selected projects. Project-specific terms are completed only after an idea is selected and both parties have agreed the details.
Your submission
What happens to the ideas I don't select
Most submissions will not be selected. This is what happens to them.
It isn't published
I don't post submissions, read them out in a video, or share them outside the review. If I ever want to reference one publicly, I ask first.
It isn't built without you
I don't take an unselected submission and build it myself. If an opportunity is worth building, it's worth building with the person who did the research.
It isn't kept forever
Submissions are held while the round is reviewed, then archived. Email me and I'll delete yours.
What that is not
Submitting does not create an NDA or any confidentiality agreement between us. Send only what you are free to share — no trade secrets, no private customer data, nothing belonging to an employer or a client.
Similar ideas arrive from different people, and I may already be working in the same space or be pitched it again later. So if a future project resembles something you sent, that resemblance on its own is not evidence that your submission was used. If you need enforceable protection for an idea, this programme is not the right route for it.
Questions
Before you write anything
Ready to pitch
Don't give me a SaaS idea. Give me a business opportunity you believe we can prove.
The application is the first stage — you are not expected to negotiate a full project agreement just to submit an idea. If your proposal is selected, we work through the project-specific details together and sign the agreement before development begins.
This page is a plain-language overview of the programme. The signed project-specific collaboration agreement controls the legal relationship between the parties.