"
Get the product right, then build it right.
Ashley Goluoglu
Founder & CEO, Harika Labs
The Product Lab that
invests in Hero Apps
Hero apps are the next generation of consumer software: products built on progression, personalization, and presence.
We invest the design, engineering, and velocity to build them.
Our Worldview
What's a hero app?
Hero apps are the next generation of consumer software. Products where the user isn't a viewer, they're a player. Experiences that sit at the intersection of consumer apps and games: deeply engaging, genuinely personal, and built to turn users from passive consumers into active protagonists.
Built on three principles:
Progression Personalization Presence
Users don't just open and consume. They have a journey. They come back not because of a notification, but because the app is genuinely part of their life.
The user is the hero.
The Shift
Modern tooling and development speeds allow for hyper-personalization. Exactly what you want, exactly how you want, for every "you" out there. The same app, shaped to a thousand different people, each one feeling like the protagonist of an experience built around them.
The hard part isn't the idea.
"I have the idea. I don't have the team."
You know what you want to build. But designers, engineers, and PMs cost half a million dollars before you've shipped anything users can touch.
"I can't afford a product team yet."
And by the time you can, you've already lost the window. Raising funds takes months. Hiring takes months. The market doesn't wait.
"Pitching investors is a full-time job."
Decks, intros, rejections, more decks. Six months of fundraising and you feel like you keep getting sent back to square one. Meanwhile, nothing gets built.
"I want to move now, but I'm stuck."
Consumer apps go viral in a week these days. By the time you've raised, hired, and aligned, the moment has passed. Stalling is losing.
"AI tools aren't a product team."
Tools like Claude are brilliant at execution. But they don't have taste, don't run user interviews, don't make the hundred small product calls that separate a hero app from a generic one.
This is why founders choose Harika Labs.
What We Are
A new kind of venture.
We're in it with you. We co-design the product, build it on a strong technical foundation, and put something testable in users' hands within weeks. Then we keep iterating. Because the goal isn't to ship what you specced. It's to ship what's actually right.
Your product team. With skin in the game.
Strategy, design, and engineering, co-invested in your success through equity and revenue share. From idea to shipped, in weeks.
Design-first, with a technical foundation that won't collapse on you later
Speed of modern tooling, without the AI-slop shortcuts
A proven process that gets something in users' hands within weeks
Aligned on equity, so we win when you win
We sit between a venture studio and a traditional agency, with levers we can pull on equity, revenue share, and upfront cost to fit the project. There's a model that works for almost anyone.
See Partnership Models The Process
From idea to shipped, in four moves.
A proven cycle, accelerated by modern tooling, but grounded in design and UX foundations that don't fall apart at scale.
01
Consultation
You walk us through your idea and current state. We marvel at how you've survived this far, then map the path forward.
Week 1 02
Design
We co-design the UX, visual language, and feature set before a single line of production code. Get this right, and the rest is easy(er).
Weeks 2–4 03
Build & Ship
A strong technical foundation, accelerated by modern tooling. Something real, in users' hands, before competitors finish their Q2 roadmap.
Weeks 5–10 04
Iterate
We stay invested. Real user feedback turns into shipped improvements. You're not handed off to a support tier, you're working with the same team.
Ongoing
Selected Work
Meet your Heroes.
Each came to us with just an idea. Together, we turned them into strong products with real market fit.
See all work Coming Soon
Featured Project
HiddenGem
Community-first talent sourcing
The best prodcuts aren’t just built by skills alone. They’re built by people who work well together, who share a vision, and who inspire each other. HiddenGem is the next-gen hiring solution. For Teams: Build your community, discover the right talent for your studio, and hire around shared vision, not just resumes. For Talent: Find a team you actually want to be with, where you can dive into projects you enjoy, share the passion and values of your teammates, and be part of a culture where transparency and humanity come first. Join us as we craft the ultimate community of team-players.
- Engagement
- Equity Partnership
- Timeline
- Ongoing
- Role
- Design + Full-stack
Read the case study Coming Soon
Equity Partnership
Shiftly
Make every shift a good one.
The rota tool for UK hospitality and retail. Built on the same maths that schedules airline crews. Set your rules once. Run the day, not the spreadsheet.
Read more
Coming Soon
Equity Partnership
Escapage
The creative home for words.
Build visual boards filled with words, phrases, moods and sparks that resonate with you. Come back to them when the blank page feels impossible.
Read more
Coming Soon
Equity Partnership
Smokeless
Craving control made simple.
Cravings peak and pass on their own. Smokeless gives you a physical moment that interrupts the pattern without fighting it, and replaces it with something worth reaching for.
Read more
Coming Soon
Partnership Models
Invest less cash, get more commitment.
Here's how the partnership works and what you're actually getting.
Our unique partnership structure
Instead of a six-figure cash invoice, you pay a modest deposit plus equity. Slide to see the trade: less cash up front means more equity, more cash means less. Same work, either way.
Lower deposit Lower equity
The levers we can pull
The three tiers above are starting points, not a menu. We're a Product Lab with more flexibility than traditional venture studios or agencies. The actual deal depends on your stage, your traction, and what you bring to the table.
Equity
The further along you are, the less we take. Working prototype, real users, or validated research can move equity down to 5% or lower.
Revenue share
A share of revenue lets us lower equity further. It gives us long-term alignment without touching your cap table.
Cash
Prefer a more traditional engagement? More cash up front means little or no equity. We can sit anywhere on the spectrum.
There's a model that works for almost anyone.
Find your dealWhat you're getting
Whichever model you choose, the scope is the same: a full product cycle, start to finish. Here's everything that's included, and what each piece would typically cost if you bought it from an agency.
What we do
Typical agency cost
Market Research & Gap Analysis
Included in every partnership
$2–5k
if bought alone
Informed Product & Feature Design
$5–10k
if bought alone
Architecture Design and Full Stack Build of MVP
$20–50k
if bought alone
Refinement of MVP to Production Quality
$5–10k
if bought alone
Continued Development Post Launch to MVP+1
$20–50k
if bought alone
Total if you paid an agency
$52-125k+
You pay a deposit, not a six-figure invoice. And we stay invested in the outcome.
Same full product cycle. A fraction of the cash. A partner whose upside is tied to yours.
Testimonials
What partners are saying.
"
Working with Harika has been an absolute dream from start to finish. Ashley stepped into my organisation just as I was prepping to scale and identified key pain points, then suggested solutions and implemented them. Working with Harika has removed my need to hire a producer and has saved us a huge amount of money. I cannot recommend Harika enough.
Claire Lily Squire
CEO & Founder, Smile More Productions
"
Working with a unicorn is rare. Working with Ashley is exactly that. On Smokeless, our quit-smoking app, she’s been the person I didn’t know I needed. Architecting the backend, owning the roadmap, and then casually switching hats to deliver UI/UX that actually makes you feel something. Most people are good at one thing. Ashley is great at all of them, and somehow makes it look effortless. If you’re building something that matters and need someone who thinks like a CTO but cares like a designer, call Ashley. You won’t regret it.
Gabriele Aimone
Founder, Smokeless
"
I hate CRMs. None of the out of the box ones actually function how I want, so much so that I was toying with actually building one from scratch because I was so fed up, which is why I am sooooo glad I was introduced to Ashley and Harika Labs. Within days I had a custom solution I could start using and within a couple of short weeks it was feature complete along side an affiliate dashboard that aided my sales cycles. This was maybe 18 months ago I still use it daily. Only the highest praise, highly highly recommend.
Andre Lemaitre
CEO & Founder, MakersForge
About
Run by a founder who's shipped before.
Ashley founded Harika Labs to give other founders something that usually requires a full-time team and a Series A: a real product partner who can design, strategize, and ship.
With deep experience in the games industry and a background in engineering and process optimization, she brings a rare combination of creative thinking and technical rigor. She's currently pursuing her master's in Emerging Technologies at NYU.
The studio runs lean on purpose. Fewer clients, deeper partnerships, real skin in the game.
Harika (ha·ri·ka) means "great" in Turkish.
FAQ
Got questions?
How does the equity partnership work?
You pay a small upfront deposit and grant us an equity stake in your company, plus a 10% revenue share until we recoup development costs, dropping to 5% after that. The more you put down upfront, the less equity we take. We then operate as your product team, designing, building, and iterating on your product alongside you.
Who owns the IP?
The intellectual property belongs to your company. Our equity stake represents our investment in your success.
How does this compare to a traditional studio or agency?
A traditional studio sends you a large bill to build what you spec. We invest that work in exchange for equity/revenue share, so you can keep more of your cash for marketing, runway, and growth. We're also actually invested in the outcome. Agencies get paid whether your product succeeds or not.
What if I already have work done?
The further along you are, the less heavy lifting on our end, which means we can have some wiggle-room on pricing. The first step will be an audit of current progress, and we will go from there.
How long does a typical engagement last?
Most partnerships run 3 to 6 months from kickoff to launch, with ongoing iteration after. Something testable usually lands in users' hands within 6 to 8 weeks of starting.
Do you also take traditional (non-equity) projects?
It depends on the idea and our availability. Get in touch, and we'll figure out the best model for your situation.
Let's build something great.
Got an idea you've been sitting on? Let's talk about whether it's a fit, and how fast we can get it shipped.