Venture studio · Est. 2026

Building enduring digital businesses.

Copper Onyx builds and operates its own software products and service businesses, and grows the ones that work into standalone companies.

See the ventures How it works

Ventures

The current slate.

Two ventures are live, one is in early access, and five more are in development. Some will grow into companies of their own, and some will be retired. Both outcomes are part of the plan.

Operating businessWeb studio

207 Digital

A Maine web studio building fast, modern websites for small businesses across Maine and the U.S.

207digital.com
ProvingPersonal finance

Fire Trajectory

A FIRE planning tool that maps your path to financial independence and the year work becomes optional.

firetrajectory.com
Early accessAutomotive community

BuiltRides

An automotive community for documenting builds, sharing the story, and finding the right parts.

builtrides.com

In development

5 ventures
Built MarginQuoting and estimating for contractorsComing soon
RO ScribeRepair-order story builder for dealershipsComing soon
Thought TerminalA second brain for notes and ideasComing soon
XSociallyA private social space for friends and familyComing soon
Right TherePrivate home inventoryComing later

Approach

Build. Validate. Scale.

CopperOnyx exists to turn raw ideas into durable digital businesses — combining entrepreneurial momentum with disciplined execution.

Copper · Energy 01

Build

An idea gets a name, a working product, and a fast first release that people can actually use, so real feedback starts early.

Copper → Onyx 02

Validate

Signal decides what survives: real users, real revenue, real demand. Ideas that don’t land get wound down without ceremony.

Onyx · Durability 03

Scale

Winners get fuel: growth, infrastructure, and focus. When a venture can stand on its own, it spins out as a separate company.

Build, don’t pitch.

A working product says more than any presentation. The first version ships before anyone asks for a plan.

Concentrate, don’t spread.

Other studios scatter small bets across companies they don’t run. Copper Onyx puts its time into a few ideas and sees them through.

Endure, don’t collect.

What earns it scales, what doesn’t gets retired, and the goal is always a company that outlasts the trend that started it.

Without Copper, nothing starts.

Without Onyx, nothing lasts.

Company

An operating company.

Not a fund or an accelerator. Copper Onyx builds, owns, and runs every one of its ventures, and doesn’t take pitches or invest in other companies.

From the founder

I didn’t start Copper Onyx to manage a portfolio. I started it to build — to take the ideas worth chasing and make them real, instead of pitching them or waiting for permission.

Today it’s a studio of one: every product, every line of code, every decision, built by hand. Every project here is something I believe in enough to fund myself and ship with my own time. Some of it will grow into companies. Some won’t — and that honesty is the whole point.

If you’re here this early, you’re ahead of most. Watch what I build.

Brian Sawyer Founder, Copper Onyx

The Build Log

Follow the
build.

An occasional email from Brian: new ventures when they launch, first invites when a beta opens, and lessons from building them.