A small studio,
built deliberately.
The studio
Straylight Orbital is a one-person software studio. Mark Strayer founded it to make a small number of focused products in two verticals he actually lives in — cycling and photography — and to do it under a working philosophy that takes the craft seriously without taking itself too seriously.
The studio ships under two imprints. Straylight Orbital is the fitness line — Freewheel and Straylight, built around the smart trainer. Straylight Creative is the sister imprint for the photography line, with Proof as its first product. Same studio, different rooms.
Solo isn't a constraint we're working around. It's the working method. AI tools do the work a small team used to do, which means a single operator can hold a real product, end to end, in their head. The studio is intentionally sized to make that possible.
The working method
We make things slowly, then quickly. Slowly while the idea is finding its shape — sketches, prototypes, conversations, throwing things away. Quickly once the shape is right and the build is mostly execution.
The bar for "shipped" is set by the craft of older tools — Apollo control panels, Magnum proof tables, Eames-era industrial design. Honest materials, mechanical precision, no decoration that doesn't earn its place. It's not retro pastiche. The technology is modern; the taste is older.
We don't ship features because they're easy or because everyone else has them. We ship the thing the product actually needs and stop when it's done. What the product doesn't do is part of what the product is.
The founder
Mark Strayer is a senior iOS engineer and product strategist. Previously, he led mobile work at Sam's Club Innovation R&D. Today he runs Straylight Orbital alongside Strayer Studio, a small consulting practice for teams that need a senior hand on a hard product.
He writes occasionally about software, craft, and indie product work on markstrayer.com. Studio-specific writing lives on /writing.
Contact
For press, partnership, or general studio questions: hello@straylightorbital.com. For product-specific support, please reach out via the Freewheel, Straylight, or Proof page directly.