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PTECH · LESSON 001 · SPRING TERM
Ptech
Today’s Lesson

If you can dream it,
we can build it.

Goal:

Ptech is a technology studio that builds websites, custom software and AI systems for businesses. If you can imagine it, we can build it.

A studio in Memphis, Tennessee · est. 2024
From the syllabus:Websites · Custom software · AI systems · Internal tools · E-commerce · Brand systems · Workflow automation · Mobile apps · API design · Migrations
The Course
Practice areas
UNIT I · DEFINITION:

Course & school sites

Marketing sites, e-commerce, and identity work that hold up next to your best work. Built to be edited, not just admired.

ref. WEB
UNIT II · DEFINITION:

AI tutoring & feedback

LLM-powered tools designed around a real workflow — intake forms, internal copilots, document pipelines, agentic search.

ref. AI
UNIT III · DEFINITION:

Student dashboards

Dashboards, admin panels, and operational tools that retire the spreadsheet without replacing it with a worse one.

ref. SW
UNIT IV · DEFINITION:

Cohort automation

Quiet plumbing between the tools you already pay for, so the seams stop costing you hours every week.

ref. OPS
Today, on the board
Lesson plan
  1. 01

    Discover· Heart

    A working session to understand the dream — what you see, who it serves, what success feels like.

  2. 02

    Define· Tongue

    We name the thing. Scope, surfaces, the smallest version that proves it works. Written down, signed off.

  3. 03

    Build· Hand

    Designed and engineered in the open. Weekly walkthroughs. You see it become real, week over week.

  4. 04

    Endure· Stone

    We ship, we maintain, we keep the lights on. The thing should still be working ten years from now.

Worked examples
Case studies
EXAMPLE 01 · 2025 · EdTech · publishing
[ BanterBox Books ]
Given:
BanterBox Books
Solution:
AI platform · Interactive reading
Notes:
An AI platform that turns research, policy briefs, and fiction into conversations with cited answers — plus dedicated portals for writers, educators, and publishers.
EXAMPLE 02 · 2025 · Healthcare · Memphis
[ Total Care PT ]
Given:
Total Care PT
Solution:
Practice site · Patient intake
Notes:
A practice site and patient intake flow for a 20-year Memphis rehab clinic — orthopedic, occupational, and workers' comp, with bilingual scheduling.
EXAMPLE 03 · 2024 · Retail · Memphis
[ Memphis Gift Basket ]
Given:
Memphis Gift Basket
Solution:
E-commerce · Corporate gifting
Notes:
An e-commerce platform for the city's signature Memphis-themed gift basket maker — corporate gifting, custom builds, same-day local delivery, FedEx nationwide.
Bring to class
Required materials
FE

Frontend

  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Next.js
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Framer Motion
  • Radix UI
BE

Backend

  • Python
  • FastAPI
  • Node.js
  • Postgres
  • Redis
  • Prisma
AI

AI

  • Claude (Anthropic)
  • OpenAI
  • LangChain
  • RAG · pgvector
  • Embeddings
  • Eval harnesses
OPS

Infra

  • Vercel
  • Cloudflare
  • AWS
  • Docker
  • GitHub Actions
  • Sentry
Walk with me
Field trip

Made on the bluff, from Memphis, Tennessee.

We named the studio after Ptah — the Egyptian craftsman god of the first Memphis — because his creation myth is the cleanest description we've found of what this work actually is.

What exists first in the mind becomes real through craftsmanship. Vision, then form. Imagination, then creation.

· 35.1495° N, 90.0490° W ·
The faculty
About your instructor
[ portrait
goes here ]

Drew Dickson

Founder · Principal engineer

A decade of shipping software for teams who would have rather been doing anything else than spec'ing it. Ptech is the studio I wished existed when I was on the buying side: small enough to actually care about your weird edge cases, technical enough to ship the thing.

Before Ptech: building AI tooling, web platforms, and the occasional internal CRM that nobody wanted to maintain. Now: in Memphis, on the bluff, building for clients who'd like something real.

· Sign up for the next term · Ready when you are ·

Tell us the dream.
We'll handle the building.

or write us — info@PTechAdvisors.com