Before Fairchild, Lawson gained experience in electronics repair and design, although specific details of these early projects are sparse. This formative period helped him develop a strong understanding of circuitry and electronics systems.

Prior to his work on the Channel F, Lawson designed a microprocessor-based arcade game, demonstrating his early understanding of microprocessors and their application in entertainment. This arcade game used the Intel 8080 microprocessor.

Lawson led the team that developed the ROM cartridge for the Fairchild Channel F, a revolutionary technology that allowed game consoles to play multiple games simply by swapping cartridges. This was a foundational technology for the future of the video game industry.

Lawson continued to work on game development after leaving Fairchild and during his time running Videosoft, contributing to the body of knowledge on optimizing software for hardware.