Hi, I’m a designer, engineer, and founder.

Currently I’m the co-founder of Precip, which uses machine learning to do hyper-local weather observation for agriculture, insurance, and other weather-dependent industries.

For five years I worked independently as a designer and product strategist for early-stage tech startups. I had dozens of clients in fields like artificial intelligence, finance, healthcare, agriculture, higher education, B2B SaaS, and more. Learn more about my consulting work.

I’m also the founder and sole designer/engineer of Shuffleboard, a brainstorming tool for remote teams. All of Shuffleboard’s design and development was filmed and published on YouTube.

Previously I was the first hire and design director at Y-Combinator-backed FarmLogs, an operating system for agriculture. We grew to from 3 to 80 people, raised $40MM, and were downloaded by ⅓ of American farmers.

Years ago I taught a popular design course at the University of Michigan. Our students went on to become designers at Google, Asana, Microsoft, and other high-growth tech companies.

I’ve also worked as an engineer, product manager, design coach, and startup advisor.

I have a degree in Human-Computer Interaction. Originally from the Philadelphia area, I’m now based in New York City.


Sam Pierce Lolla

Articles

Design
The books I recommend to designers 
What to do when you’re stuck on a design 
Design is mostly about emphasis Coming soon
Engineering concepts every designer should know Coming soon
Feedback 101 Coming soon
Hard-won lessons for junior designers Coming soon
Obvious vs. fast Coming soon
UI design for complete beginners: common mistakes and easy fixes Coming soon

Startups
Four levels of founder sophistication Coming soon
Managing startup employees made simple Coming soon
Tips for working with founders Coming soon

Strategy
Good, bad, and horrible reasons to build a feature Coming soon
How to prioritize features on your product roadmap Coming soon
Products vs tools Coming soon
How to run a simple usability test Coming soon

Leadership
How to spot raw design talent 
Know your bias before you build 
How to tell if a design is good Coming soon
Six stages of design teams Coming soon
Should I hire a full-time designer? Coming soon
What design leaders do Coming soon
Why your company still has bad design Coming soon

Other Projects
I built a startup and filmed every minute on Youtube. Here’s what I learned.