Oliver Pitsch
I lead product and I build it. Twenty years across design, UX and product leadership, now building Joinride, Famili and neuerName on my own.
Open to a new product or leadership role.
Products I build when the problem feels personal enough
I started each one to scratch an itch I know personally. I build them solo or with one partner. And nothing makes me prouder than seeing how many other people they help.
Joinride.cc
A leading platform for bike group rides and run clubs.
I built Joinride with Lars, my friend and partner, to scratch our own itch. Today Joinride is one of the leading platforms for group rides and run clubs, used by thousands of riders, runners and clubs.
How I work
Oliver Pitsch builds product systems for the age of humans and agents. Twenty years across design, UX and product leadership, spent connecting product thinking, UX craft, business context and hands-on building.
Most recently Head of Product & Engineering at AI Labs, building an AI-native product for large enterprises inside the boundaries of German and European privacy law. Before that, Head of Product at Ordio and Director of UX & Product Marketing at Trusted Shops, and before that founder of Reputami, acquired by eKomi in 2015.
- Product direction
- Turning customer feedback, strategy and constraints into scoped work that actually ships, and cutting the handoffs in between.
- UX and design systems
- Flows, structures and a shared system that hold quality steady while a product and its team grow. Helios at Trusted Shops was built this way.
- AI-native delivery
- Working with agents so planning, designing and building collapse into one loop. At AI Labs that meant a market-ready product from a team of two in eight weeks.
Writing
All articles
Design Doesn’t Start in Figma Anymore: Twenty Years of Craft, Pointed at Vibe-Coded Products
For twenty years every product I designed started in Figma. Now I work in the opposite direction. Functionality first, craft second, and I teach Claude and Codex to keep every future screen on brand.
Claude smashed the MVP
Last week, I built and launched an entire new product in two working days. Not a prototype. Not a clickable mockup. Not a waitlist. A real product.
Make or AI
Make or Buy war gestern. Heute heißt die Frage: Make or AI – ein Paradigmenwechsel für kleine Teams, die mit AI Infrastruktur und Content selbst bauen.
Building something, or rebuilding how your team builds?
I am open to a new product or leadership role, and I work with founders and teams that want clearer direction, stronger UX and faster execution with less process overhead.
- Product strategy
- UX systems
- AI building
- Leadership sparring
