startups
Next to my day job, I work with early-stage startups, mostly on user-facing products. I've worked in startups myself, I'm actively advising one right now, and I've also invested in one.
The part I help with is the product and experience side. So that means things like product strategy, discovery, UX direction, and the product foundations a young team needs to build on.
I'm open to new product and experience advisory roles, and to small early-stage investments in user-facing products. If you're building something like that, write to me at hi@merterbil.com with a few lines about what you're building, or reach out on LinkedIn.
advising
- 2025–nowadvising after5Advising the cofounders of After5, an IRL friendship platform for ambitious women, on product strategy, UX direction and the way they build.
with founders
- 2026-05how apps communicate with users, at trmnl4workshopA workshop for consumer tech founders at TRMNL4 on notification design, built on a 2016 Google I/O ethnographic study on attention.