Drew Stromberg
I'm a hands-on technical lead for early-stage startups. I set the technical vision, shape the architecture, and work directly with founders, leadership and clients to make sure we're building and shipping the right thing. I've done it as a founding engineer and a technical co-founder, and I've taken several products from idea to real users, one of which was later acquired.
I started my career in nonprofit advocacy, managing staff and a national network of student activists for five years, where I learned how to lead people and build movements. I add the most value early in a company's life, when its technical foundation, team and culture are still being shaped together.
- Full-stack
- React
- TypeScript
- Next.js
- Node
- Shopify
- LLM integration
- Agentic development
Technical lead on a small team, owning the product and engineering roadmap end to end.
Went full-time as Principal after three years as a part-time founding engineer. What I built: an automated AI promotion platform, re-architected from manual managed-service workflows, and the agentic development environments (Claude Code, custom rules and skill definitions) the team uses for automated, verifiable tasks. I also manage a backend engineer, own the engineering roadmap from scoping through production, lead client-facing integrations, sales delivery and high-stakes reviews, and review human and AI-assisted PRs and transcripts for weak tests and edge-case failures.
AI-enabled email deliverability SaaS that grew from a personal project (Metallic) into a paid product.
Took Metallic, a personal project, and turned it into a paid product alongside a business co-founder. What I built: the full platform end to end, including the full-stack application, the LLM integration behind its AI-enabled deliverability analysis (building on Metallic's core IP), and the infrastructure it ran on. Partnered with the business co-founder on market signals, pricing and the initial sales pipeline and onboarding workflows, and ran client discovery to turn real deliverability pain points into fast product iterations. I stepped back in April 2026 to commit full-time to Cheers Cash.
HTML email builder with AI validation.
Developed an HTML email builder with AI-enabled validation, deliverability analysis and automated accessibility testing. Its core IP was later absorbed into MailMoxie.
Founding engineer and technical lead; became full-time Principal in 2026.
A part-time role in which I owned the architecture, roadmap and client integrations. What I built: a gamified rewards engine for multimillion-dollar e-commerce brands, delivered as a suite of Shopify extensions in a single full-stack codebase, with a merchant portal for brands and a shopper-facing experience. I architected it and iterated on it rapidly. Acted as project manager, building sprint structures, roadmaps and tightly scoped schedules. Held quality through PR reviews and test coverage checks, and worked directly with high-profile client teams on integrations and live deployment reviews.
No-code platform for building repeatable AI workflows.
A self-serve, no-code platform where users stack prompts and primers with inputs to build, configure and deploy micro apps and AI agents (think OpenAI's GPTs or Gemini's Gems), hosted on a subdomain (myapp.prisms.ai) or embedded elsewhere. My co-founder and I developed the idea in spare time for months; once I was full time, the MVP shipped in about 3 weeks, followed by customer testing and iteration. I handled all design, UX and development, plus pitch decks, technical due diligence and go-to-market. We didn't raise funding, but learned what “minimum” really means in an MVP.
First engineering hire. Concept to MVP, then helped hire and onboard the team.
First engineering hire at a Fractal Software company building a vertical SaaS for the trucking and truck-repair industry, on a five-person team. Architected and built the frontend from scratch in React and TypeScript, working directly with the CEO and CTO to define UX and product deliverables, set component architecture and scope sprints against aggressive launch dates. Also set frontend standards, helped hire and onboard, planned sprints, helped fix backend issues and worked with design contractors.
Led the post-acquisition integration of Tour Boogie into Gondola's platform.
Joined after Gondola acquired Tour Boogie in 2022 to lead the technical integration. Gondola is a tour-operator platform similar to Tour Boogie, with a stronger focus on service than automation. I drafted the integration roadmap and led bringing Tour Boogie's features and philosophy into the core platform, modernizing its contractor-built codebase along the way. Owned the entire platform frontend, working with the CEO, CTO and Head of Product on features, product vision and a long-term roadmap. The engagement was short because Gondola was unable to raise enough investment to fund a full-time role.
Bought by Gondola Travel.
A year after I shelved Tour Boogie, Gondola Travel approached me about acquiring it, and the deal closed in 2022. It was a small acquisition, but it confirmed the product had real value. I then worked with them briefly to integrate the tech.
Senior frontend engineer on Sunnova’s solar estimate app.
Senior frontend engineer on a ground-up app for national solar client Sunnova, used by its sales team to generate customer estimates. Led individual sprints as an IC: gathering technical requirements, pointing stories, planning the work and driving it through code review. Helped set frontend standards across projects.
Fantasy sports prediction mobile app.
Developed cross-platform mobile UI components and data integration for a fantasy sports prediction application.
CRM and website builder for tour operators.
A full-stack CMS, CRM, booking system, website builder and payment processing suite for small tour operators and independent guides. Think Wix or Squarespace but for one specific niche; Tour Boogie included reservations, bookings, tour promotion and client communication built in. I did all market research, concept, product, design, UX, development, and GTM, launching the MVP in less than 3 months (pre AI) with Next.js and Node/Firebase (I started on Strapi, then built a custom Firebase-based CMS). I then recruited a cofounder to assist with GTM efforts. I shelved it in 2021 to join Principle Studios; a year later, Gondola Travel approached me about acquiring it.
Pixel-perfect templates for Google.
Built responsive, pixel-perfect digital assets and templates for enterprise clients, primarily Google. Assisted management with project estimation, technical specs and cross-team delivery schedules, and worked with the team lead on coding standards, code review and QA testing requirements.
Managed staff and led a national network of student activists.
Coordinated, supported and empowered a network of student activists to change laws. Worked with the executive team and Board of Directors to develop and implement organizational strategy. Managed and supported multiple political campaigns and lobbying efforts at the national, state and local level, including the 2012 Colorado cannabis legalization initiative (Amendment 64), where I led on-campus activation & get-out-the-vote efforts and built the phonebank tool that volunteers used to make 10,000+ calls.
Gamified volunteer tracking.
Custom software for Students for Sensible Drug Policy that gamified and tracked student volunteers. I worked closely with leadership to design, launch and iterate on it, solving several organizational pain points. Staff entered activities and assigned point values, steering chapters toward the most impactful actions. A case study in streamlining business processes and using gamification to drive behavior. It was used by thousands of students for several years during its peak, and a descendant of the app was still in operation until the early 2020s.
Volunteer phonebank that logged 10,000+ calls for Colorado's Amendment 64.
Built for Students for Sensible Drug Policy as a volunteer tool for the 2012 election, alongside my campaign work there on Colorado's Amendment 64. It served voter data, a phone script and a response recorder, and tallied call counts per volunteer and chapter on a live leaderboard. Challenges were showing each voter to only one volunteer at a time and keeping people engaged; the leaderboard made competition fierce. Thousands of volunteers recorded more than 10,000 calls in support of an initiative that voters passed in November 2012.
Textbook price aggregator.
My first complete web app. Students searched by title, author or ISBN and it pulled from multiple retailers to find the cheapest source. It began as a community marketplace and became aggregated search, monetized with referral links and used by hundreds of students each semester at its peak. First built as a custom WordPress theme, then rebuilt in Angular 1 in 2016.
Campus org that led to a national job.
Started a chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at West Virginia University and grew it to dozens of members, with an outsized influence on campus culture and politics. I learned how to organize and motivate volunteers, and how to build a lasting organizational story & culture. That campus work became a five-year career at the national office, where I built the tools and ran the programs that helped student activists across the country start and grow their own chapters.