Preo
Preo was a mobile ordering platform that enabled customers in bars and restaurants to order drinks directly from their phones and receive real-time notifications when their order was ready for pickup. The goal was to reduce wait times, increase venue efficiency, and improve customer experience in high-volume hospitality environments.
Over six years, we raised $10.8M in funding and ultimately exited through acquisition by Anheuser-Busch.
As Head of Design, I led:
Product discovery and UX strategy
UI design across iOS and Android
Brand and visual identity development
Design system creation and documentation
Cross-functional collaboration with engineering teams
Design team leadership across North and South America (2015–2019)
I was responsible for shaping how the product worked, looked, and evolved.
Type
Product Design
, Brand
Tools
Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, Figma, Zeplin, Framer, Invision, keynote, Cinema 4D, arnold
Challenge
Building Preo required solving for:
High-volume, real-time hospitality environments
Network variability and operational edge cases
User clarity under fast-paced, distracted conditions
Multi-stakeholder alignment (venues, customers, partners)
The product needed to be intuitive for users in loud, crowded bars while also functioning reliably for venue staff and owners.
Approach
From the beginning, I structured design as a system, not a collection of screens.
Key principles included:
Designing scalable UI components that could evolve with the product
Implementing structured design sprints to accelerate problem solving
Embedding design thinking into product development cycles
Creating seamless handoff processes between design and engineering
This allowed us to iterate quickly while maintaining clarity and cohesion across the product.
Outcome
Raised over $10.8 million in venture funding
Deployed product across real-world hospitality environments
Scaled design across international teams
Acquired by Anheuser-Busch
Preo became a defining chapter in my career — not only in execution, but in learning how to build systems, teams, and products from the ground up.
Reflection
Preo shaped how I approach all creative work today. It reinforced the importance of:
Designing systems over isolated outputs
Building processes that scale
Leading with structure in ambiguous environments
The experience of founding and scaling a product company fundamentally informs how I think about design, iteration, and long-term creative infrastructure.
