Address
Pittsburgh, PA
Work Hours
Monday to Thursday: 9AM - 5PM ET
Friday: 9AM -1PM
🧠What are you trying to do?
Improve a product
Already have something built? This is where products improve.
New to AI-powered product design and development? Try one of our free hackathons →
Our programs and services
Product Accelerator
From idea to user validated product in 4 weeks. Advanced prompting, security, feature integrations, and more.
Product Review
Learn what’s working, what’s costing you users, and what to fix next. Clear, actionable feedback in days, not months.
UX Portfolio Accelerator
Upgrade your UX Portfolio and get interview-ready. Live critiques and scorecard. Hiring-focused feedback.
Product Launch Intensive
Build a go-to-market plan. Identify growth channels. Plan post-launch iterations. Track OKRs. Launch with confidence.
Coming soon!
Rapid User Testing
Stop guessing. Validate your product with real users. Recorded sessions and insights. Clear, actionable feedback in hours.
Coming soon!
UX Career Accelerator
Refine your market positioning. Position yourself clearly and land better roles with confidence.
Coming soon!
Product Reviews
See what’s working, what’s not, and exactly what to fix next.
Designed for 🦄
Founders and product leaders
Looking to understand how AI and modern workflows are changing discovery, design, and decision-making.
UX designers and students
Who want to learn by doing, experiment responsibly, and build real things instead of slide decks.
Product teams and organizations
Exploring new ways of working and learning through workshops, labs, and hands-on training.
🥷 Learn by doing
Big Nerd hosts free live workshops, hackathons, and webinars designed to help designers and teams experience modern product discovery firsthand. These sessions are how we share what we’re learning and how organizations can engage with the lab.
Vibe Coding Hackathon
April 16, 2026 @ 5:00 pm MT
Exact date TBD. Have an idea waiting for its moment? Bring it to life at our upcoming rapid prototyping hackathon. You will build quickly, learn even faster, and compete for prizes as our guest judge selects the winners.
Supported by:
Vibe Coding Hackathon
Mar 19, 2026 @ 5:00 pm MT
Have an idea waiting for its moment? Bring it to life at our upcoming rapid prototyping hackathon. You will build quickly, learn even faster, and compete for prizes as our guest judge selects the winners.
Supported by:
Vibe Coding Hackathon
Feb 19, 2026 @ 5:00 pm MT
Have an idea waiting for its moment? Bring it to life at our upcoming rapid prototyping hackathon. You will build quickly, learn even faster, and compete for prizes as our guest judge selects the winners.
Supported by:
Our Rapid 5-Step Cycle
We use a structured, time-boxed format to explore ideas, test assumptions, and learn quickly. This cycle powers our internal experiments, public workshops, and hands-on training sessions.
Discover
The process begins by aligning on the problem, goals, and success metrics. Stakeholder input, lightweight research, and requirement definition typically happen at this stage.
Prototype & Review
A functional prototype is created and reviewed to gather fast, actionable feedback.
User Test & Refine
Feedback is incorporated, the prototype is refined, and usability testing helps surface risks and opportunities early.
Harden & Secure
Validated prototypes are hardened and prepared for dev, with an emphasis on quality, feasibility, and clarity.
Reflect & Share
Outcomes are reviewed, learnings are captured, and insights inform next steps.
A few insights from our blog 🤓
Everybody Has a Shovel. Now What?
Speed without direction doesn’t help. In fact, it can make things worse. Right now, more people than ever can build products. AI tools are faster. Code is easier. Design is more accessible. So naturally,…
March 2026 Hackathon Recap
Introduction We kicked off another Big Nerd Hackathon with a simple challenge: build a fully functional app in under an hour using AI. Madi opened with a warm welcome as designers, product managers, engineers,…
Building My First AI Agent: What I Learned About Judgment, Rubrics, and Real Decision Systems
Most AI tools generate answers. AI agents evaluate outcomes. This project started as a simple experiment: if we are running AI hackathons, why not let AI help evaluate the demos? But the experiment quickly…
Why our lab exists 🧪
Experiment safely
Experiment with emerging technologies through real prototypes and real constraints, without the pressure of risking half-baked ideas in production.
Learn publicly
Learning happens faster when it’s visible. By building in public, we turn experiments into shared lessons that build clarity and confidence.
AI moves fast. This lab turns hands-on experiments into practical insights teams can actually use to design better products with less time and effort.
Why Big Nerd 🤔
About Dan Olsavsky:
Trusted by companies like:
“Dan’s ability to turn complex user flows into clear, high-quality product experiences is second to none. He consistently delivers what users need, when they need it.” — Clint Gershenson, Director @ Salesforce