# David Adkin

> David Adkin is a product designer, Adalo co-founder and former CEO. After studying architecture at Washington University in St. Louis and working in software design, he helped create a visual app builder for people without coding skills. His early client app projects, design writing and public interviews document an interest in helping more people turn ideas into working software.

- **Role:** Co-founder of Adalo; former CEO
- **Organizations:** Adalo, Upland Second Street, Innovate Everything, Arch Grants Fellows
- **Education:** Bachelor of Arts, Washington University in St. Louis, Master of Architecture, Washington University in St. Louis
- **Known for:** Co-founded Adalo, a visual platform for creating mobile and web apps without writing code., Built and sold 12 no-code apps in 12 weeks, a project later presented at No Code Conf., Led Adalo as CEO during its $8 million Series A announcement in May 2021.

## Career timeline

- **2013** — Describes moving from architecture into UX design around this time.
- **2014-2018** — Worked as lead designer at Second Street, according to a public professional-history listing.
- **2018** — Co-founded Adalo with Ben Haefele and Jeremy Blalock.
- **2018-2019** — Sold, designed and built client apps using the pre-release platform; his portfolio describes 12 apps in 12 weeks.
- **2019** — Adalo received an Arch Grant and publicly launched in late 2019.
- **2021** — As CEO, discussed Adalo’s $8 million Series A led by Tiger Global.
- **2023** — Commented on Adalo’s partnership with transcosmos to support app builders in Japan.
- **2024** — Listed among the inaugural Arch Grants Fellows in the program’s September announcement.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Adalo, a visual platform for creating mobile and web apps without writing code.
- Built and sold 12 no-code apps in 12 weeks, a project later presented at No Code Conf.
- Led Adalo as CEO during its $8 million Series A announcement in May 2021.
- Listed among the inaugural Arch Grants Fellows.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Company context: Adalo publicly announced Astha as CEO on October 13, explaining that she took over internally in June. Adkin should be described as co-founder and former CEO.
- **2024-09** — Arch Grants announced its inaugural Fellows program, with Adkin listed among the Fellows.

## Links

- Website: https://www.dadkin.design/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-adkin
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/david_adkin

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/david-adkin
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21