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Metalab
Design agency behind Slack, Coinbase, and Uber.
Based in Victoria, BC.
Key facts
- Joined Tiny
- 2006held 20 years
- Founded by
- Andrew Wilkinson
- Based in
- Victoria, BC
- Website
- metalab.com
About Metalab
Metalab is the company Tiny was built around. Founded in 2006 in Victoria, British Columbia by Andrew Wilkinson, Metalab started as a small product design studio and grew into one of the most influential design agencies of the 2010s. Its work on Slack's earliest interface, Coinbase's first consumer app, and Uber's early rider experience helped define the visual and interaction language of a generation of software.
Metalab is not an acquisition in the traditional sense — it has been part of Tiny since Tiny's beginning. It was the first business Andrew started. Over the next two decades, the agency continued to scale, hire, and ship work for companies like Slack, Coinbase, Uber, Google, and Walmart.
Today Metalab remains headquartered in Victoria, employs a globally distributed team, and is part of Tiny's Beam operating group — Tiny's collection of design and engineering services businesses.
Why Metalab fits Tiny
Metalab is the reason Tiny exists. The agency's profitability funded Tiny's earliest acquisitions and shaped the company's preference for businesses with strong founders, sustainable economics, and craft-driven products.
The relationship has compounded over time. Metalab's design work has helped multiple Tiny portfolio companies — from Dribbble to Letterboxd to AeroPress — improve their products. And Metalab itself continues to operate with the autonomy that defines every Tiny company: its own leadership, its own clients, and its own product roadmap, with Tiny in the role of long-term, patient owner rather than day-to-day operator.