About Lava
Three partners. 21 years. All referrals.
Lava is a Pittsburgh web development firm, founded in 2005. Ed Sutton, Dave Horn, and Tom Young own it and personally work on every project.
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We’ve never advertised.
Every client we’ve ever had came from another client, or from someone who worked with us and remembered. That has been true for 21 years, and it changes how you run a business. There’s no campaign to fall back on. If we do a bad job for one client, we lose the next one too.
So every project has to be done right, from the first call to the years after launch. It’s not a slogan. It’s the only way a referral business survives.
How we work
We don’t just manage the work. We do the work.
There are no account managers at Lava, no junior staff, no handoffs. When you call, you reach the partner building your site. Ed handles strategy, design, and the relationship. Dave leads development. Tom handles architecture and integrations. All three of us are on every project.
We’re not tied to any one technology. We listen first, then recommend what fits. Sometimes that’s WordPress. Sometimes it’s a custom application, a native app, or a platform you’ve never heard of because it’s the right one for the job.
The partners
Ed, Dave, and Tom each own one-third of Lava and work together on every project.
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Ed Sutton
Partner, Strategy and Creative Direction
Ed bridges the gap between business goals, user experience, and technical execution. With 30 years of agency and creative leadership, he handles client relationships, design and UX, and project management on every Lava engagement. Before Lava, he held creative director and senior design roles at several Pittsburgh agencies.
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Dave Horn
Partner, Technical Lead and Development
Dave leads development and CMS strategy on every Lava project. He has more than 20 years of hands-on experience customizing platforms and guiding complex projects from start to finish, for clients including PPG, Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh CLO, and UPMC.
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Tom Young
Partner, Systems Integration and Architecture
Tom specializes in technical architecture, integrations, and custom application development. He has more than 20 years across client-side, server-side, and database technologies, with current and past clients including the Pennsylvania Lottery, Highmark, and PPG.
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Who you’ll talk to.
One of us leads your project from the first call and stays on it. For most websites that’s Ed. For custom applications and integrations it’s usually Tom. Dave is who you’ll talk to about how your site is built and how to edit it. In practice you can ask any of us anything. The right one answers, and nobody has to catch up on your project first.
The company we keep
Most of our clients have been with us for more than a decade.
Make-A-Wish and Ward Cedar Log Homes have been with Lava since 2005, our first year. Many clients came to us because a previous firm dropped the ball or something stopped working internally, and they stayed because we fixed it and kept showing up.
Lava consistently provides exemplary programming and creative technical solutions for all of our complex projects at Estill Voice International. From our public-facing website, to our fully customized Trainer Certification Center, to our ambitious browser-based Estill Voiceprint software, their work has consistently exceeded expectations.”
Kimberly Steinhauer, Ph.D.
President, Estill Voice International
Read the Estill story
Somebody sent you. Now you know who we are.
The next step is a conversation with one of us.