Sam Trapkin is a co-founder and VP of Product Strategy at Vanilla, where he helped build the company from the ground up and pioneer the category. Backed by Venrock and Insight Partners, Vanilla works with institutions like Vanguard to simplify estate planning. Sam has been central to many of Vanilla's core innovations and continues to help drive the company's innovation and roadmap, including its use of AI and next-generation features. In 2025 he was named an inventor in the first U.S. patent for estate planning technology.

Before Vanilla, he co-founded Studio Rubric with Alex Pines and Justin Gilman. The studio served as an outsourced design and strategy team, helping hundreds of companies launch brands and products, including Patagonia and Squarespace. Before that, he he spent four years as a Senior Interactive Designer at Under Armour.

Sam is a founding member of Trapped Under Ice, the Baltimore hardcore punk band formed in 2007. The band's records Secrets of the World (2009) and Big Kiss Goodnight (2011) are widely credited with shaping the sound of modern hardcore. He is a primary songwriter for Trapped Under Ice and Diamond Youth, and has contributed to Grammy-winning Turnstile.

He co-hosts the Leave No Doubt fatherhood podcast with Cole James, CEO of the Grief Recovery Institute. The show helps thousands of fathers around the world develop their physical and emotional health as parents.

Sam lives in North Idaho with his wife of eight years and their four children.