Michal Bortnik

Michal Bortnik General Information

Biography

Mr. Michal Bortnik is a Co-Founder & serves as President & Prodcut and Strategy Executive at Marco Polo. He also served as the Chief Product Officer and Board Member at AdNectar. Depending on how you look at it, Michal got his start in technology either by earning a Computer Science degree or by clocking thousands of hours playing Civilization on his first PC. Originally from Poland, Michal first came to the U.S. as a high school exchange student. He then studied Computer Science at Harvard University and after graduation moved to Seattle to work at Microsoft, where he pioneered social gaming for Xbox Live. He and his wife, Vlada, met while playing soccer on the Microsoft campus. After co-founding a small but successful visual arts nonprofit, the couple realized how much they loved working together and began seeking out joint ventures that would feed their big dreams. They moved to Palo Alto, where in 2008 Michal earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. After Michal and Vlada's two daughters were born, the couple wanted to model for their kids what it looked like to work on something that was personally meaningful, reflected their shared values, and made a big impact on the world. Inspiration came from their challenge to stay in touch with far-flung family members and from Michal's memories of exchanging letters with his family when he was brand new to the States. Michal and Vlada formed Joya Communications in 2012 with a simple but powerful goal to help people feel close. After several product iterations, Marco Polo was born. Today, the app is helping millions of people around the world rediscover the blessings of authentic relationships.