Ala Stolpnik

CEO

Boulder, Colorado, United States21 yrs 5 mos experience

Most Likely To SwitchAI ML Practitioner

Key Highlights

Founder of award-winning AI product Wisary.
Expert in aligning engineering with business goals.
Proven track record in scaling engineering teams.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS expert with strong leadership in engineering and product alignment.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Technical StrategyEngineering LeadershipAiEngineering ManagementProductivity

Other Skills

Startup Advisory & StrategyCommunication & CollaborationProduct DefinitionExecutionLegal ComplianceCoaching & MentoringArtificial Intelligence (AI)CoachingCross-Functional LeadershipTechnical Project ManagementSoftware DevelopmentUser Experience (UX)Mobile ApplicationsAlgorithmsData Visualization

About

Most startup failures aren't technology failures. They're alignment failures, the gap between what customers need and what actually gets built. I've spent my career at that intersection. At Google, I built peer-to-peer payments for Google Wallet. At Benchling, I scaled engineering through hyper-growth. At Roblox, I led a full-stack team on a strategic product area. As a founder, I built Wisary, an AI-powered tool that won the Product Award by Products That Count. Today, I work on this problem from two angles: - As Founder & CEO of Wisary, I'm building software that helps product and engineering teams align, so the right product gets built the first time. - As a Fractional CTO, I work directly with non-technical founders at high-leverage moments: hiring your first engineer, choosing your architecture, recovering from offshore team challenges, or simply getting a technical translation layer between you and your dev team. I don't write code for founders. I help them make technical decisions they can be confident in, before those decisions become expensive mistakes.

Experience

21 yrs 5 mos

Total Experience

2 yrs 8 mos

Average Tenure

3 yrs 4 mos

Current Experience

Self-employed

Fractional CTO & Technical Advisor

Mar 2023 – Present · 3 yrs 2 mos · Boulder, Colorado, United States

I work with non-technical founders to make confident technical decisions, build their first engineering teams, and establish execution foundations, without needing a full-time CTO.
Typical engagements:
Hiring the first engineer: defining the role, designing interviews, evaluating candidates, and onboarding for productivity in weeks
Stepping in as a lightweight fractional CTO to set technical direction, align engineering work with business goals, and translate between founders and their dev teams
Recovering from misaligned requirements, offshore team challenges, and early architectural decisions that need course correction

Technical StrategyEngineering LeadershipStartup Advisory & StrategyProductivityCommunication & Collaboration

Wisary

Founder & CEO

Jan 2023 – Present · 3 yrs 4 mos · Boulder, Colorado, United States

Building an AI-powered platform that helps product and engineering teams align on what to build, so the right product ships the first time.
Led end-to-end technical strategy, product definition, and execution. Raised a pre-seed round, built the engineering team, and led delivery of a product that won the Product Award by Products That Count.
Wisary embeds 15+ years of engineering leadership into AI-guided product requirements, helping teams work smarter without sacrificing engineering rigor.

Roblox

Engineering Manager

Mar 2021 – Oct 2022 · 1 yr 7 mos · San Mateo County, California, United States

Led and grew a team of BE/full stack engineers working on a strategic product area. Helped Roblox increase its reach by enabling creators to create appropriate content for all ages and regions.
Acted as the engineering manager as well as the technical lead
Mentored and coached engineers with diverse seniority levels
Defined the vision for the team and the product area
Shaped the product requirements and the roadmap by collaborating with product and design teams
Drove cross-team collaborations
Defined and iterated on the hiring process

Engineering ManagementEngineering LeadershipProductivityLegal ComplianceCoaching & Mentoring

Benchling

2 roles

Engineering Manager

Promoted

Mar 2019 – Mar 2021 · 2 yrs · San Francisco, California

Leading and growing a team of full stack engineers
Acting as the engineering manager as well as the technical lead
Leading multiple modules of Benchling's Application Platform
Helping to shape the product requirements and the roadmap collaborating with product and design teams
Driving a customer-focused culture by working with our go-to-market teams and engaging directly with customers
Playing a central role in shaping the engineering organization in a growth stage company
Leading the effort of predicting, preventing and addressing engineering productivity challenges associated with the rapid growth
Driving long term architectural initiatives to enable future product and engineering org scale
Playing a central role in building and rolling out the engineering competency matrix

Productivity

Software Engineer Technical Lead

Jun 2016 – Mar 2021 · 4 yrs 9 mos · San Francisco, California

Leading a team responsible for multiple modules of Benchling's Application Platform, including:
Electronic Lab Notebook - core Benchling app where scientists to record their research
Workflows Management - organizes, standardizes and optimizes the scientific R&D process
Lab Automation - integrates Benchling software with the robots and physical instruments in laboratories
Collaboration module for scientists teams
Data module - transforms unstructured scientific data into queryable representation
Hands-on technical leader and mentor, balancing product deadlines and technical quality.

Productivity

Google

Software Engineer

Jun 2011 – Jun 2016 · 5 yrs

Developed leading products at Google. Applied my in-depth knowledge and experience in full stack software development driving to high software standards. Developed back-end as well as front-end of user facing products.
Among other projects, played a central role in design and implementation of the peer-to-peer payments functionality in Google Wallet.

Mig

Senior Software Engineer

Oct 2010 – May 2011 · 7 mos

Developed a platform that enables Advertisers to monitor, evaluate and optimize their marketing activities. Worked on both, the Server and the Client sides. Duties also included cooperation with an offshore team for the product development and QA.

Mindcite

Senior Developer & Technical Product Manager

Mar 2008 – Oct 2009 · 1 yr 7 mos

Developed a platform for integration, analysis and visualization of Semantic Data. Took a central part in the entire development process, from definition of requirements, including research, design, implementation, tests and to the installation on the client´s site. Development on the Server and the Client sides, including GUI design and implementation. In addition to the development tasks took an active part in the road-map definition, planning and executing of training, and writing technical documentation. Duties included also traveling to the client site for client´s needs analysis, software installation and training.

Topio (acquired by netapp)

Software engineer

Jul 2004 – Feb 2008 · 3 yrs 7 mos

Analysis, design and implementation of a software component responsible for monitoring a controlling of a data replication process. Resolution of various problems from memory and network limitations to usability issues.