Mariusz Małek

Hey, I'm Mariusz Małek

I'm a self-taught innovator, software engineer, chess player (1800 ELO), philosopher, humanist, vegan, and nihilist born in Poland. I wrote my first line of code at 8 years old. I believe in creating value through technology, bypassing the academic route to focus on pure innovation and shipping products.

My Story

I grew up in a mining family in a post-industrial city. Constraints breed creativity—I started by building simple games, teaching myself the fundamentals of logic and programming.
By age 12, I had built a dedicated website for my school. More than just a static page, it was a digital community platform featuring teacher profiles, class schedules, and a fully functional student forum.

I chose a different path. I left formal education after primary school, bypassing high school and university to focus entirely on practical engineering and building products.

I founded my first company at 18. My experience is diverse—I've conducted training in IT and AI, and advised companies on marketing strategy. I also served as a Technical Advisor for a Polish venture capital fund, evaluating investment opportunities and founder capabilities.

One of my proudest achievements is Leadbrowser.com. I identified a gap in the sales intelligence market and built a platform to fill it from scratch. The product gained significant traction, attracted a strategic investor, and today, it serves as a core tool for major players like Sembot and Agencja.com.

I've always been drawn to unconventional engineering challenges. I developed a proprietary system capable of detecting overhead cranes using satellite imagery. This involved advanced computer vision and geospatial data analysis. The technology proved so effective that I successfully exited by selling the solution to a major crane manufacturer.

Selected Projects

  • aura.talk: AI device that helps users with their daily tasks. It can answer questions, provide information, and even help with simple tasks like setting alarms or turning on lights.
  • leadbrowser.com: A powerful sales intelligence platform I built from the ground up. It helps businesses find leads effectively. I secured investment for this project, and it is now actively used by Sembot and Agencja.com.
  • xspector.com: An AI-powered system that analyzes satellite imagery to detect overhead cranes. A niche, high-tech solution that I developed and successfully sold to a crane manufacturer. It now also analyzes public tenders and production halls, and even detects indoor cranes (under roofs) by analyzing rental listings in classifieds portals. This solution was developed and successfully sold to a crane manufacturer.

Selected Writing

Read more on Substack.

Opinions & Philosophy

  • Formal education is often a bottleneck for true innovation. You don't need a degree to change the world, just curiosity, persistence, and the ability to learn on your own.
  • The best way to predict the future is to invent it. I believe in building practical tools that solve real-world problems today.
  • Niche AI solutions (like detecting cranes) often hold more concrete value than generic wrappers.