Summary
Vlad Shostak is a technology leader and founder with a decade of experience building product-driven engineering organizations and shipping full-stack software. He currently serves as CTO at Garfinkel Group while simultaneously founding and leading Novastone AI, demonstrating a blend of strategic leadership and hands-on execution. His background spans founding startups (TeacherToolsGPT, Techonic), leading engineering teams at J.B. Hunt where he cut onboarding time dramatically, and driving full-stack and tech lead roles at AI-focused startups. Vlad pairs an MBA in Entrepreneurship with a Computer Science foundation, enabling him to align go-to-market strategy, customer discovery, and technical roadmaps—a combination that helped him exit a product via Flippa. Notably, he moves fluidly between coaching engineers and owning product outcomes, making him effective at scaling teams and turning customer insight into production software.
10 years of coding experience
6 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor’s Degree Computer Science Minor in Mathematics, Bachelor’s Degree Computer Science Minor in Mathematics at Hunter College
Master of Business Administration - MBA Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies, Master of Business Administration - MBA Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies at University of Arkansas - Sam M. Walton College of Business