Piotr Szulczewski
Piotr Szulczewski | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1981 Warsaw, Poland |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, computer engineer |
| Known for | Founder and former CEO of Wish.com |
Piotr Szulczewski (; born 1981) is a Canadian-Polish entrepreneur and computer engineer, best known as the founder and former CEO of Wish.com, a mobile-centric ecommerce platform focused on affordable products. Forbes has recognized him as the youngest billionaire in Canada.
Early life and background
Szulczewski spent his childhood in the Tarchomin district of Warsaw. Following the fall of communism in Poland, his family relocated to Waterloo, Ontario. He pursued studies in mathematics and computer science at the University of Waterloo, where he connected with Danny Zhang, who would later become his cofounder.
Prior to earning his degree in 2004, Szulczewski completed an internship at Google's Palo Alto office and subsequently joined the company full-time. His work involved creating initial algorithms for keyword expansion aimed at enhancing product search capabilities for advertisers.
Career
In 2007, Szulczewski transferred to Google's South Korea branch, where he gained valuable insight into customizing search platforms for specific local markets. Two years later, in 2009, he departed from Google to establish an advertising recommendation system that analyzed users' browsing habits. This venture, named ContextLogic, raised $1.7 million in funding by 2010, attracting investors such as Jeremy Stoppelman (CEO of Yelp) and Jerry Yang (Yahoo! cofounder).
By 2011, Szulczewski rebranded the enterprise as Wishwall.me with Zhang joining as cofounder. Although Facebook offered $20 million to acquire the company, Szulczewski chose to reject the proposal and focus on evolving Wish.com into what he envisioned as "the largest, most convenient and most affordable shopping mall worldwide," targeting budget-conscious shoppers. By 2016, Wish.com was drawing over five million visitors daily.
Szulczewski was ranked 21st among America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 in 2016 and appeared at number 1605 on Forbes's Billionaires list in 2019. That same year, he was acknowledged as Canada's youngest billionaire and ranked fifth among Polish billionaires by wealth. Known for keeping a low media profile, he gave his inaugural interview to Polish press in 2017.
In November 2021, Szulczewski declared his decision to step down as Wish’s CEO. He was succeeded by Vijay Talwar on February 1, 2022, while Szulczewski continued serving on the company's board of directors.