Venture Partner
Vlad Lokshin is the co-founder and CEO at TurtleOS, a platform for running an online service company, focusing on design and software development firms — contracts, payments, chat, task management, and a global work network in one app. Vlad and his team have bootstrapped Turtle to millions in sales while giving developers and designers around the world a path to build their own service businesses instead of joining race-to-the-bottom freelance marketplaces. Previously, Vlad was the founding CEO at DarwinApps.com, which he bootstrapped to millions in revenue, building a remote software development company, a decade before Covid popularized the remote approach.
Vlad enjoys teaching other founders the benefits of wireframing and growing efficient, global product teams. He has led wireframing sessions for groups at Cornell, MIT, and top startups around the world. Having a background across engineering, design, and business — he has isolated wireframing as the most high leverage skill for startup founders and product owners to master.
Vlad holds an MBA from Cornell Tech, where he received a full tuition scholarship. He holds dual undergraduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Operations Management from the University of Maryland, where he was the first graduate to receive simultaneous degrees in Engineering and Business.
Vlad lives in New York City with his wife and young son. He was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States with his family as refugees when he was 6 years old. His international background makes him passionate about using technology to break down borders, especially in the world of online work. Talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not.