Michael Olenick

Michael is the founder and CEO of VSTRAT, an AI-augmented strategic planning platform built on over a decade of primary research at INSEAD Business School, working directly with Blue Ocean Strategy creators W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. VSTRAT is currently deployed at Harvard Business School, Wharton, Michigan Ross, and INSEAD, providing interactive strategy frameworks that combine proven methodologies with generative AI to deliver market intelligence and structured decision support.
Michael is a published Harvard Business Review author whose case studies at Harvard Business School Publishing are among the bestselling in their catalog. His work bridges academic strategy research and commercial software development, with a technical background in expert systems dating to the PLATO era and a legal education that informs his approach to intellectual property and regulatory analysis.
Prior to VSTRAT, Michael built and sold companies to iVillage, Avery Dennison, and GE. He holds strategic patents in interactive decision-support systems and has spent the past decade translating elite business school frameworks into accessible, AI-driven tools for enterprises, consultants, and educators.
VSTRAT’s core thesis is that the model is not the magic, the application is. Rather than wrapping a chatbot in a new interface, VSTRAT channels AI through structured strategy frameworks (value chain analysis, customer journey mapping, Blue Ocean tools, brand archetypes, competitive positioning) so that users work inside proven methodologies and make their own decisions. The platform recently introduced multi-model persona simulations that allow users to build strategic customer profiles and watch them interact, debate, and analyze strategy artifacts in real time, each powered by a different AI model for genuinely diverse perspectives.
Michael recently relocated from Fontainebleau, France to Austin, Texas. He is an active member of the Austin innovation community and is currently opening VSTRAT to investors as the platform expands its academic and enterprise footprint globally.