This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers
A former senior Microsoft executive has joined forces with an experienced IT entrepreneur to build a new AI consultancy. The success of their venture quickly exceeded expectations. "Having a million social media followers or the status of an 'AI celebrity' doesn't make someone the right partner for a business implementation," the founders of exeAI say.
Is there life after Big Tech? After spending two decades at Microsoft, Jarosław Sokolnicki believes there is. Together with entrepreneur Piotr Kawecki, who has run ITBoom since 2005, he co-founded exeAI.
The new consulting and implementation firm specializes in artificial intelligence. Its founders see the greatest opportunities in manufacturing, particularly among food producers. To tap that potential, the company has just launched a dedicated business line: AI4Food.
"We've already completed two mid-sized projects, each worth several hundred thousand zlotys. Several more are underway, including one for a food producer operating under a 'farm-to-fork' model. At the same time, we're in discussions with several dozen organizations for which we've already carried out preliminary assessments. And this is only the beginning," says Piotr Kawecki, co-founder of exeAI.
Interactive chart exeAI Has ITBoom Behind It
Founded in February 2026, exeAI is not a typical startup constrained by limited funding or scarce talent. The company benefits from the backing of ITBoom, a consistently profitable IT business employing more than 30 specialists. In 2025, ITBoom generated PLN 24 million (approximately EUR 5.6 million) in revenue and nearly PLN 1 million (approximately EUR 235,000) in operating profit.
"We also stand out for the pace of our growth. Although we launched less than six months ago, we already have a pipeline of projects stretching many months ahead. And we don't push AI on clients at any cost. We only take on projects that will deliver genuine business value," says Piotr Kawecki.
When exeAI was launched, Kawecki expected that by 2027 the company would employ a handful of AI specialists and generate around PLN 5 million (approximately EUR 1.2 million) in revenue. Today, he expects the figures to be significantly higher. The company will likely need to hire more than a dozen specialists, particularly as it plans to develop proprietary products that will enable faster and more efficient client delivery.
"There's nothing quite like this on the market. In addition to AI4Food.pl, we've already launched AI4Controlling.pl for finance departments and AI4Factory.pl for manufacturers. We've also developed our own suite of tools for calculating ROI, building a semantic layer for business processes, and orchestrating AI agents. That allows us to deliver projects much faster than our competitors," says Jarosław Sokolnicki, co-founder of exeAI.
An IT entrepreneur and a former Microsoft executive join forces
Piotr Kawecki has known his new business partner for more than 25 years. He believed Jarosław Sokolnicki could bring unique value to ITBoom, so when the opportunity arose, they worked together on several projects. Their success – and the surge in demand for AI implementation – convinced them to scale up their efforts.
"Because ITBoom is so closely associated with Microsoft technologies, we decided to launch exeAI. We're not just another Microsoft, Oracle, or SAP partner trying to push a particular vendor's technology. We provide clients with exactly what they need and deliver AI projects from A to Z," says Piotr Kawecki.
Jarosław Sokolnicki left Microsoft in November 2024. For the previous several years, he had led the company's Polish technology hub, Microsoft's first such center in Central Europe. Among other initiatives, he was involved in developing Żabka’s retail innovations as part of the retailer's strategic partnership with Microsoft.
"After spending 20 years in a corporation, you inevitably start wondering what it would be like to be the entrepreneur on the other side of the table. Eventually, that turns into a dream – to have real influence and do exactly what you believe is right. I also wanted to move beyond building prototypes and focus on deploying innovation at scale. As an incurable optimist, I believe I can make a positive contribution to the country – or at least to specific industries. And since Piotr has always been a role model for me as a successful entrepreneur, joining forces was the obvious next step," says Jarosław Sokolnicki.
Different backgrounds are a strength, not a weakness
The founders – an experienced entrepreneur and a veteran of a global technology corporation – say their greatest asset is the diversity of their backgrounds and the way their skills complement one another. Deep expertise in a single area cannot compensate for gaps elsewhere, they argue. Combining two very different career paths, however, can multiply the value each brings to the business.
"I'm a business practitioner. After running a company for 20 years, I face very different challenges from those I encountered earlier in my corporate career. Jarek, meanwhile, is deeply rooted in technology. Although we both have Microsoft in our backgrounds, we agreed from the outset that we wouldn't rely on a single technology vendor. Especially since other companies are now leading the race to become the global AI leader," says Piotr Kawecki.
Jarosław Sokolnicki says he has remained closely connected to the evolution of technology for more than two decades. Throughout his career, he worked on successive waves of Microsoft's emerging technologies. While leading the company's technology hub with a small team, he delivered several hundred projects, not only in Poland but internationally.
"It was never about introducing technology for technology's sake. It was about innovations with a clear, demonstrable business case. That's exactly the approach we bring to exeAI. Together, Piotr and I offer a combination of experience and expertise that is genuinely unique in the Polish market. Our different perspectives sometimes lead to disagreements, but they're always substantive," says Jarosław Sokolnicki.
Expert's perspective
AI will help build a lasting competitive advantage
Artificial intelligence can analyze far more variables, and do so faster and more effectively, than traditional statistical models. In our business, we make hundreds of decisions every day involving raw material purchasing, production planning, inventory management, logistics, and sales. Even a small improvement in the accuracy of these decisions translates into tangible savings and higher profitability.
I see the greatest potential in demand forecasting and production planning. AI can simultaneously analyze sales data, seasonality, promotions, weather conditions, and raw material availability. Equally important are quality control based on image analysis, optimization of production processes, and support for managers and sales teams in analyzing complex data sets and making decisions faster.
We are already using AI for data analysis, preparing business insights, supporting sales processes, and automating parts of administrative work. The next step will be applying artificial intelligence to production planning, supply chain management, and operational process optimization. Every implementation, however, must deliver measurable business value – improving efficiency, reducing costs, or enhancing the quality of decision-making.
Just a year ago, we primarily viewed AI as a tool for supporting office work. Today, our expectations are far greater. I am convinced that within the next few years, artificial intelligence will become a standard element of management in manufacturing companies.
The businesses that learn fastest how to use AI in everyday decision-making will build a lasting competitive advantage.
“We are not AI celebrities”
The market has seen a wave of self-proclaimed AI experts, while many consulting firms have expanded into the field to capitalize on the trend. The founders of exeAI emphasize that they have been closely involved with technology throughout their careers, making their move into artificial intelligence a natural progression. They stress that having a million social media followers or the status of an “AI celebrity” does not make someone the right partner for a business implementation.
“There are already countless ‘AI consultants’ on the market, but most of them simply get excited about the latest trends. They promoted blockchain and NFTs before; today it is artificial intelligence, and tomorrow it may be healthy food or the increasingly fashionable concept of longevity. We can also spend hours talking about AI, eloquently wrapping our ideas in quotes from [Stanisław] Lem or [Yuval Noah] Harari. But that does not generate money for the client. What companies want is to increase revenue or reduce costs – ideally both at the same time. We are prepared to be judged by the measurable financial outcomes of the projects we deliver,” says Piotr Kawecki.
“We do not tell clients that the quality of the model – understood as having the latest available version – is the most important factor behind successful implementation. The foundation is the quality of the data, and preparing that data is one of the areas we focus on. We also always need to understand the specifics of the industry, the processes taking place within the client’s organization, and its entire physical and digital infrastructure,” adds Jarosław Sokolnicki.
He stresses that only then can the company build the appropriate ontological layer – designing a coherent communication system between the technologies being used and their users. Only technology implemented in this way can deliver a genuine competitive advantage for a business.
Fewer experiments, more measurable benefits
exeAI operates according to a 4D model: discovery, design, deploy, and deliver. The company identifies challenges, designs potential solutions, implements the most effective ones, and ensures that the promised results are achieved.
“Initially, we assumed we would have more work in the early, ‘experimental’ stages. It turned out, however, that clients simply do not have the time for that. They do not want to spend hours listening about the capabilities of one model or another – they want to see concrete results here and now,” says Jarosław Sokolnicki.
“To be able to measure our success based on outcomes, those results need to be significant enough, and that requires scale. Once a company reaches revenues of around PLN 100 million (approximately EUR 23.5 million), its processes become complex enough that automating them with AI can generate returns that justify our involvement. For now, in the food industry, we are primarily working with clients generating around PLN 500 million (approximately EUR 117 million) in revenue, and even above PLN 1 billion (approximately EUR 235 million),” adds Piotr Kawecki.
He stresses that the company does not approach clients with a million-zloty project from day one. For several tens of thousands of zlotys, exeAI can prepare a prototype that helps determine the potential impact. Only then do the company and the client jointly decide whether further cooperation makes sense and what scope it should take.
Expert's perspective
Food producers should embrace AI
Food companies are still at a relatively early stage of AI adoption. Many are running pilots or individual projects, but only a few are using the technology as part of their day-to-day management. This means that the competitive advantage created by AI implementation remains available to those who act early enough. At the same time, it is difficult to imagine that, in a few years’ time, artificial intelligence will not become a standard tool supporting the operations of businesses.
At Resource Partners, we have had the opportunity to support companies capable of anticipating market shifts. Maczfit is a good example of a company that identified changing consumer expectations and built a new market category around them. At Unilogo, meanwhile, we are seeing how AI-powered solutions for monitoring production process efficiency are helping companies make better operational decisions. These experiences suggest that a similar approach could have very broad applications in the food industry.
However, success will not be determined by AI implementation alone. The key question will be whether the technology becomes an integral part of business processes and consistently improves an organization’s productivity and operational efficiency. That is when AI stops being merely a technology project and becomes one of the foundations of long-term competitiveness and enterprise value creation.
The food industry is hungry for Artificial Intelligence
Demand forecasting based on seasonality, weather conditions, promotions, and sales data; route optimization and delay prediction; quality control; and reducing response times from several days to just one hour – exeAI sees a wide range of benefits from applying artificial intelligence in industrial operations, including procurement, logistics, and production. The company is particularly targeting the agri-food sector with its new initiative, where every saved minute can be worth its weight in gold.
Poland’s food sector is exceptionally strong. What is more, many companies operating in this industry – including large ones – are still owned by Polish entrepreneurs, or at least key decisions are made locally. This makes it easier for us to reach decision-makers and act quickly. Breaking through in a corporate structure controlled, for example, from the other side of the Atlantic would be virtually impossible,” says Piotr Kawecki.
He highlights the importance of his and his partner’s experience in the FMCG sector (fast-moving consumer goods, such as food, cosmetics, and similar products). They understand the industry’s specifics and “speak its language,” which makes it easier to understand clients’ expectations.
Good to know
More innovative than it may seem
Food production is as old as humanity itself. Because of differences in the economic development of countries built around agriculture, industry, and services, the sector is often perceived as “traditional” – and therefore not necessarily at the forefront of technological change. The founders of exeAI argue that this is a misconception.
“I disagree with the view that Poland’s food industry is a traditional sector that avoids innovation. We always visit our clients’ facilities, and they are by no means outdated relics of the past. Whether we are talking about meat processing, dairy production, or fruit and vegetable processing, these are modern operations,” says Piotr Kawecki.
“Some people use the wrong criteria when assessing a company’s innovativeness. Not having the latest operating system version, ERP platform, or a new laptop does not indicate a company’s level of technological sophistication. A better measure is, for example, the degree of production automation. And many Polish factories are so highly automated that they are genuinely impressive,” adds Jarosław Sokolnicki.
Key Takeaways
- From Microsoft to a Joint Venture. Jarosław Sokolnicki and Piotr Kawecki have known each other for more than two decades and previously worked together at Microsoft. Sokolnicki spent 20 years within the Polish operations of the global technology giant, eventually leading Microsoft’s technology center in Poland. Kawecki, meanwhile, quickly pursued an entrepreneurial path and founded ITBoom in 2005. In 2026, the two joined forces to establish exeAI, a consulting and implementation firm specializing in artificial intelligence.
- A Strategy to Capture the Market. The founders of exeAI say they can stand out from the growing number of “AI celebrities” offering advisory services. They stress that clients are not interested in hearing about the capabilities of one model or another – they want to increase revenue or reduce costs. As a result, exeAI is prepared to be measured against tangible financial outcomes. The company sees data quality as the foundation of successful AI implementation and handles data preparation itself. In addition, it always seeks to understand the specifics of the client’s industry, internal processes, and entire physical and digital infrastructure.
- The Potential of the Food Sector. The company sees significant potential for AI adoption in industry, particularly among food manufacturers. Applications include procurement, logistics, production, and other areas of operations. This is why exeAI has launched a new business line: AI4Food. The opportunities it identifies include demand forecasting based on seasonality, weather conditions, and sales data; route optimization and delay prediction; and quality control. The company has already completed two mid-sized projects worth several hundred thousand zlotys each. Several more are currently underway, while several dozen companies have already undergone preliminary assessments.