The road less traveled

Software houses typically grow into products by providing services to clients and gradually learning with and from them.

We did the opposite. We started with our own software product and learned through trial and error directly.

This is what makes us think and behave like investors, product owners and CTOs.

It all started 7 years ago with a business problem at the Chess Academy in Gliwice. Over 1000 chess students per year needed tailored tasks and work packages to practice and a whole team of trainers had to create and validate this content daily. It was only natural to think about an IT platform that would vastly improve this process and Marlena Chlost, CEO of Emphie, decided to bring this idea into life.

At first, the plan was to find a seasoned software house to build the digital product. However, after preliminary discussions about its scope and shape it quickly turned out that the investment would be too big to handle. All proposals we got seemed uneconomical, projects - overcomplicated and timelines - unacceptable. Being both an investor and the end-user of the platform and knowing exactly what we wanted led to a breaking decision that shaped Emphie as it is - we decided to do it ourselves.

We had built a team of software developers and created the platform from scratch. Did we make mistakes during that process? Of course! Did we get burned? Yes. But we did it. And so ChessGrow came to existence.

Since then our team expanded further with talented developers, creative designers and high tech experts. We started taking on new challenges and creating other products, and it was then when we realized that we already are a software house. The only missing part was the name for it.

Nowadays, we're growing fast but it’s strategically planned. We have our offices in Gliwice and London. Our company comprises of 30+ great specialists who work either on our own products or for the benefit of our Clients from all over the world.

We are constantly looking for new opportunities, exciting projects and ideas we want to give life to. But at the same time - as in chess – our work is rational and optimized. Because at the end of the day, every move matters.


Emotions combined with scientific approach

Mathematical and strategic thinking are crucial in chess, but the game doesn't really come to life unless emotions and intuition come into play. We apply the same approach to product development.

Teaching is in our DNA

We provide formative experiences to next generations of talented people through our educational initiatives.

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Chess Academy

Teaching kids to think and explore their potential through chess mastery.

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Programming school

Proving that the best way to start coding is by having loads of fun.

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Developers platform

DevEnv.pl is propagating best practices in software development.

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Cooperation with Polish Academy of Sciences

Along with IITiS we are working on R&D projects to augument our products with unique and innovative features. Together we are combining experiences coming from the scientific approach and software development, all of it through exploring use cases for advanced Machine Learning and Deep Learning techniques.

Meet Emphie core team

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Marlena Chlost
Marlena Chlost
CEO & Founder
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Adrian Piętka
Adrian Piętka
Chief Technology Officer
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Maciej Strugała
Maciej Strugała
Chief Operating Officer
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Zbigniew Cisiński
Zbigniew Cisiński
Chief Product Officer
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Artur Trzęsiok
Artur Trzęsiok
Chief AI Officer
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Michał Dobies
Michał Dobies
Creative Director
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Tomasz Warakomski
Tomasz Warakomski
Chess Grandmaster / Content Creator
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Dominik Kędzior
Dominik Kędzior
Lead Software Engineer

We are hiring

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