About
Marc Krejci
Founder and Managing Director, Pathfinder Foundry. I help software founders and product teams find the customers who will commit before they build more.
Credentials
- 9x founder
- 20+ years in product
- 7.5 years leading product at Meta
- Millions using products shipped
- 6 granted patents
- ICF trained coach
Twenty years of building products
I have been building products for more than twenty years and have started or co-founded nine companies. One of them, a music-industry marketplace I founded in Nashville in 2008, failed, and it taught me the lesson this practice is built on.
I spent years in Silicon Valley as a portfolio director, working alongside hundreds of founders. Then I spent seven and a half years at Meta leading product and design across dynamic ads, Oculus for Business, AR and VR, and AI. I left in early 2025 to get back to helping people build the right thing.
I also trained as a coach through SeattleCoach, an ICF accredited program. It taught me to ask more than I tell, because the founder is the one who has to carry the answer.
Today I run Pathfinder Foundry and serve as Entrepreneur in Residence at the SnoValley Innovation Center. When the work needs a specialist, I bring one in.
Why this work
This is personal. The company I started in 2008 failed, and not for the reason I believed at the time. I had done the research, and people told me they wanted it. What I never tested was the model underneath, and by the time I saw the business that would have worked, the time and the money were gone. I have watched capable founders make the same mistake ever since, and I recognize it every time, because I had been them.
The founders I meet are rarely behind because they have not built enough. They are stuck because nobody outside their own head has committed yet. Some have eight months of code; some have nothing built and a layoff behind them. Either way, they have been building alone.
A design partner changes that. One motivated prospect who commits to shaping the product before it is finished turns a guess into evidence. Five to ten of them turn it into a business, or a raise if you want one.
That is the job. I work with you until you have them, then keep building alongside you, founder or product team.
Elsewhere
Pre-Beta Club
A free founder community I run. Members share work in progress and get feedback from their peers.
Visit prebetaclub.comProtoVibing™
The validation method behind this work, and the software that runs it. Built for founders and product teams.
Visit protovibing.aiCreators Agenda
The Pathfinder Foundry newsletter, written by me. It lands in your inbox, and you can unsubscribe any time.
Read Creators Agenda