Matt Kursh’s 40 year career includes starting and selling companies to Apple and Microsoft, running the #4 website on the internet at Microsoft, cofounding the leadership training innovator Oji Life Lab, and serving as CEO of a non-profit focused on safe drinking water that produced a round-the-world running relay. He’s a product guy, business strategist, deal-maker, brand builder and leader…and loves to coach people on all facets of business and team performance.

Matt started his first company, a Mac software startup, while in college. He eventually sold that company to Apple. His second startup, eShop – the first ecommerce platform company – was acquired by Microsoft. eShop’s product became the #1 commerce platform while Matt was enlisted to run a succession of internet-based businesses at Microsoft, eventually running the company’s primary web business, then the #4 destination on the internet.

Over the past 14 years, Matt has focused on helping people build the skills that drive success and lead to a meaningful life, whether called leadership skills, soft skills or life skills. His first venture in this area focused on high school students. This led to a pivot to focus on corporate customers in Oji Life Lab, which he cofounded with ProjectNext executive Andrea Hoban and the leaders of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

Oji Life Lab built its learning programs – used by leading organizations – in collaboration with top experts including Linda Hill from Harvard Business School (leadership, innovation), Ralph Keeney from Duke University (decision-making), Avi Kluger from Hebrew University (listening), Nina Mazar from Boston University (cognitive bias), Erika Hall from Emory University (diversity), and others.