Joanna Kochaniak
Co-founder & former CTO, Upside
Key facts
- Born 1985 in Poland; emigrated to the US with her family in 1989.
- Likely the first Polish woman in history to co-found a tech startup valued at over $1B.
- Previously worked as Lead Software Engineer at OPOWER, which went public in 2014 and was acquired by Oracle for over $500M in 2016.
- Co-founded GetUpside (now Upside) in 2016 alongside Alex Kinnier and served for years as CTO.
- Upside achieved a $1.5B valuation in 2022 and has processed over $6B in annual transaction value while paying out $1B in consumer rewards.
Biography
Joanna “Jo” Kochaniak is a Polish-American software engineer and entrepreneur, best known as the co-founder and long-time CTO of Upside. Born in Poland and raised in the US, she built her career as an engineer at companies like OPOWER before co-founding the cashback and user-engagement platform Upside in 2016. After helping scale the company to a $1.5B valuation, she stepped back from official executive roles to continue supporting the venture away from the public spotlight.