Atakan Ozkaya

I’m Atakan Ozkaya—an educator, founder, and passionate believer in one simple truth: great teachers create great futures. My journey in education began early—at 15, I started tutoring students one-on-one. What began as a way to support others quickly turned into a purpose-driven mission. Over the past seven years, I’ve dedicated more than 5,000 hours to teaching and educational consulting in English, French, and Turkish, across a wide-ranging curriculum that includes Science, Math, Coding, Art, Turkish, and more. I’ve had the privilege of working with learners between the ages of 5 and 23, and reaching families across four continents and nine cities—from Europe to the Middle East, North America to Asia.

During the pandemic, a conversation with a student from a disadvantaged rural area in eastern Turkey deeply moved me. Despite his curiosity and potential, he was completely disconnected from formal education. That moment never left me. It sparked a burning question: What if we could build tools that give every child, regardless of geography or privilege, access to a world-class learning experience? That question became the foundation of Madlen, the AI-powered education platform I founded in 2024.

My academic path began in engineering and economics, but I’ve always been more interested in action than theory. I studied AI at my own pace, learning from the best minds at Stanford and refining my understanding through hands-on experimentation. I gained international perspective at Telecom SudParis, where I further explored the intersection of AI and human learning. I also worked as a CEO Assistant at a family investment office managing $100 million in assets, where I developed the strategic thinking and operational discipline needed to scale high-impact ventures. Every chapter—whether it was teaching code to a 9-year-old or presenting investment strategies to a board—shaped the builder I’ve become today.

At Madlen, we’re reimagining education for the AI age by building tools that work hand-in-hand with teachers—not around them. Our platform provides real-time lesson generation, adaptive assessments, and personalized learning pathways, all powered by large language models trained to align with local curricula and classroom realities. We’re also developing knowledge tracing algorithms that help teachers understand not just what students know, but how they’re learning—so interventions can be timely, targeted, and truly human. From AI copilots that assist with lesson planning to insights that surface learning gaps early, every feature we design is aimed at reducing teacher burnout and expanding their impact. We don’t believe in replacing teachers—we believe in supercharging them.

Madlen is still young, but our ambition is big: to make high-quality, personalized education a basic right—not a luxury. We’re building toward a world where no child is left behind, not because we automated education, but because we empowered the educators at its core.