# Kenneth Schlenker

> Kenneth Schlenker is a French-American serial entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Opal, the #1 screen time and focus app on iOS. He first envisioned a focus app in 2008 while working at Google - it took him 11 years to actually build it. After founding art-tech company ArtList (acquired by artnet), launching Bird's Paris operations, and building a $10M ARR business with just 11 people, he also runs Open Scout, a weekly newsletter covering early-stage startups read by investors at Sequoia, YC, a16z, and Accel.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Opal
- **Organizations:** Opal, Open Scout, Google, Gertrude, ArtList, artnet, Stellar Base, Bird
- **From:** France
- **Nationality:** French-American
- **Education:** Master's degree in Finance and Strategy, Sciences Po Paris, BA in Political Science, Sciences Po Paris
- **Known for:** Built Opal to $10M ARR with only 11 employees, Hit $1M ARR in four months with zero paid advertising, Ran 121 A/B tests to optimize Opal's subscription funnel

## Career timeline

- **2008-2012** — Product Marketing Manager at Google, working on Maps, YouTube, and AdWords across New York and Paris. Wrote first business plan for a focus app in 2008.
- **2012-2013** — Founded Gertrude, an art salon community platform inspired by Gertrude Stein's 1920s Paris salons. Grew to 25,000 members across 7 cities with ~250 events. Covered by TechCrunch.
- **2012-2017** — Founded ArtList (ArtForm Co.), an online marketplace for contemporary art with a transparent 10% fee model. Acquired by artnet in 2017.
- **2016-2017** — Chief Marketing Officer at artnet following ArtList acquisition.
- **2016-2020** — Co-founded Stellar Base, a software studio that built tools like Stellar Formation (US company formation in minutes) and partnered with Fiverr and others.
- **2018-2019** — General Manager at Bird (e-scooter company) in Paris. Built Bird's largest global market from scratch.
- **2020-present** — Founded Opal, the #1 iOS screen time and focus app. Raised $4.3M seed round in January 2021. Grew to $10M ARR with 11 employees.
- **ongoing** — Runs Open Scout newsletter, a weekly digest of early-stage startups read by investors at Sequoia, YC, a16z, Accel, and more.
- **2025** — Became a US citizen. Published op-ed in Fortune about social media addiction and warning labels.

## Achievements

- Built Opal to $10M ARR with only 11 employees
- Hit $1M ARR in four months with zero paid advertising
- Ran 121 A/B tests to optimize Opal's subscription funnel
- Opal users have collectively saved over 300 million hours of screen time
- Founded and sold ArtList to artnet (2017 acquisition)
- Built Bird's largest global market (Paris) from scratch
- Grew Gertrude art salon community to 25,000 members across 7 cities
- Co-directs France's chapter of the Global Day of Unplugging
- Open Scout newsletter read by investors at Sequoia, YC, a16z, Accel, Amazon, Google, Stripe, and more
- Raised $4.3M seed round for Opal (January 2021)

## Latest updates

- **2025-11** — Published op-ed in Fortune: 'I helped build the architecture of addiction for social media and I see warning labels coming. That's just a start.'
- **2025** — Became a US citizen
- **2025** — Opal reached $10M ARR with 11 employees
- **2024** — Open Scout newsletter continues weekly coverage of early-stage startups for top-tier investor audience
- **2021-01** — Opal raised $4.3M seed round covered by TechCrunch

## Links

- Website: https://www.kennethschlenker.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethschlenker/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/kschlenker

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/kenneth-schlenker
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-24