In a crowded field of self-improvement apps promising to help people build new skills, one Warsaw-based company has just picked up international recognition for doing exactly that — and for making sure users actually finish what they start.
As detailed in a Yahoo Finance release, RiseGuide was named the Gold Stevie® Award winner in the Learning & Education category of the 23rd Annual International Business Awards®, one of the most widely recognized business competitions in the world. Notably, RiseGuide was the only entry recognized in its category this year, making the win a standalone distinction rather than one shared among multiple honorees.
A Competitive Field, A Clear Standout
The scale of this year’s IBAs underscores the significance of the win. Organizations from 82 nations and territories submitted more than 3,400 nominations across a wide range of business categories, all evaluated by a panel of over 200 professionals sitting on nine specialized judging committees. Competing against that volume of global entries, RiseGuide’s application stood out enough to earn top marks in its category outright.
In their scoring notes, judges praised RiseGuide’s clear differentiation in a saturated self-improvement market, along with the speed at which the platform has been adopted by users. The panel described the company as a well-positioned learning business with a strong value proposition, calling the submission a thoughtfully executed, well-defined concept. Judges also called out two specific strengths: RiseGuide’s personalized learning paths and its availability across seven languages, both of which they noted help widen access to the platform for a more global user base.
Perhaps most significantly, judges credited RiseGuide with addressing a problem that has long plagued adult education — the disconnect between simply consuming information and actually building a usable, lasting skill.
The Numbers Behind the Recognition
RiseGuide’s award didn’t come out of nowhere. Since launching in 2024, the platform has surpassed 1 million total downloads and now serves approximately 400,000 monthly active users. Collectively, those users have spent more than 1.3 million hours engaged in learning inside the app — a figure the company points to as proof that its short-format, expert-driven lessons are resonating.
Retention is where RiseGuide’s data becomes especially notable. Roughly 30% of new users remain active by their third week on the platform, a rate that significantly outpaces the single-digit retention figures typically seen in traditional long-form online courses. For a category of apps often criticized for high abandonment rates, that kind of sustained engagement stands out — and the company treats it as the clearest internal signal that its learning model is genuinely working, rather than just attracting downloads that go nowhere.
Leadership Reaction
Oleksandr Matsiuk, RiseGuide’s Founder and CEO, framed the award as external validation of a vision the team already believed in. “As a team, we already believe in this vision and in what we are building,” Matsiuk said. “Seeing the industry recognize it as well is a different kind of validation — it tells us we’re solving a problem the market agrees is worth solving.”
Matsiuk was careful to credit the win to the broader organization rather than positioning it as a leadership accomplishment alone, pointing to the more than 100 people across product, marketing, content, and support functions who contribute to the platform’s day-to-day operation and growth.
What’s Ahead for RiseGuide
Following the award, RiseGuide has laid out plans to keep expanding its content library. The company intends to add new lessons and practical tools on a monthly basis, covering areas including communication, public speaking, negotiation, presence, and confidence — building on its existing set of structured learning tracks.
Looking further ahead, RiseGuide says it will announce a series of global partnerships with recognized industry experts in the coming months. According to the company, these partnerships are intended to reinforce its broader mission: taking high-level expert knowledge and making it accessible in a format built for modern learners — mobile-first, interactive, non-linear, and, critically, designed to be completed rather than abandoned partway through.
About the Company
Founded in 2024, RiseGuide has grown to a team of more than 100 full-time employees and now serves users across seven languages worldwide. Its largest markets are the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, reflecting the platform’s early traction in English-speaking regions even as it continues expanding its multilingual reach.
The Gold Stevie Award adds to a growing list of milestones for the company as it works to establish itself as a serious player in the digital learning and self-development space — one increasingly measured not just by downloads, but by whether users stick around long enough to actually build the skills the platform promises to teach.
