Ben Starynskii

Ben Starynskii is a retail strategist and operator with deep expertise in the economics of scaling modern retail businesses.

Over the past two decades, he has worked hands-on with supermarket, grocery, convenience, pharmacy, and specialty retail chains across more than 40 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and beyond.


Ben’s focus lies at the intersection of operational decision-making, economic performance, and scalable growth. His work is driven by a simple but powerful observation: technology alone does not transform outcomes — decision logic does. He is particularly interested in why many retailers, despite significant investments in ERP, AI, and analytics, continue to struggle with execution gaps, inventory imbalance, and erosion of profitability as they scale.

At LEAFIO AI, Ben collaborates with executive teams and boards to strengthen decision frameworks, align planning with execution, and build growth models that remain economically sound in the face of rising complexity. He brings practical insight into how inventory, assortment, promotions, and operational discipline interact to shape long-term performance.

Ben is also the author of the Retail Techonomic$ series — a public exploration of real world retail economics and scaling dynamics — where he unpacks common patterns, dilemmas, and strategic inflection points that define success or failure in scaling retail organizations.

He holds a reputation as a thoughtful operator and industry thinker who bridges the worlds of strategy, operations, and applied AI in retail.