Vilnius-Based Sort A Brick, Bringing Billions of Neglected Bricks Back to Life with AI

Once he found a gap in sustainable sector, which turned the direction of his journey. Prior to this, he was enjoying his high flying career and this was the time when it was not easy to leave Conventional path behind but to bridge the gap, he began a new challenging chapter.

About Ilya Malkin:

Back then, Malkin completed the Program for Leadership Development (PLD27) at Harvard Business School from 2018 to 2019, where he focused on leadership, management, strategy, finance, accounting, marketing, and operations. The PLD is an executive MBA alternative designed for experienced professionals with 10 to 15 years of expertise.

Prior to this, he earned a master’s degree in international business from Vilnius University, graduating in 2006. As part of her academic journey, he participated in the Erasmus student exchange program at Lund University in 2002–2003, where he studied business management and IT. He also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Management Information Systems from Vilnius University, which he completed in 2004.

He serves as an advisor to the board of the Crimson Investment Fund, a venture capital micro-fund established by Harvard Business School Executive Education alumni. He co-founded the Crimson Investment fund and was a board member from 2019 to 2023. Before these roles, he founded Ursa Manor, an exclusive retreat on the lakeshore of Labanoras Regional Park, which he successfully exited through an acquisition in 2022.

Additionally, he founded and led RESPONSUM, a consultancy specializing in EU grant-raising and project management, which he exited after 17 years via a management buyout. From 2016 to 2019, he also represented PROFIT System, Europe's largest franchise marketing and consulting group, as an affiliate partner for Lithuania. Now he has embarked on a new journey, aiming to reduce waste and promote reuse.

Inspiration behind the startup:

With numerous academic credentials, skills, and experience, Malkin was enjoying his high-flying career. At that time, he noticed, that there is no proper use of toys, and most of the people are using them in a wasteful way. After observing this, he realized that not only were toys expensive, but they were also contributing to the unsustainable amount of plastic in the world. This was the turning point in his life towards the beginning of his startup, Sort A Brick.

This was the moment when he identified a gap and realized the necessity of filling it. Soon, he decided to bridge the gap and begin a new chapter. All these experiences led him to founding his startup, aiming to reduce waste and promote reuse. 

Startup: Sort A Brick:

It was not easy to leave Conventional path behind but with a determination to fix the gap, Malkin developed a solution and, finally in 2023, co-founded the Vilnius-based startup, Sort A Brick alongside Aurimas Slapšys.

Sort A Brick is an innovative platform that utilizes AI technology to assess bricks and identify potential models that can be built from them. The platform collects used toy building bricks, thoroughly cleans, sorts, and repackages them into new, affordable sets. Today, Sort A Brick is on a mission to give new life to billions of forgotten toy bricks. Through advanced AI-driven computer vision and sorting systems, Sort A Brick aims to make brick reuse not only cost-effective and environmentally friendly but also enjoyable for users, promoting sustainability and creativity in a fun, practical way. 

The best part of his journey is that instead of ignoring the issue, he was determined to find a solution and bridge the gap. Ilya Malkin is truly an inspiring entrepreneur!