Early Life and Education
Maksym Lytvyn, known as Max Lytvyn, was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 3, 1977. He received his initial education in Kyiv. Lytvyn earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from the International Christian University in Kyiv. He later pursued a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a focus on marketing and finance at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.
Rise to Success
Lytvyn's career trajectory began with MyDropBox, a plagiarism-detection company he co-founded. This venture was later acquired by Blackboard Inc., where Lytvyn served as the Director of Product Strategy. In 2009, Lytvyn, along with Alex Shevchenko and Dmytro Lider, co-founded Grammarly. Initially, Grammarly was designed to assist students with grammar and spelling. The company has grown into an AI-powered writing assistant that has expanded to over 30 million daily users. Grammarly raised $200 million in funding in November 2021, which significantly increased the founders' net worth.
Key Business Strategies
As Head of Revenue, Lytvyn focuses on identifying and expanding new market opportunities for Grammarly's product portfolio. He emphasized the importance of customer service in Grammarly's early days, aiming to understand users' needs. Grammarly has focused on innovation in AI and generative AI to stand out. The company has also expanded into spin-off products, including Grammarly Business. In May 2025, Grammarly secured $1 billion in non-dilutive financing from General Catalyst to build a comprehensive AI productivity platform.
Philanthropy
In 2024, Grammarly donated approximately $500,000 to help rebuild Okhmatdyt children's hospital after the building was damaged by a Russian missile strike. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Grammarly ceased all business operations in Russia and Belarus and donated about $5 million to Ukrainian humanitarian groups.
