Verse

Empowering a New Generation of Digital Storytellers

About Verse

As multimedia journalists, Verse co-founders Antonio Bolfo and Michael Lanza saw limitations in how filmmakers, photographers and artists could share their stories.

Traditional online formats felt incomplete and underdeveloped and they knew there had to be a better way.

They assembled a team of experts with deep experience across news, gaming, film and advertising.

The resulting platform sets a new standard for artful storytelling that combines emotional impact with measurable and meaningful engagement.

Our team

Antonio Bolfo
Co-Founder

An award-winning photographer with an extensive background in the arts, including film, animation and video game design, Antonio created Verse to tell the kind of stories he loves — rich, immersive multimedia experiences — without huge budgets and months-long development cycles. Antonio has covered issues of crises and conflict in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. His work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Time, Rolling Stone, and others.

Michael Lanza
Co-Founder

Michael spearheads development of Verse’s elegant and easy-to-use design and UX. An award-winning designer, journalist and photojournalist with more than 10 years of experience in various roles within the media and publishing industries, Michael studied graphic design and industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Grant Swertfeger
Chief Technology Officer

An award-winning user experience designer and web developer, Grant has been designing user interfaces for the web for the past 15 years. Prior to Verse, Grant worked in the EduTech industry designing software for various state governments and founded Swordsweeper Industries, a design firm with clients such as The National Geographic Society. Trained as a photojournalist he is passionate about multimedia and spent most of his career in online media including stints at The National Geographic Society and MSNBC.com.

Eric Emma
Associate Producer

Multitalented filmmaker and writer, Eric has created visual stories for film, web, and new media formats and is a great resource to all storytellers. Graduating from Tisch NYU with a M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing, Eric has written over forty stories for the popular story apps, “Hooked” and “Episode.” In addition, he helped produce SOHO International Film selection, “Between the Shades”, a feature length documentary promoting cultural awareness about the LGBTQI community.

Tony Czeh
Lead Operations Architect

For the last 15 years Tony has been designing and building robust, scalable online platforms for global brands like Xerox, Discovery and The National Geographic Society. With a MS in Computer Science and an extensive catalog of arcane computer lore, Tony ensures smooth day-to-day operations of the entire Verse platform.

Ben Elsberry
Senior Developer

Ben leads the development of the Verse Player. As a fullstack developer he brings a wide range of experience architecting and developing solutions for online media and EduTech companies working with clients such as The National Geographic Society and various state governments.

Todd Lewellen
Senior Developer

One of Verse's core developers, Todd has been designing, testing, and implementing data-driven backend systems for several years. Todd completed his graduate education at Carnegie Mellon University and began his career in the cybersecurity industry designing, testing, and implementing data-driven security controls. Eventually, he moved into a technical directorship role at a long-standing web agency and led the development effort for over a dozen different web applications for various non-profit organizations.

Mike Bucks
Senior UI Developer

Mike is a UI designer and developer. He enjoys beautiful code, thoughtful interactions, and inspired product designs. He’s had the privilege of building web applications for huge brands while working in the advertising industry, architecting a healthcare app for patients to review blood test results, and created a tool for Android users to find their perfect phone. When he’s not writing code or arranging things on grids he’s probably exploring the great California wilderness.

What We Believe

No great story is a straight line. They twist and turn, widen and narrow. They pull us in and then take us to undiscovered places.

Now, the best creators have a home to tell bigger stories with more unexpected threads and layers.

Introducing Verse, the leading digital platform that lets makers weave stories using tools that add meaning and context. Whether you’re a filmmaker, photographer, journalist or artist, your work is your life and Verse makes it truly live.

It’s not just about extra footage and features. Verse is a medium as agile and adept as your viewers.

Invite discoveries beyond the frame and welcome the diversions that help make your story richer. Even the greatest journeys need to take a side road or two.

We’re creating a world for viewers who expect more and creators who surrender less. People who know that stories are meant to be pursued and pushed.

Go on and explore without limitations. Go where the story takes you and explore it from every angle.


Verse. Free the Story.