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Ex-NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory founders who just went stealth

10 founders who worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory started a company in stealth in the last 1783 weeks.

Ex-NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Showing 10 of 10 founders

Ray Schaffer

Co-Founder
Left
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Researcher for ECOSTRESS Satellite
Before that
Went stealthOct 2026
Work
  • Researcher for ECOSTRESS Satellite at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2025-2026 · left Jun 2026
  • Co-Founder & CEO at Bags4Benches2024-2026
  • Calabasas Environmental Commission Student Member at City of Calabasas2024-2025
Education
  • Dartmouth College

Sharan Nayak

Co-Founder
Left
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Graduate Co-op
Before that
Went stealthOct 2026
Work
  • Graduate Co-op at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2021-2023 · left Aug 2023
  • Co-Founder at OOJU2026-2026
  • Software Engineer at SpaceX2023-2026
  • Senior Professional Staff - Algorithm Developer at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory2016-2018
  • Software Engineer at Garmin2012-2016
  • Avionics Intern at Sikorsky2011-2011
  • Environmental Support Technician at Global Environmental Solutions, Inc.2009-2010
Education
  • University of MarylandPhD
  • University of MarylandMaster's
  • Georgia TechMS

David Grant

Co-Founder
Left
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Senior Software Engineer
Before that
Went stealthSep 2026
Work
  • Senior Software Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2013-2015 · left Apr 2015
  • Chief Technology Officer at Verdant Robotics2023-2026
  • Director Of Engineering, Government Systems at Applied Minds2015-2023
  • Chief Product Officer at Stout Industrial Technology, Inc.2020-2023
  • Chief Technology Officer at Golfstream Inc.2015-2018
  • Embedded Software Engineer at Lockheed Martin2009-2013
  • Embedded Software Engineer at Calsonic Kansei Corporation2006-2007
Education
  • University of MichiganBSEE
  • University of MichiganBSCE

Jonas Frey

Co-Founder at Stealth Startup
Left
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Research Fellow
Before that
Went stealthSep 2026
Work
  • Research Fellow at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2022-2023 · left Apr 2023
  • Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford University2025-2026
  • Doctoral Student at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems2023-2024
  • Visiting Researcher at Oxford Robotics Institute2023-2023
  • Research Engineer at ETH Zürich2020-2022
  • Cooperative Robotics Engineer at SEW Eurodrive2019-2019
  • Bachelor's Thesis at Nara Institute of Science and Technology2018-2018
Education
  • ETH ZürichPhD
  • ETH ZürichMaster's
  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)Bachelor's

Theo Mirzakhanian

CEO & Co-Founder
Left
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Robotics Tester For NASA Education
Before thatNone listed
Went stealthSep 2026
Work
  • Robotics Tester For NASA Education at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2023-2024 · left Jun 2024
Education
  • Glendale Community College

Rayan Mazouz

Founder Advisor
Left
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Robotics Researcher
Before that
Went stealthAug 2026
Work
  • Robotics Researcher at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2019-2026 · left Jan 2026
  • Research Scientist at New Theory2025-2026
  • Senior Robotics Engineer at Bionaut Labs2023-2024
  • Fulbright Scholar at The Fulbright Program2019-2020
  • Research Intern at NASA2019-2020
  • Project Manager at Delft University of Technology2013-2017
Education
  • University of Colorado BoulderPhD
  • Caltech
  • Delft University of TechnologyMS

Meriem B.

Founder & CEO
Left
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Master Thesis
Before that
Went stealthAug 2026
Work
  • Master Thesis at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2018-2019 · left Aug 2019
  • Principal Founding Engineer at Cambridge Aerospace2024-2026
  • Doctoral Student at UCL2020-2024
  • Supervisor at UCL Artificial Intelligence and Robotics2022-2023
  • Cohort V Startup X at Conception X2022-2022
  • Assistant at Olive plantation Ben Miled & SONS2019-2020
  • Intern at maxon2018-2018
Education
  • Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule ZürichMaster's
  • University College London (UCL)PhD
  • CaltechMaster's

Richard B.

Co-Founder
Left
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Software Engineer
Before that
Went stealthLaunched Embodied Machine Intelligence
Work
  • Software Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2018-2019 · left Oct 2019
  • Research Engineer at 1X2025-2026
  • Research Engineer at Arc Institute2025-2025
  • Software Engineer - Constellation GNC at SpaceX2021-2025
  • AI Research Fellow - Robotic Surgery at Caltech2020-2022
  • Software Engineer - Autopilot at Tesla2020-2021
  • Investment Associate at Bridgewater Associates2020-2020
Education
  • CaltechBachelor's

Aspen Hopkins

founder
Left
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Technical Lead
Before that
Went stealthJul 2026
Work
  • Technical Lead at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2019-2019 · left Oct 2019
  • Researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology2019-2026
  • Interim Director, AI & Automation at AAA Life2025-2026
  • Chief of Staff / Lead Data Engineer at Balance Homes2023-2023
  • Venture Associate at Pillar VC2021-2022
  • AI/ML at Apple2020-2022
  • Consultant at Quantitative Analysis and Research Coorperative (QUARC)2016-2018
Education
  • MITPhD
  • Westminster CollegeBS

Saina Ghandchi

CEO, Co-Founder
Left
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JPL - Product Manager
Before that
Went stealthJul 2026
Work
  • JPL - Product Manager at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2002-2016 · left Dec 2016
  • Staff Product Manager at Intuitive2022-2026
  • Senior Technical Product Manager at Amazon2021-2022
  • Product Manager and Project Manager at Boston Dynamics2018-2021
  • Project Manager at Boston Scientific2016-2018
  • Consulting at Early Stage Startup Companies2013-2016
Education
  • UCLAMBA
  • University of Southern CaliforniaMS
  • UC San DiegoBS

Built on Crustdata. Build your own.

Crustdata tracks hundreds of millions of professional profiles. This directory is one saved search: "current title includes founder, current company is Stealth", re-run every week. Point the same search at your own market.

Get an API key 
# the one request behind this page
curl https://api.crustdata.com/watch/person/search \
  -H "authorization: Bearer $CRUSTDATA_KEY" \
  -H "x-api-version: 2025-11-01" \
  -d '{
    "filters": { "op": "and", "conditions": [
      { "field": "experience.employment_details.current.company_name",
        "type": "[.]", "value": "stealth" },
      { "field": "experience.employment_details.current.title",
        "type": "(.)", "value": "founder" }
    ]},
    "fields": ["basic_profile", "experience", "education"],
    "config": { "trigger": { "type": "interval", "every_hours": 168 } }
  }'
# [.] = exact phrase, (.) = all words. Each week it returns only the new matches.

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About this list

What "stealth" means here: the person's current job is a founder title (Founder, Co-Founder, Founder & CEO…) at a company listed as "Stealth", "Stealth Startup" or similar, because they haven't announced it yet.

Where it comes from: public professional profiles, via the Crustdata API. A new search runs every week and adds whoever newly matches. Profiles can take a few weeks to show up, and start dates are by month.

The company on each row is the most recent job before going stealth, with the title they held there. Where we can, we skip internships, advisor seats and freelance stints. On a "former employer" page it shows the job at that employer instead. Click a row for their full work history and education.