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← All stealth founders

Caltech alumni who just went stealth

10 Caltech alumni started a company in stealth in the last 15 weeks.

Showing 10 of 10 founders

Lu Lydia Li

Founder and CEO
Left
LinkedIn
Senior Software Engineer
Before that
Went stealthOct 2026
Work
  • Senior Software Engineer at LinkedIn2021-2026 · left Sep 2026
  • Organizing Committee Member at Caltech2019-2019
  • Software Engineer at Mode.net2018-2019
  • Columnist and Technical Writer (Remote) at China Campus magazine2012-2019
Education
  • CaltechMS
  • UC San Diego
  • Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsBE
Left
SafeTree
Vice President of Tech & Product
Before that
Went stealthSep 2026
Work
  • Vice President of Tech & Product at SafeTree2021-2023 · left Jan 2023
  • Head of Product -Technology at Grab (Grab a Grub Services Ltd)2021-2021
  • Group Product Manager at RenewBuy2019-2021
  • Senior Product Manager at American Express2016-2019
  • Senior Project Manager at Google2014-2016
  • Product Manager at O2 (Telefónica UK)2013-2014
Education
  • Caltech
  • The University of SheffieldBE
  • Purdue University

Ali Khawaja

Co-Founder
Left
Shimmer
Adult ADHD Coach
Before that
Went stealthSep 2026
Work
  • Adult ADHD Coach at Shimmer2024-2025 · left Nov 2025
  • Instructor at American University of Sharjah2002-2019
Education
  • Caltech
  • American University of SharjahMBA
  • American University of SharjahBS

Weiwei Yang

Co-Founder
Left
Microsoft Research
Senior Director
Before that
Went stealthSep 2026
Work
  • Senior Director at Microsoft Research2020-2026 · until Sep 2026
  • Principal SDE at Microsoft Research NExT2018-2020
  • Senior SDE at Microsoft2016-2018
  • Principal Search Engineer at URX (acq. by Pinterest)2015-2016
  • Principal Engineer at Quixey, The Search Engine for Apps2014-2015
  • Director of Engineering at Blekko2011-2013
  • Software Engineer at Spectraseis2008-2010
Education
  • CaltechMS
  • CaltechBS

Rohan Shah

Co-Founder
Left
Conduit Commerce
Co-Founder & CEO
Before that
Went stealthAug 2026
Work
  • Co-Founder & CEO at Conduit Commerce2023-2026 · until Aug 2026
  • Partner at Foreshadow Labs2022-2026
  • Investor at HUMAN CAPITAL2021-2022
  • Co-Founder at Clinq Technologies2018-2022
  • Director Of Special Projects at Elevate Brands (acquired by SellerX Group)2020-2021
  • Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company2018-2021
  • Co-Founder at Underscore Think Tank2019-2020
Education
  • CaltechResearch
  • University of PennsylvaniaBachelor's
  • University of Pennsylvania

Meriem B.

Founder & CEO
Left
Cambridge Aerospace
Principal Founding Engineer
Before that
Went stealthAug 2026
Work
  • Principal Founding Engineer at Cambridge Aerospace2024-2026 · until Aug 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
  • Master Thesis at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2018-2019
  • Intern at maxon2018-2018
Education
  • CaltechMaster's
  • Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule ZürichMaster's
  • University College London (UCL)PhD

Michael L.

Co-Founder
Left
Rippling
Senior Software Engineer
Before that
Went stealthAug 2026
Work
  • Senior Software Engineer at Rippling2024-2026 · left Jul 2026
  • Senior Software Engineer II at Confluent, an IBM Company2021-2024
  • Machine Learning/Software Engineer at Second Spectrum2020-2021
  • Software Engineering Intern at Confluent, an IBM Company2020-2020
  • Machine Learning/Data Science Engineering Intern at Comcast2019-2019
  • Machine Learning Engineering Intern at Second Spectrum2018-2019
  • Software Engineering Intern at Procore Technologies2018-2018
Education
  • CaltechBachelor's

Joseph Gu

Founder
Left
Google DeepMind
Research Scientist Intern
Before that
Went stealthAug 2026
Work
  • Research Scientist Intern at Google DeepMind2025-2025 · left Sep 2025
  • Research Intern at NVIDIA2024-2024
  • Research Intern at Google DeepMind2023-2023
  • Graduate Research Assistant at Massachusetts Institute of Technology2019-2021
  • Research Intern at Microsoft2020-2020
  • Visiting Research Intern at Massachusetts Institute of Technology2019-2019
  • Undergraduate Research Assistant at Harvard University2017-2019
Education
  • CaltechPhD
  • Harvard UniversityBachelor's
  • MITMS

Ashwin Ram

Co-Founder
Left
Transposon Therapeutics, Inc.
Member Board of Directors
Before that
Went stealthJul 2026
Work
  • Member Board of Directors at Transposon Therapeutics, Inc.2024-2026 · left Jun 2026
  • Partner at Catalys Pacific2022-2026
  • Chief Business Officer at Kirilys Therapeutics2021-2026
  • Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Operations at Pathalys Pharma2021-2024
  • Founder, Chair, CEO at Axelys Therapeutics2022-2023
  • Founder and CEO at Jupiter Therapeutics2018-2023
  • Vice President at Catalys Pacific2021-2022
Education
  • CaltechPhD
  • Stanford University
  • University of MichiganMD

Richard B.

Co-Founder
Left
1X
Research Engineer
Before that
Went stealthJul 2026
Work
  • Research Engineer at 1X2025-2026 · left Jun 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
  • Software Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory2018-2019
Education
  • CaltechBachelor's

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.