Mark Stauber

Cofounder & CEO @ Jido

I'm a Stanford Ph.D. and Y Combinator founder living in Berkeley, CA. I founded Jido, a computer vision vision company where we built an amazing team of engineers and designers. Since its founding in December 2017, Jido’s technology has been deployed by the world’s largest retailers across 1000’s of physical spaces on 6 continents. Before Jido, I studied Robotics in the Stanford AI Labs where I received my Ph.D. and M.S. degrees.

About Me

I grew up on Long Island in New York spending my time playing hockey and fishing in Reynolds Channel. I remember one of the first projects that got me interested in engineering was when I spent a summer building an 8' row boat on my front lawn so I could fish off shore.

I have always been interested in both technology and business. My first summer job was in the World Trade Center where I was a "pit boy" catching oil trades in one of the last open outcry trading markets. I studied physics during undergrad, but really found my passion just building stuff. I started the university's first robotics club, and built some fun projects including a wind-powered electric menorah that landed in the New York Times, NPR, NBC and among other news outlets.

Stanford

I received my M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University where I studied under Ken Salisbury (father of the robotics hand and master Burning Man artist). Our lab was one of the Stanford AI Labs housed in the famous Gates Building. My thesis work was focused on taking consumer technologies and using them to increase the accessibility of 3D medical devices. As my work was cross functional, I had co-advisers in the Stanford d.School and the medical school.

Stanford was an amazing place for me to grow as an engineer and entrepreneur. I spent a ton of time in the shops working on robotics or woodworking projects. I also spent a summer at the Stanford GSB where they run "mini-MBAs" for deep tech folks like myself. Some of my most memorable courses were ME 218 (Smart Products Design with Ed Carryer), EE 263 (Linear Dynamical Systems with Stephen Boyd) and CS 229 (Machine Learning with Andrew Ng).

Jido (YC W18)

Jido is a computer vision company that enables retailers to create contactless, physical to digital shopping experiences. I started Jido with my friend and lab mate Jaeyong Sung after we both finished our Ph.D.s. We set out with the goal of applying our research in computer vision to connect computers (like our phones) to the physical world.

We were lucky to join Y Combinator within a month of starting the company (applications were already closed when we applied) and it launched us into the world of entrepreneurship, venture, and a community of people using technology to change the world. After Y Combinator we were lucky once again to raise seed funding from some amazing people including Vinod Khosla and our mentors from university days.

Jido has patented core technology in the areas of 3D product detection, in store localization, and augmented reality. Our team is composed of technical specialists with backgrounds in computer vision, robotics, and deep learning. Since its founding in December 2017, our technology has been deployed by the world’s largest retailers across 1000’s of physical spaces on 6 continents.

Patents

Method for detecting objects and localizing a mobile computing device within an augmented reality experience. US10885721B2 Mark Stauber. Priority 2018-09-28 • Filed 2019-09-30 • Granted 2021-01-05

Method for establishing a common reference frame amongst devices for an augmented reality session.  US11010977B2 Mark Stauber. Priority 2018-05-31 • Filed 2019-05-30 • Granted 2021-05-18 

(A1) Method for detecting objects and localizing a mobile computing device within an augmented reality experience. US20200111267A1 Mark Stauber. Priority 2018-09-28 • Filed 2019-09-30 • Granted 2020-04-09

(A1) Method for establishing a common reference frame amongst devices for an augmented reality session.  US20200074739A1 Mark Stauber. Priority 2018-05-31 • Filed 2019-05-30 • Granted 2020-03-05 

Wearable Audio Device WO EP US CN KR EP3262848B1 Mark Stauber. Priority 2015-02-27 • Filed 2015-11-11 • Granted 2022-03-16 

Adjustable Curette WO US US9649128B2 Mark Stauber. Priority 2013-12-02 • Filed 2015-01-06 • Granted 2017-05-16

Reading (2022)

Masters of Doom
The Tao is Silent
Creative Selection
Raising the Strong Willed Child
The Design of Everyday Things
Positive Discipline
Traction
Get a Grip
Three Body Problem
The Dark Forest
Death's End
The Everything Store
Get Big Fast
Socrates In Love
Silicon City
Atomic Habits
Always Day One
The Sovereign Individual
Unscaled
The Sabbath World
Apollo's Arrow
The Children's Machine
No Rules Rules
Influence
Alif the Unseen
The Minimalist Woodworker
Jewish Meditation
VC an American History
How to be an anti-racist
How to do nothing
Ball Lightning
The End of Food Allergies
Good Clean Fun
Product Led SEO
Hooked
The Art of Learning