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The “Un-Startup”

Growing up, co-founder Rob Rodriguez spent weeks building model rockets, working tirelessly on every single detail leading up to the exciting moment when it was time to hit the launch button. Everyone loves it when rockets take off, but none more so than the people who have invested the time and energy into building them.

We founded Model Rocket in 2015 to pursue that same sense of joy and satisfaction. We’ve built a multitude of successful products over the years and know not only how rewarding that process is, but also how to achieve success more efficiently, effectively, and consistently. At Model Rocket, we capture the enthusiasm and energy of a startup and pair that with the experience and structure of veteran teams, allowing our clients to avoid the hassle and cost of building and managing engineering and marketing teams of their own.

Ultimately, what we want to do is to help our clients make cool stuff and have fun doing it.

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OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Been there, done that, ready to go again. Bring it on.

Rob Rodriguez
Rob Rodriguez
Founder & vCTO
Rob’s expertise has always been in designing something fast and just making it work. He has worked in software research and development for over 20 years with several Fortune 500 corporations, including Citrix, Cisco Systems, and Dell Computer, as well as academic institutions like Stanford University. He has expertise in leading product development in areas ranging from network security to enterprise storage to IoT. In 2004, Rob co-invented the Net6 SSL-VPN which was acquired by Citrix Systems and quickly climbed to the top of Gartner Magic Quadrant as one of the most success network security products of the time. As part of the Advanced Products group with Citrix, Rob developed many underlying technologies like a neural-net based OCR, used across product suites. In 2009, Rob leveraged this experience and developed an image compression library for a startup that was acquired by Dell that quickly became a leading tool used by major social media networks to deal with the exponential amount of data flooding into their systems. Rob holds 19 granted patents in technology across various segments, and degrees in Computer Engineering and Psychology
Jon Thies
Jon Thies
Founder & vCTO
With a keen eye for simple, innovative solutions to complex problems, Jon is passionate about leading Model Rocket to develop systems that can have a global impact by leveraging his background in Machine Learning, Cloud Infrastructure and Data Science. Before founding Model Rocket, Jon was CTO and founder of Qwasi Inc. QWASI activates high volumes of real time data points for companies in a wide variety of industries. Prior to founding QWASI, Jon founded Net6 which was acquired by Citrix Systems in 2004. At Net6 and later at Citrix, Jon provided technical leadership of the mobile and Voice Over IP application gateway products. With key involvement as a Research Scientist and Lead Architect at Citrix, Jon provided strategic guidance and leadership in future product development. Before founding Net6, Jon was a member of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Lockheed Martin, Advanced Technologies Laboratories. At Lockheed, Jon developed his unique approach to solving today’s highly complex technical problems with intelligence based solutions. Jon holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and intelligent systems from Taylor University as well as a master’s degree in computer science and engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Nathan Uno
Nathan Uno
Strategist & vCMO
In the beginning, it seemed straightforward – simply write code that transforms inputs into the desired outputs. But Nathan soon learned that making great products wasn’t simple at all and aggressively pursued learning additional skills, taking a myriad of different types of positions across a broad range of companies. Along the way, Nathan worked on tactical defense systems at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technologies laboratory, built early prototypes and mature products for a number of startups, including the first version of Groupon Inc’s iPhone application, and managed software infrastructure and development at one of Chicago’s top 5 fastest-growing companies, expanding the technology team from three to twenty over the course of two years. Most recently he has focused his attention on constructing models and frameworks around brand, as well as practical tools that can help members of any organization understand how to make brand work for them. Nathan holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Taylor University, specializing in artificial intelligence and computer graphics.