There’s nothing like the feeling of knowing when you’re part of
something new. Something exciting. And something meaningful. We live in
a time where some fundamental technologies — like artificial
intelligence, computer vision, deep learning and natural language
processing — have a chance to make a huge impact on our world and
everyday lives. And for us, one of the most interesting possibilities
is how we can apply all of this to the place that matters most: our home.
02_Our_Story
The start of something big.
Lighthouse got its start in the computer science labs of Stanford,
where our CTO and Co-founder Hendrik Dahlkamp worked on Stanley,
Stanford’s pioneering self-driving car. After being on the first team to
ever win the DARPA Grand Challenge for autonomous vehicles, Hendrik
continued his work in Sebastian Thrun’s lab, where he met our CEO and
Co-founder Alex Teichman, an expert in semi-supervised learning on
3D sensors. The two computer scientists helped develop multiple technologies that enabled
advancements in computer vision and depth perception. Alex and Hendrik
saw a huge opportunity in applying these technologies in transformative
ways, and Lighthouse was born.
Stanley, the first autonomous vehicle to complete the
132-mile DARPA Grand Challenge course in the Mojave Desert.
03_Our_Team
Our founders.
Alex Teichman — CEO and Co-founder
While receiving his PhD in computer science, Alex led Stanford’s research
on self-driving car perception, inventing machine learning techniques that
enabled self-driving cars to learn to recognize objects on their own instead
of requiring large-scale human annotation. Intrigued by the
potential range of uses for computer vision and artificial
intelligence, he was inspired to leverage these new technologies
for real-world applications in the home. Alex has an undergrad degree
in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and a
PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University.
Hendrik Dahlkamp — CTO and Co-founder
Hendrik previously co-founded two companies, both acquired by Google.
His work led to the creation of Google Street View, Google Maps’
turn-by-turn directions and gesture recognition that was
incorporated into Android’s technology. He is a DARPA Grand
Challenge winner for Stanley, the first self-driving car, and was
the first engineer at Google X. Hendrik has a BS in Computer
Science and Math and an MS in Computer Science from
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany. He left
Stanford University’s PhD program to become an entrepreneur.
Board members and advisors.
Sebastian Thrun — Founding Board Member
Sebastian is the Founder and President of Udacity, a Research Professor
at Stanford University, former Google Fellow, inventor of the
autonomous car and lead on various projects at Google X including
Google Glass. Sebastian has been named the 5th Most Creative
Person in Business (Fast Company) and among the 50 Smartest
People in Tech (Fortune).
Lior Susan — Investor and Board Member
Lior is the Founder of hardware venture fund Eclipse Ventures.
Prior to launching Eclipse, Lior was Founder and General Partner at
LabIX, the hardware investment platform of Flextronics. Lior is a
serial entrepreneur, having founded multiple companies in
Silicon Valley and Israel.
Andy Rubin — Investor and Advisor
Andy is the Co-founder and CEO of hardware venture fund
Playground Global. He is best known as the creator of Android,
which, under his leadership at Google, became the world’s most
widely used operating system. He also led Google’s robotics and
automation division.
Bruce Leak — Investor and Advisor
Bruce is a Co-founder at Playground Global. He has over three decades
of experience in tech, most notably as the creator of QuickTime
and the co-founder of WebTV. Besides being a serial entrepreneur,
Bruce has had successful stints at both Microsoft and Apple.
Chris Farmer — Investor and Advisor
Chris is the founder and CEO of SignalFire, an early stage venture
capital fund. Previously, Chris was a Partner with General Catalyst
Partners, focusing on seed investment activities, a VP at Bessemer
Venture Partners and a consultant with Bain & Co. He is an investor
and advisor to numerous early stage startups.
04_Our_Space
Our home at Playground Global.
We’re proud to work under the Playground roof where innovation is
not only encouraged, it’s expected. Our space fosters creativity and
collaboration, giving the Lighthouse team an opportunity to take risks,
challenge the status quo and build something truly innovative.
05_Careers
Join our team.
If you’re passionate about creating a great user experience,
building an awe-inspiring product and working with ground-breaking
AI technology, you’ll fit right in.
