The Mobilize story is the story of our culture. It informs why we take smart risk, why we think like others won’t, why we demand a vector pointed at excellence.
We’ll start in 2019. Our co-founders, Jade and Jerry, had been working together for years after having combined their marketing and technology businesses to take on innovative solutions in the government and nonprofit space.
They were in San Antonio for Innovation Rodeo, one of the early Air Force idea contests, after having been invited back the previous year to be able to coach presenting Airmen. It made sense—startup owners know how to pitch an idea.
This was the big time. One hundred ideas had been whittled down to eight vying for their share of a half million dollars of funding.
Except really it was seven, because two Airmen—Nadisha and Kevin—were presenting essentially the same idea.
Great news for the Air Force because this meant these Airmen were addressing an issue not isolated to one base. Not so great news for Nadisha and Kevin, only one of whom would pitch.
After an exhaustive vetting process to get to the final presentation, there couldn’t be two people presenting the same idea. This meant one Airman was going home empty-handed, having poured time and passion into a solution no one would hear.
Their look of disappointment was the spark of change. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
That was the conversation with the event’s organizers that evening. Had they connected at any point along the way, not only would these Airmen have been spared their dashed hopes, but they might even have been able to make each other’s ideas better.
So there in the green room, Jerry sketched out a simple cluster map on a bar napkin to show it, in fact, did not have to be that way.
Duplication of efforts, working in silos, disconnected processes … they could be solved with data properly leveraged.
That was the night the VISION Joint Innovation System was born (though it wasn’t called that at first), because there was a need, and Jerry and Jade had the right tools and drive to fix it.
To do what no one was doing, we had to think like no one was thinking.
Today VISION is the market leader for government innovation with a thriving ecosystem of thousands like Nadisha and Kevin who can connect to drive solutions that transcend the walls of organizations.
It seems like the next chapters of the Mobilize story are being written faster and faster.
We are evolving, we are scaling, and we are making collaborative innovation the standard for federal agencies and other organizations.
About Mobilize
This goes way beyond innovation.
Mobilize is a Colorado-based product and data company with extensive experience creating software for large enterprise clients. We know that organizations’ toughest problems aren’t solved by tools—they’re solved by people with the right tools. With that in mind, our ever-growing team of experts makes purpose-built solutions for users that create breakthroughs out of barriers, collaboration out of chaos, and direction out of data.
Our nation's leaders are clear—from the National Security Strategy on down—that strategic competition will be decided by our collective ability to harness American ingenuity. Our flagship product, the VISION Joint Innovation System, is a SBIR success story now in each branch of the Department of Defense that is built to do just that. As the federal innovation community grows, that ability to provide oversight and clear understanding of where and how tax dollars are being spent will be paramount. With each new tool and feature we build to integrate with VISION as an ecosystem, we are showing the value of cohesive data and setting the conditions for innovation to succeed at scale.
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The Mobilize Story
At Mobilize, we create technology that helps people see further and go faster to meet their toughest challenges.
Leadership
Profile
Jade is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mobilize and is the founding board member of the Queer Business Alliance. Having led multiple successful SBIR awards, Jade is passionate about connecting and growing the community of small businesses that make up our nation’s competitive advantage.
They have personally created, purchased, and sold multiple companies in their career, ranging from full-service marketing to data collection and analytics platforms.
Jade is a proud parent and spouse, adores seeing people lit up in their lives and work, and has an insatiable appetite for growth.
Profile
Jerry is the Technical Co-Founder of Mobilize. He is the resident problem solver, and most notably, a connoisseur of Kentucky bourbon.
As a first-generation college graduate, he created the bioinformatics program at Transylvania University in Kentucky. Jerry then went on to his PhD candidacy at the School of Mines before launching his first development company.
Jerry has built multiple companies, products, data models, and applications. A few of his most notable achievements include analyzing, iterating, and building an advanced data collaboration model for the DOD innovation ecosystem and creating and researching an algorithm to analyze genetic sequences for HIV resistance.
Profile
Robert is the Chief Revenue Officer of Mobilize. He is our numbers and scale nerd with a rich history in private equity and startups.
He has a proud military lineage, with his father, mother, grandfather, and great-grandfather (among others) serving in conflicts that include Pearl Harbor. This legacy inspires Robert in our engagement with the military, government, and beyond in support of our nation’s security interests.
He has consulted top-fifty banks, more than twenty tech/small business startups, and multiple Shark Tank companies. As a former head analyst of a $2.5 billion private equity portfolio, Robert brings a wealth of experience to Mobilize’s audacious goals for growth and scale.
Profile
Daniel is the Chief Technology Officer of Mobilize. If Jerry can dream it up, Daniel can figure out how to build it (and get it out on time!)
Daniel grew up in rural southern Colorado and attended the University of Colorado, studying electrical and computer engineering. He left the corporate hardware world to start and grow a digital consulting agency into a global company over the next 7+ years. Daniel is passionate about growing teams and culture, and technical leadership. He brings that passion to Mobilize, where he's excited to take on technology at scale.
At home, if Daniel's not playing video games or working on his golf swing, he's probably cooking at home with his wife and son. He also debates Jerry on bourbon vs. scotch, which can only be decided over an epic board game.
Team Members
Jessica Fedin
Elaine Sumera
Brandon Sucher
Tanner Juby
James Matsey
Kayla Reeves
Beau Downey
Dan Kraak
Hannah Morgan
Fawn Hellman
Robert Cekay
Aaron Fehlen
Randy Riley
Eugene Theriault
Harry Hadland
Bryon Baranski
Fay Skaggs
Stacey Kessler
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