It's twenty years into mass adoption of the consumer Internet. As a technology writer we admire said: it's time to invent a new future.

Sight Machine is vision for the Industrial Internet. We're using Internet technologies to make manufacturing better.

It's work that requires unique technology and culture to match. At Sight Machine we're striving to build a company where the products we build and the way we work are part of the new future. If we do it right, we'll do it with level-headed ferocity and authenticity.


Team

Jon Sobel

CEO and Co-Founder

Jon has deep experience with the adoption of new technologies and has served on the management teams of several companies in pioneering industries, including Tesla Motors, SourceForge, and in its early years, Yahoo! Jon holds an A.B. from Princeton, a J.D. from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from Wharton.

Nathan Oostendorp

Founder and Chief Product Architect

Nathan co-founded Slashdot.org, worked 9 years as an architect for SourceForge.net, and has developed several other successful online communities. Nate also has worked in industrial controls. He holds an MS in Information Science from the University of Michigan and a BS in Computer Science from Hope College.

Anthony Oliver

Lead Applications Engineer & Co-Founder

Anthony is an advocate for modern web technology in industry and a machine vision expert. With his unique background in vision system implementation and open source programming, he has presented frequently on the use of open source software in manufacturing. He holds a BS in Software Engineering from Michigan Technological University.

Adam Taisch

VP, Customer Development

Adam has led business development, product development and sales in innovative industries for 15 years. An early employee at Yahoo, and a proud son of the Midwest, Adam excels at ensuring new technologies serve client needs.

Kurt DeMaagd

VP, Operations and Co-Founder

Kurt co-founded Slashdot and has served as a professor at Michigan State in information management, economics, and policy. Kurt is an accomplished analytics programmer.

Katherine A. Scott

Director of R&D

Katherine has has over 10 years experience as a research engineer in computer vision, robotics, augmented reality, and simulation.

Kyle Lawson

Director of Design

Kyle is an industrial designer. Kyle has worked as an industrial prototype and fabrication technician and as a graphic designer.

Jim Deakins

Senior Developer

Jim is an experienced front end developer, with expertise in a wide variety of SaaS, distributed vision and VoIP applications. He has strong Python, PHP and Javascript skills.

Brooks Ryba

Developer

Brooks is well versed in front and back end web development. He knows Javascript and PHP better than his first language.


Advisors

Sight Machine's advisors are accomplished leaders in marketing, technology, customer service, lean manufacturing and industry. With a wealth of expertise and wisdom, our advisors are focused on both innovation and stone-cold execution.

Len Lodish

Len is the Samuel R. Harrell Professor in the Marketing Department of Wharton and an author of Marketing That Works. Len's teaching and advising focuses on entrepreneurial marketing. Len has served as a Corporate Director of public company: J&J Snack Foods, Inc since 1992, on the Board of Directors or Advisory Boards of private companies such as Compete.com, DVtel, Diapers.com (now Quidsi), Milo.com, Notehall Inc (now a subsidiary of Chegg, Inc.)., Oxicool, Inc., and Powergetics,Inc., and as an advisor to First Round Capital, Vintage Venture Funds, Mentor Tech Funds, and the Jerusalem Global Venture Funds. Len has consulted with many major firms world wide, including Procter and Gamble, Anheuser Busch, Syntex Laboratories, Merck and Company, McNeil Consumer Products Company, the Campbells Soup Company, Bentley Systems, Inc., Merrill Lynch, the Coca-Cola Company, and Walsh/PMSI.

Tom Root

Tom Root grew up near Youngstown, OH with a passion for business and entrepreneurship. With deep and early experience in web development, IT, and the use of Internet technology by traditional industry just as mass adoption of the Web was beginning, Tom subsequently joined Zingerman's in 1999, where among other responsibilities he served as Zingerman's first CIO, led the early development of Zingerman's acclaimed mail order business, and is a Zingerman's Managing Partner. Tom has pioneered the use of lean manufacturing principles within Zingerman's, is a devoted innovator and leader of Zingerman's efforts around world-class customer experience, and has introduced and led open book financial management within Zingerman's.

Mike Donoughe

Mike is a seasoned, entrepreneurial executive with more than 30 years of senior leadership experience in industry at U.S. Steel, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz Car Group, Tesla Motors, SinoEV Technologies and Bright Automotive. Mike has served as COO at Bright Automotive, CEO of SinoEV, and EVP at Tesla Motors. At Chrysler, Donoughe served as vice president of multiple product teams, leading them in the creation of numerous vehicles including the 2004 Chrysler Pacifica, the 2005 Dodge and Chrysler minivans, the 2007 Jeep® Wrangler, and the 2009 Dodge Ram with industry-first rear suspension and Ram Box ™ storage systems. Additionally, he chaired a CEO-sponsored People Development Advisory Group which was focused on talent elevation through acquisition, retention and development. While at Mercedes from 1999 to 2002, Donoughe served as chief engineer for the Mercedes-Benz R-Class. In addition to his professional activities, Donoughe is co-founder and chairman of the Cornerstone Youth Development Fund, a non-profit organization focused on advancing the education of youth in Detroit, Michigan and Uganda.


News & Press

New vision in old industry
A software startup builds itself to work with Michigan's manufacturers.
The Internet and Things: How Manufacturing Could Get Better With a Dose of Networked Data
Tucked away in a makerspace inside a corporate office park, we found a company trying to bring the Internet age to manufacturing with machine vision. This is where augmented reality gets serious.

What We're Reading

Pivotal's Audacious Plan
Quentin Hardy
Industrial Internet - The machines are talking.
Jonathan Bruner
The Insourcing Boom
Charles Fishman
Mr. China Comes to America
James Fallows
High-Tech Factories Built to Be Engines of Innovation
Annie Lowrey
Lessons for the Industrial Internet
Tim O'Reilly
Looking to Industry for the Next Digital Disruption
Steve Lohr
With Computerized Cars Ahead, GM Puts IT Outsourcing in the Rearview Mirror
Jessica Leber
What Business Should do to Restore Competitiveness
Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin
Lapses at Big Drug Factories Add to Shortages and Danger
Katie Thomas
The Third Industrial Revolution
The Internet Gets Physical
Steve Lohr