Peter Stern

Chief Executive Officer

2021 - Current

Voyant is pioneering a revolutionary new category of LiDAR sensors that will enable machines to perceive their surroundings with unprecedented accuracy and detail. Our team, comprised of world-renowned scientists with decades of experience in silicon photonics, has developed a unique approach to FMCW LiDAR that leverages low-cost semiconductor chips to create highly sophisticated optical systems. With our compact and active sensing solutions, Voyant is poised to revolutionize machine perception across a wide range of applications, including transportation, robotics, and monitoring. Our cutting-edge technology will fundamentally transform the way machines interact with the world, unlocking new possibilities for safety, efficiency, and automation.

President

2020 - 2021

Advisor

2018 - 2020

After an earlier career building LIDAR systems for applications I can't talk about, I am honored to be helping Voyant Photonics work on something I love talking about: ushering in a new era of machine perception with optical-chip LiDAR

Venture Partner

2011

Venture Partner

2020 - 2022

LDV is an early stage venture fund focused on imaging, machine perception, and innovative businesses enabled by advances in machine perception.

Founder

2016 - 2020

Applying practical machine intelligence to real business problems in industries as diverse as finance and healthcare.

Managing Director

2010 - 2014

OFEF fostered entrepreneurship in the CMU ecosystem. OFEF provided seed funding, mentoring, and operational expertise to dozens of startups, and started the large startup ecosystem that CMU has today.

CEO

2011 - 2013

When I joined Bitly, the company was well-known for its powerful content sharing capabilities on social media, but it was not yet generating any revenue from its vast collection of user data. I quickly took on the challenge of creating a comprehensive enterprise-focused SAAS platform. I was able to generate substantial revenue, secure a successful Series B funding round, and pave the way for the company's profitability. My work at Bitly was instrumental in transforming the company from a promising start-up into a thriving business with a bright future.

Founder and President

2006 - 2010

At Zenbe, we were pioneers in the development of a new generation of business communication tools that were designed to take advantage of the growing social and mobile nature of the internet. Our flagship products, such as Shareflow and Lists, were widely praised for their innovation and simplicity, and they quickly gained a dedicated following of over a million users. Our success at Zenbe ultimately led to our acquisition by Facebook, a testament to the value and potential of our products. Through our cutting-edge technology and forward-thinking approach, we were able to fundamentally change the way businesses communicate and collaborate, and we are proud of the impact we had on the industry.

Founder, Director, Chief Technology Officer, Head of Product

1995 - 2003

Datek Online was founded on the ambitious idea of creating a real-time automatic trading system that could be accessed via the internet. With a dedicated team of co-founders, the company quickly rose to become the fourth largest online brokerage firm in the world, competing against well-established companies with decades of experience and billions of dollars in funding. As the industry leader in innovation, Datek Online was responsible for introducing many groundbreaking features and services to the retail brokerage market, including real-time streaming quotes, after-hours trading, decimal trading, and the rebating of payment for order flow. These and other industry firsts helped us to attract over a million customers and establish ourselves as the second largest generator of internet traffic, behind only eBay. In addition to driving innovation, we were also renowned for our technical expertise and efficiency. At its peak, Datek Online processed more trades on the NASDAQ stock market than any other company aside from NASDAQ itself, despite having a relatively small team of core developers compared to our competitors. By embracing agile development and continuous deployment, we were able to build and maintain a world-class technology team that could compete with the best in the industry. As the founding CTO and chief architect of Datek Online, I had the unique opportunity to lead the company from its infancy to its acquisition by Ameritrade in 2002 for $1.6 billion. Throughout this period, I was deeply involved in every aspect of the business, from product design and coding to data center management and team-building. The lessons I learned during this time, from scaling real-time systems to growing organizations from the ground up, were invaluable and have shaped my approach to leadership and innovation ever since.

Division Manager, Systems

1990 - 1995

I designed, fabricated, and field tested a wide range of innovative and highly advanced systems. Many of these systems were classified and were used in a variety of challenging environments, including helicopters, tanks, submarines, and other military vehicles. In addition to my work on hardware, I also developed and implemented sophisticated image processing and classification algorithms capable of analyzing visual, laser radar, and other electro-optic data sets. These algorithms enabled my systems to extract valuable information from complex and varied data sources, providing novel capabilities for military operations and other high-stakes missions.

Systems Integration Engineer

1989 - 1990

Designed and assembled demonstration prototypes as part of Sikorky's bid for the LHX Helicopter contract, which they eventually won. Wrote embedded software and system simulators for helmet tracker targeting and fire control computer: pilot aimed his head at a target, pressed a button, and handed it off to a computer to track and destroy, leaving pilot free to fly or track additional targets.