“Work with Jake if you have the chance, and want more than a developer … a visionary who can help take your company to the next level.” Dave Trager, Community Manager, Gaiam

Jacob Stetser is a writer, photographer, poet & technologist. As CTO and Lead Developer, he led the development of Zaadz (now Gaia.com), “a social network with a purpose” from a fledgling startup into one of the largest Ruby on Rails-based online communities in the country.

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Jake is an integrator and a facilitator who integrates technology, people and vision to design and develop solutions that elevate all three. He strives to facilitate growth and excellence in the people around him - co-workers, community members, friends.

“Jacob has a unique ability to manage a group of people, tasks, and programming languages with ease. I always saw him as a bridge between groups, keeping a clear path of communication open and a level head. Always impressive”
Andrew Hyde, Founder, Startup Weekend

As CTO of Zaadz.com and Sr. Community Architect of the Gaia Community, he helped design, build and grow an online community from fledging beginnings to more than 250,000 members. He managed a team of six developers spread around the world, actively connected with community members on personal and professional levels to understand their needs, worked with the executive team to steer the direction of the community and its related projects, and designed the foundations and structure of much of the current community with three goals in mind: connection, conversation, and growth.

Additionally, he served as Zaadz' technology advisor during acquisition talks with a blue chip company in the LOHAS sector, and developed several core features of Gaia.com.

“Jake was an integral part of creating Zaadz and its continued evolution into Gaia Community. He was responsible for much of what you see (and don't see) on the site today. He managed the development team while continually bringing the spirit of our conscious vision/intention to the table. He is not only a great leader, developer, and team player, he is an extraordinary human being.”
David Pearson, COO/VP Biz Dev, Zaadz

His goal: to envision, design and lead the development of solutions, especially involving social media and building community, to inspire and empower people to their highest potential, making use of more than a decade of experience bridging people and technology - and now connecting people through technology.

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