Joseph Nelson '12

Joseph Nelson is a founder, software engineer, and educator best known as the cofounder and CEO of Roboflow, a leading platform that democratizes visual AI. Roboflow has scaled to support over a million developers and more than half of the Fortune 100, securing over $63M in funding from investors including Y Combinator, Craft Ventures, GV (Google Ventures), and pioneers like Sam Altman (OpenAI) and Jeff Dean (Google). Roboflow enables users to accelerate critical cancer research, keep trains on train tracks across 30,000 miles of rail, and manufacture products that generate 25% of earth’s electricity.

 

Before revolutionizing how computers “see,” Joseph cofounded Represently (a product assisting the US Congress in understanding its constituents), worked at Facebook, and taught at General Assembly, a global leader in AI skills training. Joseph is insatiably curious, having worked on Emmy Award winning documentaries, lectured French special forces at the École de Guerre, and published novel ice hockey statistics.

 

Joseph is a 2016 graduate of George Washington University and a 2012 graduate of Dowling Catholic, where he was an active member of the nationally competitive and state-winning debate team and soccer team. His experiences at Dowling Catholic laid the groundwork for a lifelong commitment to excellence, leadership, and meaningful engagement. He tweets from @josephofiowa.