Piestro

Our founder and CEO, Massimo Noja De Marco, has 25+ years of hospitality operations experience. Prior to Piestro, Massimo was the co-founder of Kitchen United, a successful cloud kitchen company, which raised $50M in venture capital and was most recently valued at $140M. Prior to that, Massimo owned and operated PH+E, a boutique cross-border consulting firm focused on opening restaurants, hotels, and bars. Massimo dedicates 10-15 hours to the company per week.

Serial entrepreneur and former CFO of Miso Robotics where he managed raising over $85 million in equity from non-accredited and accredited investors.

Christy Joyce is Piestro’s Head of Strategy. Previously, she was a senior leader at venture philanthropy fund A Better Chicago, where she built out the organization’s impact measurement practice, designed and launched new funds, and oversaw sourcing and diligence of new investments. Christy dedicates 15-20 hours to the company per week.

Kimberly Ng serves as our Head of Business Operations. Kimberly was formerly a Project Manager at Rubicon Project, a digital advertising firm based in Los Angeles, and an Executive Assistant at Lion Capital, a British consumer-focused Private Equity firm. Kimberly dedicates 3-5 hours to the company per week.

Mike Banuelos, Piestro’s Head of Marketing, is an entrepreneurial-minded marketing executive whose experience includes providing full-funnel omni-channel marketing for brands like Samsung, Proactiv, and ChowNow. Previously, Mike was the VP of Strategy at leading digital marketing agency Hawke Media. Mike dedicates 10-15 hours to the company per week.

Buck has been a Partner at Wavemaker Partners since 2018 and founded Wavemaker Labs, a corporate venture studio in 2016. In addition to his role at Wavemaker Partners, Buck is also the CEO of Miso Robotics. Prior to that, Buck was Managing Partner at an early stage venture fund, Canyon Creek Capital, a position he has held since 2010. Buck is a technologist and early stage venture investor with a successful track record of building businesses at the leading edge of technology and in transformative high growth markets such as robotics, digital media, and consumer products. He has led investments in successful startups such as Relativity Space, Gyft, Winc, Miso Robotics, ChowNow, Jukin Media and several others. His operating expertise was honed during his time as a management consultant, working on Capitol Hill in Senator Arlen Spector's office, and as an Army Blackhawk Pilot. He holds an MBA from the Anderson School of Management. Buck dedicates 2-3 hours to the company per week.

Evan Lowell is a Lead Engineer at Piestro. Previously, he gained valuable experience across various facets of engineering through his time as a Mechanical Design Engineer at Sensata Technologies and a Field Service Engineer at Agilent Technologies. Evan dedicates 30-40 hours to the company per week.

Vahid Alizadehyazdi is a Lead Engineer at Piestro. He earned his PhD in Robotics at the Illinois Institute of Technology while working on a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory project. He was also a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Chicago, where he worked on a National Science Foundation soft robotics project. Vahid dedicates 30-40 hours to the company per week.