# James Kubik

> James Kubik is the co-founder and CEO of Somewear Labs, a San Francisco company building satellite-and-mesh communications hardware and software for teams that operate where cell towers end. A Northwestern product-design engineer and former Intuit product leader, he launched Somewear in 2017 after a childhood friend drowned in a Lake Michigan sailing accident with no way to call for help. Somewear's pocket-sized devices - Relay and the hybrid mesh/satcom Node - now serve every U.S. Department of Defense service, federal agencies, wildland firefighters, and backcountry explorers. The company raised a $13.7M Series A in 2022 backed by a roster of Fortune 500 CEOs.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Somewear Labs
- **Organizations:** Somewear Labs, Intuit, Northwestern University
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Manufacturing & Design Engineering / Product Design Engineering; Integrated Marketing Communications, Northwestern University (Segal Design Institute)
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Somewear Labs, whose platform is trusted by all U.S. Department of Defense services, numerous federal agencies, and state, local and commercial teams, Raised a $13.7M Series A backed by a group of Fortune 500 CEOs including David Dorman (ex-AT&T), Chuck Robbins (Cisco), Sam Palmisano (ex-IBM), Egon Durban (Silver Lake) and Scott Sandell (NEA), Built Relay, marketed as the smallest satellite hotspot ever made

## Career timeline

- **pre-2017** — Product leader at Intuit; launched the fastest-growing new product in North America and led its expansion to Europe and Australia
- **2017** — Co-founded Somewear Labs with Alan Besquin in January after ~a year of nights-and-weekends prototyping
- **2018** — Launched Relay, marketed as the smallest satellite hotspot ever built
- **2022** — Raised a $13.7M Series A chaired by former AT&T CEO David Dorman
- **2023** — Introduced Node, a hybrid mesh + satcom device with SmartBackhaul technology

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Somewear Labs, whose platform is trusted by all U.S. Department of Defense services, numerous federal agencies, and state, local and commercial teams
- Raised a $13.7M Series A backed by a group of Fortune 500 CEOs including David Dorman (ex-AT&T), Chuck Robbins (Cisco), Sam Palmisano (ex-IBM), Egon Durban (Silver Lake) and Scott Sandell (NEA)
- Built Relay, marketed as the smallest satellite hotspot ever made
- Launched Node, the first pocket-sized multi-network device combining mesh radio and satellite with SmartBackhaul routing
- At Intuit, launched the fastest-growing new product in North America and expanded it internationally
- Somewear technology used by an Air Force rescue squadron in Alaska for 90+ rescues in ten months

## Latest updates

- **2023-05** — Introduced Node, an integrated mesh + satcom device, expanding Somewear's multi-network platform
- **2022-09** — Somewear Labs closed a $13.7M Series A round

## Links

- Website: https://somewearlabs.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkubik/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/JamesPKubik
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msGkStmPKY8

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/james-kubik
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-01