# Joel Anderson

> Joel Anderson is the founder and CEO of ZeroMark, a New York defense-technology startup building an AI-and-robotics fire control system that turns ordinary infantry rifles into auto-aiming counter-drone weapons. A U.S. Navy veteran who went on to help scale MongoDB from a small team to a public company as a senior technical and security leader, Anderson founded ZeroMark in 2022 after an 'epiphany' driving his Tesla to a shooting range: consumer machines could aim and track better than a soldier could. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism fund and Ground Up Ventures, ZeroMark markets what it calls a 'handheld Iron Dome' - a motorized buttstock and sensor pod that make hitting a small drone at 200 yards, in Anderson's words, 'as easy as hitting a 60-foot-diameter circle.'

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at ZeroMark, Inc.
- **Organizations:** ZeroMark, Inc., MongoDB (former), U.S. Navy (former)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Known for:** Founded ZeroMark and built a working AI fire control system that converts standard rifles into auto-aiming counter-drone weapons, Raised $7M seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism fund and Ground Up Ventures, As a senior leader at MongoDB, helped grow the business through rapid scale-up, including serving as interim CISO

## Career timeline

- **Post-high school** — Enlisted in the U.S. Navy
- **2010s** — Senior technical and security leader at MongoDB, including VP of Technical Operations and interim Chief Information Security Officer, during its scale-up
- **2022** — Founded ZeroMark after prototyping a fire control system and pitching a16z's American Dynamism partners
- **2024** — Closed a $7M seed round led by Ground Up Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz; publicly launched the 'handheld Iron Dome'
- **2024** — Appeared on CNN and in Newsweek warning that law enforcement lacks kinetic responses to hardened drones
- **2025** — Raised an additional funding round (reported late October / November 2025) as counter-UAS demand surged

## Achievements

- Founded ZeroMark and built a working AI fire control system that converts standard rifles into auto-aiming counter-drone weapons
- Raised $7M seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism fund and Ground Up Ventures
- As a senior leader at MongoDB, helped grow the business through rapid scale-up, including serving as interim CISO
- Positioned ZeroMark's product for deployment with special mission units abroad and evaluation with the U.S. Department of Defense
- Became a public voice on the counter-drone gap, appearing on CNN and in Newsweek

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — ZeroMark raised an additional funding round as counter-UAS demand accelerated (reported late October / November 2025).
- **2024-12** — Anderson appeared on CNN and in Newsweek during the U.S. drone-sighting wave, warning that hardened drones defeat jammers and that agencies lack kinetic responses.
- **2024-05** — ZeroMark announced a $7M seed round and publicly unveiled its 'handheld Iron Dome' fire control system.

## Links

- Website: https://zeromark.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jcpanderson

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/joel-anderson
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-16