# Maceo Cardinale Kwik

> Maceo Cardinale Kwik is a Brooklyn-raised software engineer and founder who co-founded Datost with Jason Wang after building an AI analytics tool while working at Traba. He reports that Datost reached $400,000 in annual recurring revenue in eight weeks before he redirected the company toward camera-free AI glasses. He now leads E1O (E1 Optics), operated by Datost Inc., in San Francisco. He completed a Virginia Tech computer science degree in two years with a 4.0 GPA.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at E1O (E1 Optics), operated by Datost Inc.
- **Organizations:** E1O (E1 Optics), Datost Inc., Traba, SimonComputing, Lighthouse Startups, Y Combinator
- **Education:** B.S. in Computer Science; summa cum laude; 4.0 GPA, Virginia Tech, Pennsylvania State University
- **Known for:** Completed a Virginia Tech computer science degree in two years with a 4.0 GPA; reports graduating summa cum laude., Co-founded Datost, a Y Combinator Spring 2026 company., Reports Datost reached $400,000 in annual recurring revenue in eight weeks.

## Career timeline

- **2023** — Published a coding blog as a Virginia Tech student, including October entries about an interview problem and competitive programming practice.
- **2024** — Co-created NestQuest at VTHacks 12; a teammate reports their IMC Prosperity 2 team placed 27th worldwide and 10th in the United States.
- **—** — Worked in software engineering at SimonComputing, then at Traba.
- **2026** — Co-founded Datost with Jason Wang; joined Y Combinator Spring 2026.
- **2026-05** — Described booking ten demos with a roughly $400 sidewalk setup at Stripe Sessions.
- **2026-07** — Publicly announced the pivot from Datost analytics to ED1TH camera-free AI glasses; reported $400K ARR reached in eight weeks.
- **2026** — Current YC and personal profiles identify him as founder and CEO of E1O in San Francisco.

## Achievements

- Completed a Virginia Tech computer science degree in two years with a 4.0 GPA; reports graduating summa cum laude.
- Co-founded Datost, a Y Combinator Spring 2026 company.
- Reports Datost reached $400,000 in annual recurring revenue in eight weeks.
- Datost founders reported 75.2% on BIRD-Interact versus 33% for standalone Claude Opus 4.6 in their comparison.
- Co-founded Lighthouse Startups, described in his GitHub biography as a nonprofit.
- A teammate reports their IMC Prosperity 2 team placed 27th worldwide and 10th in the United States.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Announced the glasses pivot on July 28 and discussed his reasons on July 29; planned a Shenzhen visit for the next version.
- **2026-10** — As checked October 12, his YC profile and maceo.dev identify E1O (E1 Optics) as his current company; its site offers gradual early access and has no announced public launch date.

## Links

- Website: https://maceo.dev/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maceo-cardinale-kwik
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/maceock
- GitHub: https://github.com/maceoCK

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/maceo-cardinale-kwik
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-12