home > News & Events > Alumni > SDM Alumnus Runs Kickstarter for Tech Startup

Jack Yao SDM ’15 is running a successful Kickstarter campaign to bring a portable external laptop monitor to market. DUO, a “completely portable dual-screen laptop accessory” produced by Yao’s startup, Mobile Pixels, was completely funded in four hours.

Yao graduated from MIT in June with two master’s degrees—one in mechanical engineering and the other in engineering and management earned through System Design & Management (SDM). Before MIT, he worked in aerospace with GE Aviation. He started Mobile Pixels after interning in 2016 at Amazon, where he found himself in real need of a second monitor.

Yao developed a prototype mobile monitor and then, working with Shruti Banda SDM ’15 and Stephen Ng of Northeastern University, launched Mobile Pixels. The startup’s first product, DUO, is a light and portable monitor that attaches to the lid of a laptop with magnets and serves as a secondary display.

Mobile Pixels has received seed funding from the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund and IDEA Northeastern. While the business has already reached its initial Kickstarter goal of $35,000, the campaign will run until July 24, 2018. Early backers can receive DUO monitors at a discount off the retail price.

For more information, please visit the Mobile Pixels site or the DUO Kickstarter page.