How We Got Started
Quantum Star Technologies™ was founded in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho in 2018. Our mission is to secure the online world through our revolutionary, patented technology. Utilizing Deep Learning, Starpoint™ augments existing cyber security postures, reducing the time to detection of ransomware and malware from months & weeks to hours & minutes.
Because it uses a proprietary algorithm to detect characteristics of malicious code, Starpoint™ is essentially agnostic to data type, allowing it to be tailored to virtually any environment or ecosystem. In the detection process, data is reorganized into a multidimensional coordinate system and then fed into an advanced neural network for evaluation.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create the best threat hunting and categorization software, using the most curated data, to defend industries against those who would do harm through cyber warfare.
Our Vision
To proliferate our cutting edge technology, founded on Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning, as far and wide as possible throughout all industries giving the best cyber security possible.
Our Values
Community
We are a community-centric organization that genuinely believes in building quality relationships with each person we encounter. We especially strive to be good stewards of our local community – growing outward and onward, but always looking back to our roots.
Openness
Remaining open to each other’s needs and ideas serves our team and community well. Honesty and transparency are enshrined elements of communication, which we highly value as a team.
Motivation
We’re motivated by a big dream – to make the world better and safer – and our team accomplishes this through technology. This begins with each team member prioritizing positive change with every thought, word, and action. We strive emphatically to this end.
Personal Courage
When one sets out to change the world, one inevitably needs great courage. Through our strong company culture, we encourage each other to have the confidence to make the “moral, but difficult, right decision” rather than the “easy wrong decision”.
Altruism
We genuinely want the best for others. This extends beyond our Quantum Star team to family, friends, and all those with whom we do business with in our community, locally and abroad.
Security
Security is our watchword. We quite literally make it our business to defend and secure those who are in need of protection. The safety of others is not only our job, it’s our passion.
Selfless Service
We do what’s right because it’s the right thing to do. True, selfless service of others is performed without any expectation of reward. This type of service is, ironically, the most rewarding.
COMMUNITY
We are a community-centric organization that genuinely believes in building quality relationships with each person we encounter. We especially strive to be good stewards of our local community – growing outward and onward, but always looking back to our roots.
OPENNESS
Remaining open to each other’s needs and ideas serves our team and community well. Honesty and transparency are enshrined elements of communication, which we highly value as a team.
MOTIVATION
We’re motivated by a big dream – to make the world better and safer – and our team accomplishes this through technology. This begins with each team member prioritizing positive change with every thought, word, and action. We strive emphatically to this end.
PERSONAL COURAGE
When one sets out to change the world, one inevitably needs great courage. Through our strong company culture, we encourage each other to have the confidence to make the “moral, but difficult, right decision” rather than the “easy wrong decision”.
ALTRUSIM
We genuinely want the best for others. This extends beyond our Quantum Star team to family, friends, and all those with whom we do business with in our community, locally and abroad.
SECURITY
Security is our watchword. We quite literally make it our business to defend and secure those who are in need of protection. The safety of others is not only our job, it’s our passion.
SELFLESS SERVICE
We do what’s right because it’s the right thing to do. True, selfless service of others is performed without any expectation of reward. This type of service is, ironically, the most rewarding.
Our Team
Discover the team behind Quantum Star Technologies™.
Dean VandeKamp
Chief Executive Officer / Quantum Star Technologies™
Dean is a former EY Partner where he led national practices (including cybersecurity) and served as a coordinating partner for public and large private companies. At EY he worked in the audit, consulting, and transaction areas for global companies in several industries including industrial technology, healthcare, and insurance. After EY Dean served as a GP with Cultivation Capital, a venture capital firm in the life sciences and technology space, and also with private equity (franchise retail) as CEO of companies and serving on boards. Her currently serves as a strategic advisor to Kingdom Capital. His experience with startup companies has given him insights into fostering innovation and understanding disruptive risks associated with advanced and emerging technologies.
Dean received his MBA at the University of Colorado – Denver and his undergraduate double major in Accounting / Information Systems at Dordt University and has the following certifications: Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Information Systems Auditor, and a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Fellow. He has remained active with charitable organization work and industry association affiliations throughout his career and currently serves as a Trustee of Biola University.
James Ward
Chief Technology Officer / Quantum Star Technologies™
James is an accomplished technology leader with a career spanning multiple domains and industries, from IT supporting military R&D and manufacturing, to cybersecurity and software engineering. He brings a plethora of experience and passion for applying novel ideas and rigorous technology to solve complex problems in the cybersecurity industry.
Paul Swaim
Chief Information Officer | Co-Founder / Quantum Star Technologies™
Ryan Miller
Chief Product Officer / Kingdom Capital
Ryan is an experienced engineering leader with a demonstrated history of working in the software and IT industries. He is passionate about Self-Service and dev-ops frameworks and building and leading teams focused on solving problems that generate positive user impact.
Garrett Oetken
Chief of Research & Development | Co-Founder / Quantum Star Technologies™
Garrett is a natural pioneer of technology, constantly driven to the bleeding edge of innovation. His unwavering motivation has pushed him into many fields of technology, including embedded systems, operating system development, app development, shell scripting, and machine learning. He has established himself as a prolific software engineer, working his way up to the position of Lead Software Engineer at another successful startup company, Safeguard Equipment, before moving to his full-time position as Chief of Research & Development at Quantum Star.
Henry Stoltenberg
Director of Data Science / Kingdom Capital
Henry is a data scientist with a background in theoretical physics. Getting his PhD in cosmology, he studied and did research on the early universe, black holes and the overlap between cosmology, quantum gravity and quantum information. Since working in academia, he now has focused on working in data analytics and AI and deep learning applications. At Quantum Star, as the Director of Data Science he leads the development of cutting edge deep learning models to solve challenging problems in the evolving world of cybersecurity.
Jake Walsh
Director of Software Engineering / Kingdom Capital
Tim Schoch
Sr. Data Scientist / Kingdom Capital
Our Founders
Discover the team behind Quantum Star Technologies™.
Jeff “Doc” Larson
Chief Executive Officer | Co-Founder / Quantum Star Technologies™
Dean VandeKamp
Chief Executive Officer / Quantum Star Technologies™
Dean is a former EY Partner where he led national practices (including cybersecurity) and served as a coordinating partner for public and large private companies. At EY he worked in the audit, consulting, and transaction areas for global companies in several industries including industrial technology, healthcare, and insurance. After EY Dean served as a GP with Cultivation Capital, a venture capital firm in the life sciences and technology space, and also with private equity (franchise retail) as CEO of companies and serving on boards. Her currently serves as a strategic advisor to Kingdom Capital. His experience with startup companies has given him insights into fostering innovation and understanding disruptive risks associated with advanced and emerging technologies.
Dean received his MBA at the University of Colorado – Denver and his undergraduate double major in Accounting / Information Systems at Dordt University and has the following certifications: Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Information Systems Auditor, and a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Fellow. He has remained active with charitable organization work and industry association affiliations throughout his career and currently serves as a Trustee of Biola University.
James Ward
Chief Technology Officer / Quantum Star Technologies™
James is an accomplished technology leader with a career spanning multiple domains and industries, from IT supporting military R&D and manufacturing, to cybersecurity and software engineering. He brings a plethora of experience and passion for applying novel ideas and rigorous technology to solve complex problems in the cybersecurity industry.
Paul Swaim
Chief Information Officer | Co-Founder / Quantum Star Technologies™
Ryan Miller
Chief Product Officer / Kingdom Capital
Ryan is an experienced engineering leader with a demonstrated history of working in the software and IT industries. He is passionate about Self-Service and dev-ops frameworks and building and leading teams focused on solving problems that generate positive user impact.
Garrett Oetken
Chief of Research & Development | Co-Founder / Quantum Star Technologies™
Garrett is a natural pioneer of technology, constantly driven to the bleeding edge of innovation. His unwavering motivation has pushed him into many fields of technology, including embedded systems, operating system development, app development, shell scripting, and machine learning. He has established himself as a prolific software engineer, working his way up to the position of Lead Software Engineer at another successful startup company, Safeguard Equipment, before moving to his full-time position as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Quantum Star.
Henry Stoltenberg
Director of Data Science / Kingdom Capital
Henry is a data scientist with a background in theoretical physics. Getting his PhD in cosmology, he studied and did research on the early universe, black holes and the overlap between cosmology, quantum gravity and quantum information. Since working in academia, he now has focused on working in data analytics and AI and deep learning applications. At Quantum Star, as the Director of Data Science he leads the development of cutting edge deep learning models to solve challenging problems in the evolving world of cybersecurity.
Jake Walsh
Director of Software Engineering / Kingdom Capital
Tim Schoch
Sr. Data Scientist / Kingdom Capital
Board of Directors
Our Investors
Kingdom Capital is a values-driven private investment firm, focusing on early and growth-stage companies.