About Jesse Wunderlich

I'm Jesse Wunderlich — a service-disabled Marine Corps veteran, drone operator, and the founder of Nova Net Worth.

I grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, the oldest of seven siblings. My family moved constantly, so I learned to build structure for myself early. At 18, I enlisted in the Marines — not because I had a master plan, but because I needed direction. The Corps gave me that, and a lot more.

Today I live in Frazee, Minnesota with my wife Charlotte, our son Dewey, and our daughter Amy arriving in June 2026. I split my time between operating ScanEagle drones for Insitu (a Boeing subsidiary) on DoD missions and building Nova full-time.

I served in the United States Marine Corps from 2013 to 2017. I trained as a UAS (unmanned aerial systems) maintainer at Fort Huachuca on Shadow and Blackjack platforms — the kind of work where precision isn't optional and mistakes have real consequences.

I deployed to Iraq for maritime surveillance operations, completing 400+ launches. The operational tempo was intense — 16-hour days, zero margin for error, constant adaptation to changing conditions. That experience shaped how I build software today: methodical, relentless, and always aware that things can break.

After the Corps, I joined Insitu as a DoD contractor, flying ScanEagle drones across Afghanistan and North Africa. I still deploy 6–8 months a year, which means I build Nova in compressed sprints between missions.

I've started 12+ businesses since leaving active duty. Real estate, construction, a fitness venture — some worked, some didn't. Every one taught me something about building things that people actually use.

Nova started differently. It started as a spreadsheet. Charlotte and I wanted to see our entire financial picture — every account, every debt, every investment — in one place. Nothing on the market did it well. So in October 2024, I opened my IDE and started building.

Four months later, Nova had 1,290+ pull requests merged, 35 users, 72 blog posts, and 5,685 automated tests passing. It's an AI-first financial command center with a built-in AI financial advisor named Charlie. You can read the full case study here.

Clarity beats complexity. In personal finance, in software, in life. If you can see the whole picture, you make better decisions.

AI changes the math on solo founding. Tasks that would take a team of five engineers a quarter, I can ship in a week. Not because AI is magic — because it handles the 80% that isn't the hard part.

Ship early, fix in production. The first version of Nova was embarrassingly basic. But real users finding real bugs is worth more than months of polishing in isolation.

Build for your family first. Nova works because I built exactly what Charlotte and I needed. Users who feel the same way about their finances find us.