Over the last 35 years, Jackson has continuously tracked parking technology innovations and trends. Driven by deep industry insights and his own personal frustrations with the lack of advancements in the parking industry, he launched Propeller Logic in late 2023, an innovative smart parking system designed to eliminate parking chaos. His cutting-edge business concept was highly celebrated, winning one of the 10 grand prizes for the best new business idea out of 151 contestants at SDSU’s ZIP Launchpad in the fall of 2022. The Zahn Innovation Platform Launchpad (ZIP Launchpad) is SDSU’s prestigious, extracurricular on campus business incubator that supports SDSU students, staff, faculty, and researchers from all majors, departments and experience levels in launching their startup companies.

In addition to his technological innovations, Jackson has strong local ties and is actively involved with the San Diego Black Chamber of Commerce, leveraging these relationships to foster strategic introductions and partnerships within the city.

I landed my first software developer job straight out of college. All my brain could do at that stage of my life was think “innovation through software development and automation”. Back in the 80’s I wrote dozens of software applications for multiple clients and friends while employed as a software developer for an energy company based in Denver. It was while attending post graduate classes at the University of Colorado at Denver, that I became aware of the advantages of having parking information. One day, I had driven to the CU Denver campus and tried to park in a campus parking lot, but all the spaces had been taken and I could not find a parking space, even though I had paid in advance for my parking at the entrance of the lot just a few minutes before. Suddenly, this “parking injustice” problem became lodged in my brain. I started seeking out solutions to this parking problem. After days of searching, I could find no solution. This is what caused me to develop my first iteration of a parking guidance system solution back in 1989.

From 1993 – 1998 I worked as a freelance software consultant/developer which afforded me time and opportunity to market my new service freely around the Denver area. At that time no one was really interested in the parking solution I had developed. I was forced to “get a real job” and took a position with PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a software consultant in Los Angeles. By 2005, I had introduced cameras to my parking solution product, took a position with TekSystems in Houston and started as a software consultant for Exxon. I worked for Exxon in Houston for 11 years, before moving back to the San Diego area in 2017.

In 2018, I took a position at San Diego State University as a Microsoft Cloud administrator, and I am still there today. Over all this time, I had been quietly following the progress of the parking industry and the use of parts of my patented tech. Many parking guidance system businesses had sprung up around the country, all using elements of my initial patent. For decades, I was in search of the next big technological leap that could impact the parking guidance business, and I found what I thought was the answer in mini drones.

In 2021 I developed a technique where I could monitor parking activity and collect parking data using a drone with a camera instead of having to have a fixed mounted camera for every parking space (which was the peak of the technology at the time). Then my drone-based parking solution got its big break.

At SDSU, once a semester the university’s business college holds a contest looking for the best new business ideas for the year. I entered the contest in the fall of 2022 with my drone-based parking solution and business model. Out of 151 entries, 10 were selected and Propeller Logic was one of the ones selected. I was then invited to participate in a campus business incubator project for a semester, and in 2023 built a prototype system in one of the university’s parking lots to fully and rigorously test the service in the real world. Real world testing uncovered some flaws in the design, and we ended up switching out the drones for smart cameras that could see 5 to 7 parking bays at a time. Cloud computing provided the ability to be able to process data off site.

• 1992 – Original parking system prototype showcased at the Denver Center of Performing Arts

• 1995 – Issued first patent (U.S. Patent No. 5,432,508)

• 2009 – Started receiving inquiries about the state of the patent

• 2011 – Several Parking Guidance systems started randomly popping up in the US

• 2021 – Developed parking technology to track parking space activity using simple drones

• 2022 – Drone-based parking technology concept won an award for one of the best new business ideas at SDSU

• 2023 – Built out the drone prototype at an SDSU parking lot

• 2024 – Transitioned from using drones for capturing parking activity to using specialized fixed cameras.

• 2025 – June incorporated Propeller Logic, then began writing a business plan and marketing strategy.