At 29, Jacob Cooper has traded Silicon Valley ambitions for Brooklyn kitchen grease—and he’s never been happier.
The former chief technology officer, who once commanded a $120,000 salary at the AI startup he co-founded, now spends his Saturdays selling pizza bagels from a pop-up tent. His recent weekend started at 4:15 a.m., wrapped at 2 a.m., and spanned 22 hours of nonstop work. Yet Cooper insists this life of up to 90-hour weeks beats the burnout that drove him from tech.
“It’s a complete 180,” Cooper says. “Every customer who tells me how great the bagels are, every return visit—it fuels me. I’m actually having fun.”
From Startup to Oven Mitts
Cooper’s path to pizza bagels began at Cornell, where he studied computer science. In 2017, he and classmates launched an AI company, with Cooper as CTO. They survived seven years, a pandemic, and multiple funding rounds. But by 2023, the job had become a grind of conflict with the CEO. By 2024, both agreed: “this is not working.” Cooper exited without a plan, his only clarity being that he needed a change.
The idea arrived months later, sparked by childhood nostalgia. Bagel Bites had been a favorite, but adult Cooper saw room for improvement. He dove into Reddit threads, cookbooks, and countless videos, transforming his Brooklyn apartment into a test kitchen. He bought extra refrigerators to keep up with experiments. By his estimate, he churned out 40,000 bagels before nailing the recipe.
His financial runway came from selling equity back to his former company for $250,000 (about $125,000 after taxes). That money covered rent, insurance, and the launch of Pizzabagel.nyc in January 2025. “It let me take a few months off, buy equipment, buy the minivan, test things, and lose money initially,” Cooper explains. He’s since invested $50,000 of his own cash.
The Hustle, by the Numbers
Revenue has climbed steadily. February, the first month, brought $3,000. After buying a car in May, Cooper scaled up operations, breaking even over the summer. July hit $10,000; September reached $20,000—enough to cover that month’s $15,000 in expenses. Through October, total sales reached $92,000.
The September costs broke down like this: payroll for one full-time employee and a part-time crew, commercial kitchen rental, food supplies, event fees, and miscellaneous overhead. Cooper doesn’t take a salary; he reinvests every dollar of profit. With three years of living expenses saved, he can afford to keep building. “If this fails, I can get another tech job,” he says pragmatically. “I probably won’t end up on my parents’ couch. Probably.”
The business operates through three channels: pop-ups, catering, and farmers markets. At the Queens Night Market, two pizza bagels sell for $5. The menu features six varieties: classic cheese, pepperoni, spicy vodka, buffalo dip, ricotta, and French onion.
Newcomer’s Mindset
Cooper had never worked in a commercial kitchen, let alone the food industry, before January. But he carried hard-won lessons from his CTO days. “My biggest regret was being young, inexperienced, and too stubborn to ask for help,” he admits. Now, he embraces his newcomer status and seeks guidance when needed.
What he can’t control is the weather. A rainy Saturday at the Queens Night Market means $1,000 in sales instead of a typical $2,000. “You’re basically praying for sunshine,” Cooper says.
Scaling Up
Cooper initially gave himself six months to gauge momentum. By summer, the verdict was clear: keep going. In September, he launched Littlebagel.nyc, a sister pop-up peddling mini-bagels with chili crisp spreads, tomato-ricotta sandwiches, and bacon-egg-cheese classics.
Winter will slow events, but Cooper already has his next target: grocery store freezer aisles. He wants his pizza bagels stocked by his 30th birthday in January, believing the consumer packaged goods route is key to long-term viability.
Cooper’s not sure this is his forever career, but he’s taking a practical, open-minded approach. “I’m not going to force it,” he says. “If I’m having fun, seeing growth, and people love the product, I’ll keep going.”