Jacob Tuft grew up in the SF Bay area. From the time he was in a high chair he had a fascination with the way things work. While his friends were playing with matchbox cars, Jacob was building garages for them with building materials lying around his childhood home which was under construction.

Jacob had his first fish tank in 3rd grade. When he was ready to go to work in highshool, his mom said to think of something he enjoyed and go ask if they're hiring. He walked into Nippon Goldfish Company, a large aquarium store in SF and started as a salesman as a freshman in high shool. He designed his own "wet-dry" filter system as well as installed all the new salt-water filter systems in the store. At the same time, he got his SCUBA certificate to enjoy fish in the wild.

When it was time to go to college, he knew he wanted to be building things so applied to the University of California at Berkeley and graduated in Electrical Engineering. 7 years in Silicon Valley trying out different design positions in the electronics industry, proved to be unfulfilling.

Convinced that the electronics he was working on were doing nothing to improve the state of humanity on this planet, he moved to hawaii and began to work at landscaping, massage, and construction while re-considering his direction in life. It was here that his enjoyment of system design, knowledge of fish, and newfound interest in sustainable living came together in this Aquaponics project leading to the most fun and fulfilling work he had ever experienced in his life.