{"id":301309,"date":"2026-06-09T13:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/301309\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T13:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:55:11","slug":"from-tech-to-crunchy-macaronis-rodolfo-saccoman-exemplifies-todays-compound-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/301309\/","title":{"rendered":"From tech to crunchy macaronis, Rodolfo Saccoman exemplifies today\u2019s \u2018compound founder\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

His new snack product, Coditos, is on store shelves, and he\u2019s got an alligator alarm system in the works, too<\/p>\n

Two years ago, Miami tech entrepreneur Rodolfo Saccoman walked into his mother-in-law\u2019s garden in Miami and found a tray with rows of neatly arranged elbow macaronis.<\/p>\n

When he asked Yezmin Leon about it, she explained it was a resourceful recipe born out of scarcity in Cuba decades ago. With snack products scarce, she and other families in Cuba would boil pasta, dry it in the sun for two to three days, flash-fry it in oil, and toss it with salt. Then she fried up a batch for Saccoman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI eat this thing, and I\u2019m like, these things are absolutely crunchy, flavorful, and non-sticky,\u2019\u201d recalls Saccoman, a veteran of the Miami startup ecosystem for two decades, in an interview with Refresh Miami. In his mind, two things immediately clicked: cheap inputs with pasta, oil and salt and an easy process. \u201cThen I\u2019m thinking this is America\u2019s comfort food \u2013 macaroni,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

With the snacks unavailable commercially, Saccoman knew he had his next venture. Today, that\u2019s Coditos<\/a>, a brand capturing Miami\u2019s cultural heritage while creating a new snack category alongside chips and pretzels: \u201ccrunchy macaronis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first 85-mile market<\/p>\n

Saccoman partnered with Leon, whom he affectionately calls La Reina del Codito (The Queen of Condito) [both are pictured above] on the venture, and he self-funded the launch about 18 months ago. With Leon pushing the product onto store shelves, Coditos is now sold in more than 215 retail locations spanning the 85 miles from Palm Beach to Homestead, including Sedano\u2019s Supermarkets, Presidente Supermarkets, and Navarro pharmacies (now owned by CVS), as well as gas stations and neighborhood markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all of the chains, we\u2019re selling 45 bags per store per week,\u201d says Saccoman, adding that the industry average for emerging brands is five to eight bags. \u201cAnd that is all with zero marketing dollars spent.\u201d<\/p>\n

To expand, Coditos recently closed a $750,000 pre-seed funding round that included the New York CPG venture capital fund Blue Collective<\/a>\u00a0along with University of Miami Canes Angel Network<\/a>,\u00a0Azoic Ventures<\/a> and others.<\/p>\n

Running Coditos like a tech startup, Saccoman engineered the brand identity, standardized the recipes, and designed the brand\u2019s mascot \u2013 \u201cCodito,\u201d a joyful character representing the best of Miami \u2013 using AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Flux. And by analyzing historical CPG playbooks through AI models, Saccoman avoided classic rookie mistakes.<\/p>\n

Instead of launching five or six flavors, which complicates manufacturing and cash flow, he launched only two SKUs: the Traditional Cuban recipe and a \u201cBetter-For-You\u201d variant made with avocado oil. He also rejected third-party distributors early on, keeping distribution internal from their Doral warehouse to maintain direct relationships with store managers and to harvest \u201cground truth\u201d data. \u201cWe have systems where I can see velocity per store, per day, per demographic, per chain \u2026 and that changes the game,\u201d Saccoman says. \u201cIt becomes a superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u2018compound founder\u2019 looks ahead<\/p>\n

For Coditos, the goal for this year is to scale from 215 stores to 700 across South Florida and perhaps one or two other Florida markets and also targeting channels like corporate offices, schools and universities, and cruise lines. Before expanding nationally, he wants to saturate the market \u2013 could Coditos become the official snack of University of Miami or Florida International University?<\/p>\n

Coditos is Saccoman\u2019s first foray into CPG, marking a stark contrast to the longtime tech founder\u2019s past ventures in digital billboards (AdMobilize), decentralized finance (CryptoLeague) and others. Yet, he also has several tech ideas in development, because this is the age for what he calls \u201cthe compound founder.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2713<\/p>\n

Check your inbox for a confirmation email.<\/p>\n

Saccoman points to platforms like Lovable, where software MVPs that used to take months and thousands of dollars to build can now be deployed in hours. This compressed timeline allows him to seamlessly run his five-person team at Coditos while concurrently developing other companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe AI, software leverage, distribution access, modern tooling, and network effects are fundamentally changing entrepreneurship itself, allowing founders to increasingly compound operational knowledge, systems, audiences, relationships, and execution capabilities across multiple asymmetric opportunities and industries,\u201d Saccoman says.<\/p>\n

From crunchy snacks to alligator alarms<\/p>\n

One of Saccoman\u2019s new tech ventures is WildlifeOS, an AI-driven environmental intelligence platform he is building with Noel Elman, a former principal investigator at MIT and founder of Gear Jump Technologies. Positioned as a \u201cPalantir for wildlife,\u201d the startup aims to create a physical-world system of record to manage wildlife risk, he says.<\/p>\n

Operating with a three-person team, WildlifeOS\u2019s first product is CrocAlarm<\/a>, an advanced infrastructure play designed to protect users and owners of lakes, ponds, golf courses, and amusement parks across Florida from alligator and crocodile threats, Saccoman says. \u201cImagine all these bodies of water people without fear. We remove that fear,\u201d says Saccoman. And for an HOA or an amusement park, a single alligator attack can have massive financial impacts regarding property value, legal insurance claims, and brand damage.<\/p>\n

The system uses solar-powered buoys equipped with sub-surface sonar technology and AI that constantly scans the water. A top-side LED siren alerts the public using a simple traffic-light system: green for clear, yellow for caution, and red for confirmed danger. The company\u2019s technical direction was recently validated by its acceptance into the prestigious NVIDIA Inception program for AI startups, and it has begun fundraising discussions. Coming soon: SharkAlarm.<\/p>\n

For Saccoman, balancing a disruptive deep-tech platform with a rapidly growing snack brand feels like a full-circle moment. His father was once the president of Warner-Lambert\u2019s international divisions, where he oversaw brands like Schick shaving, Parke-Davis pharmaceuticals, Chiclets, bubble gum. \u201cI grew up going to factories with him \u2026 I would see my father do activations at stores,\u201d Saccoman recalls. \u201cNow, my father is an advisor to Coditos. It\u2019s entirely full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saccoman, too, is passing business and entrepreneurial exposure down to his own children, Liam and Natalia. The oldest, 8-year-old Liam, has watched the entire lifecycle of Coditos unfold \u2013 from his grandmother frying pasta in the kitchen, to designing the packaging via AI, to discovering the final product on a shelf at Sedano\u2019s. \u201cIn his mind that seed will always be there,\u201d Saccoman says.<\/p>\n

Saccoman views his current ventures as a commitment to his home state and city. \u201cWhat excites me most is that these worlds increasingly complement one another: Consumer brands, AI, operational systems, physical-world infrastructure, venture creation, and community ecosystems,\u201d Saccoman says. \u201cI genuinely believe Miami may finally be entering its most important entrepreneurial chapter yet \u2013 evolving from a city known primarily for attracting founders into one capable of incubating enduring companies, meaningful brands, and globally relevant innovation platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pictured above: Coditos co-founders Rodolfo Saccoman and Yezmin Leon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

To date, Coditos is available in two flavors \u2014 the traditional recipe and a \u201chealthier for you\u201d version made with avocado oil.<\/p>\n

READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/a> I am a writer and editor with extensive media experience and a passion for journalism and serving the community. Most of my career has been spent with the Miami Herald in business news, and my expertise is writing about tech and entrepreneurs. I love hosting this blog for Refresh Miami and we aim to be the go-to site for South Florida startup and tech news, features and views. Have news? Contact me at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. Thanks for reading! \"Nancy<\/a>Latest posts by Nancy Dahlberg (see all<\/a>) \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His new snack product, Coditos, is on store shelves, and he\u2019s got an alligator alarm system in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-301309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}