Erez Zukerman

Erez Zukerman is a writer-turned-developer and hardware entrepreneur best known as the co-founder and CEO of ZSA Technology Labs, the bootstrapped company behind the ErgoDox EZ, Moonlander and Voyager split ergonomic keyboards. ZSA has sold more than 150,000 keyboards since 2015.

Zukerman's background is in writing: he wrote about technology for outlets including PC World and MakeUseOf before working as a software developer, including at the email marketing company Mad Mimi. Years earlier he had worked remotely from Israel for Tibbo, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, and that connection shaped ZSA. His interest in keyboards went back to childhood and an original Microsoft ergonomic board.

In 2015 Zukerman, Dmitry Slepov of Tibbo and other partners launched the ErgoDox EZ through crowdfunding: a ready-made, fully programmable version of the open-source ErgoDox split keyboard kit. The boards are built to order in Taipei by Tibbo staff. ZSA followed with the Planck EZ (since retired), the Moonlander in 2020 and the low-profile Voyager in 2023, plus software such as the Oryx online layout configurator and the Keymapp app. All ZSA boards run the open-source QMK firmware, and the company pays a QMK liaison and sponsors the project.

Zukerman describes himself as a small-business owner rather than a startup founder and says he believes in bootstrapping. ZSA sells only through its own Shopify store, without resellers, Amazon or ads, and nearly half the team works in full-time customer support. In early days he answered customer emails himself in a once-a-day batch, and the company is known for sending replacement boards before faulty ones come back.

He is one of the clearest examples of an indie hardware company that grew by serving a narrow, passionate audience exceptionally well: programmers and writers who care about ergonomics and want a keyboard they can fully reprogram.