Market Data 
- Jonathan Soto-Nieves left Puerto Rico in his 20s to join the Marine Corps.
- After leaving active duty, Soto-Nieves began a tech career in the defense industry.
- Last year, he moved back to Puerto Rico to start his new defense systems company.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jonathan Soto-Nieves, the 40-year-old founder and CEO of iTerra Solutions, a Puerto Rican-based company focusing on cybersecurity and the defense industry. Soto-Nieves moved from Virginia back to his home country of Puerto Rico last year to launch the startup.
The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
I was born and raised in the outskirts of San Juan, Puerto Rico. I’m from a town called Hatillo, which is in the countryside and very rural.
I always say that being Puerto Rican is the best thing that ever happened to me. The country is very family-oriented and culturally vibrant. Plus the beaches and mountains make Puerto Rico very idyllic.
Growing up, I never really saw myself leaving Puerto Rico, but my brother joined the Marine Corps and I had always been intrigued by the military.
I decided to join the Marines in 2010 and moved to the mainland when I was 24. I was active duty for almost 10 years. I did six deployments. I was in Afghanistan, I’ve been in Africa, South America, and Europe.
Being a Marine shaped me into who I am. I developed an interest in operations and learned leadership skills. It helped me start to shape my professional life and opened a lot of doors. I’m still in the reserves.
I really liked all the different places I lived during that time. I was stationed in San Diego at one point, as well as North Carolina, and Germany.
Puerto Rico was always on my mind.
I thought maybe one day I’d get to retire here.
After leaving active duty in 2019, I transitioned into the corporate world. I worked at a few companies before moving to Virginia to work for Microsoft. I spent three years there and I learned a lot about technology and cyber security.
The idea for iTerra Solutions first came about when I was working in Virginia. I had made a group of friends and colleagues who all worked at different companies in the defense industry. A lot of them were former Marines, too.
We provide cyber security help and data analytics across several defense-related sectors.
We were originally planning to open and operate iTerra Solutions in the US. We even registered the company in Virginia in May 2023.
But Puerto Rico was calling me home
I was doing some research in 2024 when I stumbled on Invest Puerto Rico, a nonprofit that works to promote Puerto Rico as a competitive business locale by helping new businesses get established on the island.
I filled out a form explaining the idea behind iTerra Solutions and someone from Invest Puerto Rico reached out immediately.
I went to my wife, who was pregnant with our son Sebastian at the time, and told her we were going to be able to move back home. We started the moving process at the end of 2024 and officially moved from Virginia to Puerto Rico in January 2025.
Invest Puerto Rico helped us so much in getting started because I didn’t know a lot of people in Puerto Rico anymore since I’d been gone from the country for 20 years. I didn’t know the ecosystem and they helped me with networking and transitioning.
Invest Puerto Rico works in collaboration with other companies and accelerators. For example, iTerra Solutions is in a program right now which is part of the Puerto Rico Scientific Trust, which is an accelerator that helps startups like us.
I call it an ecosystem because the whole community is working in conjunction with one another. It’s amazing.
I am just so stoked to be a part of this amazing movement happening in Puerto Rico right now. It really is the place to be. There are so many interesting companies on the rise in aerospace engineering, biopharma, and other future-oriented sectors.
Moving back to Puerto Rico was a big transition
My son was born last year in the US, but I always wanted him to have the life I had growing up in Puerto Rico and I’m so happy to be able to give him that.
Now, in 2025, I’m ready to hit the ground running as both a first-time father and a startup founder.
We are up and operating in Puerto Rico. iTerra Solutions is already part of this amazing ecosystem, supporting customers in the healthcare industry who are modernizing their computer data systems.
It feels so good to be back. I missed the culture here so much, and it’s so wonderful to see all the collaboration in the business sector, as well as my family. My son has two grandmothers here to love him.
The country feels different from when I grew up here. Puerto Rico is becoming a real powerhouse and I think that’s only going to continue to grow.
And from a personal standpoint, you just can’t beat living here. I work from the beach with my computer regularly in 80-degree weather.
I smell the salt from the ocean each morning. I love to go running along the beach and feel the breeze.
You never know what life is going to throw at you, but our plan is to stay here in Puerto Rico forever. This is Plan A and we don’t have a B or C.
