Shield AI

Mitchell  Weiss; A.J.  Steinlage

Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2018

Shield AI

by Mitchell Weiss and A.J. Steinlage

Abstract

Shield AI’s quadcopter – with no pilot and no flight plan – could clear a building and outpace human warfighters by almost five minutes. This was not to say that it was better than the warfighters or would replace their jobs, but it was evidence that autonomous robots deployed in this fashion could keep up with the pace of operators, serve as a force multiplier, and help protect civilian and service member lives. But was it evidence that the Shield AI team should ask their newest potential customer for a contract 50-60 times more than their only two contracts to date? Would asking for what a system of coordinated, exploring robots really cost - $50 to $60 million - scare off their U.S. government customer? No one would blink if Lockheed Martin, Boeing, or other large defense companies proposed a $60 million effort to do the same, but would it make Shield AI, barely two years past founding, look arrogant, ignorant, or both?

Keywords: public entrepreneurship; artificial intelligence; AI; entrepreneurial sales; government; defense; Shield AI; Brandon Tseng; Ryan Tseng; Andrew Reiter; robots; robotics; UAV; UAVs; government sales; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Sales; Government Administration; National Security; Business and Government Relations; Technology Industry; United States;

Language: English

Format: Print

21 pages

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Citation:

Weiss, Mitchell, and A.J. Steinlage. "Shield AI." Harvard Business School Case 819-062, October 2018.

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

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This course is rooted in the belief that there is a large opportunity for creating value and solving large public problems if there are more inventors and builders inside government and more inventors and builders outside government, building for it. The course was created to advance that opportunity. It is designed for students who anticipate founding or joining private startup companies that sell to (or around) government to solve public problems; for students who plan to be extreme innovators inside government; and for students who may lead in different parts of the connected ecosystem, as investors, advisors, etc.

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Shield AI

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