Entrepreneurial Insights: 20 Minutes with an HBS Founder

Wondering how an MBA can help with your professional growth? Learn from HBS alumnus, Brandon Tseng (MBA 2017), how HBS helps prepare you for a career in entrepreneurship.


Brandon Tseng is Shield AI’s President & Cofounder. Previously, Brandon proudly served in the Navy for seven years as a SEAL and Surface Warfare Officer aboard USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52). He founded Shield AI – with the mission to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems – driven by firsthand experiences during deployments to Afghanistan (x2), the Pacific Theater, and the Arabian Gulf. At Shield AI, Brandon leads all aspects of growth – business development, corporate development, strategy, marketing, and government relations – to help Shield AI achieve its mission at a global scale.  

Brandon earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and his MBA from Harvard Business School. 

Company Overview 
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company whose mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. In pursuit of this mission, Shield AI is building the world’s best AI pilot. Its AI pilot, Hivemind, has flown a fighter jet (F-16), a vertical takeoff and landing drone (V-BAT), and a quadcopter (Nova). The company has offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and abroad. Shield AI’s products and people are currently in the field actively supporting operations with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. allies. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.