Rylan Hamilton spent years putting over a million robots into Amazon warehouses. Now, he’s automating the ocean.

As the CEO and co-founder of Blue Water Autonomy (BWA), Rylan is taking the "Amazon athlete" mindset back to his roots in the US Navy. With a fresh $50M Series A led by Google Ventures, BWA is building 145-ton, software-defined ships designed to out-think and out-maneuver traditional naval vessels.

00:00 Why the best founders never lead from a desk
01:28 The $60M mission to automate the US Navy
02:23 How 9/11 changed my career path forever
03:52 Surviving Iranian missiles in civilian clothes
05:16 Why sailors just want to go home at 3 PM
06:13 Transitioning from mission obsession to customer obsession
07:18 The concrete floor leadership of Amazon Robotics
08:28 Why choosing pain was the best decision of my life
09:34 Facing the 230x China shipbuilding gap
11:02 Why retrofitting old ships is a technical trap
12:41 Build your team like a Navy
13:15 Designing ships that solve their own problems
14:10 Why bad news never gets better with time
15:01 Becoming the Waymo of the open ocean


In this deep dive into the future of defense tech and maritime AI, Rylan shares:
➡️ The "Keel Up" Philosophy: Why retrofitting old ships for autonomy is a dead end, and why BWA builds modular, person-less ships from the start.
➡️ The Geopolitical Race: How the U.S. can use high-end autonomy to compete with China’s massive shipbuilding volume.
➡️ From Kiva Systems to Shopify: Lessons on scaling from the team that revolutionized warehouse robotics (and why "heroics" don't scale).
➡️ Deck Plate Leadership: What leading sailors in a Persian Gulf engine room taught him about building trust in high-stakes startups.

Watch to learn how a former Surface Warfare Officer is merging naval tradition with cutting-edge robotics to protect freedom of navigation and redefine the "Blue Water" navy for the agentic era.

Rylan is a graduate of Harvard Business School and a former US Navy Surface Warfare Officer. He was an early leader at Kiva Systems (acquired by Amazon for $775M) and co-founded 6 River Systems (acquired by Shopify for $450M). He is now focused on building the future of autonomous maritime platforms at Blue Water Autonomy.

Blue Water Autonomy (BWA) is a dual-use defense technology company building autonomous, unmanned surface vessels (USVs) for the US Navy and commercial applications.

#DefenseTech #Robotics #AutonomousShips #Startups #Leadership #USNavy #AmazonRobotics #GoogleVentures #BlueWaterAutonomy

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Rylan Hamilton, CEO and co-founder of Blue Water Autonomy, shares his journey from Navy officer to building autonomous warships for the US Navy. He reflects on leadership lessons learned at sea, including 'deck plate leadership' and understanding what motivates people. After leaving the Navy, he joined Kiva Systems (later Amazon Robotics) and co-founded Six River Systems, which was acquired by Shopify. He then identified maritime autonomy for defense as a critical opportunity given China's shipbuilding dominance, founding Blue Water Autonomy to design ships from the keel up as software-defined vessels. The company has raised $50M from Google Ventures and has congressional backing of over $2 billion for its mission.

What I Learned Going From Failed Navy Officer to $450M Exit | Blue Water Autonomy, Rylan Hamilton