In 2025, serial entrepreneur and angel investor Simon de Montfort stepped into an unassuming warehouse in Alameda, California, to meet Ricky Jennings, the inventor behind SeaGlider—an ambitious effort to build autonomous, wind- and solar-powered ocean-sailing robots. Jennings’s team had already accomplished what many experts considered impossible: a robot capable of crossing the Pacific on its own and gathering high-quality ocean data. Now they were collaborating with scientists at NOAA to determine whether these vehicles could deliver climate-grade measurements at a fraction of traditional costs. De Montfort—who had successfully scaled two technology companies and was searching for impactful climate ventures—was immediately intrigued. Given that oceans cover 70 percent of the planet yet remain vastly under-measured, he saw the potential for a transformational data business. Jennings, however, viewed SeaGlider as a philanthropic effort. “No one wants to buy these robots,” he insisted, pointing to the vehicles’ high cost and uncertain demand. As de Montfort probed further, he began imagining alternative business models: leasing robots, owning a fleet and selling data, or targeting commercial sectors such as offshore energy and shipping. But he also knew that venture investors tended to avoid government-dependent businesses, and early signals suggested NOAA might be SeaGlider’s most natural customer. When NOAA proposed a 21-day trial mission into the harsh Chukchi Sea—requiring SeaGlider to rendezvous with a government research ship to compare data—Jennings had no idea how to price the contract. The challenge crystallized the central question: Was SeaGlider a viable for-profit enterprise or better suited to nonprofit scaling? De Montfort pushed Jennings to think like an entrepreneur—structuring pricing around data resolution, geographic coverage, and exclusivity, while protecting against loss or damage. He also recognized that getting the trial right could shape SeaGlider’s entire future, setting precedents for cost, risk, and long-term feasibility. The case follows de Montfort as he weighs whether to invest, how to shape SeaGlider’s business model, and what proposal Jennings should bring to NOAA. Students must assess market demand, commercialization pathways, and strategic tradeoffs in transforming breakthrough science into a scalable business.
