DRAGON: Building for Humans in Motion

Inside the startup building AR technology for the future of movement

For soldiers in combat and athletes in competition, attention is everything. Yet the tools designed to deliver critical information—watches, phones, or navigation devices—often require users to glance down at the exact moment they need to stay focused ahead. 

DRAGON, a startup founded by Jake Sweed (MBA ’24) and Annika La Vina (AB ’25), is built around solving that problem. They believe the next generation of technology won’t live in your pocket or on your wrist, but directly in your line of sight.

From Problem to Prototype

Sweed first encountered the problem during his time in the U.S. Army. After graduating from college, he spent five years in the military and served in a special operations unit. 

“One of the biggest challenges you face [in combat] is that there’s a lot of information being supplied to you at a critical time, through a watch, compass, QB sleeve, radio, and chest-mounted computer with maps on it,” said Sweed. “But in order to get it, you have to look down and break concentration… That experience was just something you had to deal with. There was no solution.”

Across campus at Harvard College, La Vina confronted a similar frustration in a very different setting. As a competitive rower, she relied heavily on real-time performance metrics during training and competition. But like soldiers in the field, athletes typically access that data by glancing down at an onboard computer, watch, or other wearable device, interrupting focus and slowing reaction time. With screenless wearable devices like Whoop, athletes are not able to access performance data until after training. 

The two eventually crossed paths at Harvard’s Innovation Labs. With athletes in mind as end users, La Vina had begun experimenting with an early prototype: a pair of augmented reality glasses designed to display key information directly in a user’s peripheral vision. When Sweed saw the concept, he immediately recognized the potential.

“After our first meeting, I was hooked. I couldn't stop thinking about it,” he said. “It was exactly what I would have wanted when I was serving.”

Founder-Market Fit

What began as a sports-focused idea quickly expanded into something broader. Sweed and La Vina’s backgrounds have shaped how DRAGON is approaching its earliest markets.

“The ideal founder is someone who has lived the problem they're solving,” Sweed said. “Annika and I both check that box.”

Sweed’s military experience gave him a deep understanding of the broader defense ecosystem—from how units evaluate new technologies to how equipment is ultimately procured. That familiarity proved valuable when DRAGON first began engaging with potential military users, helping the team navigate a complex system while establishing credibility with operators and evaluation teams. 

For Sweed, the work also carries a personal dimension. “Since leaving the military, I’ve been trying to find ways to recreate that sense of purpose,” he said. “It’s motivating to work with the people I used to work with, just on the other side of the fence.”

Testing in the Field

As DRAGON continues refining its product, the team has begun testing early prototypes. Initial versions of the glasses have been distributed to both elite athletes and members of special operations units, allowing Sweed and La Vina to gather feedback in real-world environments where focus and speed matter most.

Those early tests have become a critical part of the company’s development process. Rather than building the technology in isolation, DRAGON works closely with potential users to understand how the glasses perform in demanding conditions and what improvements are needed before launch.

“[I’ve learned to] prioritize feedback,” said Sweed. “You'll get a lot of opinions. If you try to incorporate everything at once, you build something that breaks constraints—something too heavy, too complicated.”

The team is currently incorporating insights from athletes and operators into a beta version of the product, which they hope will bring the glasses closer to commercial launch.

DRAGON is also in the process of raising funding to support the next phase of development. The startup has already received a scout investment from Andreessen Horowitz and has begun building early interest among potential customers, forming collaborations with fashion brands and Olympians and curating a growing list of pre-orders from consumers eager to try the technology once it becomes available.

Looking Ahead

While DRAGON’s early testing has focused on athletes and military operators, the founders see broader potential for the technology. 

“The vision for DRAGON is to be the interface platform that provides data for people in high-movement environments for the purpose of keeping them moving forward,” Sweed said.

Over time, the company believes the platform could expand into other high-movement settings, from public safety roles like firefighters and police officers to factory environments where workers must stay aware of their surroundings.  If DRAGON succeeds, the glasses could represent a shift in how people access information.

For the founders, DRAGON’s mission is simple: to make critical information available without forcing people to break their focus when it matters most.

Katerina Gan (MBA ’27) is originally from Riverside, California. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Economics. Prior to HBS, she worked at Linden Capital Partners, a healthcare private equity firm based in Chicago.