After Being Laid Off From Google, This Founder Bootstrapped A Defense-Tech Startup That Has Now Secured $1.2M In Contracts

After being laid off from Google, DeMarcus Edwards decided to become the founder of an AI company.

The Howard University alumni, with both a master’s and Ph.D. degree in computer science, has completed residencies at Netflix, Apple, Meta, and Google X in order to gain industry experience around adversarial machine learning, per The Dig at Howard University. This field is focused on manipulating a machine learning system through malicious inputs to attack or disrupt their function, according to Tech Target.

DARE Labs

It was ultimately Edwards’ role at Google, tasked with creating an AI-assisted exoskeleton alongside teammates, that would spark his transition to becoming a founder. He was laid off from the tech company and bootstrapped his own defense-tech startup, Atlanta-based DARE Labs, alongside his best friend Branford Rogers in April 2023.

Within this area of work, Edwards also has received guidance from Danda B. Rawat, Ph.D., his mentor and the associate dean for Research & Graduate Studies at Howard University. Dr. Rawat doubles as a full professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS). The professor is also founding director of the Department of Defense’s Center of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, where he has secured over $110 million in funding from DoD and other agencies for its research efforts around AI security and trustworthiness.

“Supervision means guiding a student through their Ph.D. research, but mentorship goes beyond that,” Rawat said, according to The Dig. “You mentor them through other things — like how to survive in the field, how to develop professionalism, how to apply for funding or write a thesis, and even how to establish a company. All those things extend beyond typical academic supervision.”

DARE Labs is on a mission to “redefine intelligence by turning raw data into strategic breakthroughs,” its website states. The firm serves defense agencies, governments, and enterprise clients, which include the DoD and Department of Energy, as well as provides AI-powered solutions that will take information from documents and repackage it into knowledge graphs. Additionally, the firm trains new machine learning models.

“We take customer data and build knowledge graphs so it’s easy to use in AI applications,” Edwards told The Dig. “Our bet is that with everyone investing in AI, the real gain will come from how well you structure things. It’s like cleaning your room so you can find your phone.”

Already DARE Labs has closed $1.2 million in contracts.