RE:Re: rlefebvre Again, I won't comment directly on the subject of Global UAV... but I would like to correct one thing you stated above. Novaerial sold 6 Procyons prior to the acquisition by Global. So I'm not sure if it's fair to consider that a failure. Especially accounting for the fact that at that time the company was only a single person, responsible for sales, engineering, assembly, management, and even janitorial duties.
It's a popular topic recently; the observation that many companies which struggled to be successful in the drone hardware business pivoted into software and/or services. This is because it is much easier to operate in this line of business rather than hardware which is very difficult. You can effectively do drone services with as little as a single person, and a simple $2000 investment in hardware. And if you're reasonably good, you can run a small business like this.
However, to become big in software and/or services, obviously you need your business to scale. In order to scale, you're going to have to do many things right. You're going to have to run the company effectively, operate efficiently, market your services, navigate regulations, have training procedures needed to grow rapidly, etc. But even doing all of that right, won't guarantee you a profitable business. One of the big problems is because there are a lot of companies competing, all trying to capture a slice of the pie. They underprice jobs in order to get scale, effectively buying sales. So while they may be growing, they aren't actually making money. This applies to just about every large and rapidly growing drone services company. But tis is affecting everybody, not just those attempting to scale and buy market share, because it is depressing prices for all companies. Pricing is in a race to the bottom. This is a widely discussed topic in the industry.
The only way to break out of this difficult environment, is to differentiate your company. Either by offering a unique service or way of doing services. Or by offering the same service an order of magnitude better than everybody else. Now, I don't think I should need to say that any company offering services using an Off-the-Shelf hardware system will have difficulty differentiating themselves from their competitors. Buying an off the shelf sensor, and zip-tying it to a drone from BestBuy, and using software widely available for a few hundred dollars per month, is not a recipe for success. There are a lot of companies essentially doing this.
The industry is also facing strong headwinds because of a difficult regulatory environment which is not enabling growth and rapid deployment of technology. This, as well as technological reasons, have resulted in the productivity of drones not meeting expectations. Though it has to be said, that some expectations have been widely overstated from the start!
There are companies which are growing steadily, and are profitable. They tend to be smaller, and are working in a niche, and almost exclusively develop their own hardware and technology. Most of them you wouldn't have heard of as they are small and not public. Some you have, however. ES Aero and Planck Aerosystems are good examples. My friends and colleagues at Swift Radioplanes, and Aion Robotics, are selling hardware systems to some of the biggest companies in the world.
I do believe that we are going to see some more pain in the market. But when the dust settles, those who have been competently building a real business, usually by developing technology rather than a superficial employment of off-the-shelf systems will achieve success.
In many ways, the market is actually the opposite of what you proposed. The market drove many companies to pivot from hardware to software/services, because hardware is the long, slow road, that does not deliver results at a pace that the stock market demands. This change in mindset began in 2015 after the fall of 3DR, and is nearly complete now.
Josh Wells of Planck rececntly wrote this excellent piece:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bloombergs-recent-article-drone-bubble-burst-right-heres-josh-wells/?trackingId=E6aFO6sgRLqgA%2BUgN6OeBg%3D%3D