Capturing the Game with Flyroute

Speaker A: Welcome to the Franchise Hounds podcast. I'm, um, Greg Macchia, a certified franchise consultant. Thanks for joining me as I interview franchise industry pros to dissect, explore and discover franchise ownership. Joining me today is Colin Caffrey. Colin is the founder and president of Fly Route. Fly Route is an all inclusive drone film service that helps athletic programs win more games by utilizing drone technology. I hope you enjoy today's discussion with Colin Caffrey from Fly Route. Colin, welcome to Franchise Hounds. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker B: Yeah, thank you for having me. Looking forward to it.

Speaker A: All right, really excited to uh, talk to you today about Fly Route. It's such an interesting, um, business model and um, I know this podcast is called Franchise Hounds and Fly Route is not technically a franchise, but that's okay. Um, I describe it more as a business opportunity and I've had, uh, other business opportunities on the show before, but we can get into the specifics of that, uh, later. Interestingly enough, I learned about you and Fly Route because I inquired about your service as a, um, as a potential customer. So maybe start by telling us, you know, what Fly Route does, the service you offer and who your customers are, et cetera.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So Fly, um, Route is a drone service provider business. And uh, we started back in 2017 really just looking to, to create a business. This is my, my first stab at a business. So when the, the FAA released the, what's called the drone pilot's license, the Part 107 drone certificate, which made it a lot more accessible to get your, your pilot's license and fly a drone for commercial purposes, just saw that as a great opportunity. Uh, so originally started the business geared a little bit more towards search and rescue. I have a background in that and really just kind of took a stab at a lot of different market segments. So building inspections, um, weddings, just general photography and really just kind of stumbled upon a niche in the athletic space. Um, so we, we provide drone film services to athletic programs today. Started, um, with one local school in uh, my hometown of, of Denver, near, near Denver and just started filming practices for a local football program. And that year the, the sports association allowed us to fly in game as well. And that really just created a huge opportunity for, for coaches to get an enhanced angle. Um, you know it really, the drone perspective in game is a lot like a NFL cable cam, if you, if you see that over the top of the plays. So it gives the coaches the ability to get to kind of use their X's and O's on a, on a whiteboard and put that into Real life. So the way that their coaching is now usable in film. So we're providing, um, two different things is we're providing the film to the team, uh, after the fact, so they can go in and critique in the game or for the game. And then they can also use the footage in game for their sideline replay systems. So that's how we deliver the film. And really, uh, just looking forward to seeing, uh, where, where this goes. And it's kind of the leading, uh, edge of technology right now, today.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's really cool. Uh, out of curiosity, what year was drones approved for, you know, in game use? What year did that kind of happen?

Speaker B: So that happened in 2016 in Colorado, uh, where we're based out of. We're, uh, now national. So it kind of varies state by state as to what their sports associations have to say about, uh, the usage. So at the high school level, we have to work closely with the sports associations. Uh, currently at the collegiate level, there's not a policy in place that allows for in game drone usage. Um, and particularly the FAA mandates that for Division 1, um, schools that you're. You're unable to use the technology. So we're hoping that changes in the future that really kind of sheds some light on where we're at in the evolution of this technology. And it is a little bit, maybe ahead of its time, but, uh, we're seeing a great market and we are able to build a sustainable business off of it, particularly in the Denver market and we have a few other markets that we've opened. Nashville and, and Pittsburgh.

Speaker A: Very cool. So I guess for, for those who are trying to picture this, historically, you know, high school football is filmed from the press box, typically. Right. There's some type of camera up there, and it's, it's probably not a great angle, but, um, this drone perspective really opens things up. Right. It's almost like looking down at a chessboard, if you can imagine. Right. So that's. That's kind of the. What you're replacing. Right. Is this old. And, you know, I'm 50 and I remember our high school coaches would physically drive and meet the opposing coach somewhere and they would trade film, they would hand it off. It was like reel to reel. I mean, and this isn't that long ago. Right. This is in the 90s and we would watch those, you know, reel to reel. So this has really come a long way. And I'm sure coaches, um, and athletic departments are super excited about this. This view and offering is. Is. Is that right?

Speaker B: Yeah, they really are. And you know, I, I grew up as a, as a baseball guy and I don't think I ever watched one lick of film, uh, throughout my, my quote unquote high school career. So to, to jump.

Speaker A: You're lucky.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, There's a lot of things I probably didn't want to see in there. Uh, so better off that way.

Speaker A: But remember slinking down in the seat on Mondays during film review?

Speaker B: Oh my gosh. Yeah, yeah. But man, what a powerful tool. I mean you hear one thing from a coach and then when you see it on film, there's no, there's no arguing, you know, what the situation was, was like, oh, I can't, I can't deny that, you know, I really screwed up my, my positioning or, or you know, um, my route. So working into the football world, you know, I, I, I learned a lot initially when we started doing this, but gosh, these teams, you know, live and die by the film and if, if their film quality isn't up to, to snuff, it's really hard to coach, um, and draft out. You know, what the teams are doing is they're, they're pulling film from their opponents for their upcoming week's games and they're analyzing everything that they're doing and building a strategy off of that. So if they can't uh, properly see what their team's doing, you know, you, you alluded uh, to it as well is, is that the historic view that the teams were getting was from a press box angle, which is a camera just on the 50 yard line, kind of looking at the player sides. And if they did have an end zone angle, it was usually maybe on like a 10 to 20 foot tower, maybe 30 foot tower. That's you know, all the way off and behind the end zone. And all you can really see from that perspective is the players backs. So you're not seeing the opposite end of the field. You're not really seeing proper spacing, you're not getting a full view of the routes that the athletes, uh, are using downfield. Um, a lot of our teams really at this point, they're foregoing any other film angle, any other technology that they had, and they're just using the drone film specifically, uh, to teach off of and kind of expanding on that a little further too. It really provides a great opportunity to the athletes. And I didn't really see this, um, going into this space initially, but it's providing the athletes the ability to compete and play at higher levels. So they're using this film to Send off to college recruiters and um, you know, they're getting enhanced coaching so their performance is better. Um, but you know, recruiters are loving this tape too, which is a great value add for, for uh, the drone perspective for sure.

Speaker A: Yeah, I was going to mention that I really, uh, as a benefit to the athlete and not even on the recruiting and you know, that front, but more on using it as a teaching tool. I mean, you know, everyone learns differently but you know, I've got teens and I think now with so much video that kids really, video, uh, is a great way for kids to learn. It seems like it really resonates with kids. So for them to be able to see, you know, from that perspective straight down exactly what they're doing in the spacing. And you know, no one really, uh, you know, from that sideline view, as you can imagine, you can't, you know, you might not be able to see the tackle on the opposite side of the field. Right. Exactly what he does. But um, with this view you can. So I imagine it's a, it's a great teaching tool as well, which is really cool for the kids.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it really is. And you know, from the coach's perspective, um, I didn't touch on this earlier but you know what we provide is that drone film service. So we have a drone pilot come out and they handle all the regulatory side of things for the um, drone pilot licensing, we have the insurance, all the equipment, uh, the integration with the sideline replay and kind of tacking on to what you mentioned there, that it's a great tool for the athletes, what these teams are doing. And it's just amazing the technology that the teams have nowadays, uh, these sideline replay systems, they're basically, each team is creating a local network on the field where they can tie in their iPads to the WI fi signal. And they're getting both the drone view in game, um, and then if they also have a press box view, they can get that as well. So coaches are bringing after a um, offensive drive, maybe um, after a scoring drive or after, you know, fourth down punt, they're bringing the offensive team off the field and they're showing them exactly what they ran, you know, two minutes earlier and saying, here's exactly why this play didn't work out. They can draw on the iPads and they're getting that full perspective from over the top with the drone. So yeah, innovation. And then, you know, if your opponent has it and you don't, you don't want to be that guy that's left behind. So it kind of creates this inherent, uh, demand, uh, just from a competitive nature for our services that you just don't want to be left in the dust anymore and not have the tools you need to coach properly.

Speaker A: Yeah, no, that's really cool. And I think everyone can kind of picture that, right. You see it on Sundays at NFL games when they're huddled around an iPad or a tablet and they're, you know, they're, they're breaking down the previous series or drive. So this is super cool and I, and I want to come back to kind of more details about fly route. But one thing I always like to ask founders and I'm fascinated by it is just a little bit about. More about your background. And you mentioned some of the other, uh, industries or applications you considered, whether it was search and rescue or you know, real estate needs. And it's exciting because this is such a kind of cutting edge technology. It's just, it's just very new. Right. Like, so you're kind of on the forefront of figuring out ways to, to use this technology in different applications in the business world. And obviously, um, you know, you went the, the athletics path. But what's, what's your background? Were you, were you a pilot or just a hobbyist interested in drones? Tell us just a little bit about that.

Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. So my background really kind of stems in is gear centered around my, my love and passion for aviation. So I have uh, early childhood memories of going out to Centennial, uh, airport out here in Denver and they had uh, a, uh, restaurant that, that my family would take me to. And you could just hear the blast of the jet engines and you could smell the jet fuel out there on the Runway. And I was probably about 6, 7 years old when I first experienced that. And I was like, holy cow. I got a, I got, I've got, got to work in this industry in some way. So initially started out wanting to become a pilot and had worked through various youth organizations such as Civil, uh, Air Patrol, which is, it was auxiliary of the Air Force. And um, had done that um, for a time throughout high school and then ultimately went on to get my degree in aviation management. Um, so I learned kind of early on, you know, I, I liked flying and I thought it could be a really great fun hobby. But I, I've heard so many experiences where when you turn your passion into a business, you know, it can go well, but it can also can also kind of deter you from, from doing that. And I saw the lifestyle and the pilots schedules and I was like, holy cow. This is really something that uh, um, it can, it can hinder family life, home life. Um, I've always liked business and, and I, I didn't really see an avenue to where I could have a thriving business and be a pilot at the same time. So I opted to go the aviation management route. So I graduated with that degree program and at the time drones weren't even on the radar, so there was no program that you could take. Um, you know there, there were some, some applications out there of drones being used. This is back in about uh, 2011, 2020, uh, 12 timeframe. So I worked through the private aviation route. So my background, I worked from fueling and towing aircraft out at private airports to, to working operations and sales. So I was the guy who was scheduling pilots, scheduling aircraft. Um, worked in that for about 11 years. So it really gave me a good background of seeing kind of the center, brain trust of an organization. When you're working in operations because you're working with management, you're working with maintenance, pilot crew, with the customers and connecting all those pieces together to make a viable flight operation work. So that really gave me a great background into stepping into what I'm doing today. And um, that's kind of what led me into the, the drone route, um, is having that aviation background and just um, I've always had an affinity for the Wright brothers. I have a picture behind me of the Wright brothers and I kind of feel like we're, we're in the Wright brothers, uh, quote unquote era with drones today. And it's just an exciting place to be because it's so cutting edge and you know, the world is our oyster. We can kind of make of it as we wish with uh, the new technology coming about.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's, that's really cool. I always kind of love to hear uh, background and what kind of sent you down this path and you. And I had talked offline a little bit, but my 15 year old son is really interested and passionate about drones and doing some cool things and I'm so excited for him just because I think it's um, like you said, you're kind of at the forefront of where this industry is going and all the applications. So I think it's uh, I'm cool. He's kind of latched onto that and has a passion for it. Um, so, so tell us, after establishing it locally and you know, having, having a, you know, successful business, what led you to think about offering this to other markets as a, as a business Opportunity.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's really about six to six years into the process where um, you know, we created so much value and then we also made so many mistakes along the way and, and um, and then, and then really just kind of seeing opportunities in other markets. We've gone to national coaching conferences and other coaches have come to us and say gosh, if you could do this and in our state or our area, we would just love to have this offering. It makes so much sense for us and really in order to scale that there needed uh, to be a mechanism for us to be able to, to grow and, and to really create a uh, win win scenario to where you know, the whoever uh, is operating in, in that territory, they have a backbone and an incentive model that's going to be really lucrative and also um, supportive. So what we opted to do is to um, go the equity partnership route, which really gives us the ability to kind of provide that business in a box. So it's a quote unquote franchise like model, but we don't necessarily control exactly how the operations are run. So uh, that really just gives us the ability to bring a partner on board. We provide them with the tools and assets that they can use and deploy. But then there's no, there's no requirement on like who they work with and when they work, anything like that. So that's, that's kind of how we can, can work that, that structure. But yeah, it's, it's really um, exciting opportunity to be able to, to partner with people. I think what I'm most excited about is, is having just a collaborative model to where you know, the best idea wins. So we can always, you know, learn from the experiences we've had in the Denver market for the last, last uh, six years. Or we can take from what we've learned in the Nashville market for the last couple years and, and really just you know, collaborate with each other and just help each other grow and uh, find our own version of success.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's, that's cool. And I guess just to, to give listeners a little overview, I. Franchising is very specific. It's regulated at the federal level and there's you know, certain boxes that the franchisor or the company that wants to bring this national needs to check. Um, and I, and I think going the business opportunity or the equity partner route allows you more flexibility for sure. The other thing which um, probably makes it a good fit is that unlike you know, maybe power washing or carpet cleaning franchises, you know, each state regulates its drone usage differently and Maybe even each school district or athletic conference or whatever it is. Right. So for the local operator to be able to kind of navigate that, uh, to your point, with whatever fits their local situation best is probably, you know, really, really beneficial. So I could, I could see that model working well under this relationship, I guess. What do you, you know, supply the business partner and in return, what do you get from them? And I like to use that term business in a box, because I use that as well. And I think you're right. Like what, you know, in a franchise or typically in these business opportunities, what the partner is getting is, is this six years or eight years of learning. Right. That, you know, good and bad that you've experienced and you're compressing that. And that's really what they're buying. Right. And, and you, you can give that to them in a couple of weeks of training. Right. As opposed to them learning the hard way. So I guess just a little bit about how the relationship is structured.

Speaker B: Sure, yeah. And just going back real quick to something you had mentioned about each state being unique is that we did audit all 50 states for their sport, High School Sports association and their drone policies. And currently where we stand is about 50 to 60% of states allow in game drone usage. Um, and then also markets do vary depending on kind of where they're more, um, what, what sports are more heavily supported from booster clubs. So like for example, I mean, football across the board is, is pretty huge at the high school level, you know, from coast to coast. But, um, another market that we serve is, is lacrosse, for example. So lacrosse maybe isn't as big in the Midwest region, but it is huge on the east coast region. So, you know, there's, there's opportunities to kind of expand into different sport niches. Um, you know, rugby and soccer could really benefit from, from the angle we've done some collegiate, like women's soccer, um, and that's really a huge tool. So I just wanted to, to point that out.

Speaker A: But yeah, thank you for sharing. That's interesting.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, but yeah, to, to address your question about kind of what the. A service partner gets from us. Um, so really we, we want the relationship to, to be one where we have a shared interest in the mission. And our mission is really to provide, uh, innovative, uh, or visionary athletic programs and enable them to win more by utilizing drone technology. So we also have, you know, core values of integrity and provide unmatched service and product and then also develop professional drone pilots, um, and really just have someone have a drive to win and to prioritize aviation safety. So these are things where you know, we have that initial conversation, we just kind of make sure all those things are in line and that uh, we're all kind of working towards the same, same direction. And once we establish that and we kind of work, work towards onboarding the service partner, we have a 90 day program to where we will get them up and running with their uh, business development tools, their uh, their training and certification. So they would need to get their drone pilot's license. Uh, currently that's a, um, a license that goes through the FAA. It's $170 good for two years and then it's free to renew it every two years and each pilot is required to have that. And then we provide you know, all the, all the, the tools and resources with the equipment. So there's very specific equipment that's needed provide this level of service. Uh, ones that um, have really high def 1080p4k quality film, uh, 40 minutes of flight time for the drone can integrate with the sideline replay system. So we provide you know, those resources. Um, and we have wholesale deals where we can get better pricing on equipment, economies of scale. So as we, as we purchase more equipment, we can get better deals that way. Um, as a brand and then just you know, marketing brand support, we really want to be able to provide, you know, a national, national uh, coverage and opportunities for, for fly routes. So um, that means attending local conferences. Each state has coaching conferences that we attend. So uh, when people know us on a broader scale, people travel from, coaches will travel out of state, you know, to go to these things. And if they've heard about us from social media or you know, email campaigns, things like that, then it's just going to create that, that broader network and awareness of what we provide. And then you know, also the, the, the tech support side of things is, is huge. And, and um, software solutions. So we have, you know, it becomes less of hey, I'm the guy going out to fly and more of how do we proficiently manage this schedule? Um, you brought it up earlier, you know, home services. I could maybe say this process might be a little similar to that in the sense of in a, in a, any given Friday night in the fall, we have about 35, 40 pilots going 35, 40 different directions. And it becomes less about, you know, how do I as a, as a owner fly proficiently and more about how do I manage all of this. So that support has been, been pivotal. Um, and we really built out a training program that's going to provide all those tools and assets. Um, when I started doing this on my own in 2017, I was like, you know, just hair on fire and like you know, relationship was, was suffering and I'm like I need help, I need support. I can't do this all on my own. And uh, um, so I'm excited to, to not allow someone else to go through that experience and be there to support them. So that's a meaningful thing for us.

Speaker A: No, for sure. And then is it um, is it some type of revenue share with corporate? Is that um, in exchange for uh, what you provide that the local owner or local partner there's some type of revenue share with corporate? Is that kind of how it's structured?

Speaker B: It is. So, so what we have set up is a, we have to maintain as, as flat the fly route brand majority ownership of, of each location. So just for voting purposes so that if there is a um, discrepancy across the board that we can have a ah, means to, to effectively resolve that. So that's why, why we've done that. But the, the split is a initial 60, 30 split. The minority um, equity partner would have that 30 share and then we have a 10% on reserve so that that person that we bring on board can bring in an operational partner. You know, one of the things I learned in, in this market is that uh, as good as you think you might be at all different proficiencies as far as you know, sales, business development and then the operations, everyone has a strength and, and everyone's you know, got a weakness. So we, we're telling our, our service uh partners that are coming on board, this 10%'s held in reserve for you to bring on. If your skill set is sales and you're, and you are a visionary type of person, let's hold that 10% for year two or three where we can bring on an operational person who's more of the integrator type of person, the CEO. And then um, those two sides of the coin can kind of work together in that new location. But yeah, to answer your question, that's the, the 6030 split is the initial, initial split. Um, and then our goal from a profit perspective is to get our service partner the salary that they need to go in at this full time as quickly as possible. So we forecast by year two their investment into this would be fully covered based on the revenue. And then looking into year three is when they could really forecast depending on what their salary requirement is, they could go at this full time. And then once we hit, um, 200,000 in gross revenue. That's where the, the profit sharing starts to activate. So we're not really, you know, we're in this to get them up to speed as quickly as possible and go at this full time. And then once we get to that point, then, then we'll look into a profit share. Um, so, you know, we're, we're more looking at this at the enterprise value level than, than trying to make a quick buck.

Speaker A: Sure. Yeah. No, this is, this is really a true partnership. Right. Like, you're really in your partners with these people. I know in franchising, you know, they, they say it, but in reality you guys are actually partners, so that's really cool. And I could see how you're in it, you know, for the, for the long haul. And it's important for you to find the right people. Um, just, just real quick. And I, and I know I mentioned that I initially reached out, like, on behalf of my son's high school football team. The coach asked me to reach out. Can you just talk a little bit about the, um, economics as far as what it looks like for a team to hire you just so people can get a sense of the numbers?

Speaker B: Yeah. So, you know, would we bring a team on board? The value that we provide can go, uh, really two ways is, is that a team can either hire us to provide the drone film service. So we will bring the, the pilot, the equipment, the legal certifications, everything that the team needs so that pilot will follow them for all the home and away games. We'll reach out, we'll audit the airspace, make, uh, sure we're compliant with FAA regulations. We'll reach out to the away school and get their, uh, authorization for us to fly as well. And then in return for that authorization, we'll exchange that film to the away team. And then from a budgeting standpoint, what we tell teams to budget for, for this service is year one, um, 7,000 for 10, 10 home and away games plus a scrimmage. And then year two and beyond that price drops, the equipment fee drops in half. So year two and beyond, we tell teams to budget for 5,500. And, um, if you were to go out and buy the, all the drone equipment that you would need and try to go at this yourself, you know, the equipment alone is $4,000. So, you know, year one, we're operating more in the red and we're really in this to build a long term sustainable relationship with the schools. Once they get a taste of the service, they're you know, our attrition is really low. I mean we see maybe 2 to 3% of teams drop out if there's like a budgeting issue. Um, so once we, you know, get in with the teams, it's hard for them to kind of break away because um, they become reliant on us. And so that's, that's been really great from a growth perspective is that we, we don't see um, too much churn in that sense. But and then the other offering that we provide, so if there's a rural school that lives out in you know, western Kansas or something like that, and they're like, we could really benefit from this drone technology. But I know you don't have the bandwidth to, or the support to be able to um, have a drone service in that area. We provided a online training program that's a one time $450 and it will get someone who knows nothing about drones up and running to be able to do this um, on their own in 14 days. So it would get them their drone service or their drone license would train them on how to film practices, how to use, manage the equipment. Um, and then you have access to that online training for life. So if that student or parent goes away or they graduate, then you'll have that resource to train the next person quickly. And that's really geared more towards filming for practices. We tell teams there's a whole other set of things to consider when you're filming games because it's a higher risk operation. You've got fans in the stands, you've got all kinds of people and you don't want to probably run that risk. So we steer teams more towards hiring a professional service with games, even if it's not us. Uh, um, but having a student out there at practices is low risk and very, very doable.

Speaker A: Yeah, everyone's got helmets on below it usually, right?

Speaker B: Yeah. If you're going to crash anywhere, crashing on a football player is not the worst thing in the world.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's really cool you offer that service. Uh, one, it's an additional revenue stream and I could see it being very valuable to a school like you mentioned. And then two, it's important for you to kind of, because you're on the cutting edge here to professionalize this industry. Right. The last thing you need to happen is there to be, you know, unrelated to fly route, someone doing this on their own, there to be an accident or some incident, you know, that gets a lot of press, you know, and then all of a sudden School districts are reevaluating, you know, having drones flying above football fields because of the crowds. Right. So it is, it's a super valuable service for you to provide and kind of educate uh, people on best practices and safety and that sort of thing. So that's, that's cool. Could you mention a, uh, you know, you mentioned Nashville and Pittsburgh I think are your two other, you know, kind of affiliate markets. But um, are there other markets that you really want to get into? Um, I imagine it's you know, Friday night light territory. Right. So this, what we, what we think about these uh, these big high school football areas, whether it's you know, Texas or Arkansas or you know, Mississippi, places like that, are those areas that uh, are kind of ripe for growth.

Speaker B: They really are, yeah. And, and uh, you know, the, I think the biggest opportunity states that we see are probably like California and Texas. Um, and unfortunately both of those locations don't allow for, for in game drone usage at this point in time, which is just amazing. It blows my mind because.

Speaker A: Well, yeah, that's, that's shocking. I would have thought Texas would have been all over. Huge, right?

Speaker B: Yeah, huge. But they're trending the right way. So just this year they, they actually for the first time ever are now allowing in game drone usage. So I think they're kind of trending in the direction of, of being more open to technology and seeing this as being an asset to the, to the athletes and coaches. Um, rather than that, you know, old way of thinking. This is how we've always done things. We don't want to change anything, but we see, yeah, a lot of growth opportunity in the Southern states. Florida does allow for in game drone usage. So we've got our eyes on that. If, if there's anyone out there listening in Florida, we love to talk to you. And then, and then, um, you know, um, we've got. Georgia is a great opportunity. Alabama, um, is huge. And then even just really anything in the Midwest. So Ohio, um, Michigan, a lot of these states in the Midwest do allow for in game drone usage. So yeah, would really welcome those conversations in those uh, in those areas. And then we're hoping in the next five to six years that 100% of states allow for this. We're working with national um, sports associations to advocate for this. So that's really going to help everyone together from a brand perspective kind of uplift the um, this technology. And as soon as these markets open, we're going to be quick on the draw to, to open up our services in those Areas.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's actually kind of cool where you get to kind of, you know, I know you've been at this for a while, but, you know, work out the kink still. Right. As opposed to the whole country being open and then really have things buttoned up and dialed in. And then when they do open, you can be like, hey, we're the experts at this and we've been doing it. And, um, so it's, it's kind of cool for that. Um, I wanted to talk a little bit about, like, an ideal partner and you know, of the two locations, like, is it someone passionate about drones, passionate about football? Like, what. What do you, what do you see there?

Speaker B: Yeah, it's an interesting one because, uh, you know, going into this there, there's definitely a couple trains of thought, you know, as. I don't know for anyone that's. That's maybe read, uh, Gino, uh, Wickman's book Rocket Fuel, where he talks about there being the, the integrator, um, and the visionary type of person. And both of those are needed to run a healthy business and to grow. Um, and so initially we were open to having, you know, a conversation with, with both of those types of people that maybe have either more of an operation background or more of a sales background. Um, but ultimately, I mean, what's going to drive success and growth of the business is having that, that sales experience. So that's something where, um, we would look towards, you know, working with somebody that, that has more of that background and the, the operational piece. You know, if, if, if they don't have that, we would try to get on a partner as soon as possible, um, that has that sales expertise if, if it's more of an operationally minded person. So, you know, those are the two things that we really want to, to fulfill, um, first and foremost. And it's funny with the aviation stuff because as much as it might seem like there's a lot to learn and there is, um, from a regulation standpoint and licensing and understanding airspace, and all of that piece is actually a little bit easier to bring someone in and train them on how to get their drone certification and understandings. So, um, our first service partner that we brought on actually has a really great sales background. Um, and then we are helping supplement, um, all of the drone resources that he needs to get up and running that way. So, yeah, I'd say someone that's, that's really well versed in the sales, um, would be a great fit to, to jump in quickly.

Speaker A: Sure. What, what is it uh, like a typical investment to become a partner. Does it depend on the size of the market or what are some of the factors there?

Speaker B: Sure. So our overhead is as you can maybe imagine is really low. Um, as far as the, you know, we don't require office space, we don't require trucks, we don't require so many things. You know, our, our biggest cost is really paying, paying our contractor pilots that we, that we um, onboard as, as 1099 contractors each year and then the equipment which is actually invoiced almost directly from, from the, the team. So um, you couldn't really even count that as maybe a cost, maybe just a maintenance cost would be reoccurring. So we really tried to price this economically to where it's feasible, you know, for, for people um, to jump in who are kind of on the cusp of wanting to start a business. But we didn't want to out price ourselves to, to where this was going to be, you know, too much to where we can't bring on, on board any partners. So being a service based business, we priced ourselves at 20,000 for the initial investment. And then like I say that that will get you the, the 30% minority, minority partnership in that. So. And uh, yeah, you know, as far as starting a business goes, I myself looked into starting a um, you know, franchise and um, looking into different business models and I couldn't find anything that was that low, you know, as far as the initial cost goes. So this is probably about the lowest we'll ever have it. And once we get our first three to five successful, you know, business models underway, we'll probably look to increase that over time but really want to make the barrier of entry as low as we can and create winning testimonies. Uh, you know, we really need our first three to five locations to just be very successful so they can, you know, speak the how much that this business model works for them and that this is something that they can use as a testament and we can use as a testament.

Speaker A: Yeah, no, for sure. And that, and that is super reasonable. Like, you know, I think I've mentioned before on um, this podcast, I kind of work out of a portfolio of about 800 franchises and there's nothing in that range. Right. Like 50 is probably the floor and that's even, even pushing it so that it's a great opportunity for someone who you know, wants to be a partner in their own business and just doesn't have a lot of CA capital. And I end up talking to a lot of those people, people who I think would be great operators, but just are uh, limited on funds. You've been super generous with your time, but I'm fascinated by this business. It's really cool. Just a couple of quick questions, if you got some more time. How difficult is it to find these employees? Uh, I imagine there's a lot of hobbyists, people who are passionate about drones and stuff. So um, is that typically who you're finding is people who are already into this as opposed to just training someone off the street? Uh, as far as the employee who's going to go out and do the filming?

Speaker B: Yeah. When I initially started doing this and it was just me, you know, serving one school and I was looking to bring on a second program back in 2017 and then all of a sudden in year three, we had a, um, 10 school deal come my way and was, I was just sitting back and was like, holy cow, how the heck am I going to make this work with, you know, training 10 different people? And I mean there's a lot of large, large companies out there that are way bigger than us that, you know, they don't even bring on 10 people at once. So you know, for me I was a little bit nervous about uh, you know, going into that, that likelihood. Surprisingly though, and this might just be reflective of kind of where the industry is as far as uh, uh, drone service and, and um, hobbyists that are out there right now is that they are just. There's so many, so many people out there that, that have their drone pilot's license and, and are understand the technology. And that surprisingly to me was the easy part. So I was thinking from a scalability side, you know, finding the right person, training them was going to be much more difficult than it has been. But we've had such good luck with working with aviation programs, um, who, you know, students are looking to go out on a Friday or Thursday night and get some cash on the side. And um, or maybe someone that's working full time but really wants to build their resume to, to get into the drone industry. And this is just a great fit because you know, it's, it's once, twice a week if they have more availability and have a bigger appetite for, for more days. There's teams who hire us for their practices three days a week and their JV and their varsity games. So you could be flying as much as five times a week if you wanted to. So we really leave that open to the pilots to determine, um, and what they would like to do. And it's just really been exciting to see someone come to us who, you know, has some skill sets in the, um, flying drones, but then give them the tools to become a professional pilot and kind of, you know, we've had, um, an example of, of a pilot of ours came to us, his, his name was ryan in, in 2018, and he started to intern with us before he had his drone pilot's license. He got his drone pilot's license and then came to us next year and we gave him a paid position, uh, to fly football for us. Did a great job. And he's since then left us to go work for larger, um, company that's doing power line inspections. So he's traveling the nation and he's flying power lines day in and day out and just loving life. And, um, it all started with just flying football games. And we've got other guys who are retired airline pilots who, you know, have all this time on their hands and want to be in the aviation industry in some way and form or fashion. And, you know, most of these guys don't even consider this work. I mean, you're going to a football game and you're enjoying the Friday night lights and the crowd noise, and you're getting to fly a drone. I mean, what's cooler than that?

Speaker A: Yeah, you got the best seat in the house right on the side on the field, probably. And honestly, it's just a cool job to say you have and talk about and people are interested in it. I know anytime my son flies his drone, people are always talking to him about it. Oh, can I see what it looks like? That's so cool. Is it hard to fly? People are really interested about it. So, so that, that's. That's cool.

Speaker B: Yeah. And to expand on that too, I mean, a lot of the guys we bring on have their own drone businesses. Um, and we tell them, you know, hey, if someone comes up to you and asks you, hey, can you. Can you, you know, do some shots of aerial shots of my house? I'm trying to sell it. Or, you know, I, I had some roof damage. Can you come and take some pictures of it? We don't hold them back from, you know, growing their own businesses. We do ask that they don't use our equipment for, you know, any of their own personal or business use. So we, we issue them all the drone equipment. So as long as that happens, you know, we want them to find, um, success as well. And, and you're right. People come up to you all the time and ask, hey, how long does that. Can that drone fly? Or you know, how far can it zoom? And it's, it's one of those things that definitely catches an attention when you're out there in the field and which is a, you know, to some degree a good thing because you can grow and network and converse with different, uh, people. Hand out a business card and you're on your way. So we definitely encourage our pilots to network if they do have their own businesses.

Speaker A: Yeah, no, that's really cool. So, uh, where does fly route go from here? You talked a little bit about other sports. Lacrosse, rugby, soccer, which I could see the application there as well. I was interested to hear about the ncaa. I didn't know about their stance on it, but gosh, when that opens up, you know, maybe not, um, you know, the Alabamas of the world, because I imagine they might bring to somebody in house, but maybe you could train them. But certainly tons of small schools could easily be potential customers. Right? Like, can you comfortable talking about future, future plans for world domination of from fly around?

Speaker B: Absolutely.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Yeah. This is usually where about 90% of my headspace lies. So my business partner, he has to reign me and I'm the dreamer and he's like, ho, ho, ho, hold on. Like, let's focus on what we're doing right now and what we're good at. But which is, which is good. I need that, I need to be reined in. But I, I really see, you know, the, this space taking off exponentially. And, and uh, we, we integrated our drone footage within live broadcast. So at last year's football state championships up at Canvas, uh, stadium, which is in Fort Collins, Colorado, we integrated the drone into uh, Altitude Sports. So it was on live, uh, television. So they were able to cut to the drone that was doing a, you know, big beauty shot around the stadium when they're going to halftime or they were doing an on field interview right before the end of a quarter and we had a drone shot and we were, we pulled away from the interviewee and then got the full stadium in perspective. So I could really see, you know, a huge growth opportunity in live broadcast. You're seeing more and more of it. If you watch NFL, you'll see some kind of cutaway shots where they'll get the stadium can't necessarily overfly the field, but it's still a really great, really great perspective from a live production standpoint. Uh, another opportunity that we're, we're looking to really sink, um, our teeth into is fpv. So FPV is first person view. Um, if you ever seen like the drone racing league where they're wearing the, the goggles and they're flying through stadiums and flying through all these markers. Like they have uh, circles they need to fly through in, in different way. Waypoints.

Speaker A: Obstacle course type of thing.

Speaker B: Exactly. So yeah, that's, that's an opportunity where for extreme sports, like, like skiing, you know, motocross, the, you know, there's wakeboarding. I mean you, you name it. Any, any kind of extreme sport that, that you can name out there. FPV is a really great value add

Speaker A: and you could, yeah, follow an athlete doing their thing in, in ways that they could never have been followed before. Right. Yeah, that's, that's really cool when you start to, to think about all the applications. The other one that I thought about just as a parent of an athlete is like, is some of the post production stuff like where um, you could maybe do you know, highlight reels or some different things to your, you know, to your point earlier about um, for recruiting and things like that. Um, and I don't, I don't know if you get into that now, but I could see there being a big market for that. Right.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's interesting because I thought initially that would be a huge value add. Um, in for those listening. If you're not familiar to uh, with, with Huddle H U D L that's the platform that we upload all the film to. They've actually, they have a, just a monopoly in this market of the, the film storage space. So you can actually go in and you can take out all of your film and you can create your own edit. Um, so the, the athletes have access to this, the coaches do. You can put music over the top of it. You can circle um, yourself. So that actually has been kind of less in demand than I would have thought. Granted it's not a professional edit. You know, it's, it's kind of a clunky software edit. But that is an opportunity and I could see that being more of an opportunity with like if you can clip in some maybe player interviews or some coach interviews or you know, teachers are talking about not just their athletic skill but who they are as a person and a student. And that would be a great opportunity for recruiting. Tape is if you can kind of bring all those pieces in together, um, and do something uh, more meaningful than just taking drone film only. But yeah, you're right. I think there's an opportunity there for sure.

Speaker A: No, that's really cool. Well Colin, this has been great. The listener would like to learn more about Becoming a partner. Is your website the best place to get started?

Speaker B: Yeah, Website's the best. Flyroute.com and, and then if you go to the contact page there, there's a little dropdown that says entrepreneur. If you're looking to start your own Fly Route location, click here. You can learn a little bit more about kind of what we're looking for. And um, we really want the dialogue to be a two way conversation to where, you know, it's not only what we're looking for but we want us as a company to be the right fit for who we decide to partner with. So you know, we, we really want to have that back and forth dialogue and yeah, yeah, that would be the next best step. We do have an application on there and we're gearing up um, at the time of this recording in May, we're gearing up for our next round of, of applicants in January. We'd really like to see us have that solidified and that's when our sales season kind of begins and ramps up. So, so that's kind of what we're shooting for. So right now is a fantastic time to have the conversation and see where things go. And um, yeah, we hope to hear from uh, the listeners.

Speaker A: That's great. Well Colin, thanks again for joining us today. It was a lot of fun catching up and learning more about Fly Route and I'm excited to see um, where this goes for you. Thanks again.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, thanks for having me Greg. Really appreciate it.

Speaker A: Thanks for listening to another episode of Franchise Hounds. I hope you enjoyed the show. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover in a future episode or would like to work with me directly to explore franchise ownership opportunities, please reach out through the form on our website@franchisehounds.com.