Be True to Yourself
Start-up: DroneEntry Technologies
Founder: Uzayr S.
Located: Ottawa, Canada
What is DroneEntry?
DroneEntry is an online platform that allows drone pilots to manage their portfolios, showcase their competency (like mapping, farming, surveillance), capabilities, and credentials, and allows them to connect with other drone pilots. Their goal is to provide tools within the platform to empower pilots to be the best they can be. Currently, it is a growing niche market. And the team has recently launched their BETA PRODUCT!!
How the company started
Uzayr realised there was a gap in the market. Everyone was looking at the drone data, but not the pilot data. The idea sprouted during his undergrad degree when he helped PHD students, who were working with drones. He realised that he wanted to start a company around drones, but didn’t have the exact idea. He started doing some research and attended a conference in Montreal where he was able to meet with a number of companies that were already in the space.
Building the team
Besides funding, Uzayr noted that finding the right team was the most important thing. It doesn’t matter how mature your product is because if your team isn’t in the right position, you won’t be in the right place to showcase your product. When he was looking to build his team, he sent a note out on a general Slack group and posted that he was looking for a designer (because everyone wants to start with a logo, right?!). Someone responded to his note and said he was a designer; Uzayr read his resume and noticed that it also mentioned that he was a software engineer…he is now the CTO! They have 5 core team members, including an aerospace engineer.
Before his dream-team came together, he had an earlier team that came from his network, who he worked with for 2 months. Uzayr compared it to Deadpool; he would find characters in his network and they would end up leaving because they couldn’t work together. In conclusion, you will never stop hiring! Get used to bringing new people onboard. Start-ups are always moving and changing, and the team may not come together at first, but eventually you will find the right group to move the start-up forward!
Brand is important
When it comes to brand, Uzayr stressed how important quality is. He attributes the time big companies gave him due to his brand. It took Uzayr and his designer 3 to 4 months to design the logo, which came together after many iterations.
Finding an Accelerator
In December 2017, the team realised that they needed some support to get started, so they started researching accelerator programs. They applied to one in the US, and didn’t get it, but they found one in Hong Kong…which happened to have a deadline of the day before. Luckily, Uzayr found a contact at the program through WhatsApp—and they were accepted! He notes that none of the subsequent events would’ve happened without that simple step of reaching-out. Remember, the worst thing that can happen is that they could’ve said no! Now DroneEntry has gained experience from the Hong Kong Accelerator, Centech Accelerator, and the YCombinator advisory track!
A bit about Uzayr:
His future book…When I asked Uzayr if he wrote a book, what would he call it and why, he mentioned that he is currently in the early stages of writing a booked called “The Blank Book of Principles.” He noted that instead of having someone from a different generation comment on our generation, that it makes more sense for someone in our generation to write about us! The book covers topics from dating to opinions and principles we standby. Not to give too many secrets away, he calls millennials “the confused generation.” We’ve seen a lot of changes in the world in terms of technology: we know what floppy disks are, walk mans, and we grew-up with phones plastered to walls. We also seem to think that we have more choices, but we waste so much time by not making decisions. He also talks about the idea of “power of will to figure out what we want” because he mentions that no one seems to know.
Something nerdy…Although what seems to be mainstream, Uzayr doesn’t watch Netflix. He noted that “when I see a show with 4 seasons, 10 episodes, 40 mins each, I do the math. That’s almost 1 day just sitting, watching 4 seasons and I wish I had more hours in a day to get work done.”
Biggest amateur mistake as an entrepreneur…During his first pitch he had a 24-slide deck for a 5-minute pitch. The first piece of advice he received was to cut down his slides.
What Uzayr wished he knew sooner
Emotional intelligence is incredibly important. Uzayr noted “I don’t care how smart you are. Smart people make obnoxious mistakes for no reason. Our generation is very emotional; right now its all about social skills.”
Advice from Uzayr to all budding entrepreneurs:
Be true to yourself. You must be realistic with yourself and ask yourself, if you are not going to get paid for the next 2 years, would you still do what you are doing. Have this honest conversation with yourself before you bring anyone else to the team because you are no longer just using your time anymore; this is a big responsibility.
If you are scared to jump in, remember its okay to be fearful, but try to mask the fear and continue with what you are doing, or overcome it.
Say yes as much as you can: start a “yes” challenge over the next 6 months and you’ll be surprised at the opportunities that come your way.
As humans we were made to defend ourselves, so if you are nervous to go on stage for a pitch competition, its just that you may not feel accepted. If you read more about this, you can overcome it. And this isn’t advice, but you should already be reading!
If you have a big decision to make, never make that decision on the day of. Take at least a full day after and wait. Understand when its nice to be spontaneous and when you need to be patient. There is an expectation that just because Amazon can deliver in 30 mins, you should be able to as well—be patient.
Thanks Uzayr for the awesome advice! Please check-out DroneEntry! And don’t forget, always be true to yourself.
