Built the product
Created the first working version of the website, with pilot and client sign-ups, profiles, booking, messaging, and secure payments through Stripe.
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Flo-Fly: a business I built in college
Flo-Fly is an online marketplace I co-founded at the University of Florida to connect drone pilots with people who need aerial photography. I helped build the website, wrote the business plan, and registered the company. We placed 4th in the UF Big Idea competition.
Add the current status of Flo-Fly (active, paused, or closed) and a link to the website if it is still live.
4th place
UF Big Idea business plan competition, 2022Under $300
total to build the first website and register the LLC2 founders
David Jackson (CEO) and Christopher Silano (CFO)The problem
Owning a drone has never been easier, but earning money with one is still hard. New pilots have to build a website, start a company, and find clients on their own. Clients, meanwhile, search company by company and often pay hundreds of dollars for a service, while the pilots doing the work earn a small share of that.
The idea
Flo-Fly lets pilots set up a profile in minutes, choose their own hourly rate and availability, and show off a portfolio. Clients enter a city or zip code, compare nearby pilots and prices, and book online. Messaging, payment, and file delivery all happen on the platform.
The business model was a simple commission: clients pay the listed price, and pilots keep 82% of it.
Photo: the Flo-Fly logo
It started with a teenager, a drone, and a hurricane.
Where it came from
After Hurricane Irma in 2017, I used my drone to help friends and neighbors in Naples, Florida, photograph their roofs. I kept flying for school projects and property photos, and later earned my commercial drone license.
In college I teamed up with my longtime friend Christopher Silano to turn that experience into a business that helps other pilots do the same.
Add your own words on what the hurricane experience meant to you.
What I did
Set up the company
Registered Flo-Fly as a Florida LLC and wrote a full business plan covering the market, competition, marketing, operations, and finances.
Researched the market
Studied the drone services industry and competing platforms, then designed a postcard campaign to reach newly registered pilots in Florida.
Photo: Flo-Fly website homepage
Photo: postcard, front
Photo: postcard, back
Photo: pitch or team
Photo
The plan, in brief
These figures come from our business plan. They are projections we made while planning, not results the business achieved.
The market
Estimated at $13.9 billion worldwide in 2021 and expected to reach $40.7 billion by 2026 (Statista). We focused on Florida, which had about 5,750 registered drone pilots.
Who we served
Homeowners and small businesses, starting with for-sale-by-owner home photos, roof inspections, and events such as weddings.
The money
An 18% commission, funded by $60,000 from the founders and a proposed $90,000 loan, with breakeven projected in year two.
Optional: add one line on what surprised you most when you tested the plan against real pilots and customers.
The UF Big Idea competition
I entered Flo-Fly in the University of Florida's Big Idea business plan competition and placed 4th. Presenting to judges meant defending every assumption, from pricing to marketing costs, and explaining the business clearly in a short time.
Why it matters for teaching
Starting Flo-Fly gave me firsthand experience with the things I want students to learn: testing an idea cheaply, reading a budget, researching customers, and presenting a plan to people who ask hard questions. It is also why I believe student entrepreneurship projects belong in a financial literacy classroom.
Edit the teaching paragraph so it sounds like you, and add a lesson you learned from something that did not go as planned.
Photo: you presenting at Big Idea, or the award