How Drone Startups Fail by Betting on Regulations, Not Revenue, with Bill Daggett

20/10/2025 9 min

Listen "How Drone Startups Fail by Betting on Regulations, Not Revenue, with Bill Daggett"

Episode Synopsis

Unlock millions in ROI from your enterprise drone program.Our FREE Enterprise Drone Program Maturity Assessment benchmarks your program against best practices and reveals the strategic initiatives needed to scale.Get your free assessment now! 👉 https://bit.ly/droneprogram-maturity-assessment—————————————In this micro-podcast episode, live from the Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, host Jason San Souci of the Dawn of Drones podcast is joined by his distinguished guest, Bill Daggett, President, Founder, Co-founder, Grand Poobah, and CEO of Delta Advisory Group. The two discuss the current resurgence and positive momentum in the drone industry, as well as the critical pitfalls that are still causing drone companies and enterprise programs to struggle.🔑 Key Takeaways:Misguided Revenue Models: Companies often fail because they position themselves for future regulations instead of the current ones, a dangerous strategy given the long history of delays in rule-making.Strategy Trumps Tools: Drone Service Providers (DSPs) often make mistakes by leading with the drone as a tool, much like a contractor showing up with just a hammer. The focus should be on the mission, the data, and the problem being solved.Program Failure: Enterprise drone programs frequently fail because they are "ad hoc," throwing things together without following defined program stages and proper strategy.High Barrier to Entry: The era of the "two guys in a trailer" DSP is ending, and a higher barrier to entry is expected for industry professionals, which is seen as a positive development.Nascent Industry: The industry is still considered nascent, having only figured out about 5% of its potential, highlighting vast room for growth and new applications in payloads and data streams.⌛ Timestamps:[00:00:00] - Introduction to the podcast, the disruptive nature of drones, and a mention of the free Enterprise Drone Program Maturity assessment.[00:02:05] - Bill Daggett discusses the upcoming panel and the major reason companies fail: betting on future regulatory environments.[00:04:02] - Bill talks about the new resurgence of interest and a major mistake: forgetting that the drone is not the end-product.[00:06:48] - Bill projects a higher barrier to entry in the industry and the end of the "two guys in a trailer" DSP concept.[00:08:40] - Bill concludes by noting the risk of one bad actor making things difficult for the still-small, growing drone community.Follow the Guest Bill Daggett:👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billddaggett/Follow the Host Jason San Souci:👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonsansouci/🔗 More from Do You Know Drones:👉 Website: https://www.droneopsusa.com 👉 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/afe-advisor-llc/ 👉 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dykdrones/# 👉 X(Twitter): https://x.com/DronesDyk 👉 Email: [email protected] the Podcast:👉 Apple Podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/do-you-know-drones/id1479307112 👉 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DoYouKnowDrones#Drones #UAVExpo #DroneIndustry #DroneRegulations #EnterpriseDrones #DroneStrategy #CommercialUAV #BillDaggett

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