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New app for golfers help drone owners make side cash

Joined
Sep 22, 2015
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Toronto
Website
www.dronecaddyapp.com
New app for golfers help drone owners make some side cash

So you own a drone like many of us here on the forum. How do you turn all those practice hours into some recurring revenue? Depending on what you fly there might be the opportunity to make some cash. DroneCaddyApp is a start up that uses drones combined with a Smart Phone App to help golfers shave strokes.

At each hole the golfer will have access to aerial drone footage and pro tips to determine how to best play the hole. This will help golfers see what's ahead and (hopefully) lower their scores. They can also keep track of their score and score history.

Put your drone and your talent to work with the people at DroneCaddyApp. If you're interested check us out at www.dronecaddyapp.com or send us an email [email protected]

Let me know your thoughts below and post any questions!
 
So what exactly is in it for pilots and how does it work precisely? Do you pay us to fly a course? In the UK this would only be open to certified pilots with a CAA PFAW as it would be classed as commercial work.
Thanks for the question, currently right now we are focused on North America, but how it works is as follows:

Golf courses contact us (or we contact them) to have their courses filmed and made into App.

Our pilot in that local area films the course and uploads the video files to our server.

Whenever the course sells the app to a golfer, that pilot gets paid. The more courses they film the more recurring revenue they make.

DroneCaddyApp also make an incentive for the course to sell the app to customers. We provide them with material to set them up for success.

Does this help? Thanks

Ryan
 
I went to your website. This is how I understand it works. We fly the course for free, send you the footage, and then you sell the app to the golfer. We then get 1 dollar for every app sold for that golf course. Is this correct? Or do we get a dollar for any golf course app sold?
 
Shooting a golf course would be worth at least $1000 and possibly more. At any price per app download from that course alone, there's not a chance in hell the pilot is ever going to make the value of their time and investment back.
In most countries the pilot would need to be licensed and you'd need to be the holder of a UOC or equivalent, or they themself would need to be the holder of one.
You want a hell of a lot for almost nothing. I know what my answer is, and it wouldn't be polite.


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So, a certified operator with all the associated costs (training, certification, insurance etc) has to fly the entire course. Maybe two days work with the relevant permissions required, risk assessments and site surveys completed.
Then that operator gives the footage for free(!) To dronecaddyapp with no guarantees and zero consideration at time of handover.
Then dronecaddyapp sell the app for how much? How much profit do they take whilst actually passing on $1 for each sale going to the individual who has done all the work.

Ummmmm....I think I will pass on this great 'offer' of aerial work thanks and will advise others likewise.
It is a licence to print money for the company selling the app but not exactly a money maker for the aerial production company/individual who has actually done the lions share of the work.......in my opinion of course.
Maybe if you adjusted your business model so that dronecaddyapp took $1 for each app sale and the rest goes to the aerial photographer you may get some take up.

I'll pass.
 
So, a certified operator with all the associated costs (training, certification, insurance etc) has to fly the entire course. Maybe two days work with the relevant permissions required, risk assessments and site surveys completed.
Then that operator gives the footage for free(!) To dronecaddyapp with no guarantees and zero consideration at time of handover.
Then dronecaddyapp sell the app for how much? How much profit do they take whilst actually passing on $1 for each sale going to the individual who has done all the work.

Ummmmm....I think I will pass on this great 'offer' of aerial work thanks and will advise others likewise.
It is a licence to print money for the company selling the app but not exactly a money maker for the aerial production company/individual.......in my opinion of course.

Well thanks for your input, however this is why these discussion boards exist. If you think the pricing model is wrong then let's discuss rather than slamming it immediately.

A) I can film a course in three hours

B) Insurance is something you should already have so what cost is associated with that?

C) The 1$ might not sound like a lot but it's the idea of residual income. Anytime for however many years someone downloads that specific course app the pilot will get paid. And like I mentioned maybe this is something we can have a constructive conversation about? Like charge the course an upfront fee of $1000 to "build the app" which is technically already done. But this covers the cost of overhead.

thoughts?

Respectfully,

Ryan
 
Last edited:
Well thanks for your input, however this is why these discussion boards exist. If you think the pricing model is wrong then let's discuss rather than slamming it immediately.

A) I can film a course in three hours

B) Insurance is something you should already have so what cost is associated with that?

C) The 1$ might not sound like a lot but it's the idea of residual income. Anytime for however many years someone downloads that specific course app the pilot will get paid. And like I mentioned maybe this is something we can have a constructive conversation about? Like charge the course an upfront fee of $1000 to "build the app" which is technically already done. But this covers the cost of overhead.

D) Im curious as to what have you done to constructively create a way for pilots to make money?

Respectfully,

Ryan
Ryan,

Thanks for your post. I'm sure the community members will have opinions and comments to chip in on this thread but you have to understand that for commercially licenced operators the costs/overheads are completely different to a spotty hoodie who goes into Radio Shack, buys a Phantom and then drops you some footage.

A) If you can do it in three hours you are either Usian Bolt or you are not doing a site survey, risk assement, checking airspace restrictions and if necessary getting ATC clearance (where appropriate).

B) Indeed, insurance is something as a commercial operator we have to carry but there is an inherent cost each year to that cover and if you are filming half a dozen golf courses and handing the imagery over to dronecaddyapp and receiving no return in the short term that cannot be proportionally off set against your premium. - I factor in ALL costs when I price a job.

C) Depending on how many members a course has - let's say 1,000 for a good size club would (in the first instance) dictate your short term return. Assuming say 60% of members purchase the app would mean $600 to the aerial guy which is less than I personally charge to shoot a golf course.

D) I give up my time for free to moderate this forum and have (hopefully) helped some of the 12,500 members to better understand their aircraft's, find solutions to problems and help some to go on to work towards gaining certification to operate commercially.
 
The problem as i see it, is the people that have the money to play golf, are generally the older generation, yes i know young people play it too, but as an example my stepfather played gold, (scratch) and belonged to a few clubs in the UK, his local club is/was in berkshire, and the average age of members was over 65, and that is where your problem will start, people of that age do not use tech, yes you may well have ongoing future revenue, but how long does it take to recover the costs for your time...?

Personally, i think 2 days is about right for getting everything done, and then taking wether consistency etc into consideration as well, that 2 days could well actually be spread out over a period on 2 weeks. Not an ideal scenario for many commercial pilots, and they would need to be commercial pilots for this to work. You also have to think about the impact of flying to the golf course, do you shut the course/holes you are working on to do this...?

Personally, i would look to film a golf course over a period of 3 or 4 weeks and do each hole the same time of day with the same type of weather conditions. And i would want around £2000-£2500 for doing it...!
 
'Side cash' sounds like your aiming for encouraging recreational pilots to do commercial jobs, where, in most countries, only certified pilots legally could do this type of job. I think it is morally wrong to encourage recreational pilots to break the law. If on the otherhand you are asking commercially rated pilots to take you up on your model i think you will have no chance of success. You need to pay the market rate for such work.

If you get a course in Ireland to do I will give you a price, otherwise under this model I am out.
 
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You never know what you might find when flying golf courses. I was flying my home built copter on a course at South Seas Island Resort on Captiva Island, Florida and captured this women just strolling on the greens.

6758815_orig.jpg
 
New app for golfers help drone owners make some side cash

So you own a drone like many of us here on the forum. How do you turn all those practice hours into some recurring revenue? Depending on what you fly there might be the opportunity to make some cash. DroneCaddyApp is a start up that uses drones combined with a Smart Phone App to help golfers shave strokes.

At each hole the golfer will have access to aerial drone footage and pro tips to determine how to best play the hole. This will help golfers see what's ahead and (hopefully) lower their scores. They can also keep track of their score and score history.

Put your drone and your talent to work with the people at DroneCaddyApp. If you're interested check us out at www.dronecaddyapp.com or send us an email [email protected]

Let me know your thoughts below and post any questions!
You seen this. Looks like it was made for mapping golf courses. In fact the demo specifically uses that scenario to show it's features. Now lets see how you cover an 18 hole course in 3 hrs and I'll offer to shoot a local course for you free of charge
 
Business plan
Step 1. Invest as little time and capital as possible.
Step 2. Build pathetic rudimentary app.
Step 3. Devise scheme to con professionals who have invested capital to provide free labor.
Step 4. Collect all but one dollar of profits earned for each sale while sitting back and watching everyone else do the work.

Seriously. No one is dumb enough to believe the BS your selling, and you haven't even built the app.

This is a failure of an idea, and there is absolutely no reason to engage in further conversation.
 
Business plan
Step 1. Invest as little time and capital as possible.
Step 2. Build pathetic rudimentary app.
Step 3. Devise scheme to con professionals who have invested capital to provide free labor.
Step 4. Collect all but one dollar of profits earned for each sale while sitting back and watching everyone else do the work.

Seriously. No one is dumb enough to believe the BS your selling, and you haven't even built the app.

This is a failure of an idea, and there is absolutely no reason to engage in further conversation.
Ouch!..... Sounds like something I would have written. :p
 
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Reactions: Ezookiel
Business plan
Step 1. Invest as little time and capital as possible.
Step 2. Build pathetic rudimentary app.
Step 3. Devise scheme to con professionals who have invested capital to provide free labor.
Step 4. Collect all but one dollar of profits earned for each sale while sitting back and watching everyone else do the work.

Seriously. No one is dumb enough to believe the BS your selling, and you haven't even built the app.

This is a failure of an idea, and there is absolutely no reason to engage in further conversation.

Flappy Bird (original name I must say), you could have read the previous post and actually contributed something of worth. Instead you're just a hater. The app is developed. Where do you think the screen shots are from. . It works great. We've even taken into account data usage in low reception areas and great scoring features. Your comments are disregarded as trash.
 
You seen this. Looks like it was made for mapping golf courses. In fact the demo specifically uses that scenario to show it's features. Now lets see how you cover an 18 hole course in 3 hrs and I'll offer to shoot a local course for you free of charge
Awesome app, if you own a drone. Thanks for the post. I don't see this as a threat but more a validation that golfers and drone tech belong together
 

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