How Chris Anderson Turned A Hobby Of Building Drones Into A Business
by Leena Rao
At a recent Mayfield Fund dinner for hardware entrepreneurs and investors hosted by the firm’s partner Tim Chang, former Wired editor-in-chief-turned-drone entrepreneur Chris Anderson opened up about how he turned a hobby of building robots and drones into an actual business.
Anderson, who recently founded aerial machine developer 3D Robotics, has five children and while still at Wired, started a website called Geek Dad, which suggested fun, technical projects for parents and kids. One of the projects he worked on with his children was building a Lego Mindstorm robot, but he struggled with the project and thought, “if only there was a cooler robot and a better flying plane to build.”
It was 2007, and Anderson’s progress into finding a better flying robot began with a Google search. But he quickly realized that what he was looking for was a drone and he could actually build these for under $1,000. So he built an online community around building your own drones, called DIY Drones, which drew on volunteers to help build drones. The first drone was built collectively in spare time by engineers from Apple, Google and Microsoft, among other companies.
The DIY Drone community was trading code and design, and Anderson’s first assembly line to create the drones was composed of his five children. Via the site, he also met a young man who helped him with manufacturing on the side. So he decided to start selling the drone kits he built.
Discover more from sUAS News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
