Leveling Up Delivery in Northwest Arkansas with DroneUp

Show Notes

(2:47) Introducing John Walker and Tom Vernon

(4:39) Learning about DroneUp and What They Do 

(6:04) What Challenges DroneUp Has Faced to Get Where They Are Today

(9:17) The Benefits and Practicality of Drones

(15:01) All about the Safety Measures and Best Practices of Drones 

(31:09) What Made NWA Ideal to Build DroneUp

(35:53) What’s to Come for DroneUp

(48:58) Because Bentonville

(55:06) Tom’s and John’s’ Favorite Lessons Learned This Year and Closing Thoughts

Links

James Bell 

Tom Walker

John Vernon 

DroneUp

Quotes

“[NWA] gave us a huge opportunity to expand, very much a crawl-walk-run approach to how we were going to move this. And to learn all of the lessons, not just about the drone, those are the things we kind of knew…You can build all of these amazing technologies and apps, but like any other agile and innovative company, all of the lessons you learn actually happen when you start doing it.” John Vernon, (31:27)

“Our culture really aligns well with Walmart’s. Ours is about doing it safely and then growing it appropriately…By being associated with Walmart, I don’t think we were looked at as sort of this rogue drone company that’s going to start flying all over, but we were partnered with Walmart and therefore we were expected to behave like Walmart, and just by virtue of our culture and how we operated, we did.” Tom Walker, (32:48)

“Make no mistake about it…Northwest Arkansas is very very innovative. It’s interesting because in some ways it still has the laid back feel of the parts of Arkansas that I used to really like; it wasn’t a super fast-pace; it didn’t feel that way. But if you look at the innovation that’s going on around here…It’s almost like this subtle underground community of hyper-innovation that’s super impressive for the area.” Tom Walker, (34:33)

“I think that sense of accomplishment overcomes the fear, uncertainty, or doubt of what’s going to be next. Focusing whatever you can do to be the best that you can be in the moment that you’re in has really been an enriching experience for everybody involved, and I think in emerging industries, it’s another drawing factor that brings people in and helps people feel like they’re a part of something that’s more than just a day-to-day job.” John Vernon, (52:15) 

“Keep humble. I wouldn’t say ‘Be humble,’ it’s ‘Keep humble.’ We’ve come a long way but we’ve got a long way to go…I think more than anything, especially with the growth that we’ve experienced over the last year, it’s very easy to get caught up in the big number that you see around growth and people count, but its also very humbling.” John Vernon, (55:06)