When you get bitten by the travel bug, it’s difficult to balance the desire for adventure with the rigors and schedule your everyday life. That changes with recent Techstars NYC graduate FlyThere, an immersive way to experience the world all through the eyes of a drone. The entertainment company currently has 8 flight locations in Thailand and Mexico where you are directly connected to drone operators in these markets and can control the drone operators’ drones remotely and in real-time, providing an unparalleled look into some of the most exotic destinations in the world. The company’s unique offering allows you to satisfy your wanderlust this winter without ever leaving your desk or boarding a plane.
AlleyWatch spoke with cofounder and CEO Tal Fromchenko about the process of turning a personal passion for travel into a full-fledged business, the company’s future plans, and recent experience with Techstars NYC.
Tell us about the product or service that FlyThere offers.
FlyThere is building the future of immersive entertainment. We provide an immersive way to experience the world through the eyes of a drone. We connect you with drone operators around the world and let you remotely control their drones in real-time
How is FlyThere different?
There is no other product as ours. It’s a completely new and exciting product.
What market does FlyThere target and how big is it?
We target the entertainment market, which is constantly evolving and is huge.
What is the business model?
We’re still exploring several models
What inspired the start of FlyThere?
I’m a travel junkie and love seeing new places, I have traveled over two years of my life. At the time I was living in Israel, and it really bothered me that it’s such a tiny country and it’s so hard to experience new places. There is no immersive way to actually experience a remote location. So I had this crazy thought – wouldn’t it be so amazing if I could just fly a drone in the most beautiful places in the world and sort of teleport my mind to these places?
Tell us about your experience with the Techstars program. What kind of progress has the company made during the program?
During our time at Techstars, we discussed our vision and product with incredibly smart and experienced people that helped set the company in an accelerated path. We launched our beta site with 8 flight locations in Thailand and Mexico and are operating on a daily basis. So far we’ve had hundreds of flights and received a lot of love from our users.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
We want to increase our reach and have about 50 flight locations
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
Casey Neistat, he is my favorite blogger that covers these cool topics
Why did you launch in New York?
It seems the right place to be, we are a consumer market and our audience is mainly in the US. There is a very supportive tech community here
What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?
Nobu!
