The Future of Drone Technology in Various Industries with Ryan Walsh

[00:00:00] John Morris: There’s a strong chance you’re not that far off from winning in business and at the game of life. It just takes one idea, but you gotta have unwavering belief and burning desire. If you can couple that with a lockdown strategy that’s fueled by heart, hustle, and muscle, you got a shot at winning. There’s one thing that all champions have in common.

[00:00:22] They get shit done. So welcome to the Get Shit Done Experience.

[00:00:29] we’re back at it again. You’re in studio with us here. This is the Get Shit Done Experience, the GSDX podcast. My name is John Morris. I will be your host and I am here with an American hero. We’re talking about a United States Ranger. We’re talking about Mr. Ryan Walsh, who is the CEO of Valkyrie founder inventor.

[00:00:50] We’re talking about what, 34 or something patents and some pending as well. and we are talking about, somebody who is going to revolutionize the way that logistics happen in the world. I’m pretty proud to be sitting here in front of you today because this is, I get to talk to a lot of people where I, have an understanding of what they’re doing.

[00:01:14] I don’t have an understanding of this at all, none of it. So this for me, I’m going to learn with our audience as we go. So I’m really excited to be enlightened today. And Ryan, it’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. Thank 

[00:01:26] Ryan Walsh: you so much for having 

[00:01:27] John Morris: me. So first off, thank you for your service. So I want to dig into that if you don’t mind, just because I grew up a kid with the GI Joe’s on a regular basis.

[00:01:38] And, I’ve always been very patriotic. I’ve always been the type of person who believes that we should run towards first responders, not away from them. and that we should always be supporting our, our troops and our military and our police and all of that. with that being the case, I’m very curious, give us a little bit of a rundown of how you at 17 years old, you made the decision, but prior to that, what kind of got you into the idea of, I’m going to go be in the military.

[00:02:08] I 

[00:02:08] Ryan Walsh: was, just turned 16 when nine 11 happened. It’s apropos as that is for, the other day. I went to the recruiting station and I was like, I’m 18, sign me up. And they said, you were obviously not. Yeah. Baby face stuff. So they, they turned me back home, but they, kept calling me. And, right, when I was graduating high school, I was still 17 and we had just invaded Iraq.

[00:02:35] Okay. I was like, I can go to college or I can go see what this adventure is about. I don’t know that I knew what I was getting into at the time, it was, I was caught up in, maybe a little too much of that Hemingway adventure spirit. 

[00:02:51] John Morris: So the adventure word got me. I’m glad that you came back to that.

[00:02:55] obviously, somebody who likes an adventure, and that was what you were thinking. You were thinking about the fun part of it. 

[00:03:01] Ryan Walsh: My parents sent me to military school one summer, because I wasn’t always the most well behaved kid, and I ended up loving it. So it wasn’t the punishment they thought it was.

[00:03:09] Yeah. So I think I was set for this. 

[00:03:11] John Morris: Might turn out to be a great parental decision. 

[00:03:14] Ryan Walsh: Yeah, 

[00:03:14] John Morris: Yeah. Okay. your dad has to come in at 17 with you to the office and essentially sign off on this. So pops is cool with it. 

[00:03:24] Ryan Walsh: I had to apply to a college. I had to take the ACTs. But he would sign me up if that’s what I really wanted to do after trying everything else.

[00:03:34] I was set. Okay. where do you go for training? What happens next? I got sent to Rosemont, right? That’s where they get all the people. Rosemont, Illinois? Yeah, that’s where all the Chicagoland people go before they bus you out or fly you out to wherever you’re going, right? my, my training was down at, Now Fort Moore, it was Fort Benning.

[00:03:54] Okay. that’s where all the infantry training was. so I went through, 13 weeks of, or 14 weeks of, infantry training and then, airborne school and then tried out to be a ranger and turns out I was pretty good and they selected me. There’s always savings, 

[00:04:11] John Morris: but it’s about way more than savings alone.

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[00:04:56] First off, you gotta have, the adventurous attitude, but you also have to have an elite level of confidence. There’s an argument. In fact, I think it was just brought up out in the office as we met our CEO, Tim talking about. the difference between Navy SEALs and Rangers, I think it’s very common. I’m not sure why, but I think Hollywood has had something to do with this of really glamorizing Navy SEALs and Rangers seem to fly under the radar, but 

[00:05:24] Ryan Walsh: purposefully, 

[00:05:25] John Morris: perfect purposefully.

[00:05:29] one would make the argument, and there’s been books written about it, apparently, that becoming a ranger is more difficult than becoming a SEAL. Care to elaborate on that? 

[00:05:37] Ryan Walsh: Some would say so. I’d say there’s definitely no argument that it’s harder to stay a ranger than, almost any other special operations group.

[00:05:45] the standards are just so high and they expect so much of you. And it’s so hard on your body, the training cycle, the deployment cycles. so it’s very, tough on people, I, I love all my Special Operations brothers, SEALs, Green Berets, Recon Raiders, they’re all great. So tell me a little bit about what the training entails.

[00:06:09] After airborne school, you go, at my time, it was called RIP. Now it’s called RASP. it’s, a suck fest. it’s the worst. That’s not like Lalo Palooza. It’s a, that’s a different fest. Yeah, no, they make you do pushups and hit a wood line a couple of hundred meters away a few hundred times. It’s brutal.

[00:06:29] but it was fun. once you make it through, it’s one of those things you look back at and say it was the best and worst couple of weeks of my life. Yeah. And so once you get selected, you go to your unit where they start training you. we had a deployment coming up, so I was on a plane out a few months later, did my first tour in Afghanistan with a really great squad.

[00:06:52] we came back and, We go right back into a training cycle and you just do that over and over again. It’s a very tough tempo. 

[00:06:59] John Morris: What was your specialty when you were, behind enemy lines, you’re out performing the act of war, What’s your specialty? Where do you fit into the team?

[00:07:10] Ryan Walsh: So I, was a mortar man. That’s where I did a lot of my, I guess specialty, but I also acquired a lot of different skills like striker, driving, and operating strikers. We were as mortars. We weren’t useful in every environment right in Iraq. We weren’t very useful for them, right? So you’re gonna learn to drive the striker.

[00:07:32] John Morris: What first off? What’s up? What’s a mortar? What are you doing in that 

[00:07:37] Ryan Walsh: regard? You’re carrying everything a normal infantryman’s carrying, but you’re also carrying a tube That’s the tube that shoots the yeah, but got a base plate on it that things not 30 something. Oh, my gosh. And then you’re carrying at least 10, 12 rounds, which are five pounds plus each.

[00:07:54] Yeah. So you got all your standard load plus that. So I was always behind everybody trying to catch up. Yeah, sure. So much heavier than everybody 

[00:08:02] John Morris: else. And why is that not relevant in Iraq at the time? Why was that not as huge as a striker, for instance? So 

[00:08:07] Ryan Walsh: an indirect fire, you’re launching the round up and over, right?

[00:08:11] You’re almost an artillery piece. And in an urban environment, there’s just too much opportunity for collateral damage. This got it. So we would pick other things, like urban assault vehicles, like strikers, and that ended up being more useful for me to be running that than running around with a two by campfire.

[00:08:29] John Morris: I can’t even imagine. it’s already just unimaginable to be in a war setting, but then had to have to be so conscious of civilian activity, maneuvering around you that you have to change your strategy of our artillery. Yeah. in order to be conscious of civilians, it’s important. It’s also amazing.

[00:08:55] that really puts a loop in things. 

[00:08:57] Ryan Walsh: I always used to say I was never the smartest, the fastest, the strongest, say what you will. I was always. You couldn’t get me to stop and they would always select guys that were situationally aware, right? you have to know those kinds of things.

[00:09:12] They don’t want grunts, right? They want people that think because the current battlefield is very dynamic and there’s so many layers to it that You can’t just be that guy with the machine gun running around like Rambo 

[00:09:25] John Morris: So you have to work within a team, but you also have to have the ability To think as an individual, think on your toes and be able to, stretch the boundaries, but stay within the boundaries.

[00:09:36] I guess you would say exactly. You got to know how to use controlled violence. Understood. you get through, first tour. Do we go back and do more tours? How many tours have we done? I did three before I 

[00:09:49] Ryan Walsh: got out. the next one I went to Iraq and then I went back to Afghanistan.

[00:09:54] that last turn Afghanistan was, Pretty crazy right when we got off the helicopters rockets were landing right at our base It was it was almost 

[00:10:02] John Morris: like as you’re getting off the helicopter. It was pretty crazy. Holy cow Yeah, what I can’t even what is that I mean what’s going through is there anything going through your mind at that point is your instincts just kick in 

[00:10:15] Ryan Walsh: so my I was a team leader at that point and my team had come in on the previous plane or previous helicopter so I I was mostly focused on finding them and making sure they were good and not so much worried about me, right?

[00:10:29] Find them. Are they good? Are they up? Are they in cover, everything good. Okay. 

[00:10:35] John Morris: Is that a natural instinct for you? Or is that something that is learned? Like, where does that come from? I beat it into you. You beat it into you? I guess that’s, if you’re gonna beat something into somebody, I guess that’s a good quality.

[00:10:47] Ryan Walsh: Accountability is a good one. 

[00:10:49] John Morris: Yeah, the quality of take care of your team, right? Yeah. that’s probably a pretty good one. Yeah. So give us the most intro before we get into Valkyrie and obviously you’re not here to talk about your military background, but it does lend to. Where you’ve gone in your life because you saw some things and you saw technology at its max I mean you were telling me that there’s an 18 19 year old that’s working a drone You know supporting you while you’re running missions So you’re seeing some of your future happening probably not aware that it’s going to be your future but you’re seeing it’s you’re living it in the present and then it’s amazing that valkyrie then comes to existence, but 

[00:11:34] Ryan Walsh: Give 

[00:11:34] John Morris: us a 

[00:11:34] Ryan Walsh: little, sorry, there was a bit of a middle ground in there.

[00:11:37] So I had gotten out of the military and I didn’t really have a direction and, I’m going to plug a few groups, but, American corporate partners and, three Rangers foundation are two groups that I mentor, guys getting out and women getting out, special operations in the military because there was nothing in place back when I got 

[00:11:56] John Morris: And these are folks that help people to assimilate back into society if you will 

[00:12:02] Ryan Walsh: Yeah, it was probably one of the biggest things that we saw You know in the early stages of the global war on terror when I was in and getting out there just wasn’t that Pipeline to the services and the support and the people that have gone through it, right?

[00:12:15] So I was on my own in a lot of regards And the military gave me a lot of that critical strategic thinking, but then getting out using my GI Bill, I studied economics and I got my MBA after that. And I started a few small businesses and I realized all the different challenges that business owners face, It became so apparent, no matter what, whether it was, I had a couple of quick service restaurants for a time being, I had a clothing printing company, we had a body art, we had a couple of different things, right?

[00:12:49] And luckily knock on wood that they’re all still up and running and successful and you’re a serial entrepreneur, but it’s all right. Doesn’t matter which one it was. They all had the same supply chain logistics. It was fundamentals. Yeah. All right. And so here I am going the same problems I had in the military.

[00:13:05] Okay. Of how do I get stuff when I need it? If you’re behind enemy lines, you’re in a patrol, you’re doing whatever, right? You need a resupply right now. That’s a risky bet. If I have to send a chopper full of dudes that potentially could get shot down. Yeah. And so now drones really, Can change all of that, right?

[00:13:24] And, I’m probably not the most, outgoing. Let’s go tackle Saturdays and run errands, right? I hate 

[00:13:31] John Morris: errands. I hate you. You’re not a small talk, dude, right? So 

[00:13:35] Ryan Walsh: I can cut chores. I can cut. Yeah, and help business on. And then we start looking at the medical applications. And so it really was yeah.

[00:13:43] Almost a kind of a dawning on us. My co founder and I, Alex, that we really had an opportunity here to be way ahead of things and use that eclectic group of experiences we collected and a different way. So taking that strategic thinking and applying that economics and the business fundamentals that I was learning in my twenties.

[00:14:05] To it. It all came together and almost a perfect on me. 

[00:14:09] John Morris: Does it all come down at the end of the day to blocking and tackling? it’s it really doesn’t it? It does just so. what were some of the, the keys that you learned in operating as a ranger that you have, in fact, applied to you?

[00:14:27] Ryan Walsh: your business ventures. It was, I remember it was my, my capstone class for my MBA actually, and, my computer went down, on Saturday and I had to turn my paper in on Monday for a whole semester. And you waited till Saturday to No, I had worked all semester on it, and the thing just locked up on me, blue screen at death and I Called my professor and I was like, Hey, this is what happened.

[00:14:52] He’s okay, you have an extra two weeks. And I was like, no, I’ll have it in on Monday. I’m not going to stop here. yeah, it’s not going to beat me, but just so you know, it might not be the top editing, but I’m all right. So he was impressed by that. And I think that helped, even though it might not have been my best work, just that dedication, that perseverance of seeing it through.

[00:15:11] And that kind of has carried me through all the way through each business venture and, Each one hasn’t failed like I would, but small business going through COVID all these different challenges that we’ve seen the 2008 financial crisis. there’s just so many headwinds that different industries all kind of face.

[00:15:31] And how do I do something that can alleviate all of this? 

[00:15:35] John Morris: Is there a way that you approach headwinds that maybe the everyday person who hasn’t gone through the type of life that you have? Might be able to learn something from the way that you approach things. the name of the show is the get shit done experience, right?

[00:15:49] So it’s all about how people get things done at an elite level. And there’s some commonalities there, but I think you might be able to give us a unique perspective of maybe how somebody who’s in special forces takes that type of training and applies it to. To business and to economic conditions or a situation like COVID or a pandemic that, that, can throw your business for a loop.

[00:16:14] How did you approach that? that maybe we could learn from. 

[00:16:18] Ryan Walsh: So your information. asymmetry is always happening on a battlefield, in a market, wherever. And the question is, how much information do I need to get? You’ll never have a hundred, right? If I wait three days and I’m at 80%, do I wait five to get to 90, right?

[00:16:35] You have to figure out where is that cutoff before you have enough information to make that move. And so that’s the first thing, right? It’s. Tackle your problems head on, but know what you’re dealing with, right? It’s soon. Sue, if you know yourself and you know your enemy, you’re winning 100 percent of the time, right?

[00:16:50] And the key to that is knowing yourself and knowing your enemy, right? Not being, is that a balance? Is there one more important than the other? It’s, not being, high on your own supply. Don’t be, for grandizing, right? there’s. Plenty of stuff written about me and I don’t know how much of it I didn’t read, and it’s, I show up every day, I put the work in, I go to bed, I do it again, like that’s really repetition, it’s don’t stop learning, don’t stop working.

[00:17:21] John Morris: Love that. So Valkyrie has come to fruition in 2013. when we first started 

[00:17:28] Ryan Walsh: looking at it, it was funny. I actually just got smacked around on my first patent. So I filed a patent in 2012, my first application, and I get a call from my patent attorney and he says, you’re getting your patent, right? You just got to pay the fee.

[00:17:44] 60 days later, your patent shows up. I’m great. I’m a first time inventor. All this very excited. 60 days come and go. And the Supreme court apparently passed a decision in that time that invalidated all business method and software patents called the Alice V CLS decision. I had no idea what great timing.

[00:18:03] So I’m calling my, attorney and saying, Hey, what’s going on? And he goes, you’re going to hate me, but Supreme court passed this decision and now your patent likely will be found valid in years to come after this thing works its way through the courts. But right now. You don’t have a valid patent anymore.

[00:18:22] I go back to the office with Alex and, I think we both went home and got drunker than we’d been in a long time, right? And, came back the next day. And, we’re not giving up here. We’re gonna keep it moving. he went to his desk. I went to mine. And a few minutes later, he’s What about drums?

[00:18:43] And I was like, no way. You’re right. That’s the angle. That was the angle. We realized it wasn’t from the drone, the top down drone angle, but we realized very quickly that drones was where the boundary we needed to be at was. And what we found in our research, because we had filed patents before we knew we needed to do all that research for prior art and things before we went and do the kitchen sink at it again.

[00:19:09] And we found that Nikola Tesla filed that first drone patent, 1898, for a remote control boat, and he used to have it at fairs and trick people. He could, he would go, heck, watch this, and tell it go faster, and hide the controls, and people would freak out. He was a wild guy. Amazing. 

[00:19:27] John Morris: Yeah, All right, say that again for a second. Nikola Tesla. Filed the first patent for a drone in 1898 

[00:19:36] Ryan Walsh: 1898. That is just unbelievable It’s a remote control boat. It’s the closest thing you’ll find to a modern day remote control drone Unbelievable. 

[00:19:47] John Morris: I can only imagine how much of his And I’m putting air quotes up.

[00:19:51] If you’re listening on Apple or Spotify, how much of his, lost technology, apparently when he passed away, apparently all of his, his, studies had been, gone missing or something like that. I’m 

[00:20:04] Ryan Walsh: sure some of these new briefings are having at the Senate right now. I have something to do with 

[00:20:08] John Morris: it.

[00:20:08] Yeah, I’m sure they do. So how do we come up with a name? Valkyrie, by the way, the website is www dot V a L Q. A. R. I. If you are wanting to play along and you’ll see some pretty cool video on there of how their, product 

[00:20:23] Ryan Walsh: works videos coming soon. Also, we have, this was back in 2017 after we found, we got our first 13 patents granted.

[00:20:32] It was okay. We’ve got something here. let’s start a company around this. And we started looking and getting a domain and social media handles for any word that exists. Yeah. Possible. Very hard. And I didn’t want to do something generic drone, blah, blah, blah. so we started looking and what words could we change some spellings on and get the domains and everything.

[00:20:56] We ended up with Valkyrie and I love the Norse mythology. It’s strong female figure. And so it was all the things we were looking for, for a strong name for our company. 

[00:21:05] John Morris: It is strong. Yeah. And by the way, like the logo is pretty awesome too. that’s pretty intense. I can see, a nice flat bill cap with that logo on the embroider on the front.

[00:21:17] I might need one of those bad boys for the golf course. That’s a, it’s a pretty sweet looking logo. I can dig it. this gotta be fun. you’re, going into a place where you’re like, you’re getting to play with toys, man. These are highly technical toys that you’re getting to play with that are now going to solve a tremendous issue or concern That is happening plus the innovation.

[00:21:43] So it’s like all these things tucked into one It’s got to just light 

[00:21:48] Ryan Walsh: you up, man. I love it. I Always tend to find, cool jobs, I would say, going from a ranger and, some of the cool companies I’ve been a part of into this. It’s, fun because this one doesn’t feel like working.

[00:22:03] there’s all, there’s a lot of work, but it’s got to feel pretty free. It’s so exciting that you want to show back up every day and that’s what drives you through the frustrating days because there are plenty of days where it doesn’t work 

[00:22:14] John Morris: now. The cool thing is to write being ex military. I would imagine that you want to get back.

[00:22:21] So 70 percent of your staff is ex 

[00:22:24] Ryan Walsh: special operations. Yeah. So we really started pipelining a lot of guys coming out of special operations into the company. we found that, Especially with some of the just culture shifts we’re seeing these days. We just need people that get shit done, right?

[00:22:42] And that is one thing that’s common throughout that entire community, no matter what team they’re coming from. they’re just the type of guys that have been pre vetted and mission focused. 

[00:22:51] John Morris: Mission focused. That’s awesome. So what is the culture like people go in there? I would imagine there, there’s, some.

[00:23:00] Pretty fun back and forth and chipping away at each other and messing with each other. it’s a club man banter, but yeah, 

[00:23:08] Ryan Walsh: it’s important that we, respect each other too. that’s the rule is as long as nobody feels offended, we’re good. But don’t cross lines.

[00:23:16] Yeah, no, we want to make sure everybody is very based on their or judged and, promoted. It’s inclusive. Yeah. Based on their merit. So we don’t care what color, what. Cree, what religion, we don’t care where you come from, as long as you do what you’re supposed to do with a good attitude, you show up on time and you have, the customer in mind, we’re not gonna hassle you on anything else, we have a very lax dress code, if you’re not customer facing, right?

[00:23:47] we try and make it as much, of you. Their talent on display and not so much the politics that come with a lot. 

[00:23:55] John Morris: Yeah. Show me a business that has a culture of meritocracy and I will show you a business that will scale rapidly. that’s performance driven. We’re the best are in the best role, bringing up the best people with them.

[00:24:10] And, always finding a way, if I’m going to get to my next role, I probably got to do the role before I get the role, you got people typically going the extra mile a thing. It’s that kind of a vibe. 

[00:24:20] Ryan Walsh: It’s not. Way too rare. Yeah. it was something that I was always taught growing up, and it seems that, there’s almost an aversion to it these days.

[00:24:30] I think that’s a shame. And if anything, it gives the hard workers more of an opportunity because there’s plenty of hard work. The world hasn’t gotten easier. And it’s the mission. The world has gotten harder. That’s the mission. You build your business in this harder environment. So it’s not like we can lower the standards, So if I get guys and gals that come in with, high standards, high motivation, high discipline, high integrity, more than anything, we’ve done a lot better when we’ve really put those values at the forefront. 

[00:25:00] John Morris: Yeah. And then you’ve, at that point, you just have to clearly define the vision. set the boundaries, set the mission and folk wind them up and let them go.

[00:25:09] They’re going to roll. that’s a beautiful thing. So if I were to drive out to Lombard and walk through the doors of Valkyrie, the headquarters, what am I going to see happening there? 

[00:25:19] Ryan Walsh: You’re going to see probably some, landing stations getting built, a few drones getting flown, some. A lot of code getting written and, worked through, yeah, they’re all really solid, independent teams, like they all work together very well.

[00:25:36] The coders work with the, mechanical engineers and the flight operations guys very well. They’re all, got their inside jokes between each other and it’s great. But then they also know how to lead their own teams and get their stuff done. So it’s, it’s big boy rules apply in a lot of ways at Valkyrie.

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[00:26:35] Get back your time and your money with GSD, drive business forward, lead the technology to GSD, gsdnow. com. The thing that I think is going to be difficult for people to understand. And again, we’ve got, listeners that are from all different industries, all different roles. we’re have an agnostic type of a podcast here, right?

[00:26:58] We’re talking about something that is very general and it’s like a philosophy of how you get things done, right? How you get shit done? So So, I would love it if you would explain to us as if we were six years old, what does Valkyrie do and how does 

[00:27:16] Ryan Walsh: it appeal to the marketplace? So we build and operate fully autonomous point to point drone delivery systems, right?

[00:27:22] So it started originally with our landing stations. and then as our capabilities grew and as we got to a point of, providing a full service, We’re now able to place landing stations with drones specifically sourced and suited for each customer with everything integrated through our software.

[00:27:42] so we’re in the process of launching a hospital with a group we’re working with. And they’re phenomenal, right? Now we can save what used to be a 30 minute time frame for a nurse down to four minutes, right? And so it’s more or less automating some of the last bits that need automating for, the future to come into fruition, right?

[00:28:08] We’re able to provide landing stations, drones, software, or we can come in and operate it fully for our corporation. 

[00:28:15] John Morris: So the landing station, if you’re trying to visualize this picture, if you’ve ever seen where they do training for, at a fire station, like that, kind of, that, that kind of, brick, or concrete kind of a thing, like picture that mini, like a mini version of that.

[00:28:35] With, like a flat top, like a helicopter landing top, right? But it’s much smaller than that. Picture that like a drone size that would sit in front of a hospital. Or in front of a building. And this drone can come and land on top of that. And it latches in. And in that concrete part that is holding that platform.

[00:28:56] Is a, a system where somebody could put a package in there. And then there’s like an elevator that will take it to the top. So the drone can. Latch onto it and then take off with the package. 

[00:29:07] Ryan Walsh: So our landing pads can be built into the roofs of buildings. we have the full locker system, which you can think of like a parcel locker package locker with a landing pad built into the roof all the way down to mailboxes.

[00:29:20] we haven’t released our designs for it yet, but we have window and balcony designs as well for our urban customers. that market’s still getting sorted by regulation with some of the, larger buildings. but yeah, we have a number of different designs from parcel lockers all the way down to mailboxes.

[00:29:37] John Morris: So we’re talking about the hospital. For instance, we’re talking about saving lives. We’re talking about, let’s say somebody needs a blood transfusion. The blood is at another hospital. That hospital, the nurse could go out, put the blood in a package, put it into the, the compartment, goes up to the drone flies it to another hospital, puts it into the compartment, slot opens up, nurse grabs that, runs that in, blood transfusion to the doctor, done, life saved.

[00:30:03] This would have taken a vehicle transporting that, in traffic and God knows how long, could have taken hours. It’s now in three minutes, four minutes. We’re talking about. So you just took something that potentially could be an hour to an hour and a half, two hours. You just turned it into three to four minutes.

[00:30:20] What are the odds of saving lives at that point? They just increased dramatically. But then let’s talk about on a whole completely different level. This is how many. Opportunities exist. You have cart girls or cart gal guys at a golf course that are driving around and, they might be on whole six and you’re all the way on whole 12 and you are thirsty.

[00:30:45] You’re not going to see them for an hour by the time they get out there. Or a golf course could actually get one of these drones and essentially somebody could just type in that they want this, it’ll pick it up. It’ll fly it out to you on a whole seven and deliver it to you. 

[00:30:59] Ryan Walsh: So we, number one complaint from golfers is the beverage card is never there when they want it.

[00:31:06] Yeah. And the number one complaint from the courses is they can’t find people. To do it cheap enough, right? And so that’s really the conundrum. And the only way to solve that is to automate some of that. 

[00:31:17] John Morris: So this is the, breath of the vast breath of possibility that exists with this, that your company has the ability to solve these issues.

[00:31:29] I’m glad. I love golf and I love beverages, but I’m glad you’re starting with the hospital. It sounds like a good place to take over first. 

[00:31:37] Ryan Walsh: We did some really great stuff in Arizona with Sun City Country Club. and a lot of lessons learned that we brought back. so we’ve definitely done some on the golf course already, but we are seeing a lot of, really Great patient impact, with the hospitals.

[00:31:54] John Morris: So how do you see this impacting businesses and impacting the efficiency and profitability of businesses? 

[00:32:01] Ryan Walsh: So I think there’s going to be a number of third party, drone operators that jump up just like any other, right? And you’re going to see other companies that in house it if they’re large enough.

[00:32:11] But I would imagine, let’s just use McDonald’s as an example, right? Local company. If every McDonald’s now has. Some internal drone operations, they’re able to service customers within two, five, 10 miles, that either they would have to pay a driver to do or third party out to an Uber Eats, right?

[00:32:31] Which We’ve heard since COVID, the restaurants are getting hammered on that, right? And it’s just, there’s not enough money in it for the drivers, Uber. Yeah. It’s just, it’s an expensive business. And it’s because you’re taking a person, driving them multiple miles in a full size vehicle. For peanuts. For, yeah, a pound and a half of food.

[00:32:49] Yeah. And then I got to drive it five miles to this person’s door, right? Why not get a robot that is, Perfectly suited, perfectly energy efficient for that weight and weight, right? And take it to that person, fully automate it. You drop it in a, one of our landing stations and now it’s secure and you don’t have to, and no weird human to human exchange.

[00:33:08] Yeah. I don’t know about you. I would be more worried about having to sit outside in Chicago in a winter. Yeah. Wait for a drone. Yeah, it’s terrible. 

[00:33:16] John Morris: Yeah. so the, cool thing about this, I think is, that. if you’re really trying to get innovative and looking for a way to control costs, and you’re looking for a way to differentiate your business, to latch onto a business like Valkyrie and offer this up as a solution to your customer base really changes the game.

[00:33:39] this is, this could. Significantly help the way the companies market their business, the way that they, the way that they approach the marketplace, how they sell. 

[00:33:48] Ryan Walsh: I agree. I think we saw a handful of these right customer businesses that, adopted the internet and the ones that got way too late for the website.

[00:33:58] I didn’t happen with the apps. And now, it’s the same thing. You’re going to see this evolution where the companies that adopt this. Are going to see the savings. It’s not, we’ve had a couple of technologies over the years that promised revolutions that didn’t come. I truly think drones are going to bring that.

[00:34:16] We’re already seeing it from cell inspection to, military to maritime operating. It’s impacting so many things in so many ways that there’s Yeah. The trend line hasn’t been bucked in any way, shape or form, 

[00:34:31] John Morris: as I said in the beginning, I don’t know about this. This is not an avenue of interest for me where I would do the research on it.

[00:34:38] But now I’m completely interested in it because knowing you were coming in, I started doing the research on it. I’m like, Okay. Oh my gosh. Plus I’ve been watching a ton of, YouTube golf channel, like Grand Horvat and all that. And they’ve got in and a Bob does golf, Bob does sports or whatever. And they’ve got the drone fly over and I’m like, okay, that’s super cool.

[00:34:57] I really like that. And so I’m seeing more and more of this stuff. So as I’m preparing for you to come in, I’m totally intrigued now hearing you talk about it. I become even more intrigued about it because I start to, the wheels start turning as you’re talking. I’m like, Oh my gosh, it could be used for that.

[00:35:11] It could be used for that. from saving lives to making hospitality, more hospitable, if you will. What are our skies going to look like? Because you had mentioned that this technology has existed for 25 years, but so it’s not like a new fly by night thing that is going to break down and people are going to poke holes in it.

[00:35:33] It’s been around for a long time. It’s mastered. You’ve got more patents on it. It’s been tested. It’s really been regulations that have held it back. So those things 

[00:35:43] Ryan Walsh: are starting to happen now. So about a couple of months ago, the, Congress passed the FAA reauthorization act, which had a big part for the FAA.

[00:35:50] Drone program. those dates are fast approaching. next week is actually the, first deadline that they were given to, to put some stuff out and it’s going to go through 25, 2025, but it’s going to become commonplace, right? We’re going to see, there’s going to be specific corridors most of the time from how people are talking in the industry at this point.

[00:36:14] it’s not really going to be the free for all everybody’s worried about. There’s not going to be this whole invasion of privacy people are worried about, especially for package delivery, because you need that payload for packages, not for cameras, right? a lot of the things we found is just having those conversations with the community, engaging with stakeholders, and then realizing this is going to cut that weight.

[00:36:38] Those shipping costs, those Uber Eats costs, all those things that are probably making things real expensive, for consumers, right? anytime you need to have them run your errands for you, that’s expensive, right? And people are hurting more than ever, it seems. And if we can find a way to take people’s budgets and put it towards spending time and money on their families and not, Man, you’re speaking my language.

[00:37:04] that’s what we’re 

[00:37:05] John Morris: looking for. It’s tough to live right now, man. we watched the debate the other night and it’s tough. It’s just, it’s tough. It’s tough on both sides. We’re in a tough society right now. We’re in a tough political setting. We’re in a tough world. Financially, people are really struggling.

[00:37:21] and, the basics of life have become a thought now, like, when you’re grocery shopping, it, shouldn’t always have to be such a thought of, do I get this or do I get that? I, what gas do I pump? Those things are very difficult 

[00:37:38] Ryan Walsh: and they’re wearing on people. When I was looking into it, $300 billion in un unfulfilled.

[00:37:47] Prescriptions, right? People will get prescribed something and that’s just the U. S. Because they can’t afford it. Yeah. they leave it there. They can’t get to the pharmacy, whatever it may be. And it’s this whole chain of now it’s expensive to deliver it and it’s expensive to pick it up and all these different things from a customer point of view.

[00:38:04] So if we can lower that cost of delivery, which helps lower that 300 billion burden just on the pharmaceutical 

[00:38:10] John Morris: imagine how much of that is people with mental health, not to mention physical health, can That aren’t taking their medicine and God knows how that impacts not only them, their family, but 

[00:38:20] Ryan Walsh: also society.

[00:38:20] If you get in home care now, it’s well into the a hundred thousand, 125, 000 plus, right? That’s not feasible for most people. And most medical coverage won’t go that high in most cases. So what do you do? So if we can now have just a nurse show up one hour a day to take care of you and we can have your medicine and your meals delivered to you.

[00:38:41] Yeah, you can lower the cost of that care tremendously, mix that with telehealth and you’ve got a pretty solid system there. And so we’re looking at all these ways we can really impact. And it starts with some of these higher criticality medical cases, because, that’s, some of the most urgent stuff.

[00:38:58] But all of those lessons learned that infrastructure going in place, that’s all going to keep setting the stage for this to expand eventually to a point where it is a convenience for people. And that’s where my goal is. 

[00:39:09] John Morris: Okay, so here’s the deal, right? If I’m looking across at somebody and I’m thinking, how in the world is somebody going to handle this type of growth?

[00:39:19] You’ve gone through a life where I have, like me personally, I don’t have a whole lot of doubt that you’re going to be able to handle that. You’ve handled a lot in your life. So I have a feeling you’ll be able to handle it. But in your own mind, in speaking with your partners and your team, what are some of the challenges that you, that Maybe are obsessing over where you go.

[00:39:36] Oh my gosh, how we got a tiger by the tail, but this thing is a beast How are we gonna hold on to this bad boy? How are we gonna control this growth? 

[00:39:44] Ryan Walsh: a lot of it is realizing, you know where you are as a team and You know what? Our capabilities and what our boundaries are right. And knowing this is so ubiquitously applicable, we’re looking to license our technology to as many people as want to use it.

[00:40:04] there are people that are going to focus on completely other use cases, whether it’s, first responders, whether it’s different geographies that we just don’t have the ability to support, whether it’s in Southeast Asia or Oceania, we have partners. these are the different ways we want to get our technology out there and handle that growth and scale manageably.

[00:40:25] Because the last thing we want to do is go and over, commit to something, grow too fast 

[00:40:31] John Morris: and have a crash. So it’s easy to say yes. The hard part is, knowing when and how to say no. And, so If you had to pick your ideal scenario, where you can really stay in your lane. What does that look like?

[00:40:51] Where do you see that lane really being? So if, speak to the businesses out there that you think would be a great target that need to pay attention to this, maybe. 

[00:41:00] Ryan Walsh: Yeah. for instance, Auto parts stores, right? If you pull in with your Honda, they might not have the bolt you need. That comes from a warehouse that they employ a fleet of couriers, right?

[00:41:13] Lawyers have to get something to the courthouse. By end of day, they have to employ couriers, right? There is entire subsystems that are on our roads, making money, but also probably very inefficient. And that body shop to repair shop. Yeah. And so all of this, you have vehicles, giant trucks in a lot of cases that are driving around very small pieces.

[00:41:34] If you can get on the spot manufacturing type delivery, If you can get that critical part, if you can get those documents where they need to go, and we can do that with a drone. And so whether you’re, electronics and, Systems. Oh, yeah. this is a great technology to grow into.

[00:41:53] We want to talk. We want to license our technology to you and see how you can build it into stuff. we know we’re not going to be everything to everybody. So we want to focus in on the customers. We have the customers we bring on that, we know fit our operational profile and everybody else.

[00:42:10] We are fair game to it. License our technology to 

[00:42:13] John Morris: so it all sounds fun. It all sounds great, Ryan. We’re making the big like it. It sounds easy, but this is not a this is not cheap. This is an investment. This is a this is something that you’ve got to really lock into. How long would the investment take to start to get to break even and then to start to realize the significant return?

[00:42:37] Are we talking? A three year run. Are we talking? 

[00:42:41] Ryan Walsh: So most of our R. O. I. Models. we’ve done a few for golf courses, hospitals, things like that break even as well within the first year, especially talking about buying a truck and hiring somebody versus a pilot and a fleet of drones. it’s night and day.

[00:42:57] And the thing with drones is they’re almost impossible to catastrophically. you can’t total a drone. Yeah, my kids can. Yeah, The little, if you’re flying them, right? 

[00:43:10] John Morris: Yeah. 

[00:43:10] Ryan Walsh: There’s a lot in our gutters. Oh, I’m sure the little ones get real. 

[00:43:14] John Morris: Don’t hire my kids is what I’m 

[00:43:16] Ryan Walsh: saying. hire Valkyrie.

[00:43:18] but no, the, drones when they do have, and it’s always in testing, we’ve never had one commercially, I have an issue like that, but you might break a prop. You might have a motor pop, right? You might get some electronics over lease, from some rain or something, but it’s almost impossible to total that whole drone.

[00:43:36] John Morris: And the pilot is not going to get injured either. So the insurance on the, like a driver of a truck, you have to have insurance for them too, right? And the truck. 

[00:43:44] Ryan Walsh: Yeah. you always have to be aware of. What you’re flying over, we have to do a lot of route planning just for that reason. we want to make sure we’re flying over the least amount of critical infrastructure, any people, vehicles, things like that at any time.

[00:43:59] but with all that being said, yes, it’s, I have yet to find somebody that was killed by a drone in civilian circumstances following FAA protocol. 

[00:44:11] John Morris: So it’s a rapid return. Break even within a year, start seeing massive returns within two, three years, right? And, you’re minimizing your cost of business because and, asset protection is something that’s pretty critical in there as well.

[00:44:31] where’s the holes? There’s got to be some holes in this. Where, are some of the challenges that you’re focused on? 

[00:44:38] Ryan Walsh: it’s, we’re, advancing it, right? And as the regulations come, it’s going to be more of the people we’re talking about, right? There’s a lot of people that are interested in drones, but probably have not thought about investing in some type of drone delivery platform because there’s not, there wasn’t the regulations to allow it.

[00:44:55] But now that, that we’re seeing this change over the next year or so, People really should start looking at this. It is going to be that game changer, I think, in a lot of ways for a lot of customers who need to fulfill or businesses that need to fulfill the customers. that’s awesome. 

[00:45:11] John Morris: The, the kind of amazing thing about, this, journey that you’re on is it seems like everything that you’ve done is lined up, how that universal kind of thing works.

[00:45:25] but there’s also probably a philosophy that you have internally. Some of it innate, some of it learned of how you approach a day, right? so again talking about getting shit done. How do you what advice do you have? On the approach to success. There are some people who Are organizers and very structured.

[00:45:51] There’s other people who just are like, hey, just go and then clean it up along the way there’s but there i’ve also seen a lot of commonality people get up early people or take the ice bath people Believe strongly that you have to have physicality and faith and all these different things 

[00:46:10] Ryan Walsh: What is your formula?

[00:46:12] I would say everybody works their own way, right? So mine probably doesn’t always apply to everybody else, but I’ve always just trusted my gut, I get as much data as I possibly can get on anything and as much data as possible And then I just do my internal assessments and I go with my gut, right?

[00:46:32] And so if I’m burnt out, I might sleep in till nine Really? Oh, God. Yeah. Oh, yeah. If I’ve gone seven days, you just got that self awareness where you go. Hey, yeah, we’ve been doing this too long. This is by far a marathon. The spirits are over. So you’re playing the long game and have to, right? But, that’s, I’m not sleeping until nine.

[00:46:53] Most days. Yeah. I’m sleeping when you need it. Your body’s telling you most nights. Yeah. But there are those days where, you come in and just no, I’m, Clear in my morning and I’m going to chill out today, right? But given I work most evenings, most weekends, I don’t really have time off.

[00:47:09] Can’t remember my last vacation. those hours are almost those little mini vacations and you have to get them where you can, if you’re going to sustain, right? it’s, you can’t prioritize your time too much personally, but a little bit is important, 

[00:47:28] John Morris: what’s your favorite thing about your team right now?

[00:47:33] your life right now, your family right now, what’s just lighting you up right now? 

[00:47:37] Ryan Walsh: Everything. Everything. I have a great team. I’ve got, great people around me, great fiance, great everything where we have a lot of positive momentum and a lot of traction right now. And I’m very excited. It feels like the, rocket ships full of gas, we’re about to take off.

[00:47:55] But, that is hard because you have to get up and do those things. And some days I have to go and make boxes all day and, build what we need. Cause we don’t have the guys there to do it. And other days I’m meeting with investors all day. And other days I’m on a podcast talking about, there you go.

[00:48:13] This is probably the best day it is, but it’s just the not having any two days that are the same is what kind of gets me. That’s cool. 

[00:48:23] John Morris: Yeah, where it’s, the same, but it’s not the same. cause it’s the mission you’re, it’s, moving towards the same thing, but it’s a different day. That’s when you know you’re in the right spot.

[00:48:32] That’s fun. Eating an elephant. Where, where do you start to start? Yeah. Just start biting. I love it. You had mentioned vacation. Where would we find you on vacation if you could choose? 

[00:48:45] Ryan Walsh: If you could get that two weeks? I don’t know. I don’t know. Because I think when I first thought about this, the last time I probably had a shot to go on vacation, it was probably some beach somewhere.

[00:48:55] Yeah. I don’t know. I think I just want to sit in some quiet somewhere. There’s quite a vacation at the 

[00:49:02] John Morris: Schaumburg library in the quiet room, get some of that soundproofing foam. I love it. if somebody was going to find you outside of the office doing your favorite hobby, what would that hobby be?

[00:49:15] Ryan Walsh: So I found, a lot of fun and thrifting lately. Really? Yeah, I’m traveling all over city to city and, I stopped going to the clubs and partying and drinking. It gets old, right? so I, what do you do when you’re sitting in Omaha, right? Turns out some of the best clothing gets thrifted.

[00:49:34] No kidding. Store I found in West Virginia and Grand Forks and Sioux Falls. Oh my God. The thrift stores are awesome. You find the craziest stuff there. 

[00:49:45] John Morris: Yeah. 

[00:49:46] Ryan Walsh: Because nobody’s passed. 

[00:49:47] John Morris: I thought I was shocked you didn’t come in a bright orange tuxedo today. He dressed down right on. All right. So final thought.

[00:49:57] where are we going to be 10 years from now? if, when you close your eyes, you put your head down the pillow and you go, okay. Cause I’m a visual guy. Like I visualize that’s for that. I have to do it. If I can see it, then I know I can find a way to be it. Like I can break it down. It might not be immediately.

[00:50:13] You got to be patient. You got to put the systems in place. You got to work. The process, all that, but you got to be able to see it first. So when you close your eyes and you think 10 years from now, what’s the BHAG? 

[00:50:24] Ryan Walsh: What do you see? I think we’re all going to be surprised by just what that looks like, right?

[00:50:29] You see what’s happening at figure in Boston dynamics, right? Brennan Cox doing amazing things. You’re going to have so many different applications where drones are commonplace, whether it’s, an accident, for a police investigation, whether it’s getting your food delivered, and it’s going to become as normal as seeing birds in the sky, right?

[00:50:48] We already have helicopters, planes, it’s, you’re just going to see it. A couple of dots, you’re going to be dropping medicine off at people. It’s amazing how many people stop us going. I thought these would be loud. They’re not. Yeah, they’re very quiet, especially the ones we use at hospitals. and so I think people are going to be just.

[00:51:09] It’s almost going to sneak up on people. I think in a lot of ways, your first to have a pharmacy in your area, start delivering by drone and then you might have a restaurant and the next thing but it’s going to seem more commonplace and we get humanoid figures and we get autonomous lawnmowers and all these different things.

[00:51:24] it’s just a natural evolution of where the world’s going in my opinion. So I think it’s going to be that kind of Jetsons world we were all hoping for 10 years ago. 

[00:51:33] John Morris: Is Valkyrie a household name? Oh yeah. Household name. You heard it here first folks, or maybe you didn’t, maybe it’s already a household name for you, but, please check out Valkyrie at www dot V a L Q a R I.

[00:51:48] please connect with Ryan on LinkedIn, all over LinkedIn, right? Putting some really amazing stuff out there. Great engagement, by the way. And hopefully we’ll see a lot more content coming out. Ryan, I want to remind you, sir, you got shit done. Thanks. We keep doing more. Let’s go. hey, please, the, episode, please download, please subscribe, please stay in touch.

[00:52:12] And if you are interested in being a guest on The Get Shit Done Experience, I would love to chat with you. So send me a DM on my LinkedIn. That’s John Morris. Bye. And hey, by the way, go get some shit done. Have a great day.

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