Wow Drone: Making Drone Services as Easy as Booking a Flight – An Interview with Visionary Founder Alex Levandovskiy

First of all, how are you?

I’m doing great, thank you! It’s an incredibly exciting time for us at Wow Drone. In April we rolled out our MVP platform and held our first partner webinar with drone professionals from around the world. As we gear up for our official public launch this month (and even prepare to showcase at a major industry event, XPONENTIAL 2025), I feel energized and optimistic. It’s a busy period for sure, but seeing the enthusiasm from users and partners gives me a boost. Overall, I’m feeling very motivated by the momentum we’re building

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded or joined this company.

I have been passionate about drones for over a decade. In the early 2010s I started as an intern and then became a UAV tech manager at SPH Engineering. Later on, I was promoted to lead the Drone Show Software division of the company. My team developed the world’s first commercial software for orchestrating drone light shows. It was an incredible experience – the software has been used in 75+ countries and powered roughly 70% of all drone shows globally. I even had the privilege of helping clients achieve Guinness World Record drone shows using that technology. 14 records so far.

However, I should notice the drone services industry as a whole is highly fragmented. Outside of organized field events, mainly large-scale expos, it is difficult for an average person or business to find the right drone operator for their needs. There has been no single “go-to” place to connect clients with qualified drone pilots – people keep relying on word of mouth or scattered local listings. At the same time, the global commercial drone services market was around $17 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach nearly $58 billion by 2028. Yet, without a unified platform, much of that potential could go untapped for both customers and operators.

So, I decided to accept the challenge and bridge this gap with a shift from in-house employment to co-founding a start-up – Wow Drone. The idea was to create a global online marketplace for professional, safe, and scalable drone services – essentially, the infrastructure to connect any customer with the right expert for any drone project.

How does your company innovate?

The Wow Drone team combines deep industry expertise with a willingness to think differently. We aim to challenge the status quo of the drone industry by introducing user-friendly solutions such as our all-in-one global platform connecting clients with professional drone operators. The proactive mindset of each team member ensures we stay ahead of trends and continuously offer cutting-edge services to our users. We innovate by listening closely to our customers and partners. Their feedback inspires us to refine our platform and add features that truly make a difference. Whether it’s integrating the latest aerial technology or streamlining the booking process with smart automation, we’re always evolving.

Did you have to make difficult choices and what are the lessons learned?

Like any startup, we’ve faced difficult choices that tested our resolve. One of the choices was pivoting our business model early on. Initially, as a founder I had a professional background in a niche service such as drone shows, but my team saw a bigger opportunity in building a full-service drone platform. It was a tough call to make, but in the end, scaling proved to be the right decision. It taught me the importance of being flexible and staying true to the team’s long-term vision. From this strategic decision later on we discovered that listening to the market and our analytics is crucial when charting the path of Wow Drone.

How do you deal with stress and anxiety, how do you project yourself and your company in the future?

Well, by staying grounded in my passion and purpose. Being a founder is challenging, but I prioritize my well-being through regular exercise and short breaks, which help clear my mind. I also lean on my team – delegating when needed ensures I’m not carrying the weight alone. By focusing on solutions instead of problems, I turn stressful situations into manageable tasks.

Looking to the future, I maintain a clear vision for myself and the company. I constantly imagine where Wow Drone will be in a few years – a thriving global marketplace and a leader in the drone services industry. This forward-looking outlook helps me set strategic goals and stay excited about what’s coming next. I project both myself and the company as continually evolving and adapting to new trends.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

We operate in a competitive and fast-growing industry. Our competitors range from established drone manufacturers venturing into services, to smaller startups offering local drone job marketplaces. There are also traditional aviation companies and freelance networks that overlap with parts of our business. We respect all these players, but we’ve carved out a unique space for Wow Drone. Unlike most others, we offer a comprehensive global platform for all types of drone services in one place. This one-stop approach, along with our emphasis on safety and quality, gives us a distinct edge over the rest of the field.

To stay in the game and ahead of the pack, we focus on what makes us special. We focus on improving user experience, ensuring that our platform remains the most convenient and reliable option available. We stay agile – ready to adapt to new customer needs or industry changes faster than bigger competitors can. We’re confident that by staying true to our vision, Wow Drone will remain a frontrunner in the drone services market for years to come.

Your final thoughts

Building a startup in a cutting-edge field has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences of my professional life. Indeed, drones today are becoming a transformative technology – they’re not just gadgets or niche tools anymore, they’re solving real problems and creating new possibilities in countless fields, from entertainment to agriculture to public safety. We want to make accessing drone services as easy as booking a flight, and in doing so, help businesses and communities benefit from what drones can do. I’m grateful to my dedicated team and our early partners for believing in Wow Drone vision, and I’m optimistic about the road ahead. We have big ambitions to transform the drone industry for the better.

Your website and link to online video if any

Our website is thewowdrone.com – that’s the best place to learn more about what we do and to try out the platform.