Scott Zimmerman, far right, the owner of Texas-based DroneTogether, provides drone flying instruction to pair of students.
Summertime is a busy period for Scott Zimmerman and his Texas-based DroneTogether franchise. He runs 63 camps in Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas throughout June and July with hundreds of students ages 4 to 18 enrolled.
At the same time, DroneTogether lines up instructors and registers thousands of students for the in-class and after-school STEM-based drone programs his company runs during the school year.
What gets Zimmerman most excited these days is also his biggest challenge: DroneTogether’s national franchising push.
“The last few years we’ve focused on growing our Texas footprint and we’re at a point now that we feel we can take this program national by franchising it out,” said Zimmerman, a former school administrator and teacher who gave up his full-time job to oversee his DroneTogether business. The company started franchising in Texas in 2022.
Zimmerman first conceived the business idea in 2016 from the drone club he founded at the elementary school where he worked.
As word spread of the fun and interactive drone flying instruction offered, it became a full-time gig for Zimmerman. He forged partnerships with dozens of area schools excited to bring the popular extracurricular activity to their classrooms.
DroneTogether was in 107 Texas schools with 23 year-round instructors, almost all them teachers, who taught the STEM-based drone program to more than 3,100 students in 2023, said the company.
In 2023, DroneTogether was in 107 Texas schools with 23 year-round instructors, almost all them teachers, who taught the STEM-based drone program to over 3,100 students, said Zimmerman.
DroneTogether charges a $25,000 franchise fee and 7.5 percent royalty fee, Zimmerman said. The all-in cost to buy a mobile DroneTogether franchise business outside of Texas is “around $40,000 to $45,000” when adding in the cost of the drone equipment, insurance, marketing support and materials.
“We purposely have come up with a low entry cost to make it affordable for teachers who generally don’t make a lot of money to begin with and are looking to make some extra income on the side,” Zimmerman said.
DroneTogether is competing with other drone-related concepts that entered the market in recent years. Other brands that are franchising now include Drone Nerds, Drones Plus, PrecisionHawk, Recon Aerial and Blue Nose Aerial Imaging.
While some drone brands sell their instruction curriculum to franchisees and basically leave it up to them grow their mobile businesses, Zimmerman said DroneTogether is the only one taking their program directly into schools where the demand is highest. He said keeping all their classes and camps indoors not only keeps insurance costs down but also avoids any kind of federal airspace issues that might arise with outdoor drone flights.
In addition to teaching first-time pilots, DroneTogether offers more experienced student pilots robotics lessons, drone coding classes and Federal Aviation Administration pilot certification courses. It also offers career readiness guidance for those interested in making money flying drones.
“We use a classroom teaching model and have come up with a curriculum that is both educational and fun,” Zimmerman said. “After our first-year students get competent in their flying abilities that’s when we have them do some advance things like obstacle courses and individual and team challenges.”
Zimmerman said one of the more fun activities they do with advanced students is something they call drone soccer, which he explained is “like a ‘Harry Potter’ Quidditch-type competition with drones flying around in a cage attempting to pass through goals” at each end.
After enjoying success growing the company’s school and camp programs in Texas, Zimmerman is excited to see how much DroneTogether can grow with a franchising model. He said his biggest challenge is finding operators who share the company’s passion for teaching youth and providing them the training and support they need to be successful.
“We want to sell our concept to teachers and retired aviation workers all over the country who are passionate about getting kids excited about the science of flight and robotics,” said Zimmerman. “We are in the child enrichment space which is one of the hottest markets right now, so our programs are designed specifically to spark curiosity, creativity and social interactions with other students.”
Texas-based DroneTogether runs 63 camps in Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas throughout June and July with hundreds of students ages 4 to 18 enrolled.