Four kinds of pilots. Four different routes.
AeroRev's Co-Pilot helps you close common gaps and navigate crosswinds. A Discovery Flight scores where you stand today, and then routes you through five business phases to determine how you level up. Below are the four most common outcomes:
The weekend flyer with a day job
You are genuinely good on the sticks - a couple hundred hours across a Mavic and maybe an FPV rig - and you want the drone to start paying you back. No commercial certification yet, no niche picked, and a strong urge to buy more gear before the plan exists.
Your route: Start at Level 1 with the certification study track running in parallel so paperwork never blocks momentum. Capital under $5k triggers the bootstrap path: rent, borrow, or subcontract before buying.
First deliverable: Market Selection Scorecard, backed by named local companies and real posted prices.
The second career
Retired or retiring from law enforcement, military, aviation, or a long first career. Capital and discipline are not your problem - pricing confidence and modern marketing are. You want a legitimate operation, built by the book.
Your route: The full program, front to back, run like an operation: SOPs, checklists, and a pipeline board with statuses. Your capital and network usually route you to Advisory, where a human reviews every gate deliverable.
First deliverable: A committed vertical with a written kill-criterion - the decision most people skip.
The trade business adding a service line
You already run a roofing, surveying, ag, or property business with real customers. Drones are a margin play, and you have no patience for foundational theory.
Your route: Existing customers in a vertical you know tests you out of Levels 1-2. You start at Level 3 on the accelerated track - capability, compliance, then straight to service design and pricing against your existing book.
First deliverable: An equipment and compliance plan reconciled against your actual capital, then a price book.
Technical, allergic to selling
GIS, photogrammetry, software - the deliverable is the easy part for you. Scoping it, pricing it, and having the buyer conversation is the part that stalls.
Your route: Start at Level 2 with the interview sprint mandatory - five real conversations with named buyers. It is the forcing function that fixes the commercial gap, and it is where your first customers usually come from.
First deliverable: A Pain & Buyer Brief built from real interviews, then a one-page Service Specification.
And if the honest answer is "not yet," the report says exactly that, then tells you what to do first.