EagleHawk One is poised to follow a record year with even more milestones, CEO Patrick Walsh said.
The Buffalo-based startup provides drone inspections for customers with large campuses, especially colleges. EagleHawk is preparing to launch its subscription-based software that will allow customers to use that data to proactively manage their facilities.
“As we continue to add customers and employees to our team, this will help colleges manage their campuses more effectively,” Walsh said. “We’re going after bigger customers now and we’re just scratching the surface of our potential.”
EagleHawk recently was involved in a dispute with co-founder Willard Schulmeister, who was fired in early December but refused to return company property and locked the company out of its social media accounts. EagleHawk filed suit in state Supreme Court and, after an order from Judge Emilio Colaiacovo, the property was returned last week.
Schulmeister, who remains an EagleHawk shareholder, told Business First this week that he was ready to move on.
“While it is tough to separate from something you care about very much, I am very proud of everything that we accomplished at EagleHawk,” he said. “It was time for a change for me. I’m excited about the future for myself and for everyone at EagleHawk. I know that the team will continue to do great things.”
Walsh said he was “looking forward to putting this unfortunate situation in the past and moving forward.”
EagleHawk was founded in 2016 and received financial support from Launch NY and angel investor Joe Weiss, who is a board member. The company won $500,000 in the state-backed Genius NY business competition in 2019.
Things slowed down in the immediate wake of the pandemic two years ago, Walsh said, but business quickly recovered by late 2020. EagleHawk’s 2021 revenue increased by 40%, though Walsh declined to discuss specific revenue figures.
Walsh said the software-as-a-service startup model is the key to unlocking the value of all the data the company generates in its inspections. EagleHawk has eight full-time employees. Walsh said he expects that number to double by year-end.
“Software is the future of this company,” he said. “If everything goes according to plan, we are going to be a much bigger and different business by the end of 2022.”
