STARTUP LINE THE NEW HEIGHTS

Two Grand Forks entrepreneurs are entering the UAS industry, making use of opportunities the city offers for startup companies

by Kayla Prasek

Nate Leben and Adam Lingwall manage rental property together but had always talked about starting a sustainable business together. When they decided the time was right to take that leap, they thought about what they were good at and what resources North Dakota had to offer.

Both Leben and Lingwall are veterans of the Air National Guard and Leben worked for a defense contractor for 10 years flying unmanned aerial systems, which led the two to start ISight RPV Services, a provider of UAS operations based at the University of North Dakota Center for Innovation in Grand Forks. Leben and Lingwall founded ISight in 2015, initially funding it themselves. They attended an Innovate ND Entrepreneur Boot Camp and made the decision to call the Center for Innovation home.

The company flies fixed-wing aircraft rather than the usual quadcopters most people are familiar with, a decision ISight made so the company could focus on the precision agriculture sector, Leben says.

In the year and a half since Leben and Lingwall started ISight, they have worked with EdgeData, a Grand Forks big data company, as its service provider for wind turbine inspection. ISight has also been part of a simulated beyond-line-of-sight project with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site and UND, and a research project with Delta Waterfowl, a project Leben is particularly proud of.

“They were doing research on ducks, so we flew over the area looking for hot spots, which helped direct their researchers to where the ducks were,” Leben says. “Before that, they were driving around on fourwheelers looking for nests, so it was very old-school. At first they weren’t sure how we could help them, but they liked how well our process worked.”

ISight has also received a couple grants to complete a project with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site and a project in the oilfields of western North Dakota. “Our goal is that projects like these will hopefully lead to long-term contracts,” Leben says.

ISight also works closely with UAI International, another business located at the Center for Innovation, to share assets and crew, Leben says. The two companies’ partnership is one of the benefits of being located at the Center for Innovation, he says. “It was the easiest choice for us, because it is an incubator. The network the center provides is such a benefit. Anytime someone comes to Grand Forks and needs pilots to fly their aircraft, the center is a great advocate for the businesses located here.”

The Center for Innovation is home to 24 UAS companies. “It’s a challenge, but when we started, we said we would only hire commercialrated pilots, which is valuable,” Leben says. “Friendly competition is good for the industry.”

As a startup company, Leben says cash flow has been the biggest challenge ISight has faced. “That’s where Innovate ND has helped and where partnering with UAI has been valuable,” Leben says. “It’s hard to hire more people when you can’t pay them. We (Leben and Lingwall) both have full-time jobs, so we’re also trying to figure out when we make the jump to be full-time entrepreneurs. But without these partnerships we’ve had, we’d be a full year behind where we are now.”

When trying to forecast the future, Leben says the next big change to the industry will be the ability to fly beyond line of sight, which is currently prohibited by regulations. “It could be next year or it could be in five years before that happens,” Leben says.

Leben says the lesson he would pass on to those thinking about starting a business is to “hustle. Get your name out there, but don’t go too fast. Make sure you do a good job on those first couple jobs you’re hired for so you can build a reputation and more jobs will follow.”

KAYLA PRASEK Staff Writer, Prairie Business 701.780.1187 kprasek@prairiebusinessmagazine.com

TOP: While ISight RPV Services focuses on flying fixed-wing UAS, it also has the capability to fly quadcopters.

BOTTOM: ISight owns several unmanned aircraft, but if another company needs a pilot to fly its aircraft, ISight offers that service as well.