"Mr. Zhang, can you customize another batch of this automatic rewinding disc for us?"

(later referred to as "Weize tethering"), the founder of Zhang Wei's office door is hidden, and the sound of heated discussion comes from inside. Sideways squeezed in only to find that seven or eight customers are gathered around Zhang Wei, listening to his introduction of a new type of tethering box details.

Less than 100 square meters of room, is Zhang Wei's office, but also a parlor, but also a temporary product showroom. Just sent away a group of guests, not yet had time to drink a mouthful of water, and then there are phone calls come in to inquire.This "small but beautiful" team of only nine people has pried up the market for the industrial-grade tethered drone 90% in the midst of their busy schedules.

01 Products Sold Overseas

When it comes to drones, the first thing that comes to mind for many people may be consumer-grade drones, which are used for drone shows on New Year's Eve or for aerial photography in general. But in fact, there are many types of drones and their uses are also very wide, tethered drones are one of them.

"Tethered" means tethered, and "stay" means to stay in the air. As the name implies.A tethered drone is a drone that is tethered to the ground by a wire similar to a"tails"A type of drone that is tethered to a long rope to realize the function of hovering in the air for a long period of time.

"The primary problem facing tethered UAVs is range." Zhang Wei introduced that the team has been working around this area since its inception, and has been able to alleviate the problem of range anxiety by continuously optimizing the tethered power supply system.

"It not only has to transmit power, but also ensure signal stability, while taking into account weight and strength." Zhang Wei explains, "For this cable alone, we looked for many cooperative manufacturers and polished it for nearly two years before it came to market." With this system, theLag time for drones went from ten minutes byIt extends to 6-8 hours or more.

Today, this technology has been extended to the company'sFour main product matrices: in the darkness of the night can light up 3000 square meters ofTethered Lighting SystemThe "lifeline" of communication for the disaster areatethered relay systemThe alternative to "Spiderman" for curtain wall cleaningDual Tethered Aerial Cleaning Systemand the ability to move with the vehicleTethered hangar system.

It is reported that in the market of industrial-grade tethered drones with high power of 10KW or more, the market share of Weize tethered has reached 90%?The products are exported to the United States, Europe, the Middle East and other places . The team has also become a stable supplier of DJI's related products.

02 Not building airplanes, but building parts.

What kind of team is behind making a name for themselves in such a niche track?

The founder, Zhang Wei, had been deeply engaged in the research and development of radar power supply in state-owned enterprises, and has rich experience in research and development and marketing. However, in Zhang Wei's opinion, the team's greatest strength is actually a force to find pain points and solve them.

"I think it's enough for startups to make small accessories without having to go hardcore into building airplanes. Drones are new very quickly and the demand for new accessories is always there." Zhang Wei said. It is this kind ofThe "accessory mindset" allows them to always find business opportunities in obscure places.

Once, the customer casually complained that it was too troublesome for the drone to patrol the mountains in the dark, the team immediately took action and designed and assembled a high-brightness light that could be hung on the drone. The light itself is not complicated, but with the drone as the carrier, the value immediately jumped. Another customer didn't want to manually retract the line, so they worked out a winch that could retract the line automatically based on their deep understanding of tethering products.

"These products are small in volume and look inconspicuous, but one order after another, accumulating is a big market." Relying on this"Big market + small team + high gross profit"s flexible model, the team is keenly attuned to the immediate needs of the market.

In order to sell more products, Zhang Wei also went down as a "netizen". He operated two new media accounts accumulated more than 1,600 introduction videos, only one account of Jitterbug has brought in more than 1,500 videos.Over $12 million in sales.03 "The service here is just right."

In 8 years, from the industry's newcomers to grow into the leader of the segment, the takeoff of the Weiser Department stayed started from an innovation and entrepreneurship competition.

In Zhang Wei's office, there is a yellowed certificate of honor. "In the beginning, we borrowed someone else's conference room to start our business, and then it wasParticipated in the New District Youth College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, won 40,000 yuan in prizes to have the start-up money to rent space, open production lines." Zhang Wei lamented that this certificate of honor is a witness of the beginning, and then he met a group of like-minded friends through the new district entrepreneurs club.

With the expansion of business, drone testing requires airspace, which has become a new problem for this young team. "The park grafted the resources of Nanjing UAV Base Xijiang Test Field in the first place, and now, weIt's especially convenient to fly right downstairs." Zhang Wei said.

In addition to high-quality resources, what moved him more is the efficiency and temperature of the service. Late at night last year, in order to test the reflective effect of the product in the glass curtain wall environment, Zhang Wei sent a microblogging message to the park with the mentality of trying: "Urgently need a real reflective environment, can we borrow a building?" What he did not expect is that the park staffAfter coordinating overnight, a building was found early the next morning that qualified for Weiser's tether.

"The integration of the two parks to build Jiangbei Science City this year has built a higher platform for our enterprises, and I believe that in the future, there will be more opportunities for cooperation and space for development." Zhang Wei said.

Now, push open the office window, the surrounding cluster of more than 50 drone-related enterprises, constituting a complete low-altitude economic industry chain. In this low altitude economy hot land in Jiangbei, Zhang Wei and Weize tethering is using a "charging line", connecting a broader sky.