Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Sloane.
Matt, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I moved to Atlanta in the fall of 2000 to attend Emory University, and very shortly after, I started interning at CNN downtown. After several summers of freelance work for CNN, I got a full time job after graduation and spent ten years working at CNN Medical News as a producer.
In January of 2014, I made the decision that it was time to start something for myself, but I still wasn’t sure what that was. I was asked to speak to a group of firefighters down at the state’s public safety training academy about how CNN covers major news stories, and the day before the talk, I had gotten my first drone, so I mentioned that. After my talk, four of the chiefs in the room came up to me and asked how they could get this technology for their departments, and had no idea. I said, “let me get back to you!”
During college, I was also a certified EMT and worked with some fire and law enforcement agencies, so it just clicked for me — drones for public safety was a perfect fit for my new company.
I came together with two of my former roommates from Emory and started this company, one of whom was a lawyer, and one, a serial entrepreneur. Within a few weeks, we took a chance and went to our first trade show, and that’s how it all began.
I’ve always cared deeply about getting this technology into the hands of the people who are putting their lives in danger everyday and helping them get home safely every night. I think it’s that commitment to the public safety community that has helped us become successful — we genuinely care.
Since then, we have worked with over 300 public safety agencies in Georgia and around the country, including the Atlanta Police Department, Dekalb and Cobb County Fire Departments and many others to get their programs off the group. We also provided aerial security coverage during the 2019 Super Bowl, as well as for the democratic debates here in Georgia.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I wouldn’t say it’s been entirely smooth — we bootstrapped most of the last six years – but we have definitely had an amazing amount of support from smart friends, partners and now, investors. Public agencies take quite a long time to go through the procurement process, so there was quite a long lead time before we are really starting to bring in clients.
One major struggle was having to educate the public safety community about drones, what they were capable of, and that they were not just toys. We’ve also had to keep up with changing regulations from the federal government, differing views on foreign-made equipment, budget cycles, changing technology, and the fact that we’re still very early on in the evolution of the drone industry.
Please tell us about your work.
We specialize in helping public safety entities start safe and legal drone programs. In recent years, we have started to move away from things like equipment sales – because you can buy drones anywhere. Our specialty lays in the relationships we have with the FAA. The deep experience we have with training and using these platforms, and our understanding of the needs of the public safety community.
Thanks to our work during the Super Bowl in 2019, we now have a very positive working relationship with the federal law enforcement community, as well as many of our state agencies here in Georgia.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of my favorite memories from childhood is when my grandfather would take me to various fire stations around Philadelphia to check out all of the trucks. He wasn’t a firefighter, he was a doctor, but I think he secretly always wanted to be a firefighter. I’m sure he’s watching now as I spend quite a lot of time in firehouses playing with equipment!
Contact Info:
- Address: 134 New Street, Decatur, GA 30030
- Website: skyfireconsulting.com
- Phone: 404-220-7783
- Email: info@skyfireconsulting.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkyfireConsulting/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masloane/
Image Credit:
Skyfire Consulting (two on the rooftops are while doing coverage of Super Bowl 53, the ball drone in the blown up tunnel is Skyfire pilots flying during a tunnel drill with FDNY, then there’s me demonstrating to police and fire guys at the Georgia Emergency Management UAS conference, and the colorful one is a thermal image of a fire in Decatur.
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