|
|
The Leading Edge
|
September 2010,
Vol. 1 Issue 1
An ASSIST-U.S. Newsletter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Greetings!
This is the first release of our Leading Edge* newsletter to those of you who have advised, supported or otherwise demonstrated interest in the business we have created. It provides you with a brief overview of our progress in developing ASSIST-U.S.® into a company poised to enhance the security of a variety of clients in government and industry with our customized imagery, analysis and intelligence.
We look forward to receiving your feedback on this newsletter or anything else related to our mission.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Abbott.
Director of Marketing Communications
carolyn.abbott@assist-us.com
* Leading Edge refers to any device or system used in aviation that extends the capability of an aircraft to its farthest limits. Limits can be of any sort: speed, altitude, range, maneuverability, or some combination of these.
|
|
CEO's Corner - Gerry Kobelski
Gerry Kobelski  |
In this initial issue, I want to bring you up-to-date on the accomplishments of ASSIST-U.S.® over the past six months. I am very proud of our team and what we have achieved, and, though there is much left to do, I'm very confident we will achieve our goals.
After revising our business plan, based on a two-phased approach to business development, we developed a two-year budget, secured initial funding, and initiated operations in April of this year at the Concord, NH, Municipal Airport, where we obtained office and hangar space.
We next purchased our first aircraft in May, modified it with our sensor system and began training flights in July. In June, we established an Advisory Board comprising business and technology professionals and held our initial meeting.
Throughout July and August, we conducted training missions for pilots and sensor operators using scripted scenarios, flew actual missions at the request of potential clients, and documented our operational procedures and processes.
Over the past few months, we have also renewed agreements with companies with whom we had previous business and partnering arrangements, established relationships and member privileges with government and industry small business officers, and met with senior state and local government officials involved with homeland security and law enforcement.
Looking Forward
As we begin our sixth month, we have defined ourselves as a well-organized, professional, veteran owned small business. ASSIST-U.S.® is capable of providing real-time, emergency response to the needs of security personnel in government and industry with precision full motion video and infrared streaming imagery from our aircraft, giving them a third dimension from which to determine and decide their actions. Our systems will likewise provide critical data for planning, assessment and recovery for situations involving national disasters, terrorism, critical infrastructure maintenance, search and rescue and law enforcement. We can also work with news organizations on short notice when newsworthy events occur that need to be documented from the air in real-time.
Action Requested
I am eager to receive your feedback or questions regarding this newsletter or ASSIST-U.S.® in general. Please email me at gerry.kobelski@assist-us.com or contact me by phone at 603-505-4658.
|
Product Management - Bruce Seibert, Founder/Director
As mentioned above, ASSIST-U.S.® has defined a two-phased solution for our
initial offering and to demonstrate proof-of-concept to potential clients and
investors. The first stage, "Phase I," involves employing less expensive aircraft and
surveillance equipment to allow us to initially enter the marketplace with a
lower-cost offering than was planned under the original business model. We will
continue to use our low altitude Phase I aircraft for clients in
the Northeast region and those looking for lower price points for our services.
"Phase II" will employ larger, more capable aircraft, cameras, communications
and computer systems that can operate from higher altitudes and much greater ranges
with turbo-prop speed. The needs of the clients we will service with Phase II
equipment will require more specialized and sophisticated aerial imagery. We expect to begin servicing those clients in
2011. Our goal is to provide state-of-the-art aerial imagery nationwide and
beyond by 2014.
 After researching a number of aircraft, we purchased our first
Phase I aircraft, a Cessna 182P, last May. We then established a business
relationship with SkyIMD, from whom we purchased a highly-capable Phase I
sensor system for our full motion video and infrared deliverables. We are
extremely pleased with SkyIMD's product and customer support, to the point that
ASSIST-U.S.® and SkyIMD are collaborating on future product development and
marketing initiatives.
|
| Aviation Operations - Rick Bartle, Director
These last few weeks have been full of challenges, surprises, and achievements. Despite many twists and turns, we have pulled together a great team that has worked very hard to keep us moving forward. I am particularly pleased to have begun the process of building our Aviation Operations staff. We now have in our ranks some very skilled and versatile part-time pilots and system operators. In keeping with the spirit of a start-up, they are working on many aspects of building our department in addition to flying and operating the camera system.
Perhaps the most significant milestone to date occurred in late July. Thanks to the efforts of several talented people from inside and outside of ASSIST-U.S.®, we successfully flight tested our new camera system on July 24th. We've already flown more than 35 hours for training, marketing, and customer demonstrations. We have also incorporated wireless connectivity that allows us to transmit still images and real-time air-to-ground video streaming from the aircraft.
Looking ahead, we are working on plans for our "Operations Center," which will be the hub of our department. Plans for hiring more staff, adding aircraft to the fleet, and integrating more cameras are ready to go when the time is right.
This has been an exciting and productive time. Our operations team is ready to go, essential systems are in place, and plans for future growth are prepared. I am truly looking forward to building on this very solid foundation.
|
Sales and Marketing - Dave Trahan, Director
We have come a long way in our sales and marketing activities as we continue to build our business. We are gratified to see the myriad of potential opportunities that continue to emerge for our services ... so many, in fact, that our early sales and marketing efforts were spent trying to fix on multiple target markets in several different venues. However, after extensive brainstorming and market exploration, and with our existing resources, we have focused on three markets -- Critical Infrastructure Protection, Homeland Security and Electronic News Gathering -- to pursue and sell our ability to provide a real-time, full motion video solution in both electro-optical and infrared formats.
In each of these markets, ASSIST-U.S.® can fill an important and recognized need through our ability to quickly respond to an incident and provide actionable information through live streaming aerial video and video documentation of those events for clients' future risk mitigation planning efforts. To date, we have met with many of the key leaders and project managers in these markets, both to better understand their requirements and to offer our services. We are encouraged by their response and continue to get on others' calendars. Most importantly, we are in the process of submitting our first proposals in response to their requests.
Our value proposition is a clear statement of the tangible results a customer receives from using our services, which separate ASSIST-U.S.® from those companies mainly providing only aerial photography. Our value proposition includes: real-time video and infrared imagery streaming, 24X7 response to time-critical needs, complete video editing and analysis, a professional operational structure, and FAA-compliant flight operations.
The ASSIST-U.S.® sales portfolio is fully loaded now with actual videos specific to potential clients, a referable website providing a comprehensive description of our business, and key contacts throughout the target markets who can help expand our sphere of influence throughout the Northeast.
|
Marketing Communications - Carolyn Abbott, Director
Since beginning formal operations in April of this year, we have been busily touting our offerings to government and commercial clients. Toward that end, we have expanded our presence on the Internet and with prospective clients by redesigning the company logo, upgrading and enhancing our website, and refocusing our marketing communications activities and initiatives to reflect the new two-phased approach. We are now fully subscribed to many government, business and industry websites to promote the company and gain access to timely leads. Earlier this month, we distributed a launch press release that emphasizes our ability to support emergency management decision makers, and we recently created an online, social media presence on the professional networking site, LinkedIn.com (click the "View our Profile on LinkedIn" button above to join us there).We invite you to review our website, which fully describes our offerings and is updated to reflect current events as needed (e.g., when Hurricane Earl was on its way to New England, we updated the homepage to reflect our readiness to respond over that week-end). You can request our full media kit directly from the Sales & Marketing Director through the website, and you can also download the Company Overview from there.Please don't hesitate to send me feedback on any of these materials so we can continue to enhance and improve them.
|
Finance and Administration - Bill Bedor, CPA, CFO
The various early stage stakeholders in ASSIST-U.S.® -- founders, investors, employees and potential employees, vendors, joint venture partners, and potential clients -- have taken a wild ride through the ordinary, but significant, challenges expected with any start-up, as well as through one of the most dramatic economic downturns in the last century. It's exciting to realize that we have run that gauntlet and are now fully operational.
The same commitment, work ethic, and business savvy that allowed us to reach this point when everything seemed stacked against us will now be brought to bear on helping clients solve their security, risk mitigation, and emergency management issues.
I believe we can say without reservation that we have a great team that is up to these challenges, the systems and technology are the most advanced and complete available for our situation, and we are on the cusp of a break-out year in providing these badly needed services to government and commercial enterprises alike.
|
|
Thank you...
Thanks for reading, and we hope you will take a minute to confirm your subscription for future issues of our newsletter by using the link provided at the top of the page.
Again, we look forward to receiving your feedback and to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Abbott
|
|
|
|
|
|
