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From his early days at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to co-founding Inspired Flight in 2017, Adam Bilmes has been driven by the transformative potential of drone technology since co-founding Inspired Flight. He has helped position Inspired Flight as a trusted leader in the U.S. drone industry with his focus on establishing new markets for Inspired Flight and building the partnerships required for the company to scale.
In his role leading business development, Adam works closely with government agencies, utilities, and enterprise drone operators, fostering partnerships that expand the impact of unmanned systems across critical industries. He is passionate about customer success, ensuring Inspired Flight’s aircraft are backed by safety, reliability, and best-in-class support. Outside of work, Adam channels his creativity into cooking and stays active on the rugby field, reflecting his belief in both teamwork and craft inside and outside the office
Let’s start at the beginning. How did Inspired Flight come to life, and what drew you to co-found the company?
At first I was just trying to get credit for my Senior Project coming out of Cal Poly SLO. To say I was even remotely knowledgeable about drones and the industrial world when I teamed up with my co-founder, Marc Stollmeyer, in 2017 would be misleading. After a few months of learning about the commercial UAS landscape and Marc’s vision about the capabilities we desired to introduce to the world, I quickly recognized just how gigantic this opportunity could be. The impact that drone technology can have on society is what has always excited me the most, whether that’s using drones to conserve resources, save lives, or create jobs. Reshoring American Manufacturing and building drone technology with a domestic supply chain was important to Marc and me, and our earliest investors, since the beginning. That decision turned out to be pivotal when the 2020 NDAA started to limit where Chinese drones could be used, as we had a couple of years' head start in building a domestic supply chain.
As Director of Business Development, what do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges in the drone industry today?
The biggest challenge remains closing the technology gap and the user experience that the wide majority of commercial drone users have come to expect over the past decade in using primarily DJI systems. Companies like Inspired Flight and other incredible teams across the USA have made incredible strides in a fairly short time - but there’s still a long way to go. As the geopolitical environment continues to shift, we as a domestic industry need to do more to provide end-users with the tools they need to get their jobs done safely, efficiently, and at a reasonable cost. As the threat of a Chinese drone ban continues, domestic manufacturers like us must recognize that the only thing scarier than competing with no geopolitical restrictions is operators grounding their programs indefinitely because they don’t see a viable alternative.
The biggest opportunities lie in how far autonomy and AI can push this technology. New market-shifting applications are proven out by the week, and as more and more collaborations and technology integrations happen, the utility that will be created is enormous.
You’ve worked closely with government agencies, utilities, and drone operators. What makes Inspired Flight different in their eyes?
Safety and reliability will always be our number one priority as an aircraft manufacturer, but that’s not enough. What makes us different is our reputation for accessibility and incredible customer support. Our customers, across any industry, know that we are there to support them and will do anything in our power to make sure they’re up in the air completing their missions.
What’s a recent success story or moment that made you feel proud of what you’re building at IFT?
Meeting the ever-growing number of people who choose to join the Inspired Flight team will always be my proudest moments. Nothing means more to me than growing a company that creates fulfilling and lucrative career opportunities for other like-minded people. The team at Inspired Flight is why we’ve gotten to the point we’re at today, and will be the only reason we get to wherever we’re going.
What role do partnerships play in IFT’s strategy, and how do you choose the right collaborators?
Partnerships allow us to solve the problems our customers have. The type of programs leveraging UAS technology tends to touch every facet of an enterprise. We know that we won’t ever be able to bring the complete end-to-end solution to our customers if we don’t deeply engage with partners, whether that’s payload partners, data processing partners, regulatory compliance partners, etc. The best ones start on the human level - is the team you’ll be working with to bring some new capability to market, one that aligns with our core values and aspirations for the type of company we want to build?
How do you balance the fast pace of scaling a tech company with staying grounded in IFT’s mission and values?
I stay grounded by spending time in the field with our customers. Seeing the incredibly important use cases being accomplished with the tools we build makes me incredibly proud and grounds me in what’s important. A company can always be built faster - but it can’t be at the expense of quality, particularly when we’re in the business of building flying robots.
Looking ahead 3–5 years, what excites you most about what’s next for Inspired Flight and the U.S. drone ecosystem?
This is an incredibly exciting moment for Inspired Flight and the wider drone landscape. The geopolitical tailwinds for US manufacturing, a regulatory landscape that better allows for the drone technology to be deployed fully, and products that provide more value than ever before. I feel fortunate to be sitting at this moment, having built a strong foundation for Inspired Flight over the past years - now the real work begins.
What advice would you give to other founders or sales leaders in emerging tech sectors?
Ask for help more often. From your customers, from your partners, from your employees, and from your peers. You’ll be surprised by just how willing people will be to help.
Outside of drones and business, what are some of your personal passions or favorite ways to unwind?
Cooking and Sports are two of my main passions outside of work. I had a professional cooking background before Inspired Flight, and that love for creating in the kitchen remains. I’ve also started to play rugby, which I last played throughout college, competitively again, and that’s been an incredible way to meet new people and get out some of the stress that building a startup inevitably brings.
What’s something people might not realize about working at IFT or building a company in this space?
Just how much you’ll learn by building a company in the ‘Flying Robot’ space. What I didn’t realize when setting out on this journey is that we’d be building a company that builds drones but serves customers in industries ranging from construction to energy to ecological conservation and so many more. Our customers don’t really care about the ‘drone industry’ and the intricacies that drive some of the decisions we make - they care about how the tools we provide them better enable their ability to create jobs, save lives, or conserve resources.