Monetizing the Making–Mar 1–here’s your speaker, Ron Daniels

(photo: sourced from www.hawkertempest.se)

Only 2 days until a very interesting talk at kwartzlab.  Join us on Tuesday, March 1 for “Monetizing the Making”, a talk by Ron Daniels.  Doors open at 7pm, talk begins at 7:30pm.

To pique your curiosity, here’s: The Bio.

Ron Daniels, like many of us makers, was born with an interest in all things mechanical.  A love for aircraft was a pretty natural development, given his father’s job at the Calgary airport.  Racing and modifying dirt bikes in high school motivated Ron to take shop classes for his electives, complementing his academic studies.

In 1987, Ron began building building rubber-band-powered planes, but when those designs out-flew the available fields, he switched to building R/C (remote-control) planes.  Wrapping up a BSc in Chemistry at Western in 1991 gave him time to design his first R/C plane that found its origins in the remains of a “happy” accident: a crash-damaged kit plane.  That first design, known as the “Stubby”, was later published in Remote Control Modeller Magazine, garnering attention for this new designer and eventually was built and flown by hobbyists around the globe.

(photo: sourced from Ron Daniels)

From ‘91 to ‘95, Ron designed a model of a WWII fighter plane dubbed the Hawker Tempest Mk V.  A scaled-down 41” wingspan prototype of the full-blown 100” design drew so much attention on RC airfields of Southwestern Ontario that Ron initiated licensed kit production.  The product line was later expanded to include the Tempest Mk II and Sea Fury designs.

(photo: sourced from Ron Daniels)

Licensee quality issues and inconsistent sales support were only a few of the challenges Ron faced as he add the Typhoon design to his portfolio.  In 2000, the rising popularity of electric-powered R/C flight led Ron to redesign some of his planes to enter that market and add the V1 Flying Bomb and Super Chipmunk designs.  At this point, he opted to launch new designs on his own, eschewing the licensing model, and subcontracting the manufacture of parts. 

Completing an MBA at Laurier in 2007, Ron methodically optimized his designs *and* his business, tackling competitive threats, addressing varying shipping and exchange rates, and adding accessory kits to his product lineup.

Come join us Tuesday night for Ron’s talk.  Bring lots of questions.

DW