MANSFIELD, Ohio — John Bartoloucci and Ryan Anschutz, co-founders of HYSight Technologies, were pleasantly surprised Thursday when Spire Advertising awarded them nearly $10,000 worth of services.
In recognition of Small Business Saturday, Spire offered north central Ohio small businesses the chance to obtain a website and marketing package valued at $9,974. According to Jeremy Harrison, Spire’s founder and CEO, 67 businesses applied for this opportunity.
The winner was selected based on answers to four questions describing the challenges and opportunities of the small business. An independent panel of three judges, including Barrett Thomas of BrainTree Business Development Center, President and CEO of the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce Barbie Lange, and President of the Mansfield and Richland County Convention and Visitors Bureau Lee Tasseff, judged the forms.
“We are passionate about helping small businesses succeed,” Harrison said. “Our purpose is empowering small business success that transforms communities.”
Harrison, joined by other members of the Spire staff, surprised Bartoloucci and Anschutz at the HYSight office Thursday afternoon with the good news.
Stunned and excited, the two talked about how this will help them reach an even broader market more effectively.
“Since we started, we really haven’t put any money into any advertisement,” Bartoloucci said.
He said the majority of their time and resources have been spent on developing the business, “so this going to be the first time we can actually really reach out to the public and show them what we do,” he said.
One of their goals, he said, is to make HYSight the leading brand for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the U.S.
“We’re in the process of working with a couple of individuals who want to open satellite offices outside Mansfield and there are a couple different states, including Alaska, where folks want to use the HYSight name, use our technology and continue our services in those areas–areas where we really couldn’t service without someone remotely doing it for us,” he said.
HYSight is about a year old.
“We have two aspects of our company,” Anschutz said. “One is retail sales where we equip specialty sensors like thermal imaging devices to proven UAV technology. And then we have what’s called Drone as a Service, so with the FAA [333 Exemption] that was granted to us, we’re allowed to fly a drone for profit as a service.
“We can do everything from flying for construction companies, mapping quarries, to 3D modeling a building and stitching images together from an aerial standpoint. It’s a lot more than just taking pictures of real estate or showcasing properties.”
Bartoloucci said press releases have been helpful spreading the word about their services, but by winning Spire’s competition, “This is going to make us much, much busier,” he said.
