Should I Build It Should I Build It
08 Apr 2025
Tech

BVLOS drone operations focused on leak detection in the oils and gas ...

...industry

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Minimal Signal

There’s barely any market activity - either because the problem is very niche or not important enough. You’ll need to prove real demand exists before investing significant time.

Should You Build It?

Not yet, validate more.

Your are here

Your idea of using BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) drone operations for leak detection in the oil and gas industry falls into the 'Minimal Signal' category. This means there isn't much publicly visible market activity for similar products, suggesting it's a niche problem or not yet deemed important enough by the market. With a low number of similar products (n_matches = 2) and low engagement (avg n_comments = 0), it's essential to approach this cautiously. The lack of significant use or buy signals reinforces the need for thorough validation before committing substantial resources. Because of the low number of matches, it is hard to be very confident in this assessment. However, it doesn't mean your idea is bad but it means you have to be very careful in your next steps and de-risk the idea via early stage validation.

Recommendations

  1. Given the 'Minimal Signal' category, your immediate focus should be on directly engaging with your potential customer base. Spend time where oil and gas professionals congregate online (e.g., industry-specific forums, LinkedIn groups) and directly ask about their current leak detection methods, pain points, and willingness to adopt drone-based solutions.
  2. Offer a manual or semi-automated version of your leak detection service to a small number of oil and gas companies. This will allow you to deeply understand their needs and collect real-world data to refine your solution and value proposition. Consider offering this initial service at a discounted rate or even pro bono to build trust and gather testimonials.
  3. Create a concise and visually compelling explainer video showcasing the benefits of BVLOS drone leak detection. Emphasize cost savings, improved safety, and environmental benefits. Host the video on a landing page with a clear call to action, such as signing up for a demo or joining a waiting list.
  4. Gauge interest by offering a spot on a waiting list for your service, requiring a small, refundable deposit. This demonstrates commitment and helps validate demand. Clearly communicate the timeline for service availability and any potential discounts for early adopters.
  5. Set a clear validation target: If you can't secure a specific number of interested customers (e.g., 5-10) within a defined timeframe (e.g., 4-6 weeks) through your initial outreach and manual service offering, it might be necessary to pivot or reconsider the business model. Be prepared to kill your darlings, but also be very thoughtful and careful.
  6. Explore partnerships with existing service providers in the oil and gas industry, such as inspection companies or environmental consultants. They may have established relationships and a better understanding of client needs, providing you with a valuable entry point into the market.

Questions

  1. What specific regulations or certifications are required for BVLOS drone operations in the regions where your target oil and gas companies operate, and how will you navigate these complex legal and compliance hurdles?
  2. Given the low engagement and minimal signal for similar products, what are the key assumptions you're making about the market need for BVLOS drone leak detection, and how will you validate these assumptions through early customer interactions and pilot projects?
  3. How will you differentiate your BVLOS drone leak detection service from existing methods or potential competitors in the space, particularly in terms of accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and data analysis capabilities?

Your are here

Your idea of using BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) drone operations for leak detection in the oil and gas industry falls into the 'Minimal Signal' category. This means there isn't much publicly visible market activity for similar products, suggesting it's a niche problem or not yet deemed important enough by the market. With a low number of similar products (n_matches = 2) and low engagement (avg n_comments = 0), it's essential to approach this cautiously. The lack of significant use or buy signals reinforces the need for thorough validation before committing substantial resources. Because of the low number of matches, it is hard to be very confident in this assessment. However, it doesn't mean your idea is bad but it means you have to be very careful in your next steps and de-risk the idea via early stage validation.

Recommendations

  1. Given the 'Minimal Signal' category, your immediate focus should be on directly engaging with your potential customer base. Spend time where oil and gas professionals congregate online (e.g., industry-specific forums, LinkedIn groups) and directly ask about their current leak detection methods, pain points, and willingness to adopt drone-based solutions.
  2. Offer a manual or semi-automated version of your leak detection service to a small number of oil and gas companies. This will allow you to deeply understand their needs and collect real-world data to refine your solution and value proposition. Consider offering this initial service at a discounted rate or even pro bono to build trust and gather testimonials.
  3. Create a concise and visually compelling explainer video showcasing the benefits of BVLOS drone leak detection. Emphasize cost savings, improved safety, and environmental benefits. Host the video on a landing page with a clear call to action, such as signing up for a demo or joining a waiting list.
  4. Gauge interest by offering a spot on a waiting list for your service, requiring a small, refundable deposit. This demonstrates commitment and helps validate demand. Clearly communicate the timeline for service availability and any potential discounts for early adopters.
  5. Set a clear validation target: If you can't secure a specific number of interested customers (e.g., 5-10) within a defined timeframe (e.g., 4-6 weeks) through your initial outreach and manual service offering, it might be necessary to pivot or reconsider the business model. Be prepared to kill your darlings, but also be very thoughtful and careful.
  6. Explore partnerships with existing service providers in the oil and gas industry, such as inspection companies or environmental consultants. They may have established relationships and a better understanding of client needs, providing you with a valuable entry point into the market.

Questions

  1. What specific regulations or certifications are required for BVLOS drone operations in the regions where your target oil and gas companies operate, and how will you navigate these complex legal and compliance hurdles?
  2. Given the low engagement and minimal signal for similar products, what are the key assumptions you're making about the market need for BVLOS drone leak detection, and how will you validate these assumptions through early customer interactions and pilot projects?
  3. How will you differentiate your BVLOS drone leak detection service from existing methods or potential competitors in the space, particularly in terms of accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and data analysis capabilities?

  • Confidence: Low
    • Number of similar products: 2
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 0
  • Net use signal: 0.0%
    • Positive use signal: 0.0%
    • Negative use signal: 0.0%
  • Net buy signal: 0.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

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Relevance

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22 Jul 2024 Artificial Intelligence Analytics

Hey HN,Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XiP2-DPo6gThis is what I’ve been working on full-time as a solo founder in my startup, Sentinel Devices, for just over four years. High-level: we collect data from the “digital brains” of industrial equipment, then use this data to build a baseline model of equipment behavior and monitor for anomalies – signs in the digital data indicating maybe that a sensor or valve is failing, or that some kind of cyber-physical attack is ongoing. The unique part about our approach is that we are laser-focused on doing everything totally offline – that means all data collection, storage, processing, AI training, and decision-making happen exclusively on embedded industrial hardware. There are no external servers, data is never sent anywhere, and our models are not even pre-trained – our devices self-train and self-develop models in the field, based only on data they’ve seen. By removing the need for cloud connectivity, we’re building something that scales infinitely to as many machines as you’d like – while not introducing any of the issues that come with an always-on external network connection.I thought this would be relevant given the (very) recent events around always-on internet connections and updates bricking critical infrastructure. We’ve developed OTAware specifically for critical infrastructure – if there’s no internet connection, attackers can’t get in (or at least it’s a lot harder) and you won’t be impacted by your infrastructure making random updates. Definitely welcome any thoughts or discussion from industrial folks around use cases you see, or obstacles to deployment you can think of. And if anyone would like to try it out, it does require physical hardware, but we’ll happily talk with you about what a test deployment can look like!

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