Vantage has received many comments from community members addressing how we’ve been quiet lately. First of all, we apologize. Every day we make more progress in bringing Snap to your doorsteps, and lately we’ve been so busy that we haven’t devoted much time to share our progress.
Though we’re not going to address that now (updates are coming), we do have some exciting news: Vantage is hiring! We are looking to add three new team members: a head of manufacturing operations, a mechatronics engineer, and a lead mobile software engineer. Lest you get concerned, we’ve had people in all of these roles in varying capacities for years, but we’re now growing the team after a new round of financing to further accelerate our progress.
A little bit about us: our experienced team of Stanford, IDEO, NASA, HP, Volkswagen, and DARPA Grand Challenge alums have founded a combined seven companies and have been granted over 50 patents. We’re also ardent kite surfers, mountain bikers, rock climbers, surfers, and hockey players. Our office is based in San Leandro, CA.
An ideal fit: First and foremost, we’re looking for highly capable team members who have a passion for photography, video, flight, and/or outdoor sports. We’re building the next generation of flying camera —the first of its kind to combine 4K video quality with market-leading safety features, lightweight portability and impressive flight performance— so if that doesn’t make you excited, Vantage isn’t the place for you. Ideal candidates will work collaboratively in a fast-paced work environment and juggle (many!) tasks at once; welcome to startup culture.
The details:
Mechatronics Engineer… This top-notch engineer will assist in making Snap’s electronics innards and firmware work spectacularly well. This person should be capable of solving impossible problems twice as fast as their peers. Read more, here.
Head of Manufacturing Operations…. The operations head will help bring our flying camera, Snap, to market (the more experience in a similar role, the better) . You will be responsible for working with our contract manufacturer and engineering team to develop the company’s ability to manufacture Snap, work through lower back pains with access to some of the best products, and scale production. Read more, here.
Lead Mobile Software Engineer… Finally, we’re searching for a stellar iOS engineer to lead the development of the mobile phone-based controller for our flying camera. This will include writing code as well as managing and building our design and development team. The basic flight control software challenges have already been solved, so the development effort would primarily focus on spectacular interface implementation, low latency wi-fi link, extremely high reliability, and some interesting map graphics challenges. Read more, here.
© 2024 Vantage Robotics
I have to be honest. The description of the jobs you are hiring for make me very nervous. If you really need all those skills, then how is it that you are going to manufacture a drone for those of us who have preordered by early Fall. … and if you are… how much of a beta is it going to be? You still have “impossible problems” to solve? …develop an ability to manufacture Snap? writing code for anything above basic software challenges? This sounds like you are very very far away from a realized product. Maybe that isn’t the case, but your descriptions don’t give us confidence. This sounds like jobs you would be filling a year or two or three before production…not a couple months.
Just to reiterate what was mentioned in the post, we’ve had people in all of these roles in varying capacities for years, but we’re now growing the team after a new round of financing to further accelerate our progress. We want someone who can solve impossible problems twice as fast as their peers because that means they are at the top of their game.
Wait…. So your camera was supposed to be out in the spring, and then late July, but you don’t even have these positions crucial to the development and manufacturing of it out yet? Seriously?
We do have all of our manufacturing partners lined up, tools made, and parts in production. We are simply scaling up, and looking for more talent to join the team.
Doesn’t make much sense…. You claim you have had people in these roles, yet you’re looking for the “head” of manufacturing and a “lead” engineer.
James,
I can understand the need for growth going forward & scaling production up once people see real world reviews etc of the Snap, but can you confirm if your timeline still stands from the previous update to get pre orders like myself who ordered in March to have my Snap delivered in September?.
I’m still excited to see more videos & updates from any Beta’s before I get my hands on my own Snap!.
Looks like they should add a “Head of Communications” role over there to help frame messages better.
Vantage doesn’t want to ship a few hundred flying cameras and call it a day. They want to have the processes in place on the development side for more rapid development and the supply chain necessary to support retail sales channels effectively.
A group of 8 people brought the product to life for you all to enjoy. Now they need to grow the team and grow their internal competencies to take the company to the next level. There will be more ,impossible problems” to solve (poor choice of hyperbole) and they will need a larger team in place to tackle these new challenges as Vantage Robotics moves to the next business stage.
Congrats on a new round of financing! I haven’t ordered one yet but I’ve been following your progress with great interest 🙂
Thanks Justin!
In my humble opinion, with this recent post, I would agree with you all that it doesn’t sound promising on the August/September delivery. Even when one of you asked about it, you didn’t get a response. It appears they just threw something out their to keep everything at bay to make it look like progress. In reality I believe this update hurts them even more for they have all of us scratching our heads and wondering. All we can do is hope and pray they are still on schedule. My money says they are not and if so they should just tell us. I’m sure they are afraid that a bunch of pre-orders may get cancelled.
Sorry to cause concern here Tim. We will be coming out with another update regarding manufacturing and shipping in the next few days. In the mean time, our investors are looking at our business very closely and are all happy, so we are growing. Ultimately having a great product that works well is the most important goal, and we are at a point now where we can expand our team. By no means did we post this to distract our customers or keep you at bay.
I agree Justin , Congrats to the team on getting a new round of financing . It shows that others believe in this product and makes me believe that Vantagerobotics are here for the long term. Looking forward to flying my snap drone Down Under.
Thanks Peter!
Hi all, Just joined the fray confident we will all be very satisfied with a fantastic product that is being designed tested and retested to ultimately be the most advanced new Drone technology around, filling a void in the market. I wish you every success and enthusiastically remain keen to see the finished product leaving me hand.
Thanks Martyn!!!
Why did you delete:
“Tech Talk: Snap’s Micro Gimbal March 8, 2016 Product Details”
??
We didn’t. You can find it right here: https://vantagerobotics.com/product-details/gimbal-stabilization
Hi everyone. I am curious about the Snap and am considering purchasing one and have a question. If you just released the beta version then where are the reviews. I have been unable to find third party reviews. I really like your product but am skeptical about purchasing a product when the only reviews are from the company. Of course the company is going to give all the pros about their product and build it up. Where are the consumer reviews?
Hi Milton,
Beta is a time for companies to broaden their user base in the hopes of finding and fixing any final issues before mass production. We have asked our beta testers to help us in using Snap and giving feedback, but to not give any public reviews until to product is finalized. They have all signed and NDA that agrees to hold off on posting any reviews at this time.
Hallo everybody! What is the WLAN frequency of Snap WiFi, 2.4 GHz (802.11b/g/n) or 5 GHz (802.11ac)? Thank you!
Both!