Everyone loves a long shot success story – and this one is better than most.  In July of 2016, DRONELIFE wrote about the 18 year old Utah kid who decided to skip college and pursue his dream of building the ultimate drone.  Today, 20 year old George Matus launches the Teal One: one of the fastest ready-to-fly drones on the market.

George Matus was awarded a $100,000 Thiel fellowship when he graduated from high school.  A Thiel fellowship – which has a lower than 1% win rate – offers grant money, guidance and resources to entrepreneurs under the age of 23 to skip college and pursue innovation instead.  The fellowship was a launchpad for Matus, who by July of his high school graduation year had already raised $2.8 million in seed funding and launched a company of 15 employees and contract workers.

At 18, Matus had a better drone resume than most twice his age.  He started flying at age 11.  He got his first drone job as a drone test pilot for a hobby store while still in middle school.  At 17, he competed in the ABC show BattleBots (a contest of fighting robots).

Matus designed the drone he always wanted to fly – and today, Teal Drones offers the Teal One for sale.  Designed and manufactured in the U.S., the Teal One has a top speed of 60 mph (and it can withstand wind resistance up to 40 mph).  The drone is designed to be modular with easy-to-fix arms and removable props to allow for quick fixes.

Along with the drone, Teal is launching an app platform that will provide new flying experiences in the form of apps. At launch, the platform will offer one app called Teal Flight, an easy-to-use flight control app for beginner to advanced pilots that includes an adjustable flight bubble, a controlled flight area for practicing or trying new maneuvers.

Pilots can personalize their flight experience, adjusting flight tunings from slow and steady to fast and nimble: they can choose from five flight modes including one-handed and voice control.