Young Drone Entrepreneur Weider360

An Interview with the Young Founder Behind Weider360

At 16, most teenagers are thinking about school, sports, or their next trip with friends. But for Martin Weider, a spark from his family history led him down a different path. Inspired by his ancestors’ stories, he bought a $100 drone to film the forgotten Bulgarian villages of his heritage—a simple idea that, just two years later, would evolve into a full-fledged aerial mapping and digital documentation business by the time he turned 18.

How did your childhood lead you to founding Weider360?

I grew up between Sweden, Denmark, and eventually Bulgaria.

It was a history assignment that first got me thinking about my roots. I traced stories of my Bulgarian ancestors—how they survived war and poverty through resilience and entrepreneurship. That connection inspired my family to move back to Bulgaria, to be closer to our family and our heritage.

The day before we flew out, I bought my first drone—for $100. I wanted to film the abandoned village my great-great-great-grandfather once called home. One of those early videos unexpectedly took off on YouTube. That’s when it clicked:

Maybe I could use this to help others tell their stories, too. That idea was the very beginning of Weider360.

How did your business start to grow?

Two years ago, I registered on LinkedIn. I slowly started connecting with my friends and with people I looked up to. People often said, “You should make your own company.” I thought it was funny. Too far-fetched. I’m 16—how can I start thinking about creating a company from scratch?

But soon after, a message popped up on LinkedIn from a German factory manager. The ask? Document a 30,000-square-meter industrial site in just a few days. It was ten times bigger than anything I’d ever done. I was 17.

I thought, “Well, this is my chance. I might as well buy a high-quality camera, step up, and go to that factory.” I bought a camera right before the deadline.

I filmed for four full days. Every workday was 10 hours long: taking a photo, moving the camera 2 meters, taking a photo, moving the camera 2 meters…

I had prepared to scan for one day. On the fourth day, after a freezing-cold 10-hour capture session on the factory rooftop, I jumped on the bus towards home. I had completed a massive project, and the client was happy.

That was the moment Weider360 became more than a hobby. It became a business.

What does Weider360 do today?

• We deliver immersive 360° virtual tours, drone photography/videography, 3D digital twins, floor plans, aerial panoramas, and inspection-grade spatial models.

• We focus on generating visual assets that support remote engagement, marketing, heritage preservation, facility documentation, and building sales/leads.
• We work with clients across educational institutions (e.g. American College of Sofia), industrial operators (e.g. Leoni Bulgaria), coworking spaces (e.g. V74), cultural heritage projects (e.g. Old Sugar Factory in Sofia), in Europe.

• We bring strengths in Matterport expertise, precision drone mapping, multilingual communication (English, Bulgarian, Danish, Russian), and strong customer service.

What inspires you?

I love maps. Every time we travel by train, I take my small road atlas with me and look carefully at the region we are passing through: cities, highways, infrastructure.

The moment I’m out in the field, mapping a large factory or an old historical church, I feel like I’m contributing to mapping the world.

What do you see coming down the pipeline for technology?

Millions of people will lose their jobs if they don’t adapt to new technology and use automation.

AI will not take over the world. People who efficiently use AI in their work will take over the world.

Technology is a double-edged sword. It educates you and makes you more stupid at the same time.

Social media is preventing so many young minds from flourishing and building their confidence. In contrast to reading a news article, the consumption of TikTok shorts doesn’t require any action. This means that people are becoming less proactive, which slows down their personal development.

However, nowadays technology is everywhere. We can learn anything we want: Korean language from home, an online course in project management that can land us a job on the other side of the globe.

We can connect with millions of like-minded professionals through LinkedIn and get invaluable knowledge.

Nowadays, it’s easy to get ahead of the crowd and get the best out of technology.

Who inspires you in your field?

Overhead 4D – who turn the real world into a digital experience.
MYX – a Bulgarian startup that has mapped thousands of cell towers around the globe. I want to learn to do the same, including attracting cell tower clients and recruiting mapping pilots.
LiDAR News – the leading lidar and laser scanning news provider. I’m impressed with their large following, despite the narrow niche.

Who would you like to connect with in the industry?

I would like to connect with potential large clients in the industry:
• Universities and schools – to help them visualize their campuses and attract more international students.
• Construction companies – to help them document the construction process and mitigate misalignments.
• UNESCO heritage sites – to preserve buildings by creating accurate 3D reconstructions and bringing new life to forgotten sites.

I would love to connect with senior professionals in the drone industry.

Attending conferences will help us find the top specialists in the field. I would love to connect with Rami Tamimi at Intergeo, Dronamics at Inter Drone Expo, and many other inspiring companies and professionals.

Are there any tools or equipment that have been meaningful in your journey?

Remember the story about the 30,000 sqm factory I went to scan? I wouldn’t have made it without my best tool – the Matterport Pro2 camera.

The most accurate 3D reconstruction I’ve ever made of a factory was created with our brand-new DJI Matrice 4E.

LinkedIn has also been one of the most influential tools for growing our startup. We have found our largest clients on this platform. We have learned tips and tricks on how to perform our photography tasks by reading posts about other people’s mistakes.

I discovered LiDAR News through LinkedIn, inspiring me to share my story with all of you.

And speaking of inspiration: books. For just $15, a book can give you access to a lifetime of lessons, hard-earned through someone else’s mistakes. One that really made a difference for me is Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell. It’s all about building structure in your business and life—gaining control, cutting through chaos, and improving results while working less.

Teen Brothers, Building an Empire

At 18, Martin founded Weider360 as an official business.

Martin’s brother, Anton, now 16, will run the business with him when he turns 18.

Anton Weider

“We process tasks in the same way and often at the same pace—just like we ran and did homework identically. We don’t make mistakes in assigning tasks. I know I can shoot beautiful photographs; my brother knows he can edit them. I find clients; he builds relationships.” – Martin Weider

What are your goals for Weider360?

Martin Weider

In the next three years, I hope to expand Weider360’s work internationally and grow it into a company known for both its impact and its culture. I want to build a strong, motivated team and create an

environment where people enjoy what they do.

Becoming a certified B Corporation is also a goal—improving our systems so the business runs responsibly and efficiently.

Most importantly, I want to keep learning how to identify people’s challenges and find simple, effective ways to solve them.

This is a story of grit, vision, and the power of starting small.

From a $100 drone to industrial-scale scans, Weider360 is proving that age is just a number when it comes to making an impact with aerial technology.

Their drive, focus, and passion foretell an inspiring journey worth following. They seem a likely pair to compel us to say, “I knew them when.” – Sarah Roe