When Tech Solves the Right Problem

Sometimes we are so focused on the future that we forget that what is already here. Today’s article is a great example of that. I heard an incredible podcast a few weeks ago and it gave me the idea to highlight this particular company in one of my newsletters, that is what this is about. A slightly different format than usual, but I hope educational and/or entertaining nonetheless. What we are going to discuss? In short, how drones caused a 51 % drop in maternal mortality in Rwanda. Yes, 51%!!

Let me start by saying that new technologies are tools that we as humans can use for either good, or bad outcomes. A double-edged sword. Drones is another great example of that. On one hand they are used in modern warfare and are absolutely key in current geo-political challenges between the biggest nations on earth. On the other hand drones are used for incredible videography (shoutout my Bali homie Jonas, click for an example 😍) but also to save lives in Rwanda. So does that make drones good or bad? As you know I am a radical optimist and also in the case of drones, the good will outweigh the bad although the bad gets more attention. So let’s talk some more about the good 😉.

Introducing: Zipline

Zipline is founded in March 2014 in California, by Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, Keenan Wyrobek, Ryan Oksenhorn, and William Hetzler. They build, own and operate autonomous fixed-wing drones and distribution centers to deliver essential goods, especially medical supplies like blood, vaccines, and emergency medicines, across hard-to-reach regions.

By April 2024, Zipline had flown over 70 million autonomous miles and completed more than 1 million commercial deliveries. As of March 2025, that total exceeded 100 million miles and 1.4 million drops worldwide.

The cool thing about this company, I think, is that they didn’t try to solve the obvious. Most people, myself included, imagined drone delivery as the stuff of sci-fi: pizza flying through the sky, Amazon boxes parachuting onto our lawns, and Jetsons-style grocery runs handled by bots. Whenever people come to me for my opinion on their new ideas, I always try to search for the actual pain point that their product or service is trying to solve and discuss if this pain really is big enough for people to either change behaviour or to take on serious costs for. I think Zipline is an incredible example of that.

Instead of trying to do delivery of Amazon packages, they wanted to find an use case where they could have both real impact and prove their tech in the “worst” conditions.

They pitched their drone-based logistics network to several governments in Africa, and only Rwanda seemed interested as they were eager and open to leapfrogging old infrastructure entirely. When Zipline first approached the Rwandan government, they didn’t yet know about the blood delivery problem. Their initial outreach was broader as they pitched the idea of using drones for medical deliveries in general.

The response of the government official:

What she explained was that rural hospitals across the country were facing a brutal logistics problem. Blood was going to waste in some places and running out in others. Long, bumpy roads made it nearly impossible to respond quickly to emergencies, especially for women giving birth. In fact, dangerous bleeding that happens during or right after giving birth was one of the leading causes of death during childbirth.

For Zipline this felt like the ideal way to start as it offered a unique combination:

• High logistical need (poor road access, limited refrigeration for blood)
• Strong political will (Rwanda was open to innovation and willing to move fast)
• Clear human impact (lives were being lost because of slow deliveries)

In Keller’s words: “If we could make it work in Rwanda, we could make it work anywhere.”

The results are mind blowing and I was amazed by the fact that I never heard about this company before, although they have made such an incredible impact with an awesome innovative product.

The results in Rwanda were simply jaw-dropping. Here’s what Zipline has achieved:

• 51% reduction in in-hospital maternal deaths from severe bleeding thanks to rapid, on-demand blood deliveries.
• 67% less blood wasted due to spoilage by centralizing supplies and delivering exactly when needed.
• Up to 61% faster delivery times, slashing journeys that might take hours by road into mere minutes.

Keller summarized it best during the podcast:

After proving their model in Rwanda, Zipline accelerated into the rest of the continent, building a continent-wide logistics system that redefined what drone delivery could achieve.

• In Ghana, Zipline partnered with the government and Gavi to launch the world’s largest vaccine drone service, initially serving 2,000 health facilities and 12 million people from four distribution centers, each with a fleet of 30 drones.
• Today, Zipline delivers blood, vaccines, insulin, antivenom, lab samples, and more across five countries: Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire. Reaching 4,800+ health facilities and over 49 million people.
• The company conducts a flight every 60 seconds, operating with military-grade consistency.
• Their logistics system slashed blood wastage in Rwanda by 67%, while vaccine stock-outs in Ghana dropped by 60%, and vaccination rates in some regions jumped by 42%  .

In each country they built deep partnerships with national health services, integrated into supply chains, and trained local talent to run the show.

The result, from a company standpoint, was that what they have built is proven to be super reliable and precise, as you can’t f' up when it comes to saving lives under these conditions and challenges. This allowed them to start thinking about a different market, with a different challenge. If you can solve the above challenges, I am sure you can find solutions to deliver other things in, for example, the US.

From Saving Lives to Saving Time

Only seven years after they were founded, they started tackling their home market: the United States. In 2021, they launched their first American pilot in Arkansas, partnering with Walmart to deliver health and wellness products to homes near a Neighborhood Market.

From there, Zipline expanded into Utah and North Carolina, running drone logistics for health systems like Intermountain Healthcare and Novant Health, delivering prescriptions, lab samples, and medical supplies directly to homes and hospitals.

Then came Platform 2.

This next-gen drone system is what truly sets them apart. It’s designed for dense, urban environments. Instead of flying to a central depot or rural clinic, these drones land or hover near your doorstep. A small “droid” detaches and quietly lowers your package on a wire—accurate to within a few centimeters, and soft enough to deliver an egg without cracking it.

Their goal? Make 15-minute delivery as reliable and precise as electricity.

Walmart was the first to sign up and in April 2025 “Platform 2” went live for the first time. They now offer 30-minute drone delivery of over 65,000 products, including groceries, to homes across the metro area. These new-generation drones are fast, silent, emission friendly, and precise enough to drop off an egg without cracking it. Walmart plans to expand the service to reach 75% of Dallas–Fort Worth, making Zipline’s system not just viable, but scalable for everyday retail. Another awesome IG video about it here (click).

Another interesting thing Keller said in the podcast had nothing to do with drones, and everything to do with design philosophy.

He said their goal isn’t to make drones cool or visible or impressive. Their goal is to make them invisible.

The best technology, he argues, is like electricity: you don’t think about it, you just expect it to work. Seamlessly. Quietly. Reliably. That’s what Zipline is building, not a futuristic delivery gimmick, but an ambient logistics layer that feels like magic because it’s so boringly consistent.

When you order something, a small autonomous vehicle quietly hovers outside your window, lowers a package with the accuracy of a robotic arm, and flies off, all without any noise, friction, or delay. No tracking page, no waiting for a delivery van, no wondering where your package is. It just shows up.

That shift, from exciting to invisible, is where the real innovation lives. And it’s a powerful lesson for anyone building new technology today: it’s not about being noticed, it’s about being indispensable. I think this incredibly relevant for blockchain tech. People who scream that “normies” will never use crypto because it is too hard, too difficult and hard to understand, are so wrong. The whole point is that nobody will even know their favorite apps or services are blockchain based, they will only know when their property is magically still theirs when that same app or service disappeared.

So, is tech good or bad?

That’s the trap many people fall into.

Every time a new technology shows up, the early headlines lean dark. Drones are for warfare. AI is for cheating. Blockchain is for scams. The adoption curve always seems to start with fear, because the early use cases do feel scary, or pointless and yes criminals are the ones that innovate first most of the time 😅.

But that doesn’t mean the tech itself is broken. It just means we haven’t pointed it at the right problems yet.

Zipline is proof. They didn’t wait for drones to become socially acceptable or buzzworthy. They used them to solve a deadly logistics problem, in a country that was willing to bet on impact over image. And by doing so, they showed what this technology could be.

So before we write off what’s new, maybe we should ask better questions: What if we applied this to something that actually mattered? What if we aimed it somewhere urgent, not just exciting?

Because in the end, technology isn’t good or bad, it’s just a tool. And tools become meaningful when we use them to build something worth keeping. ❤️ 

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^{Who am I and why you should be here:}

^{Over the years, I’ve navigated industries like advertising, music, sports, and gaming, always chasing what’s next and figuring out how to make it work for brands, businesses, and myself. From strategizing for global companies to experimenting with the latest tech, I’ve been on a constant journey of learning and sharing.}

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