Venture capitalist Aaron Wilson is not afraid to spread his wings.
The Binghamton University School of Management graduate is the co-owner of Approved Jets. The private jet company states they offer customers “an unforgettable luxurious experience” as they fly across the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, and the United Arab of Emirates, per LinkedIn.
“When people are chartering an aircraft with you, there’s a trust factor involved and what passengers remember most is the quality of experience from the time they board to being in the air all the way until the time they land,” Wilson told Bing U News. “We’ve overcome our challenges by putting people first and remembering that, at the end of the day, it’s about the lifetime value of our client – not just thinking about our bottom line.”
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Since Approved Jets’ inception in 2019, the company has “managed to draw eight-figure revenues in just three years of business.”
Wilson’s success did not happen alone. He created the company alongside Kelvin Mensah after meeting while working at private aviation brokerage Vomos.
They decided to bet on themselves and self-fund Approved Jets.
“We used our own money to start this business, so we don’t have any investors, and to be honest, private aviation is an industry where there are high barriers to entry,” Wilson said, according to Bing U News. “But it’s especially challenging as young men of color trying to do something in an industry where there aren’t many people who look like us.”
Wilson and Mensah have risen to the challenge as they have offered more than 1,000 chartered flights and have access to over 1,000 aircrafts globally.
Looking ahead, the duo will expand their vision to allow their clients to book lodging, car rentals, and vacations through a mobile application currently in development.
“Nine times out of 10, the person who wants to rent the car or book the jet also wants to book the villa. Or they want to charter the yacht,” Wilson explained, according to Bing U News. “So, why have this person operate across multiple platforms and make it a cumbersome booking process when we could streamline that into one easy mobile application? We’re hoping this will change the landscape of what it looks like to connect with like-minded individuals based on common interests.”
