CEO, President and founder of OneFire Jake Hamann joins the Journal Star’s Steve Tarter to chat about business development and the potential he sees in Peoria’s future.
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Todd Farwell from Caterpillar speaks to Jake Hamann of OneFire and Colin Evran of Yard Club about how CAT is leverages Startups to bridge the gaps between major corporations and the tech that will power the 21st century.
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This “innovation agency” acts like a middle man between traditional companies and the new tech-driven era of marketing and product development. Cofounder Jake Hamman previously worked in advertising and consulting for Caterpillar, developing CGI content around products, and launched OneFire in 2012 to help more companies understand how to use new digital tools, such as augmented reality and touchscreen displays, not just as a gimmick, but to drive their business forward. Since launching, they’ve grown from two employees to 30, and grew to offer more services such as AR/VR and Internet of Things. OneFire also just launched OneFire Labs, an “idea accelerator” that lets clients and employees develop and iterate their own ventures.
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Venture capitalist Brad Feld says it takes about 20 years to grow a strong tech ecosystem. So with that time frame, Peoria, Ill. hasn’t even reached its rebellious teenage years.
But if you talk to entrepreneurs and investors in Peoria, there’s an undeniable energy happening around startups and innovation in the Central Illinois town that sits 160 miles Southwest of Chicago. Though Peoria’s 116,000 residents are just 20,000 more than Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, the town packs a business punch anchored by Fortune 100 company Caterpillar and bolstered by startups that have garnered national attention. It may still have a ways to go before it catches up with Chicago, or even neighboring Central Illinois anchor Urbana-Champaign. But it’s certainly growing up.
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Jake Hamann is the founder, president and CEO of OneFire, a Peoria-based innovation agency and digital technology company, and cofounder of Startup Peoria, an organization that works to develop and promote the entrepreneurial startup community in Greater Peoria.
At OneFire, Hamann is responsible for leading the company’s overall strategy and direction. In just three years, he has built a team of more than 30 talented “ideators” who deliver innovative experiences that inspire, impact and transform. Meanwhile, his efforts at Startup Peoria have been critical in helping more than a dozen entrepreneurs launch new businesses over the past two years.
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PEORIA — Now there’s a place in town where ideas can go to grow up.
OneFire, Inc., the start-up technology firm based at the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, 801 W. Main St., is launching what’s called an idea accelerator through OneFire Labs, a newly-formed division of the company.
“We’re looking at it as an innovation agency, one that solves problems for others,” said Jake Hamann, OneFire president and CEO.
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Jake Hamann is the founder, president and CEO of OneFire, responsible for leading the company’s overall strategy and direction. The cofounder and board president of Startup Peoria, he also serves on the boards of the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council and the Downtown Development Corporation of Peoria.
Tell us about the beginnings of OneFire. How did you enter the tech world?
I started as a freelance graphic designer. I picked up my first Mac on September 10, 2001—I remember it well because of the day after, of course. That’s how I got started. It’s not what I went to school for—I went to ISU on a scholarship for music education.
PEORIA — Jake Hamann is running out of room on his business card.
Along with being the president and CEO of OneFireMedia, Hamann is the co-founder of Startup Peoria, the organizer of the Startup Weekend and the 1 Million Cups program.
He’s also a board member of the Economic Development Council for Central Illinois and the Peoria Downtown Development Corp. as well as a contributor to the Whiskey City Collaborative.
That business card also reads: husband, father, serial entrepreneur.
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The year 2014 is also likely to see more activity on the technology front in Peoria. Startup Peoria, part of Seattle-based Startup America, had its first event in November at Bradley University and looks to promote new ideas in the future, said Startup Peoria co-founder Amy Lambert.
Prospective and practicing entrepreneurs now meet on a regular basis — at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Thirty-Thirty Coffee Co., 734 Main St., for a program called 1 Million Cups, the chance to hear two six-minute accounts of those involved in entrepreneurial activity, said Jake Hamann, CEO of OneFire Media, located in the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, 801 W. Main St.
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A local company wants to put a little of the Harry Potter magic into your next wall calendar. OneFire, a high-tech firm located at the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, 801 W. Main St., wants to make those calendar images come alive with the use of their smartphone app. The 2014 wall calendar that OneFire seeks to produce — with the help of funding from Kickstarter.com — contains pretty pictures from around the world: sunsets, majestic vistas and so forth. But when you point your app-equipped smartphone at the picture, things start happening, reminiscent of the framed pictures in the Harry Potter series.
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Google Glass, the much-celebrated effort to bring the Internet into view — through a pair of glasses — is now being used and demonstrated by a Peoria start-up company. Anton Peck, a technologist at OneFire Inc., 801 W. Main St., flew to New York last week to pick up the sought-after glasses. “You basically had to enter a contest saying what you planned to do with the glasses,” said Peck, noting that he planned to let his disabled daughter try the glasses in order to get an expanded view of the product.
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