Jon Mills: The Man Behind Motionloft

dad became ill, he bought and sold
businesses. Hence Jon’s early introduction
to enterprising. His biggest
inspiration for leaving Ohio and
moving forward with his interests
was the fact that his father had always
had a dream for him to not be
stuck in Ohio. He wanted the best
for Jon and knew that it wouldn’t
happen if he stayed behind. The influence
of Jon’s father is apparent in
his boldness in taking risks with his
business. Many people think their
ideas all the way through to failure,
but Jon trusts his judgment enough
to take chances and not give up too
easily. “You’re not a failure until you
stop,” he says. The meaningful words
and advice from his dad still resonate
with him to this day. Whether
he’s in meetings with future clients
or talking to new potential members
of the team, he always keeps
his father at heart in his decisions.
As the Motionloft team gradually
expands its network of sensors and
develops new, more sophisticated
software, the possibilities are endless
for how their data can be used. Jon
feels the future of his company holds
a tremendous amount of potential,
“Our data will make people rich,
save lives, and disrupt everything”
(Mills). Motionloft is disruptive innovation
at its finest and fortunately,
their efforts will not go unnoticed.
Recently, Mayor Ed Lee declared
October 2012 as Innovation Month
in San Francisco. October Innovation
Month celebrates San Francisco
as the “Innovation Capital of the
World” which boasts a pretty major
title. “It’s a reflection of our commitment,”
Lee said in an interview with
The Chronicle, noting that 1,600
tech companies have added 3,200
jobs in the city this year. “We want
these companies to stay and grow
here, and we’re doing everything
we can to ensure that” (Temple).
In addition, the mayor will soon be
announcing their partnership with
Motionloft, a milestone which Jon
and the whole team eagerly await.
Not only does this event give them
much needed recognition, but it also
adds a lot of credibility to their work.
Talking to someone like Jon is a motivating
experience. The excitement
in his eyes and the enthusiasm in
his voice when he talks about Motionloft
distinguish him as someone
who truly loves his work and lives
to keep moving forward with it.
He wants to be able to accomplish
what no one has ever done before
and with every new set of data that
comes in, he’s excited to see how it
can be used. “It’s like in the movie
Twister when they put the sensors
up in the tornado and they’re freaking
out because there’s all this new
data coming in, it’s probably unrealistic
and stupid, but when I saw
that movie I was like, ‘Wow, that’s
the feeling I want to have someday’”
(Mills). Despite the fact that Jon and
his team haven’t quite reached the
status of storm chasers, who’s to say
they aren’t on their way? Although
they’re currently limited to examining
how big events or festivals affect
a city, Jon is confident that they will
soon be able to analyze how things
like natural disasters alter different
cities in different ways.
What Jon has accomplished is what
thousands of other tech start-ups
aim for. Collectively, these technologists
and entrepreneurs make up
the collaborative environment that
is the Bay Area. It is time for places
outside the Silicon Valley’s innovation
hub to start embracing the
tech industry’s potential to drive
positive change in the local government
and community. Step by step,
we’re moving past this seemingly
harsh economy towards something
better, and it’s beginning with people
like Jon who simply love what
they do, “Being able to see that data
coming in and saying that no one
has ever seen this before, that’s the
way I want to feel about something
I do, and I’m there now. It’s a feeling
I have every single day” (Mills).