Name: Jon Thompson
Bio: Jon is a central Iowa native, entrepreneur, and father. He has been a Apple ][/Mac user since before Apple was going out of business.
Title: Owner of Evolve
Age: 34
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City: Des Moines, Iowa
Website: dmevolve.com
Twitter: @jondthompson
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jondthompson
Intro music: “Unnatural Selection” by Muse, just because it is so much fun to play, and the lyrics hit home in today’s world.
Silicon Prairie News: You work extensively with Mac products and have for years. Can you trace that back to a specific time or experience when you were bitten by the Mac bug?
Jon Thompson: I have two teachers for parents, and my dad wrote a BASIC spelling program on an Apple ][ for his master’s thesis, so Apple was always been a central part of my childhood. My earliest memory with the Mac was visiting my uncle in Texas, and playing with MacDraw on his first or second generation Mac. I don’t remember the year, but it had to be ’84-86.
SPN: Time for some prognosticating — a look into your crystal iBall, if you will. Given Apple’s trajectory the past few years, what big developments do you think or hope are on the horizon for the company?
JT: Siri is in beta for a reason. The only way to flush out speech recognition is to find the error cases and correct them, which requires it learning dialects and accents. Once it passes a certain threshold, I see it including a full API, so that native apps can interface with it, much like
I also look forward to the eventual 15-inch MacBook Air. With the advent of Thunderbolt, there is little reason to retain many of the ports. Ethernet, Firewire, and the line in port can all move to an external docking station/display, the writing is on the wall for the optical drive, which leaves the same ports as the current 13-inch air. I would like to see two ThunderBolt ports, though.
SPN: The Evolve website emphasizes your Silicon Prairie roots. How do you use your Des Moines location to lure potential clients from the coasts?
JT: First, my rates are a bit cheaper than competition on the coasts. Second, being located in the Central Time Zone gives me a unique advantage of being able to support organizations that exist on both coasts without having a three hour time difference. Third, there is a lot to be said of the Midwest work ethic.
SPN: As the man behind the live streams of Des Moines startup events like Thinc Iowa and Dwolla meetups, what stands out to you most about the community you encounter at those events?
JT: Seeing the community growing is one of my favorite things about these events. I started my first business in 2001. I was alone. It was a long and lonely road. I find that it is very rewarding to be able to help others not make the same mistakes that I have in the past.
SPN: You’re also the behind-the-scenes maestro of our weekly PrairieCast. Pretend this is VH1 instead of SPN, and take us “Behind the Podcast.” What scandals can you uncover or dirt can you dish from the PrairieCast set?
JT: There are an equal number of Cy and Analog representations on the set. There are no Billy the Bluejays.
The first six months of the current set featured a table that was borrowed each week from Amici downstairs.
The background features startup related swag, startup books, eggcrates and a couple pictures of Geoff’s family.
Image credit: Photo courtesy of Jon Thompson.
Prairie Portraits: To learn more about this series, see our introduction post, or visit our archives for past Prairie Portraits. To suggest an individual for a future Prairie Portrait, contact editor@siliconprairienews.com.
