An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Experience. You do not need a college degree, if you can show me that you know how to create a 3D model, your credentials don’t matter. Of the current workforce at OCAVU, 30% do not have a degree from a university, and no one cares in the slightest. This is such a young industry that if you’re dedicated to your craft, you’ll become experienced very quickly.

The Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Mixed Reality Industries are so exciting. What is coming around the corner? How will these improve our lives? What are the concerns we should keep an eye out for? Aside from entertainment, how can VR or AR help work or other parts of life? To address this, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jon Cheney.

Jon is a visionary leader in the world of augmented reality. Prior to founding OCAVU, where Jon currently resides as CEO and founder, he provided 12 years of management over several organizations. Jon is passionate about building strong teams and inspiring them to lead their industry.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?

I was raised in Houston, Texas and lived there until I was 12 years old. When my parents were called to serve a mission, our whole family moved to Paraguay for three years, where I went to middle school. After that, we moved to Utah and I’ve lived here ever since — aside from when I was serving a mission for my church in Taiwan after high school. When I returned from my mission, I attended college at BYU and majored in business and Chinese. Having the opportunity to live abroad has given me invaluable life experiences and I am able to speak three languages.

Throughout my childhood, I had several hobbies. I was a competitive gymnast (and can still do a backflip today) and grew up playing the piano and composing my own music. I am still very passionate about music and have published several albums as a professional pianist. I’m also a huge thrill-seeker and love white water kayaking; I was a sponsored kayaker before founding OCAVU.

Is there a particular book, film, or podcast that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Jurassic Park, specifically the scene where the characters see the Brontosaurus for the first time. The music, cinematography and CGI really resonated with me and led to me composing my own music. The film’s composer is John Williams, of whom I’m a huge fan. The scene where Grant and Ellie first see the brachiosaurus combines music, filming, script-writing, and CGI to create pure movie magic–this has inspired my music and interest in film and media since I was 7 years old watching at the theater.

Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue a career in the X Reality industry? We’d love to hear it.

We kind of fell into the XR industry. When I started SeekXR, now OCAVU, it started off as a company called Treasure Canyon. We put together physical treasure hunts, hiding prizes in the Utah mountains and posting clues online. That was inspired by Forrest Fenn’s treasure hunt that he launched over a decade ago. When we decided to turn it into an app, we called the app Seek. This was right around the time that Pokémon GO launched. This was my first real exposure to augmented reality, and the way in which the world reacted to this new way to interact with the world inspired us to pivot into AR.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?

There are so many moments from which I could choose–moments where I would turn to my co-founder and say, “Can you believe we’re here?” One of those moments was standing in a castle in Portugal with some of the most powerful CEOs and investors in the world. It was just at a founders-only event at the Web Summit conference that happens every year, but it’s always so much fun to meet all of the incredible people out there that are building and funding the products we use every single day.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

This mistake isn’t funny, but this had the largest impact on our future and led to our company becoming what it is today. When Seek, now OCAVU, was still in the early stages, we had four different investors that each backed out for different reasons, within days of each other. All of a sudden, we didn’t have enough money in the bank to make our payroll. We were very open with all our employees but we had to let the majority of our staff go. At that moment, we abandoned the B2C app and became a B2B SaaS platform. That ‘failure’ set us on the path we’re on today, and we have survived and thrived ever since.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I wouldn’t be where I am today without my incredible co-founder, Mike Snow. We met as roommates in college, and he’s stood by my side through the thick and thin of growing this company. We’re quite the team — I hate the operational side of things but Mike knows how to get things done. He is always ready to support my ideas and help make them happen. When we lost our investors, Mike didn’t take a salary for six months, but kept working just as hard, which shows his character and commitment to our vision.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We are building an NFT platform that we believe can completely reshape the way that communities connect with each other. Right now, brands, influencers, celebrities, sports teams, musicians, and artists use public social media channels to interact with their communities, but they don’t own the content they’re sharing, and there’s no real one-to-one connection for their fans. Our NFT platform will decentralize social, allowing the creators to retain ownership of their content, provide opportunities for fans to engage with people that they admire, and connect with others around a common interest. We’re thinking about NFTs differently than most; these NFTs will provide a real-world utility and long-term value to the person who owns it.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. The VR, AR and MR industries seem so exciting right now. What are the 3 things in particular that most excite you about the industry? Can you explain or give an example?

1. The ever-improving ease of access to get into the metaverse. We’re already there with AR — with OCAVU’s technology you can access 3D content on any device, no app required.
2. The progress of metaverse hardware. It’s still early days, but the Oculus Quest 2’s performance, graphics and content are impressive and it will only get better.
3. The future of an AR-enabled world. I envision a true consumer version of AR glasses that can be worn every day that has the ability to turn the whole world into a metaverse. For example, the glasses will remind you of the person’s name you run into at a networking event, unlock incredible creativity to layer on top of the real world, or give you easier ways to consume media than ever before.

What are the 3 things that concern you about the VR, AR and MR industries? Can you explain? What can be done to address those concerns?

1. Real estate in the metaverse. People are buying virtual land, which is unlimited and easily replicable. Until there is mass adoption, I don’t trust virtual real estate as a solid investment.
2. Big centralized metaverses. If large companies like Meta monopolize the metaverse, they’ll hold all the power to govern and dictate the content and rules in the metaverse.
3. Harmful content. With new technology, there’s always new ways for undesirable content to spread. We need to figure out how to protect children (I have four kids) to make sure they’re safe from offensive content and anonymous predators.

I think the entertainment aspects of VR, AR and MR are apparent. Can you share with our readers how these industries can help us at work?

These technologies will allow for greater collaboration without physical barriers as remote work continues to become a major part of our work life. So much progress has been made already; if you wanted to collaborate with someone in another country 50 years ago, it was a lengthy and expensive process. Now, you can chat face-to-face on Zoom or Facetime. But with VR, you’ll be able to actually be in the same room with someone from anywhere, which will be revolutionary and allow collaboration to skyrocket. With AR and MR, there are all kinds of applications. For example, a technician can repair a toilet remotely; they’re able to instruct the customer how to do it themselves by circling specific parts or drawing diagrams on the customer’s video. Insurance companies can process claims more efficiently with live, 3D views of properties. Law enforcement can do a 3D scan of a crime scene so investigators can examine the scene indefinitely, even after it’s cleaned up.

Are there other ways that VR, AR and MR can improve our lives? Can you explain?

These technologies can democratize access to visual learning. When I was growing up, I was fortunate enough to go to well-funded schools that had interactive learning materials, such as a physical model of the heart or a life-size skeleton. Unfortunately, many schools are underfunded and lack these resources. With OCAVU’s AR education platform, any student can explore digital models of the Egyptian pyramids, journey through space, even witness a dinosaur. AR/VR encourages interactive learning and improves student engagement and information retention, especially for visual learners.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about working in your industry? Can you explain what you mean?

People think that NFTs are just a new type of digital art, but they are not. The art is actually just metadata tied to a token on the blockchain. You can tie anything to a token on the blockchain — a picture, video, 3D model, text, physical piece of art or even a house. An NFT is a perfect record of ownership, and an efficient method of transferring that ownership on a public blockchain.

With XR, there are people that still think this technology is still quite a ways off, but they’re mistaken — it’s already here and the rate of adoption is incredibly fast. Brands who think this way are especially behind. If they do not have 3D models for their products ready yet; they’ll be left behind without any compatible content when Apple Glasses are released.

What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The VR, AR or MR Industries?”

1. Experience. You do not need a college degree, if you can show me that you know how to create a 3D model, your credentials don’t matter. Of the current workforce at OCAVU, 30% do not have a degree from a university, and no one cares in the slightest. This is such a young industry that if you’re dedicated to your craft, you’ll become experienced very quickly.
2. Try everything. When a new metaverse launches, explore it. When a new video game comes out, play it. When a new device is released, try it. Spending time participating in this way allows you to stay up to date with what is possible in our industry.
3. Understand how things connect. From a leadership perspective, grasping how different components fit together at a high level enables you to better communicate with your team. You don’t need to know HOW to do it; but you need to know how to speak the language.
4. Networking. This is important in any industry, but especially ours, and there’s so many events you can attend in this space. Put the effort in to connect with potential customers, partners and employees. Talk about what you’re doing with like-minded people, and debate with people that disagree with you to learn their perspective. Get out there and test your ideas in the market. It will lead to deals and opportunities.
5. Stick with it. The reality is, this is not a fast-win industry. If you give up and jump to a different industry, you’ll never become an expert and you’ll never get ahead. But if you stay in the industry for long enough, you’ll start to really understand how things connect, the major players, and how to create real value for people.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Decentralization. This movement puts power back in the hands of creators. As a creator myself, I recently experienced why this movement is so necessary when I released a Christmas album last year. The album had 200,000 streams, which means I created value for thousands of people — but I only earned a few hundred dollars. Luckily, I compose music to bring joy to others and have another source of income, but so many artists are struggling. If we can decentralize ownership of content so that the creators are the ones being rewarded, we’ll have so much more art in our world.

We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

John Williams, the great movie composer, because he’s my hero from a music perspective. Music is such a huge source of inspiration for me. All the different instruments of an orchestra come together to create something beautiful, and that’s a great metaphor for the Web3 ecosystem we’ve built at OCAVU. The sum is greater than the individual and the ecosystem will only thrive if we all work together.

Thank you so much for these excellent stories and insights. We wish you continued success on your great work!

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Makers of The Metaverse: Jon Cheney Of OCAVU On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality Industries was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.