The beautiful thing about tech companies is their ability to thrive in adverse locations. They’re the chameleons of the economy; always adapting, innovating, disrupting, and inventing. From basements to the corner penthouse office, tech-savvy minds find ways to get it done because they hold a passion for innovation that knows no bounds. KP9 Interactive takes that idea one step further.
Owen Sound is an otherwise sleepy rural Canadian community in mid-western Ontario. It’s port-city mentality of ole has followed it through the decades, and its rough-and-tumble aura is still felt in its streets, its institutions, its politics, and its work ethic. The industry of the waterfront, the shipyards, and associated manufacturing outfits have long since vanished from public view. While the town calls for their return, there are many who have been looking to tech to fill those lost positions and passion for an honest days’ work.
Wil McReynolds is a local guy with local roots. His work ethic mimics the hard-nosed spirit of a northern Great Lakes community, but his chosen field, Augmented Reality, is a far cry from hauling grain on ships.
“It was 2011 when I first experienced Augmented Reality. It was on a website and I had to print off this marker - so this wind turbine appeared on page and that’s all it was - but it was sticking off the paper in three dimensions and I’d move the paper around and I thought ‘Oh my God, that’s really exciting,’ but the light-bulb moment I had was at a sign show… The sign came to life with a video and I thought ‘wow, what a way to engage consumers.’”
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Wil’s exposure to AR technology was where it would take him in the industry. Fast forward 8 years and he’s helping write the rules of an entirely new media as a pioneer of the industry. For him, it’s been both exciting and admittedly “scary,” thanks in part to a cautious realization that being one of the first places huge responsibility on starting off in the right direction. Get it wrong, and the idea could take an unintended left turn, or hit an insurmountable roadblock.
“I started a company in 2012 to be in on what I thought was the ground floor… I didn’t realize there really wasn’t a defined blueprint to even have a ground floor - so how do I make sure that what I’m creating and being a part of with others, is actually the right way of doing it so it makes sense - and accessible. The pain in the beginning was how AR was used. A user had to download an app. Links were provided with a QR code in the marketing materials or the App Store/Play Store icons. Then they opened the app, scanned the QR code to access/unlock the ‘channel’ content, then aim their device at the image to have the content appear.”
This was challenging as brands really didn’t want to give up too much real estate, nor did magazines want to take up valuable page real estate each run to let users know there was interactive content. Wil needed to create an engine that would scale with that knowledge and answer consumer questions along the way. But content is king. Nothing gets done in this modern world without it. Want to know how to cook dinner? YouTube. Want directions to a restaurant or pub? Google Maps. Want to kick back and waste 10 minutes on your lunch break? Instagram. Missing out on the news? Facebook. The hurdle to overcome today, is how we interact with that content tomorrow.
“We built the engine to create with multiple products coming down the pipeline to be able to serve up content where users are and how they’re going to start engaging with that content. We have hardware partnerships coming up with wearables. What we’re building today is a part of that mass media; everyone has a smart device now but they’ll become wearables, like glasses on your face. That’s the reality. That’s coming… What we’re a part of is going to allow people to have screen time when it makes sense but off when it doesn’t. I envision having the ability to get the content that I want when I need it but turning it off when I don’t. It’s the convergence of technology and life and merging the two together instead of being so cumbersome through a device.”
Living on the spectrum with Asperger's Syndrome, Wil has always dissected things with tenacious curiosity and relentless dedication. In particular, he’s constantly questioned why things don’t function at their highest potential, and how to help them become easier, better, and more accessible to those around him.
The industry is fragmented. Fake demos have set expectations. Consumers get VR and AR confused #AllTheTime. Some developers choose iOS - others Android, and of course - some choose both. To really make something available for all, you have to make it easy to create and consume, but you also have to make it agnostic - it has to be platform agnostic and that’s what slingshotting past the current rate of development within the industry has done for KP9. True webAR is all about creating and consuming incredible content and furthering the democratization phase of AR.
KP9 has worked tirelessly to be a major player in that shift, and now - the industry is watching.
“It’s been exhausting,” laughs Wil on a stroll down the Owen Sound harbourfront. “Three weeks ago I broke down and had a moment with myself. I was playing with the desktop and what we’ve built, seeing who’s looking at us, and having those stats come full circle. Dude, I don’t cry too often - but that was a moment.”
The road map Wil built for himself back in 2011 is becoming a reality. The tech is functional. The predictions are ringing true, and interest is knocking on KP9s doorstep. What he wasn’t expecting was to build such a powerful and passionate team of in-house developers, software architects, designers, and thinkers in a rural community best known for hiking, fishing, and rugged northern landscapes.
“I don’t know what it is. I think it’s just luck… I’m sitting here with a team that I was able to hand-select and hone - that are on board, from this area, love this area, want to stay in this area, and help grow the company with me in this area... I remember losing a job to Molson Canada because of location but I was also adamant I could do whatever I want from this location… The stars aligned. I’m not saying this because they’re probably going to read it, but I honestly don’t think we could have a better team. They’re not the standard - they understand and actually believe in what we’re doing.”
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~ KP9 Interactive Team
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