From WKU dropout to successful CEO of multiple companies: meet Jeremy Jacobs

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-Jeremy Jacobs attended Western Kentucky University, but left early to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. 

“We actually helped pioneer the industry,” said Jacobs. 

Jacobs says his company, EYECONIC, was one of the first to create digital signage.

“We started back as early as 2008 when the word digital signage didn’t exist. When I talk about digital signage, I mean anywhere where a TV screen is being used to replace static signage,” said Jacobs. 

EYECONIC is now a holding company that has spawned other digital signage companies like LobbyFox and Enlighten.

“We’ve created a lot of different brands and what EYECONIC tries to really do is we take digital signage and software applications and we look for really niche applications,” said Jacobs. 

Enlighten does cannabis digital signage, and was recently acquired by Weedmaps. 

Now that the Kentucky Senate has passed the medical marijuana bill, Jacobs could soon be expanding that company here in his home state. 

“I don’t know that there could be anything much more exciting than that for me, I’ve literally had to leave Kentucky for the last over a decade to participate in the cannabis industry so now to see it come to Kentucky and be able to do what I’ve done in other places is super exciting,” said Jacobs. 

Jacobs splits his time between the coasts, but keeps his businesses headquartered in Bowling Green at the WKU Innovation Campus because of its resources. 

He has advice for anyone else with an entrepreneurial spirit. 

“There is a lot of risk associated with being an entrepreneur as you can imagine, like I’ve drank a lot of Kool-Aid in my life and I’ve made a lot of sacrifices, but the freedom…I’ve always looked for the freedom in my life of my own choice,” said Jacobs.