Ex-Ignite Team Interacts

Jon Sidoli says he knew Irvine-based Ignite Inc. planned huge rounds of layoffs this year. Still, he was shocked when the interactive software company dumped his entire department this spring.

After all, Sidoli and his software developers had designed some of the CD-ROMs that had brought early recognition to the company, including “Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Interactive” and “Herbie Hancock Presents Living Jazz.’ (Ignite was known as Graphix Zone at the time.)

But the team was considered expendable when company owners, struggling for profits, shifted from publishing their own titles to partnering with other firms.

“We lived in a constant death watch, knowing what was coming and knowing we had to be prepared,” Sidoli said.

It didn’t take long for Sidoli and his counterparts to recover. The day after they lost their jobs, Sidoli and the group of software developers met for coffee and formed their own firm. Dubbed Mind2Media, the group’s five core members and a team of associates are targeting corporate clients searching for multimedia and Internet programming services.

A virtual company, the staff telecommutes daily from homes in Orange and San Diego counties. The list of projects is already piled high, even as the group finalizes a business plan and looks for seed money. The production team has already done work for several Southern California businesses, including Scoop Inc., a Santa Ana-based digital clipping service, and the Internet service provider EarthLink Network Inc. in Pasadena.

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P.J. Huffstutter covers high technology for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7830.