Berserk yet interesting!
Exactly these were the first words to strike us when we caught the story of Kenneth Michael Merrill.
Till about a few years ago this man was a non entity, literally. His shot to fame came in 2008, as he put himself out in the investment market as a "PRODUCT". Now that's not exactly the bizarre part of it...there's drama from finding crowd-funding sources to personal relationships gone sour!
Weird stories of people pawning themselves is not new. However, Merrill's story is all about the strange ups and downs of "Frankenstein" entrepreneur, who actually managed to hit gold.
A little background score before we come to his eccentric story.
Kenneth Michael Merrill a.k.a Mike is a 35 year old working in a Portland software firm who fancies himself as a "nights and weekends artist". His passion for creativity is somewhat bizarre. His blog network- Urban Honking features various online video series called Ultimate Blogger capturing real life stunts.
With a stint in the U.S Army also, he soon after had a melee of business ideas but no funding sources for backup. Like the usual Silicon Valley-style finance model, he preferred outside funding.
Inspired by a European digital art collective Etoy that indulged in "group sold shares to underwrite its activities", Mike modeled his so called one-man stock exchange - KmikeyM (based on his name) somewhat like Kickstarter. But there was a catch in his crowd-funding project.
He hired a developer at $500 plus 500 shares to create a website that would enable shareholders to vote for shaping HIS decisions in all aspects of life. Moreover, there was an actual trading platform that was coded exclusively for Merrill's stock to be bought and sold after the IPO (Initial Public Offering). Anyone interested to buy "him" had to click on a "BUY" button on the website- KmikeyM.com.
To put it simply his idea was that "investors", unlike the normal scenario would not be earning dividends on profits but accrue money successful projects generated a natural demand by owning a piece of KmikeyM.
Beginning as a purely corporate initiative, things began to slowly move into the personal sphere. Mike says "I figured they’d make good decisions for me, since they had money on the line and wanted to see their investment appreciate".
From decisions as important as the firm's projects, the shareholders voted on issues whether he should get a vasectomy or engage in polyphasic sleep (cutting total sleep time to less than 4 hours with short naps). All of this to enhance the productivity of the corporation. The weird thing that ensued was the "shareholders".
The first 1300 shares were mostly bought by Mike's close in friends -coders, artists, musicians like the famous band Yatch. Despite this, the end result of this overhauling of private-public life into a single thread destroyed his 5-year relationship with his girlfriend - Willow McCormick, a public school teacher who later turned an shareholder activist.
The personal failure followed into the another attention grabbing business by KmikeyM : the Romance Project. It was his re-entry into the dating market with strict parameters of corporate productivity in tow. In his shareholder's communique, Mike put out that "A relationship is likely to affect both the productivity and the output of KmikeyM … Shareholders should have some control over the selection or approval of any possible romantic partner(s)."
With Project onsong, he met Marijke Dixon, a working in an investment firm at a hedge fund discussion. Dixon was initially perturbed at the mechanical and crude trajectory of their relationship with investors actually voting about their life decisions. But prone to dating eccentricity of sorts herself she actually consented to a relationship contract- a 8 page document that describes the parameters "from flossing to television viewing to frequency of sexual relations".
In short, Dixon consented to buy shares for a successful relationship. For Mike it was the ultimate romantic gesture when Dixon actually managed to scoop a $1.52 with a paper profit of $900 in a strike price contract. He shares his joy by saying "Instead of getting me flowers, she was trying to buy me.It bodes well."
He hired a developer at $500 plus 500 shares to create a website that would enable shareholders to vote for shaping HIS decisions in all aspects of life. Moreover, there was an actual trading platform that was coded exclusively for Merrill's stock to be bought and sold after the IPO (Initial Public Offering). Anyone interested to buy "him" had to click on a "BUY" button on the website- KmikeyM.com.
To put it simply his idea was that "investors", unlike the normal scenario would not be earning dividends on profits but accrue money successful projects generated a natural demand by owning a piece of KmikeyM.
Beginning as a purely corporate initiative, things began to slowly move into the personal sphere. Mike says "I figured they’d make good decisions for me, since they had money on the line and wanted to see their investment appreciate".
From decisions as important as the firm's projects, the shareholders voted on issues whether he should get a vasectomy or engage in polyphasic sleep (cutting total sleep time to less than 4 hours with short naps). All of this to enhance the productivity of the corporation. The weird thing that ensued was the "shareholders".
The first 1300 shares were mostly bought by Mike's close in friends -coders, artists, musicians like the famous band Yatch. Despite this, the end result of this overhauling of private-public life into a single thread destroyed his 5-year relationship with his girlfriend - Willow McCormick, a public school teacher who later turned an shareholder activist.
The personal failure followed into the another attention grabbing business by KmikeyM : the Romance Project. It was his re-entry into the dating market with strict parameters of corporate productivity in tow. In his shareholder's communique, Mike put out that "A relationship is likely to affect both the productivity and the output of KmikeyM … Shareholders should have some control over the selection or approval of any possible romantic partner(s)."
With Project onsong, he met Marijke Dixon, a working in an investment firm at a hedge fund discussion. Dixon was initially perturbed at the mechanical and crude trajectory of their relationship with investors actually voting about their life decisions. But prone to dating eccentricity of sorts herself she actually consented to a relationship contract- a 8 page document that describes the parameters "from flossing to television viewing to frequency of sexual relations".
In short, Dixon consented to buy shares for a successful relationship. For Mike it was the ultimate romantic gesture when Dixon actually managed to scoop a $1.52 with a paper profit of $900 in a strike price contract. He shares his joy by saying "Instead of getting me flowers, she was trying to buy me.It bodes well."
Merrill proudly shares his joy that "his sell out" has brought to his life. He says "having investors "holding me accountable has genuinely improved my life".
Well all said and done, we are still in awe of the man who staked out his life, lock, stock and barrel!!!
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