Hello, my name is Mike Merrill, and I'm your new investment.

After years of doing web-based projects, I've taken my commitment to collaboration (and my love of the business world) to the highest level. I'm selling shares in myself.

Using a virtual, fully-functional stock market called KmikeyM.com, I'm inviting everyone to own a part of me and all my future projects. By buying shares in me, Mike Merrill, you not only fund my ideas, but you have a say in which ones I undertake. As our little economy grows, my stock price will become a kind of benchmark for my success; the higher the stock price, the more viable the worth of my projects.

When Shareholder Questions come up, stock owners will be able to vote on significant choices in my life. The more shares you have, the more weight your vote has. You could be the only person voting to send me to night school, but with enough shares behind you, I'm going to enroll. Ostensibly, if we make the right choices, we both win.

Sure, you might say that this is an incomplete way of measuring my success -- or that a business model is not conducive to the execution of creative projects. I don't see it this way. Business is a social science of managing people to organize and maintain collective productivity, and to accomplish particular creative and productive goals; after all, the etymology of the word "business" refers to the state of being busy.

It's not about generating profits, particularly, although that will likely happen: it's about a group of people working towards the same goal. By using an adapted structure of the market economy, you and I have a ready-built mechanism for operations, accountability, and measuring success that is not only well documented but also easily understood.

-Kenneth Michael Merrill
AKA Mikey

K5M F.A.Q.

How do I get started?

The first step is to open an account on KmikeyM.com and deposit funds so that you can purchase shares. Depositing funds is done via PayPal.

If you have received a physical share, you can register it by emailing kmikeym@kmikeym.com with your account information and the share serial number.

Is KmikeyM.com FDIC insured?

No. We're not a bank, and therefore we're not FDIC insured. You should consider KmikeyM a "high risk" investment.

Although K5M is a future-leaning experiment of capitalism, your money is safe. After your money is received via PayPal it is deposited in your KmikeyM account until you buy shares your request a withdrawal.

How do I make deposits and withdrawals?

All deposits and withdrawals are made online through PayPal. Any funds you send to K5M@kmikeym.com will be deposited in your KmikeyM.com account; when you request a withdrawal, you will receive it via PayPal.

I don't have PayPal. Can I fund my account with a check?

Absolutely. Send an email to kmikeym@kmikeym.com and you will receive all the appropriate instructions regarding where to mail the check and who to make it out to.

How long will it take for KmikeyM.com withdrawals to appear in my PayPal account?

Because funds are not stored in PayPal, it can take between 4 and 6 business days, depending upon what time of day you initiate your transfer request. Arrangements can be made to withdraw faster if needed.

Media Projects

Endorsements

I was washing dishes, and I thought, "Mike is a great artist, one who most amazingly uses 'Our Times' as his medium. Mike's art represents the passion, the humility, and the grace that is the American Way."
- M. Ritchey

WORK

2009 Launched PortlandSportsman.com
2008 suddenly.org Group Show (Portland, OR and Los Angeles, CA)
2008 OK TO GO, video collaboration with Claire L. Evans
2008 Played Ivan Alexeev in "Summer Song" music video by YACHT released by DFA records.
2007 Ultimate Blogger 3, in PICA's TBA Fstival
2007 Executive Producer, YACHT - Healthy Student Music Video (2007)
2006 Monday on HumanCalendar.com
2006 Executive Producer, Audio Magic
2006 Ultimate Blogger 2
2005 Techno-Corporate Stock Images
2005 Make It Happen, Inspirational Corporate Electronica
2005 Ultimate Blogger, Season 1
2004 Rip City Investigations: Operation Seraglio
2004 Virtual Currency Speculation
2003 Worked on MeForyMayor, a failed political race.
2002 MishJokeClan, Virtual Performance Group
2001 Rip City Investigations: The Harkness Project
2001 Launched UrbanHonking.com
2000 Investigating the effects of automobile traffic on common comestibles with Josh Berezin

Press

Huffington Post: Urban Honking Freshman Blog Scholarship: Blog About Your First Year (August 13, 2010)
ARCADE Journal: Suddenly (Winter 2009)
Huffington Post: Meet the Human I.P.O. (June 4, 2009)
Sputnik Magazine: El valor sin dinero: KMIKEYM.COM (May, 2008)
Oregon Business Magazine: Hot Stock Tip: Buy some shares in this guy (Nov, 2007)
Oregonian: Talk about the ultimate reality show (9/21/07)
CNET: Challenges! Alliances! Immunity! It's 'Ultimate Blogger 3'" (9/11/07)
Portland Mercury: Talking to Mike Merrill of Ultimate Blogger 3 (9/11/07)
PDX Magazine: An Internet Revolution (April 2007)
The Portland Tribune: Forever Young (2/12/07)
Willamette Week (cover story): Clique Here (3/1/06)
The Oregonian: Outplay, outwit ... outblog? (2/18/06)
AlterNet.org: Voted Off the Internet (5/4/05)
Guardian.co.uk Pick of the Day (4/5/05)
Portland Mercury: We Can Do It Better (2/17/05)
Portland Mercury: Letter to the Editor (6/3/04)
Wired News: Virtual Cash Breeds Real Greed (1/23/04)
Portland Mercury: Letter of the Week (scroll down) (5/8/03)

Awards, Residencies, Talks & Panels

May 18, 2010 Guest Speaker, Citizen Media Course at School of Journalism & Communication, University of Oregon
July 16, 2009 FREE CULTURE, University of Oregon, Portland, OR
June, 2009 FAME! Grant, Tanda Foundation, New York, NY
January 30, 2009 Guest on WK RADIO
November, 2007 Pecha Kucha #1, The Cleaners, Portland, OR
September 10, 2007 Ultimate Blogger, A How To Workshop, PICA TBA Festival

Memberships and Affiliations

The Adventurers Club
Rhizome
etoy shareholder
Veterans Defending the Bill of Rights
Electronic Frontier Foundation

Mailing List

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