Speaker Highlight: Jerry Paffendorf

// November 16th, 2009 // LA

Jerry Paffendorf has made a name for himself in taking unconventional approaches to everything from business models to social experiments. A self-proscribed artist, futurist, entrepreneur and swell guy - his work includes the Destroy Television project, the Metaverse Roadmap project, the Electric Sheep Company and Wello Horld. Most recently Jerry has been committed full-time to a Detroit based project called LOVELAND. The idea mixes crowd sourcing - or as Jerry likes to call the project's investors: "inchvestors", an interactive storyline, a HQs inside the Russell Industrial Center studios, real-time video streaming mixed in with gaming, and group collaboration to build something very real and valuable on an empty lot east of Indian Village using the internet. What that "something" ends up being depends on the inchvestors who help shape and grow LOVELAND. From the project's about page: "Instead of shares in a company I'm offering square inches of space in Detroit and the ability to creatively contribute to the project in ways that I hope return value. It's not a traditional proposition, but I don't really think these are traditional times we're in. Things are a little crazy."

Q & A:

What excites you about the future?

More and more people being able to make a living doing what they love. Being able to create things as fast as you can imagine them. Being able to watch the whole world like a movie and track and interact with it like a game.

What's a site you couldn't live without?

Zombo.com (make sure your speakers are on).

What's something you wish you would have known before you found out the hard way?

Your investors can throw you under a bus! Be transparent in any investor relationship and don't be afraid to invite your audience into it. At the very least your audience can help save you from unfair treatment. If there are no eyes on the street, that's when crime happens. So to speak. Follow Jerry's updates on his twitter account - or on the LOVELAND twitter account, he writes about his other personal adventures on 7 Billion Friends.