Election for Board Seats (1/3)

There are five candidates running for two board seats. You may vote for as many of the candidates as you wish. The candidate with the least support will be eliminated.

Read the Opening Statements of all the candidates here.

You can ask questions of any and all candidates in the comments below.

This is the first of three parts of the selection process. After the shareholders cast their initial votes the candidate with the least shareholder support will be eliminated from the running. The remaining candidates will then eliminate one of the candidates themselves and write a joint statement to the shareholders. Finally we will have a live discussion/debate that concludes with a final vote to determine which two will be elected to the board of directors.

    Votes

  • 86% Josh Berezin
  • 62% Douglas Dollars
  • 78% Beau Gunderson
  • 45% Jefferson Nunn
  • 16% Austin Pearson

38 users voted with 4140 shares


Comments

  • beau [ 432 ]

    Good luck everyone!

  • Doug [ 1326 ]

    Fun fun fun!

  • Dave Smith [ 1 ]

    I was hoping for a venture capitalist coming in to "Toy R Us" KmikeyM so that I could see if a Game Stop could happen. I should've ran for the board to be a chaos agent, but I don't have it in me to go completely evil.

  • harper357 [ 10 ]

    I'm not sure to vote for yet, but after reading everyone's statement I have to say you have an impressive group of friends and supporters.

  • Doug [ 1326 ]

    @Dave Smith It may hurt my chances for this but I've priced out such a scenario at least once a month since no longer being the top investor. There is a potential path where by purchasing >1400-1420 shares on top of my current holdings (depending on the day) I both block out any other shareholder's chance to get to first place in ownership, but also simultaneously drive the share price to >$50-90 (depending on the day). This state would remain until more shares are released, but could provide a strong "HODL" signal and ~10X value growth to every shareholder.

    Fun times are ahead, but I do suspect my main aim will always be the long term viability of this project and Mike's well-being. To that end, I've rarely sold shares, and regret having done so! I do not project ever declining in share count.

  • eubie67 [ 8 ]

    Having read the candidate's statements, I have a clarification question. Douglas Dollars' intro states "He has been a shareholder since August of 2011." Then his statement starts with "I am this election’s longest-serving...shareholder." Josh Berezin's intro that states "He has been a shareholder since January of 2008." That appears to indicate that Josh is this election's longest-serving shareholder. Can someone clarify? Thanks.

  • jefferson [ 214 ]

    I hope that I can win your votes. I want to push KMikeyM to the forefront!

  • krickeyb [ 401 ]

    Are the losers of this still eligible for the 2 seats kmikeym elects, or the 1 seat the largest shareholder elects? Like Josh is pretty tight with Mike, so maybe I'd spend my votes differently if he still might get elected other ways.

  • krickeyb [ 401 ]

    note: I actually like your platform Josh :D

  • krickeyb [ 401 ]

    Jefferson - As a marketer, what is something KMikeyM could do to help establish himself as a powerful brand and that could be incorporated into his long term vision?

    Douglas - What is a vote you’d bring up today that you think can get excitement levels back on track to support a $15 stock price?

    Josh - Do you think there have been any previous votes that would violate your EIEP framework and why?

    Austin - What does keeping private votes as transparent as possible look like to you? How would you do this?

    Beau - As a potential KMikeyM gardener, what is something you would like to prune and what is something you’d like to nurture with him today?

  • joshb [ 655 ]

    @krickeyb — there are definitely other ways to get on, but I don’t think being tight with Mike is one of them. Mike, can you fill folks in on how the other board seats will be filled? I recall something of an arcane process but not the details.

  • joshb [ 655 ]

    @eubie67 — I’ve been a shareholder since the beginning of the project. I have a physical share, serial 000001, elaborately framed on my wall, in fact!

    I hope that clarifies the shareholder tenure situation.

  • eubie67 [ 8 ]

    Thanks Josh!

  • Doug [ 1326 ]

    @eubie67 You have definitely found a mistake in my ability to tell time when writing a bio. Thanks for bringing this up!

  • Doug [ 1326 ]

    @krickeyb Off the top of my head I want a policy where (as funds allow) Mike gives a dollar to anyone who asks for one. There is no one whose day is not improved when receiving a dollar, after having the bravery to ask for one. And it's a good chance to build/buy word of mouth and a positive association among Los Angelinos until we build a political campaign.

    I'm partial to the votes which sounded like something 1) that raise Mike's profile as business citizen, 2) we would also aspire to do/be, and 3) are a bit outlandish (have marketing appeal)

    I also want to see a return of the Manilla Mac sleeve https://web.archive.org/web/20130514230900/http://www.kmikeym.com/questions/43 and other forms of Mike Practicing Business in Public

    (reference: https://web.archive.org/web/20130501000307/https://www.kmikeym.com/questions)

  • Mike Merrill [ creator ]

    Here are more details on how the full board will be selected: https://news.kmikeym.com/new-board/

  • uperfection [ 130 ]

    @krickeyb - What this looks like to me is clear communication with the shareholders on what is being voted on before the vote as well as a statement explaining the reason for the decision after the vote (and maybe a forward looking statement about what it means for shareholders).

    If it is a vote on something covered under an NDA this might mean using vague language or redactions to ensure compliance with Mike and/or the boards legal obligations but it would not absolve the board of keeping the shareholders informed as to what the risks and rewards of a given proposal are.

    At this time I do not foresee a situation in which I would support a truly private vote (One that is not disclosed to general shareholders)

    Personally I plan to keep myself available to shareholders, for them to ask questions (both for general support and in relation to the activities of the board) and I intend to make my votes public.

    I would also push for the board as a whole to post regular statements or communications in regards to upcoming and ongoing projects/votes. This would start with existing communications methods (Primarily Email, Slack, and kmikeym.com) and would ideally expand to include methods in accordance with shareholder preference.

    I would also be willing to create a new space dedicated to me providing updates to the community, as well as my stance on a given topic.

    Feel free to reach out if you need me to clarify anything or have any other questions :)

  • Becki Grady [ 45 ]

    @eubie67 that was my question as well. And I have to admit that the statement made about being the "longest-serving shareholder" immediately swayed my vote. There had to have been plenty of time for the author to have fact-checked his bio statement. Possibly have a second or third person put some eyes on it. And, if all of those things DID happen, and the statement still made it to print, how can we be sure that, if elected, his attention to detail will live up to our standards? I am so honored to be a part of this initial vote, I too have followed Mike for years and am excited for what this Board will bring to the table.

  • beau [ 432 ]

    @krickeyb:

    > Beau - As a potential KMikeyM gardener, what is something you would like to prune and what is something you’d like to nurture with him today?

    The entire long tail of projects that take up mental space but are way past their sell-by date. EGG is one such example--it still has administrative work left to be done (disbursement of funds) and takes up psychic weight, while providing no new benefit.

    In terms of what to nurture, I think the board should work with Mike to find and support the overlap between what's personally energizing to him and what provides value to the shareholders.

    Thanks for the question! 🙏

  • joshb [ 655 ]

    @krickeyb: > Josh: Do you think there have been any previous votes that would violate your EIEP framework and why?

    The things that have not happened have been greater violations of the EIEP framework than votes that did happen.

    Votes themselves are Inclusive, and have the potential to be Ethical, Entertaining, and Profitable. So when we don’t have votes to participate in, that’s a violation of the framework. The Board should be familiar enough with KmikeyM that they can suggest opportunities to create votes.

    The other violation of this type is when the shareholders pass a proposal and then we don’t see action on it. The Board should serve to monitor activity on shareholder-passed initiatives and provide accountability.

  • jefferson [ 214 ]

    Sad that I'm getting the least votes :( But maybe there are other opportunities coming up ...

    Jefferson - As a marketer, what is something KMikeyM could do to help establish himself as a powerful brand and that could be incorporated into his long term vision?

    Honestly - it's visability. Most folks don't know that he exists. Further, he's got quite a bit of wisdom on him built up over the years. Consider the other brands that put themselves out there like Grant Cardone or even Jon Stewart.

    Recording and distributing a well defined set of media would go a long way to establishing KMikeyM as a brand. Further to this point, creating a series of products to go with it - such as Books, Web Content Portals and so on will further this branding concept.

    I have specific ideas in mind and I hope to be able to present this and to execute on this vision so that KMikeyM increases in popularity and gains significant revenues.

  • Doug [ 1326 ]

    There's still three days! And until a point yesterday, one candidate had only 1% of votes. I think this will be a very dynamic vote, but have looked into the last few and they seem to land around 3000-5000 votes total in the end. Hopefully shareholders will be engaged with this one!


Results

Thank you everyone for participating. Having the shareholders "vet" people is amazing and weird! Someone had to be the first eliminated and unfortunately that is Austin, leaving just the other four competing for the two board seats.