This week we thought we’d give you a ‘dig deeper’ look into the mostly-silent type: Peter Bodenheimer.
Peter is a New Orleans native living in Bayou St. John (part of “mid-citay,” as he calls it). You may have seen him around, involved in ten different corners of the Silicon Bayou including being a partner of Flatstack, Launch Pad Ignition, and as a former co-producer of TribeCon.
Then again, you may not have seen him. Peter is known to be more of the “behind the scenes” guy, but he makes a big impact in the community and we thought it was about time to put him front and center.
What is the most exciting thing you are working on right now?
There isn’t a single thing. We’ve been working on rebranding the software development firm I am a partner in which has been really exciting. Others include a partnership with a good friend of mine from San Francisco to build a social cocktail iOS app called BarNotes that I hope will be released sometime around the end of the year, another would be working on the structure and plans for year 2 of Launch Pad Ignition.
Finally, I’ve been really loving some of the nuts and bolts work that I’ve been collaborating on with my partners in Flatstack. It surprises me now how enjoyable it is when I actually have time to look at how we can make incremental improvements in how we work.
What are you most excited about happening on the Silicon Bayou that you aren’t directly involved in?
Again, I’m gonna have to list a couple.
Loving what the guys at AudioSocket are doing. They just signed a big deal with Vimeo and I know they are really working with some cool technologies.
Also, Voteit.com is a really promising new startup that I honestly believe has a chance to change how group decision making happens (if it actually ever happened before).
Others include: 4pt0 Schools, Neighborland, and the redevelopment of the CBD to make it a more livable downtown area.
Tell us about your biggest failure.
I’ve had plenty of them, but the biggest failures for me are the ones where I do something that I failed at before and wasn’t smart enough to learn from the failure and avoid doing again. While perhaps not my biggest of all time (since I’ve likely suppressed that), taking a position in a company that I should have realized was not a good fit for where I was in my career still is up near the top. I’d worked in a very similar position for a strikingly similar company years before that ended badly.
In the end, it was frustrating for me and for the founders of the company. I look back on the work we did together knowing it was far poorer than we were all capable of. That said, it isn’t a bad ending as I met some great people though my work there and I came out of the experience that much more prepared to run a business.
IYO, which institution is most due for disruption? [Choices: Politics, Marriage/Family life, Education, Economic system, The Milky Way]
All of the above.
What is your favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon?
Fall – Watch the Saints.
Winter – Watch the Saints (hopefully).
Spring – Take the dogs to city park.
Summer – Be somewhere outside of the city whether for a day or for an actual vacation.
If you had to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
tacos
If you could live in any other time period, which would you choose?
I like where I’m at, but I suppose Europe during the Age of Enlightenment (or Reason) wouldn’t have sucked.
If you could win any award in the world, which would you be most proud to possess?
MacArthur Genius Grant (although I won’t be holding my breath).
The standard superpower dichotomy: Fly or Be Invisible?
Fly
If you were stuck on an elevator for two hours, what one person (dead or alive) would you choose to be stuck with?
Gonna cheat and pick two: Albert Einstein & Muhammad Ali.
If you had to pick a drink to describe yourself (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) what would it be?
Bourbon on the rocks with a splash of soda water to make it just a tiny bit more palatable.
If you wrote a regular column for Silicon Bayou News what would it be about and what would you name it?
Since I can be a bit misanthropic at times, it would probably be about members of the New Orleans tech and entrepreneurial community. Ideally, it would be about calling attention to those who are creating awesomeness and calling out those who are sucking it out of the room. Something like a jazz and razz, but a little more cynical.
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Want more Bodenheimer? Follow Peter on Twitter here or check out his microblog.
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