I finally bought some shares in Mike Merrill, the IPO man. I’ve been using him for years when talking about corporate governance, and finally decided to take a financial interest in him by buying some shares on his website.

I don’t expect to make any money from my “investment,” but the Wired article illustrates some important topics about real companies:

• Having project ideas and needing funding
• The principle of one share, one vote
• Competing share-holder interests
• Corporate takeovers
• Shareholder activism
• Short-term vs. long-term focus