merrill r. chappman

“Selling Steve Jobs’ Liver” takes place today and begins when two serial-failure entrepreneurs, Nate Pennington and Ignacio Loehman, are contacted by a mysterious man who sells them the technology titan’s lost liver. The opportunity inspires them to ideate, innovate, and finally create a new company, Reliqueree, whose mission is to reposition death and dying in the market’s mind by replacing current 20th century mortuary processes and concepts with fresh thinking and new technology, enabling the living to enjoy the benefits of enhanced remembrance, connectivity and interactivity with those in a post-life state.
Determined to change the world, Nate and Ignacio create the uLivv, the first device designed to leverage the IoDT (Internet of Departed Things). As part of their launch strategy, Nate and Ignacio repurpose Steve Jobs’ genome and liver to create a compelling value and promotional proposition for their new family of products and services.

“Selling Steve Jobs’ Liver” takes the reader on an exciting entrepreneurial journey as our heroes draw on the legacy and lessons of Steve Jobs for inspiration and guidance as they strive to build their new company. In order to make a dent in the universe and successfully monetize their dream, they’ll need to:

Properly position Reliqueree and the uLivv to the market.
Overcome reactionary thinking and legal gauntlets.
Solve unique development and content creation challenges.
Demonstrate to a skeptical media Reliqueree’s ability to disrupt the world.

These are just some of the business and personal challenges that will face Reliqueree team. The journey will be a hard one, fraught with many obstacles and setbacks as the company growth hacks its way to market acceptance. The lessons you learn as you accompany our entrepreneurs on the path to success will be invaluable and help inspire you to be “insanely great” in all your future endeavors.

“Liver” is a must read for entrepreneurs, startups, and high-tech visionaries, as well as the millions of us who remain fascinated by Steve Jobs and technology’s ability to assist us all to “Think Different” about life, death, and marketing.

Some Wisdom from the "Liver":

On Being an Effective Startup CEO

"Strong startup CEO leadership is marked by the ability to blend effective micromanagement with selective amnesia."

On Memories of Steve Jobs

"The guy's a Valley saint. I know people who still won't sell their iPods and become choked up every time they're applying scratch polish."

On Death

"A quick market overview. Our new enterprise is built around the inescapable reality that everyone dies. That's an unpleasant truth people prefer not to dwell on, but we believe it's that ubiquity that opens the path to major new markets and revenue opportunities."

"The downside of death is, obviously, dying. The upside is that it's a universally shared experience that creates a huge set of expectations and shared challenges across every country, culture, and market. Steve Jobs himself recognized and spoke to this issue directly at his famous commencement address at Stanford in 2005. You can watch the entire speech on YouTube. It's extremely moving."

On Resisting Disruption

"When Steve Jobs had released the iPod and created the buck-a-song download model, the music community had fought against the rising tide with disastrous results. Bands and singers had been forced to perform in front of live people to make money and the record companies had seen their revenues plummet. Drug allocations for performers and music executives were slashed to the bone. Both industries were still recovering."