Michael Becker is an international strategic advisor, author, and educator. He specializes in helping organizations and individuals develop and execute strategic self-sovereign identity (SSI) principled business, product, and marketing strategies. Additionally, he guides them in learning and adopting the 5Cs—collection, curation, creation, collaboration, and contribution—for personal knowledge, content, and personal AI development and management strategies. Beyond his advisory work with Fortune 500 companies and startups, he serves as an adjunct professor at U.S. universities and industry trade groups. He is the founder of the 5Cs of Knowledge Management School and holds a Doctorate of Business Administration from Golden Gate University.
Could you describe your initiative/startup’s purpose and vision and how it benefits its target audience?
I am the CEO and founder of Identity Praxis, Inc., a strategic advisory and consulting firm specializing in self-sovereign identity (SSI) principled identity & data management, marketing, and personal knowledge management. Through our educational marketing approach, we help organizations and individuals succeed in today’s rapidly evolving landscape by working with them to develop and execute integrated business, product, marketing & communications, regulatory compliance, and technology stack strategies—thus ensuring readiness for current and future trends. Our approach helps organizations learn, become more self-reliant, future-proofed, and trusted, while also boosting revenues, reducing costs, and mitigating risks.
As far as entrepreneurship is concerned, your journey is quite inspiring. What are some of your most significant accomplishments and how did you achieve them?
I am fortunate enough to have worked with amazing people and organizations, giving me a wealth of experiences to draw upon and add value to those I serve. I have traveled to over 65 countries, worked on a range of business strategies, product development, and marketing initiatives, and delivered thousands of talks, including keynotes, moderations, panels, workshops, forums, conferences, and press briefings.
Some of my most notable accomplishments include:
- 1989: Studied in Japan for a year and capped off the experience with a one-month train ride across Siberia, Eastern and Western Europe (almost died).
- 1997: Helped develop one of the first online social media networks (the Rocket eBook Library), a phygital community for self-publishing eBooks.
- 2000: Contributed to developing the world’s first presence-aware all-media messaging platform for mobile operator networks. Secured a patent for my multiple messaging session management UI.
- 2004: Founded and ran one of the first commercial multi-channel software-as-a-service (SaaS) mobile marketing platforms in the United States.
- 2005: Became the first paying member of the Mobile Marketing Association, sat on its board for nearly ten years, and ran North American operations for three years. Helped organize and host some of the largest mobile marketing conferences at the time.
- 2005-2010: Founded, published, and edited The International Journal of Mobile Marketing, dedicated to bridging the gap between industry and academic mobile marketing efforts.
- 2005-2015: Received several awards, including MMA Mobile Social Media Finalist 2009, MMA Best Relationship Building 2008 (Finalist for Obama Presidential Campaign), MMA Innovation of the Year Award 2007, Frost & Sullivan Award 2007, Marketing EDGE Education Leadership Award 2014, MMA Academic of the Year Award Finalist 2009, and more.
- Co-authored several Dummies books, journal articles, whitepapers, reports, and frameworks.
- 2013-Present: Co-author of Mobile Marketing Essentials, a mobile marketing textbook published by Stukent, now in its 12th edition.
- 2019-2024: Contributed to the development and launch of Pocket Geek Privacy, a mobile operator-grade personal information management system (PIMS).
- 2024: Founded the 5Cs of Knowledge Management School.
- June 2024: Earned a Doctorate in Business Administration with a dissertation on Predicting Personal Information Management Systems Use, exploring personal information management system (PIMS) adoption.
- Personal: I am healthy, have been married for 30 years, and have two incredibly empathetic, well-traveled, and thoughtful children.
How have I accomplished all this? I focus on being of service. I start every day with a beginner’s mind and embrace incremental formalization. I put myself out there. I believe those who want to make a difference in the world both do and teach. I am a perpetual student. I seek out community. I exercise and (try to) eat healthily. I strive to be a better person than I was the day before.
Being an entrepreneur, what kind of response have you received from your users/consumers?
I have had a fantastic response from my work. People have repeatedly told me that I’ve made a difference. However, I have been told that I can be “too detailed” and that my vision is sometimes too far out. I’m working on improving my ability to summarize my work and scaffold my visions from the future to the present.
In what ways has your life changed since you began your entrepreneurial journey?
I started my entrepreneurial journey when I was six—I sold polished rocks door to door and did work around the neighborhood. By age eight, I had my first business card: Michael J. Becker – Entrepreneur.
My journey has been filled with exceptional highs and lows. Every day, every moment, has allowed me to learn and improve—to be a better human and to be of service. Over the years, I have learned to retain joy and happiness despite external and internal challenges.
Do you think ‘GENDER’ affects entrepreneurship?
Yes, I do think gender affects entrepreneurship. To be clear, an individual’s birth gender or chosen identity has little to no bearing on their ability to be a successful entrepreneur. However, society’s implicit, explicit, and procedural biases can significantly impact entrepreneurship and success. The way entrepreneurship works within one’s personal context and response to these biases plays a crucial role in shaping an entrepreneur’s journey.
Website and Social Media Handles
- LinkedIn: Michael Becker – LinkedIn
- Website: Identity Praxis
- 5Cs of Knowledge Management: 5Cs Knowledge Management School
