Tim Bonnemann is the founder, president, and CEO of Intellitics, Inc., a participation startup in San Jose. Before participating in a panel on the future of online government, he told us that he doesn’t have any childhood heroes because he’s German, but he would like to have a beer with former chancellor Helmut Schmitt.

Q. If you could live in any other time and place, where would you want to live and why?

A. I would probably pick roaring ’20s Berlin. It could be something else tomorrow, but tonight, it seems to me like we’re living in a bit of upheaval these days, and I think that was a time that had some of that too.

Q. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

A. “Don’t give up too easily,” from my grandparents. If you want to do something, stick with it, and try to get it done despite obstacles that may not turn out to be obstacles.

Q. If you were going to bid on one item online, what would it be?

A. A lens for a camera I’m kind of eyeing, and an old Italian Vespa.

Q. Who were your childhood heroes?

A. I’m from Germany, and we have a very different take on heroes, so I don’t know. I think there are heroes in stories. It’s a word that has been abused a lot in the last century.

Q. What’s the last song you listened to?

A. I’ve been listening a lot to Spanish ballads—romantic ballads. That was probably the last thing I listened to yesterday.

Q. Who is the one person, living or dead, you’d like to have a beer with?

A. Former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

Q. Describe yourself in five words or less.

A. Optimist, civic entrepreneur.

Q. What’s your greatest extravagance?

A. Good, long, haircuts that you could get for a lot cheaper—ones that come with a good wash. Not too fancy, but I guess it adds up over the year.

*Photo by Brian Smeets