Shapeshifters began with
a simple idea.

How can two professionals in the global creative community find each other because one has exactly that what the other needs?

Let´s take this real-life challenge as an example. A graphic designer in Vienna looks for an extraordinary papermaker in order to print a book on paper recycled from street garbage. A boutique papermaker in Johannesburg is able to provide exactly that kind of product but has no means to locate this potential client in Europe.

This kind of situation happens every minute on various levels everywhere in our world.

The question is:

How can these people easily find and mutually enrich each other?

In April 2006 Eric Poettschacher and Boston-based business angel Beate Becker founded the company Shapeshifters Information Management to address this gap. Shapeshifters was set up with the purpose to connect creators with resources they need to transform good ideas into reality. What started as a simple peer-to-peer blog has become a pioneering business-to-business agency for creative professionals.

What differentiates Shapeshifters from other businesses is the fact that we started our endeavor with a two-year Global Seeding Tour that allowed us to get in touch with our future users and partners and learn from them in their home environment. The trip changed our lives and brought us the gift of a new global-centric perspective. Every service that you find today on www.shapeshifters.net goes back to the feedback that we got from outstanding creators from all over the planet. We really grew from the bottom-up.

Trying to be a new kind of a global service provider has also transformed our own perspective of the world. We have learned that it is a long and winding journey to connect likeminded people effectively across all cultures—and not just within the Western industrialized part of the globe. What we have learned and experienced from commuting between different worlds is something we want to give back to you.

The slideshow—In 180 images around the world—gives you some impressions of our Shapeshifters World Seeding tour that happened between February 2006 and May 2008. These images are specially dedicated to every single person who has hosted and guided us along this extraordinary journey. It was your effort that made it all work. Thank you.

Shapeshifters World Seeding Tour destinations: