Mike Merrill is a publicly traded person. Since his IPO in 2008, most of Merrill’s major life decisions have been run by a board of shareholders—from whom he can date to what kind of hair he can grow on his face. Now, Merrill would like to bring his shareholders to a 17-year-old named Jackson Gariety.

This may sound completely crazy, but before you decry the state of our poor dystopian world, consider this: Weren’t we all kind of, if we’re being generous, idiots at age 17? Maybe what we could’ve used, aside from an occasional kick in the shins, is semi-binding advice from a large group of people with a stake in our future.

Just look at what’s happened to Mike Merrill. The reason he’s now trying to push his shareholders’ decisions onto a new person is because he’s been too busy since his board voted for him to quit his job and start his own company this past March. The job change, which only one shareholder voted against, was a “huge boost of confidence,” Merrill told National Journal this fall. It’s the kind of confidence that could, theoretically at least, be beneficial for a freshly minted adult.