Makers of The Metaverse: Jerry Eitel Of Prager Metis On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality Industries

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Experience: nothing speaks more than experience. You have to train people and learn from experience. Future generations should shadow those in these higher levels and gain experience from them. You must be willing to connect with other people in the industry too and always be ready to learn from them or share what you know.

The Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Mixed Reality Industries are so exciting. What is coming around the corner? How will these improve our lives? What are the concerns we should keep an eye out for? Aside from entertainment, how can VR or AR help work or other parts of life? To address this, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jerry Eitel, Chief Metaverse Officer of CPA firm Prager Metis.

Jerry Eitel is a Partner Emeritus in the Tax Departments of Prager Metis, a member of Prager Metis International Group. He also serves as the Chief Metaverse Officer for the Metaverse office. He has been in the accounting profession for over 35 years, and now oversees expansion and planning for Prager Metis’ Metaverse clients.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?

I grew up in Brooklyn, first in Crown Heights and later in Brighton Beach. This was in the fifties and sixties. Anybody you speak to about that time and place will probably tell you they basically lived in the schoolyard playing stickball or basketball. Of course, if you drive past these schoolyards now, they are parking lots. Still, when I drive past those lots, the cars disappear and I just see my past. Growing up in Brooklyn, you meet a lot of characters including my parents. They are probably why I was more the creative type back then. I attended Brooklyn College where I majored in creative writing and ended up getting a license to teach high school English. I was and still am a fairly indecisive person (I think), and so I applied and was accepted to both MFA and MBA programs, and even law school.

However, I met my first wife in an education class. Her father had a small accounting practice and was pretty desperate for help, so I chose the path of least resistance and decided on getting my MBA with a concentration in accounting. I sold welding equipment by day and went for the MBA at night before I started working for him full time.

There’s a lot more to the backstory but, suffice it to say, going into accounting was a safe and comfortable move for me… until the marriage failed. I moved into the East Village, eventually married my next-door neighbor, and went out on my own to build my own practice.

Is there a particular book, film, or podcast that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

I have a few different favorites. Albert Camus is one of them. The Stranger and The Plague are two of his best works. He’s an existentialist author, so his work is all about accepting the absurdity of life and creating our own meaning from it which inspires me. His writing and ideas transcend time which is probably why Kurt Vonnegut is definitely on my list too. Also, in terms of the human condition, Graham Greene and Sommerset Maughn. The English major in me can go on and on.

Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue a career in the X Reality industry? We’d love to hear it.

I did not pursue Web3; it pursued me. I was a tax partner for many years and retired December 31, 2021. As a firm, we made a commitment to get into the Metaverse and all things digital and crypto. As a newly minted partner emeritus, I volunteered to be this transitional Metaverse face of the firm. It’s such a creative space. I feel like I’ve gone full circle, and I still think “young” enough even though people look at me like I’m crazy to talk about the Metaverse. But the fact is, there are hardly any limits to what you can imagine and do in these worlds. There are also no limits as to the trouble you can get into if you do things wrong from both a tax and compliance side. Now, I am really getting to use both the left and right sides of my brain simultaneously.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?

My accounting career has been about forty years. My Web3 career has been about a year and a half, but in Web3 and Metaverse years, they may be the equivalent. I have been involved in many unique situations in both careers. In terms of Web3, it’s been illuminating speaking with some well-known rappers. The hip hop scene is a whole world I’ve never been a part of or knew much about before. I think that is part of the beauty of working in the Metaverse: you are exposed to new markets, new people, and new niches all the time. Things that once seemed unrelated are starting to share common ground. Other things that comes to mind are being involved with a virtual sneaker store, speaking to the owners of a virtual vodka store, and purchasing numerous plots of virtual land, including Absolutland in Decentraland as well as the virtual land that Prager Metis sits on. They are all situations I would have never even imagined at the start of my accounting career.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I purchased names on the Etherium blockchain, but I spelled them incorrectly numerous times. Now, I can’t get a refund on the blockchain.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I have had plenty of help along the way, both from my first father-in-law, who taught me the ropes, to various life-long clients. Still, oddly, it’s the part-time jobs that I had when I was fairly young that have impacted me the most. From working for Gino, the owner of a small pizza shop where I found myself walking up 10 flights of stairs in Coney Island because the elevator was broken; to my father and uncle, both printers, who got me a summer job at the New York Post as a copy boy. These are the kind of jobs that, collectively, instill confidence. My parents never went to college, and I never got much advice on careers. They just wanted me to play it safe, which I did. I still have to be grateful because they must have instilled in me a fairly even temperament.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

In my role as Chief Metaverse Officer, where I get involved in so many unique Metaverse-related ventures, I’m now observing projects tied to social causes. Businesses looking to increase their reach through the Metaverse are also able to increase their social impact. Specifically, through our affiliate, Banquet, a Metaverse studio working with brands, we have worked with groups like The Female Quotient which focuses on enabling more equitable workplaces for women and minority groups. Making sure everybody has a place in the Metaverse is an exciting task. In the end, the Metaverse is all about building community and I’m proud to be involved in the forefront of that.

Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. The VR, AR and MR industries seem so exciting right now. What are the 3 things in particular that most excite you about the industry? Can you explain or give an example?

The competition among the larger players in the Metaverse such as Meta, Apple, and even Bored Apes is quite exciting. You have to wonder what all this money is going to come up with. But as far VR, AR, and MR, the implications of working in a virtual world or of superimposing virtual images for commerce and entertainment are unlimited, but the real excitement is in the medical sciences. Game designers, surgeons and engineers are now working together. There will likely be amazing progress in spinal and other surgeries in the not-too-distant future. Just as important will be virtual rehabilitation platforms where therapists can work with patients. And then there is biology. One doesn’t have to be a scientist to see the implications. The virtual world will go way beyond the 3D image. Finally, and perhaps most important, the ever shrinking and expanding supercomputer applied to all things virtual will whittle away limitations.

What are the 3 things that concern you about the VR, AR and MR industries? Can you explain? What can be done to address those concerns?

1. Although lighter and more comfortable headsets will be coming to the market, dizziness and nausea are still a problem. The touch sensations with the technology may not be at the place where it is adequate for surgeons yet either.

2. I’m curious what permanent impact these industries will have on us all socially. While this technology offers opportunities to connect in ways and with people we never thought possible before, I wonder what’s going to happen with real-world human interaction. How far is this going to go? It might have to be a matter of waiting and finding out. Consumers have a lot of control over the way they use this technology.

3. I worry if this technology will get away from us. If this is just the start, how advanced is it going to get? How many different facets of our lives will it impact? Of course, with this type of innovation and freedom there comes a great amount of responsibility to keep it as a tool to enhance society, not harm it. There’s always good and evil, and I worry about where the line will be drawn and how. As a community within Web3, a government, and a society, we will have to start thinking about how we will deal with those issues and what the consequences will look like. Of course, the scariest use of any technology is when it is used for military applications.

Will this become a Matrix world? Kurt Vonnegut had a sense of humor when it came to explaining where we were, are, and where we might be heading. Many other science fiction writers predict a dystopian future, but one can only hope that the glass half full world is where we end up, not history repeating itself in an ever more devastating way.

I think the entertainment aspects of VR, AR and MR are apparent. Can you share with our readers how these industries can help us at work?

There are great opportunities for education and upskilling employees. Aside from surgery previously mentioned, people could learn how to repair machinery without ever interacting with anything in the physical world. It is a great tool for streamlining upskilling, onboarding, and employee training. Employment agencies that specialize in these types of services can really make an impact in making all these processes more efficient and thorough.

In an industry like architecture or manufacturing, the technology could be used to identify structural issues. It has also opened a variety of opportunities for artists by creating new jobs and opening up new markets and new people for them to share their art with. It’s a new medium.

Really, there are opportunities to streamline tasks, create jobs, and offer education in almost any industry if done right.

Are there other ways that VR, AR and MR can improve our lives? Can you explain?

As I mentioned previously, I think it can really make an impact in the medical field. The technology can be used on the educational side: training surgeons, doctors and nurses with no risk to human life. It can also be used on the patient care side. VR experiences within nursing homes or for patients stuck in hospital beds can help relax them and improve their quality of life in those given moments. Imagine being at the beach while waiting for your surgery. Also, pain management could be enhanced.

I think there are opportunities to enhance experiences, streamline processes and ultimately enjoy ourselves more through this technology. The more people who come into the space willing to explore and take risks, the more benefits we will start to see.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about working in your industry? Can you explain what you mean?

It’s not a bunch of kids. They will be the generation to help really adopt this way of living and doing business, but there are many serious people in this industry helping to shape it right now. There are a lot more players than people think. Almost every industry in the physical world is beginning to have to address how their company will respond to this innovation, and not everyone in those meetings is young.

What are your “5 Things You Need to Create a Highly Successful Career in The VR, AR or MR Industries?”

1. Technical skills: whoever is designing these games and platforms is very skilled. There’s so much to learn here and these programmers need to be very skilled. It’s becoming a specific expertise when applied across all industries. You need people on your team who really know the ins and outs of the programming, the financials, the creatives, etc.

2. Experience: nothing speaks more than experience. You have to train people and learn from experience. Future generations should shadow those in these higher levels and gain experience from them. You must be willing to connect with other people in the industry too and always be ready to learn from them or share what you know.

3. Commitment: You can’t just dabble in these industries. It’s not for the faint of heart. You need to be willing to take risks, learn, and grow no matter the stage you are at in your career. We are all just beginning.

4. Curiosity: Again, so much of this is on a learning curve. You have to always be thinking about what you don’t know and how you are going to find out the answer. Solving problems through further innovation always requires curiosity.

5. Goals: I advise all our clients to have a clear set of goals and objectives for joining the Metaverse. I think the same should be asked of anyone looking to work in it too. You can’t come in aimlessly. It’s okay not to know everything, but you should know what you are setting out to accomplish through this technology.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I don’t consider myself a person of great influence. In fact, the “influencer” word bothers me. Hoping to be part of an impactful community of communities. Obviously, VR, AR & MR will be transformative, but the best potential for Web3 from my perspective is the combination of social cause and profit motive. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive. That’s the accountant in me hoping for a better world.

Thank you so much for these excellent stories and insights. We wish you continued success on your great work!