[2][3] He is best known as the founder of Quepasa, the first Latin American online community to go public and trade on a stock exchange in the early dot-com internet era of the late 1990s.

Through early access to technology, Peterson learned to make his own Unix and VMS–based software applications on the campus PDP-11 and DEC VAX computer systems.

During the mid-1980s, Peterson focused on the development of software for freely distributed bulletin board system and multi-user dungeon gaming applications.

[16] The article, which highlights Peterson's public biography as filled in a Quepasa proxy statement on April 23, 2004,[17] was suspicious about believing that he was programming computers when he was ten years old.

Peterson would go on to work with investment groups that financed hundreds of companies primarily through initial public offering transactions during the strong stock market conditions of the early 1990s.

A year later, he successfully persuaded Arizona sports mogul Jerry Colangelo to help raise in excess of $20 million of seed capital to launch the company.

[22] After meeting with Peterson during an online interview at the offices of the Miami Herald, seven-time GRAMMY award-winning[26] Latina recording artist Gloria Estefan signed a contract to become Quepasa's official spokesperson and investor.

[20][23][27] Quepasa billboards were a frequent sight in Hispanic cities across the United States, encouraging millions of Latinos to join "El Mundo Nuevo" (Spanish: The New World) online.

Vayala, a developer of large scale dynamic search technologies, was successful in securing venture capital financing with executives of Softbank Corp.

[34] The Chicago Tribune wrote that "even with Internet Winter blowing cold wind across the digital landscape, many experts were surprised to hear the death rattle of America's once successful hispanic-centered Web operation, Quepasa.com.

"[35] Later that year, Peterson led a group of investors through a proxy fight and hostile takeover of Quepasa, reportedly investing millions of his own money.

[46] According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,[45] notable board members of Mobile Corporation included Univision Online CEO Javier Saralegui,[47] son of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Brent Bushnell,[48] former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke[49] and Senior Advisor to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, Marco A. López Jr.[50] Notable investors in Mobile Corporation[51] included the venture fund of the Silicon Valley–based Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati law firm, Salt Lake City businessman Phil Marriott, Texas land Commissioner George P. Bush, and Prorsus Capital.

[55] The Mobile.co domain acquisition, performed by Peterson's investment company, gave rise to complex litigation including a highly publicized UDRP dispute.

"[58] On October 10, 2014, Mobile Corporation named former U.S. Presidential Candidate and Democratic National Committee Chairman Governor Howard Dean as its Global Advocate.

[64] Speaking about the surprise management coup to the Arizona Republic newspaper, Peterson stated that Trujillo had "breached every ounce of his trust.

[67] According to news reports at the time, When Peterson resigned from Quepasa after settling the lawsuit, the company was left in the hands of a chief executive officer and a board of directors inexperienced in both the Internet and the technology that ran it.

[69] In December 2018, Peterson filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit[70] in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts against the Arizona Republic, parent company Gannett, reporter Craig Harris, and Dennis Burke, a former business colleague Peterson accuses of orchestrating an allegedly factually incorrect[71] newspaper article as part of a "ongoing retaliatory campaign.

"[70] According to Peterson's lawsuit, Burke, who resigned in 2011 as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona amid allegations of misconduct,[72][73][74] had a history of improper retaliation against coworkers[75] and attempted to manipulate the press by leaking documents in the Obama-era Operation Fast and Furious scandal.

[76] Peterson attributed his lawsuit against Burke to "a disgruntled former colleague who is a former federal prosecutor apparently willing to use his knowledge of prosecutorial methods to implement various schemes based on lies, innuendo and half truths meant to destabilize our business projects and create the false appearance of wrongs in order to cover up Burke's own bad acts.

[80] Jeffrey held a fundraiser at his residence for Barack Obama featuring Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and actress Scarlett Johansson on August 21, 2008.

[85] A prominent picture of Peterson with Benigno Aquino III, former president of the Philippines, was set at the Malacañang Palace and featured in a 2017 print publication.

[citation needed] On February 10, 2021, Peterson appeared in a cable television news segment, questioning influence of the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party on Skybridge Arizona,[86] the first American cross-border cargo port with 'pre-authorization screening' between the United States and Mexico.

[88] Former Van Halen lead singer Sammy Hagar, founder of the Mexican tequila brand, Cabo Wabo,[89] was reported to have forged ties with Peterson's Quepasa.

On July 20, 2009, Peterson sold the Internet domain name demand.com to Demand Media Inc., a company controlled by former Myspace Chairman Richard Rosenblatt.