SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

816: Crypto: With $1b+ Cap, DASH Wants to be a Better Venmo


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Ryan Taylor. He's currently the CEO of the Dash Core Team. Dash is an innovative digital currency that offers a number of improvements over bitcoin. Ryan is an expert in the payments industry with over 15 years of experience in financial services and technology.

Famous Five:

  • Favorite Book? – Mastering Bitcoin
  • What CEO do you follow? – Jack Welch
  • Favorite online tool? — BitInfoCharts
  • How many hours of sleep do you get?— 5
  • If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Don't worry about what everyone else has to say, follow what you really want to do"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

  • 01:41 – Nathan introduces Ryan to the show
  • 02:21 – Dash is based on the bitcoin code base and operates with the same level of security
  • 02:28 – Dash has improved in 3 areas:
    • 02:31 – First is governance that allows people to vote on changes
    • 02:49 – Second area is that it's self-funded
      • 03:14 – Dash has incentives for people to contribute to the network
      • 03:25 – Dash received its own funding from the network itself to operate
      • 03:44 – There are masternode owners in Dash
    • 05:48 – Team size is 50
      • 05:55 – Dash currently has 15 open positions
    • 06:44 – Dash has a more sophisticated economic system than the early coins
    • 07:00 – Getting donations for funds is what is primarily happening in the bitcoin world
      • 07:46 – Alot of them are ICOs that don't have an ongoing source of revenue to sustain themselves
    • 08:15 – Ryan's opinion on Civic's model
    • 09:00 – Dash currently has 4500-4600 masternodes, which is a marketplace
    • 09:39 – An owner can own more than 1 masternode
      • 09:52 – There's no way to know the number of masternode owners
    • 11:22 – The outcome of a vote
      • 11:30 – There are people who don't vote, but there's a minimum threshold
    • 12:30 – Utility-wise, Dash is aiming to create a world-class payment system
      • 12:39 – Some tokens are focused on smart contracts while Dash focuses on the payment
      • 13:05 – Dash is launching their landmark product next year called Evolution
      • 13:42 – Dash is aiming to make payments as convenient and secure as possible
    • 14:31 – The treasury is where they allocate transaction fees and block rewards that all cryptocurrency collect
      • 14:55 – With Dash, 45% goes to miners, 45% to infrastructure or masternode owners and 10% is set aside to the treasury
      • 15:33 – The treasury pot currently has $1.2M and the network is extremely well-funded
      • 16:20 – Dash incentivises each component of the network for it to remain functional
    • 16:44 – Dash has integrations that they've funded
      • 17:00 – Charlie Shrem just gave them a proposal to create a US debit card
      • 17:14 – Dash has worked with Alt36
      • 17:36 – Dash has funded cards
    • 18:00 – Dash's miner plus masternode combo allows things to be done instantly
    • 19:42 – Ryan left his job at a multi-million dollar hedge fund to start Dash
      • 19:50 – Ryan believes that there's monetary and non-monetary rewards at stake with Dash
      • 20:10 – Dash has the potential to bring cryptocurrency to a whole new audience
      • 20:30 – Most of those involved have put their own stake into the network
    • 21:29 – "My incentives are perfectly aligned with the network, the way it should be"
    • 22:18 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

  1. A blockchain company that uses its own network to fund itself remains self-sustaining and self-functioning.
  2. Most ICOs rely on donations for funds, which can be unstable.
  3. Ignore the noise—do what YOU want to do.

Resources Mentioned:

  • Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
  • The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
  • GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
  • Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
  • Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
  • Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
  • Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
  • Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
  • Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives
...more
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SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, FoundersBy Nathan Latka

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