"Can't Be Done"

There are plenty of people who work full-time, yet still don’t make enough to get by. What if there was an app that would allow individuals to earn income in the form of cryptocurrency from anywhere, at any time, with any device?

Simon Yu had to drop out of college when his parents declared bankruptcy. He got a full-time job as a bank teller but was still struggling to make ends meet. In fact, Simon was sleeping through lunch so he wouldn’t have to eat another peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He eventually started a Korean taco business as a side hustle, and with the help of Facebook, Bomba Fusion went viral. Simon was able to finish school and get a job as a Senior Credit Risk Analyst, where he started thinking about the potential of Bitcoin. Now Simon serves as the CEO of StormX, a microtask marketplace that allows people all over the world to earn STORM tokens for things like playing videos, trying new products, and P2P freelancing gigs.

He sits down with us today to tell his story, explaining his path from Food Truck to crypto startup. Simon walks us through the intense process of a crowd sale, discussing the long hours he spent in preparation and offering his advice for entrepreneurs considering an ICO. Listen in for Simon’s insight around the shift in his business now that cryptocurrency has become mainstream and how Storm Play helps individuals enter the space without risking their own money to buy tokens through an exchange.

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“From my point of view, yes, we need to be multiplanetary, and one of the big motivators … is really the desire to spend the rest of my career to make whatever big or small contribution—but a contribution—towards advancing Earth-escape technology as a category.”

Max Haot is the founder and CEO of Launcher, a team on a ten-year journey to advance launch technology and deliver small satellites to orbit. Max came to the US in 2005 when the company he was working for in the UK was sold to Verizon. He served as the VP of Digital Media for Verizon Business for two years before taking the plunge into entrepreneurship and founding Livestream, the platform that democratized livestream video capability. Vimeo acquired Livestream last September, giving Max the opportunity to pursue his passion for space.

Max is joining us today to share the inspiration behind Launcher, discussing how SpaceX shifted the perception that only governments could achieve orbital flight. He walks us through the timeline of space technology to date and explains how the miniaturization of satellites, growing connectivity and decrease in the cost of launch is further opening space to entrepreneurs. We talk about the feasibility of Earth-escape technology, and Max shares his take on humanity’s need to become multiplanetary if we want to survive long-term. Listen in for insight into the opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs in the satellite space and how community-building impacts the longevity of a startup.

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The beauty of smart hardware lies in its agility. With a recurrent feedback loop and regular software updates, products can be improved over time. Ubiquity Ventures is focused on funding startups that pursue this continuous refinement, investing in a feature trajectory rather than physical product.

Sunil Nagaraj is the managing partner of Ubiquity, a seed-stage venture capital firm interested in smart hardware and machine intelligence. Prior to starting his own fund in 2017, Sunil spent six years as VP with Bessemer Venture Partners, where his focus involved IoT, developer tools, space and security companies.

Sunil sits down with us today to share his background as an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. He explains the idea behind his startup, Triangulate, discussing the challenges he faced in A/B testing and why he ultimately decided to shut the company down. We discuss the benefits of smart hardware and its ability to ‘increase the velocity of the scientific method.’ Listen in for Sunil’s insight on understanding the world through the lens of a coder and his meaningful definition of success.

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Bitcoin mining is tough to explain to Muggles outside the ecosystem, but Chris Shepherd is up for the task. Chris was a part of Tribe 4 here at Boost, and he also happens to be the face of the illustrious Boost VC Mural. Who better to take us through the basics of mining?

Chris is the co-founder and CEO of HashRabbit, a startup that builds software for large-scale mining facilities. Chris was introduced to mining as a designer and frontend developer for LaunchKey. From there, he made his own mining rigs and set up shop in his apartment as well as his parents’ garage. When his co-founder pointed out that the code was easy to hack, HashRabbit was born.

Today Chris joins us to share his journey into the world of cryptocurrency. He walks us through the basics of Bitcoin mining, explaining how the computers involved process transactions—without bias. Chris offers his insight around the biggest opportunity in mining today, and we look at the longevity of the blockchain.

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HashRabbit: https://hashrabbit.co/#

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VR is about immersion. Rather than simply witnessing an experience, we become a part of it. Imagine the advantage for brands and publishers if their content could leverage that same kind of engagement, creating ads that include us in an immersive media experience.

OmniVirt is a VR and AR advertising platform for brands and publishers with the capacity to distribute 360° video content that audiences can view with one tap—no app installation or headset required. The company seeks to help creators monetize their videos on the web, and they serve high-profile clients like The New York Times, Universal Pictures and VICE, among many others. COO Michael Rucker spent seven years at YouTube before co-founding OmniVirt, and Ara Parikh served as an emerging media analyst at Innosight before becoming the head of product marketing.

Ara and Michael join us today to explain how OmniVirt helps brands and publishers distribute and monetize immersive media experiences. We discuss the OmniVirt’s competitive advantage, exploring the reasons why publishers are increasingly investing in their own sites. Ara and Michael share their first VR experiences and explore the significance of creating compelling VR content. Listen in to understand the top use cases for VR in advertising and learn the value in making ads an experience.

How can the crypto community embrace design thinking? By thinking in terms of prototypes. Rather than waiting until a product is perfect, develop a test version and let it out into the wild. Allowing the community to engage is the best way to learn what works and what doesn’t—and work up to your vision.

Dan Elitzer is the Blockchain and Digital Identity Lead at IDEO CoLab, IDEO’s research and design network tasked with shaping how emerging technologies will affect our world. Dan has spent his career immersed in entrepreneurship, serving as a consultant to organizations like Community Wealth Partners and KickStart International before becoming the Finance & Operations Officer for the Grameen Foundation. While earning his MBA, Dan co-founded the MIT Bitcoin Club and MIT Bitcoin Project, an initiative to establish MIT as a center of digital currency innovation.

Today Dan joins us to share how IDEO came to explore emerging technology in the blockchain space. We discuss his introduction to cryptocurrency as well as IDEO CoLab’s current projects. Listen in for Dan’s advice around the application of design thinking to blockchain technology and his definition of success in his role at IDEO.

Up until 18 months ago, there was ‘one drone to rule them all.’ But that stopped working as the consumer began to demand specialization. Different industries have different needs, and the drone market has begun to drill down and solve the problems specific to fields like construction and agriculture. Some problems remain unsolved, and that’s where Mothership Aeronautics comes in.

Jonathan Nutzati is an aerospace engineer, entrepreneur and future-thinker with a passion for solving mankind’s greatest problems. He earned his master’s from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2012 and went on to design electric motors for Tesla. In 2016, he founded Mothership, a startup that develops high endurance aircraft with applications in energy pipeline inspection, mineral exploration and security.

Today Jonathan joins us to explain what sets Mothership apart from other drone technologies. We discuss the lessons Jonathan has learned as an entrepreneur and the challenges around communicating with investors when your market size is somewhat intangible. Listen in for Jonathan’s insight around the evolution of the drone market and the value of future-thinking.

What if you could talk directly to a VR experience, accessing the menu or a particular tool simply by asking for it? Michael Ludden argues that voice interaction makes sense for every virtual reality application as a method of control, and in his role as Director of Product with IBM Watson, he is committed to building a toolkit for developers that allows them to incorporate services like Speech to Text and Watson Conversation into their own products.

Michael began working with the developer community as a tech evangelist for HTC before getting into developer marketing in his roles with Samsung and Google. He shifted to building products for developers when he moved to IBM Watson in 2015, and his team there functions to solve problems for developers with initiatives in Developer Incentivization, Developer Marketplaces and VR/AR Labs.

Today Michael joins us to share IBM Watson’s utility as an AI platform, explaining how its VR Speech Sandbox provides a toolkit for developers to build products that incorporate Watson’s services. We discuss the best methods to incentivize developers, and Michael offers insight around converting developers into advocates. Listen in to understand how IBM Watson plays into the rise of digital assistants like Alexa and Siri, and learn how you might use its services to build your own custom VR and AR experiences.

Relentless.

The problem was that people were not buying that Bitcoin, so Sebastian built an exchange called Ripio. As he got more interested in the consumer side of cryptocurrency, he developed a passion for banking the unbanked, providing a full suite of financial services to users in established and emerging markets. Ripio evolved to become Ripio Credit Network, a peer-to-peer global credit network protocol.

Today Sebastian joins us to share his journey down the crypto rabbit hole, explaining how his background in programming and computer science led to an interest in the space. We discuss the evolution of the ecosystem from 2012 to 2018, and Sebastian offers insight on the legitimization of Bitcoin via government regulation. Listen in and learn Sebastian’s take on current needs in the cryptocurrency space and how RCN built a community through its token sale.

"The first generation of headsets has proved that VR is going to be a thing, but it’s not going to be a thing on that generation of headsets."

2017 was a reality check for the VR industry. The market size continues to be limited by barriers like setup time and the fact that it’s a pain in the ass to take anywhere. So what is the key to mass adoption? Peter Le Bek argues that standalone will be the game changer the space needs to get people in headsets.

Peter is the co-founder and CEO of Sketchbox, the number one prototyping tool for augmented and virtual reality. The application allows designers to share their ideas through a VR storyboard—without writing code. Peter fell in love with design working as the CTO for a startup in Toronto. That also happens to be where he met Joe Connolly, his co-founder at Sketchbox. Peter has been programming since he was 12, and he holds a degree in computer science from the University of Glasgow.

Today Peter joins us to share his initial skepticism toward VR, explaining how live motion controllers made him a believer. He offers his best advice for VR designers and shares some of his favorite experiences. We discuss the value in finding a co-founder with a complementary personality and what sets Sketchbox apart from competing design tools. Listen in and learn why Peter believes that standalone headsets will eliminate the barriers to entry and usher in a new era inVR.