Matt Black is the co-founder and CTO of Atomic.Finance. Having launched two startups in the past — Anotiv and Starspeak — this is Matt's third foray into the entrepreneurial world. Atomic.Finance is focused on the exciting world of decentralized finance and specifically creating financial tools & applications within Bitcoin.

We talk about the greatest lessons he learned from his first two startups, the importance of starting with why, having true conviction and belief in your ideas as well as how he raised over 3 million dollars in seed capital.

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Crypto-related terms & jargon:

Bitcoin: The first cryptocurrency to successfully record transactions on a secure, decentralized blockchain-based network, the largest cryptocurrency measured by market capitalization. Is scarce, finite amount exists.

Custodians: Financial intermediaries — A middle-man that may hold your assets in electronic or physical form. Examples of custodians are banks, exchanges (Binance, Coinbase). The reason for not allowing custody of your assets is the chance that the custodian may lose/steal/take your assets if something happens. Matt wants to create non-custodial financial tools for Bitcoin specifically.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Blockchain (crypto) form of finance that does not rely on central financial intermediaries (custodians) such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks to offer traditional financial instruments, and instead utilizes smart contracts on the Ethereum/Bitcoin blockchains.

Ethereum: Second largest cryptocurrency. Has some properties that make it similar to Bitcoin however, has a focus as a transactional token with codability for "smart contracts" that facilitates operations on the Ethereum network

Token: Tokens are created on existing blockchains such as Ethereum. Raised through ICO and acts as shares. Value of token is derived from ICO creator's work and not the inherent properties of the cryptocurrency network it exists on.

Vitalik (Vitalik Buterin): Founder and creator of Ethereum.

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References discussed:

WeAreYQQ (startup community Matt was a part of): https://liftstartups.ca/

Destination Imagination: https://destinationimagination.ca/

Daniel Moll (Matt's former co-founder): https://ca.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moll

Initialized Ventures (lead for Atomic.Finance seed round): https://initialized.com/

Anthony Pompliano (Pomp): https://twitter.com/APompliano

Simon Sinek — Start With Why Ted Talk: https://cutt.ly/2cQq0OG

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Where to find Matt:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/matthewjablack

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-j-black/

Tony Cai — Matt's co-founder: https://twitter.com/TonyCai_

Atomic.Finance: https://twitter.com/atomicfinance

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Where to find Creator Coffee Hour:

https://www.instagram.com/creatorcoffeehour/