Virtuosity

I interviewed Curtis Plot Mak, Chief Business Officer at Bloxroute Labs. Bloxroute Labs is a next generation DeFi infrastructure company improving trading speeds and performance with huge applications for retail and enterprise users.

00:00-00:18: Intro

0:19-1:52: Overview of bloxroute labs & blockchain distribution networks 

1:52-5:38: Digging into User Flows: Bloxroute as a Layer Zero protocol, Interaction between memool data & bloxroute’s gateway, 5G network, Algorithmic DeFi trading, 

5:38-7:01: Bloxroute & non-competitive DeFi trading: Bloxroute’s value proposition for L1s, L2s, validators, blockbuilders, DEXs, wallets, aggregators, bridges, infrastructure providers, retail traders, ect. 

7:02- 10:54: Building Bloxroute’s business function from scratch: BD & Marketing, difficulty in ramping crypto native operators, constantly shipping new products, 

10:54-17:33: How & why Bloxroute can ship new product features each month: rapidly developing ecosystem demands, quirks of transaction & MEV flows per layer 1 blockchain like Ethereum, custom building a MEV boost system for BNB smart chain, GTM with new crypto products

17:33 - 22:28: Growth in web 3: Is a data driven sales process possible in web 3? What growth KPIs are worth tracking in crypto?

22:28 - 27:25: What does growth look like in web 3 look like in such a highly a volatile environment? Thinking through short term vs long term planning & prioritization 

27:25- 33:23 Bloxroute & web 3 gaming: value proposition for GameFi, prioritization, web 3 cloud gaming & creating utility features using transaction ordering

33:23 - End Comparing the 2017-2018 Bitcoin Crash versus the 2022 FTX & Alameda crash, Crypto BD & investing during the Crypto Winter of 2018, 2023 Crypto Winter versus 2018 Winter: Clearly Embedded Usecases 

Disclaimer: All investing and/or business is subject to market risk, including the loss of principal. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results and there is no guarantee any investment or business strategy will achieve its objectives. This podcast is provided for general and educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal, tax, securities or investment advice or a recommended course of action in any given situation. All opinions and views constitute our judgments as of the date of production and are subject to change at any time without notice. Similarly, all views expressed by individuals are solely their own and do not reflect those of their employers, clients or affiliates.

I interviewed Irene Wu, Head of Strategy & ex-Head of Business Development at LayerZero. Irene is an inspiration to me and many others. Irene is one of the youngest people transforming the web 3 industry, and was only an analyst at a venture capital firm prior to joining LayerZero. Irene joined the company close to day one, and lead all BD efforts up until March 2023 when she transitioned to being the Head of Strategy.

LayerZero is an interoperability blockchain protocol that has has rapidly transformed the crypto value chain across DeFi, gaming, NFTs, and the metaverse, and has raised 270m in total funding from a rolodex of tier 1 VCs & CVCs like A16Z, Sequoia, PayPal Ventures, and Samsung Next just to name a few.

We talk about:

0:00-0:32: Intro

0:32-3:30: Why Irene went from investing in enterprise SaaS to working on blockchain interoperability

3:30-7:14: Irene's analysis of the cross-chain/interoperablity landscape when going all in on Layer Zero on day 1

7:14-10:55: What it was like working on Layer Zero before it became the #1 interoperability protocol

10:55-13:18: Irene's transition from Head of BD to Head of Strategy: Implementing a customer centric approach to business strategy

13:17-18:53: The app-infrastructure adoption cycle in interoperability infrastructure: creating new utility for games building Layer Zero

18:55- End: Thinking through what it looks like to build 10x better experiences for blockchain gaming with Layer Zero

Disclaimer: All investing and/or business is subject to market risk, including the loss of principal. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results and there is no guarantee any investment or business strategy will achieve its objectives. This podcast is provided for general and educational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal, tax, securities or investment advice or a recommended course of action in any given situation. All opinions and views constitute our judgments as of the date of production and are subject to change at any time without notice. Similarly, all views expressed by individuals are solely their own and do not reflect those of their employers, clients or affiliates.

I interviewed Stephanie Roulic who's currently Head of Operations @ Goldcast (series A SaaS start-up that's raised a total of 38 million) and the founder of Start-Up Boston.

In August of 2016, Stephanie co-founded a martech company, nDash, and had absolutely no idea she was doing and didn't have a network within the startup community. After discovering that most events were either too salesly or generic to be useful, Stephanie decided to create her own event that would both build a network and answer the questions she had.

About a year later, the first ever Startup Boston Week occurred. This 5-day event brought together 2500 attendees and 125 speakers, over the course of 52 events with legendary speakers like Brian Halligan (Founder & CEO, Hubspot), and Paul Liberman (Founder & COO, DraftKings) just to name a couple.

Fast-forward to 2021 and Startup Boston Week has expanded into the organization Startup Boston, an organization on a mission to showcase the New England startup ecosystem.

We talk about:

0:00-1:02: Intro

1:02-3:46: What were the early days of start-up Boston like?

3:46-6:14: Building a software company at 26 with no prior work experience

6:15-10:12: Building Start-Up Boston: Cold emailing the CEO of Hubspot, and working 14-16 hours per day

10:12-12:50: Cold Outreach Strategy

12:50-16:32:Balancing Start-Up Boston and dNash: outreach cadence

16:32-19:20: Working 16 hours per day: Maintaining Motivation

19:20-21:51: Hacking Getting Started

21:51 - End: When should you cold email your dream speaker/ podcast guest (e.g CEO of Hubspot)?

Disclaimer: Stephanie's views do not necessarily reflect those of Goldcast; she isn't appearing on this podcast in her professional capacity.

I interviewed Matt Tompkins, VP of Space Portfolio @ The Outpost (an advisory and technology accelerator firm that helps companies navigate and succeed in the government space). Matt helped develop the US Airforce’s virtual innovation program called SpaceWERX and specifically focused on the international market by building allied innovation programs

We talk about:

0:00-0:35: Intro

0:35-3:56: What is allied innovation? What are the key differences between allied innovation and traditional innovation (e.g corporate or government)?

3:56-5:54: Challenges in the innovation process: moving defense companies from inception to commercial readiness

5:54-9:54: Where/how can government innovation be aligned with civilian business?

9:54-14:36: Where/how does it make sense to embrace risk in defense innovation? Challenging the status quo in environments with a very low tolerance for failure

14:37-18:13: Bringing together different risk tolerances in private and public sectors

18:13- End: What does interoperability look like in allied innovation?

I interviewed Faris Oweis, former Head of Platform @ Struck Crypto and now coaching and angel investing in web 3 founders at Crypto Coach. Example: Faris is Head of Gaming @ Eclipse Laboratories, a next generation rollup that's raised 15 million in pre-seed and seed funding from Tribe Capital, Tabiya, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Soma Capital, Struck Crypto, CoinList, Polychain, Galileo, Polygon Ventures, Accel, Sreeram Kannan and Ryan Fang. Eclipse's public testnet will go live in 2023 in ecosystems including Celestia, Polygon, and EigenLayer.

We talk about:

0:00-0:22: Intro

0:22-3:17: What are the myths of web 3 GTM? How the winter crystalized focus + best practices for industry conferences

3:17-5:57: Digging deeper into the effects of the winter: Increased focus on growth/BD, shift in narratives(e.g rise of ZK and consumer crypto), and onus on shipping product more than ever

5:57-10:45: Is there a GTM playbook for web 3? Avoiding generalizations, Web 2 v Web 3 Business Models: Customer vs Community, Variation in Throughput, and role of BD, Marketing and other functions in reaching PMF

10:45-13:58: Are there growth KPIs in web 3 like in web 2 (e.g Twitter, Uber)? Web 2 vs Web 3 Metrics, New product use cases driven by industry tailwinds, and growth metrics/goals by stage

13:58: Why UX is improving in web 3: rise of design focused builders, entrance of modular/interoperable blockchains and a constellation of other factors

17:06-19:25: Current State of Institutional Adoption of Web 3: Cryptocurrency versus Building under the Hood

19:58- End: What does 0-1 GTM looks like for a hypothetical web 3 infrastructure company?

I interviewed Brendan Dell who has advised 100+ companies ranging from fortune 500 companies like Panasonic, SAP, and Expedia to venture backed start-ups at YC on defining strategic messaging for their ideal customer, and also runs a top 1% business podcast called $1B tech.

We talk about:

0:00-0:24: Intro

0:24-3:30: How Brendan got started by delivering 50 million of results on an engagement campaign while working in real estate sales

3:30-6:33: Origin of inauthentic/ineffective messaging campaigns

6:33-8:55: Gaining clarity around your ideal customer profile

8:55-10:37: Where/When transformation can occur in the enterprise

10:37-14:28: When to expand into new verticals for growth stage companies: three phases of scaling

14:28-18:20: Balancing emotion with logic in sales: leveraging emotion to move past the status-quo/no-decision

18:20-19:55: Competing with category incumbents: avoiding competition by targeting niche markets

19:55 -End: Returning to rigor in the market

I interviewed Darren Thayre who is currently Head of Innovation on the Global Strategic Initiatives team at Google, and a professor at one of Asia's top business schools. Darren advises a number of CEO's/founders, boards and governments on building new digital growth initiatives, Innovation and Digital Transformation. 

As opposed to soley focusing on the technical side of the business, Darren stresses the role of personal transformation by executive teams. In today's podcast, we talk about: 

- 0:00-0:24: introduction 

- 0:24-7:50: what it means to become more authentic as a CEO: effectively developing and implementing personal development plans for embarking on transformation - setting, identifying and achieving goals for personal and professional growth, importance of soft skills, & embracing personal and professional growth (8:00)

8:00-13:40: Finding the clarity & humility for personal and professional transformation by leveraging by leveraging outside perspectives and feedback 

14:27 - Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable in innovation: Leaning into processes to effectively embrace unconventional thought models while managing risk, & leveraging lean start up principles to effectively launch products at the enterprise by embracing speed and discipline

21:51 - End: diving deep into the lean start up applied to the enterprise:

Disclaimer: Darren is only sharing his personal views which do not necessarily reflect those of Google 

I interviewed Dustin Wei, formerly Head of BD @ CoinFlip and now strategic advisor + wizard trader. In the last year, Dustin traded 100 million dollars on decentralized exchanges in a year, and is working on new trading tools. Dustin started working on crypto business development in the 10th grade, and got into the space by accident when a teacher sent him to the BitCoin center after forgetting about a pre-planned school trip. 

We talk about: 

0:00- 0:25: introduction

0:28- 2:24 : what drew Dustin into crypto in 2016 + being forgotten about @ a school trip and getting sent to the NYC Bitcoin Center & meeting Nick Spanos

2:24-3:32: Being mentored by Nick Spanos 

3:32-6:32: taking crypto more seriously & getting into CoinFlip

6:32-8:06: life @ CoinFlip and moving into BD

8:17-9:46: Challenges of doing BD at such a young age & ramping up

9:48- end: what’s next for Dustin & an overview of his career as a wizard trader - building new trading tools and how he traded 100 million dollars 

I interviewed Leo Lu, Director of Platform at Struck Crypto. For me and many others, Leo is an inspiration. Leo got to where he is today by working on side projects in business development when he discovered he didn’t like his first job in banking. Leveraging the skills he built in his 5-9, Leo eventually became one of the youngest VPs at BNY Mellon.

I interviewed Damian Chen, Head of Business Development at Drift Protocol about his career journey. Previously, Damian was a corporate lawyer, and made the jump into web 3 by relentlessly networking and writing NFT research reports on Twitter. During his legal career, Damian briefly crossed paths with SBF during a rotation into blockchain regulation as a junior employee.