“Be perpetually paranoid and constantly thinking about how you’re going to die,” Mike Silagadze jokes about the mindset it takes to navigate the constant fluctuations and risks (and resulting stress) of founding a company, especially in the tech space. He has plenty of experience in the area. He first founded TopHat right out of university. Discusses the challenges of founding a business in the edtech space TopHat, where they worked to replace existing paper materials with digital materials, particularly the overall lack of incentive and the competing and contradicting demands of too many stakeholders. He explains the innovative bottom up method that engaged students directly, which became the standard model that many edtech companies ultimately followed.
Taking risks, knowing when to pivot, recognizing where your revenue opportunities come up when they arise are all part of being an entrepreneur, which, Mike admits, most people don’t have the personality for. He talks about what it felt like when it came time to sell, and it’s not the cliche a lot of people think it is. If there is a true cliche, it’s that you must find meaning in what you’re doing, that the journey means more than a “someday” destination.
Mike discusses his latest company Gadze, and helps clear up some of the common misconceptions about cryptocurrency and why they present such a benefit, such as evading regulatory systems, access to global capital by tokenizing assets, and giving people sovereignty over their wealth.
Quotes:
“Today and pretty much for the entire history of crypto until now, it’s mostly been a mechanism for gambling, I mean, there’s not a lot of real economic activity happening in the crypto world, arguably, just gambling.” ([5:06]-[5:23] | Mike)
“Most sane, healthy people are not temperamentally suited to try to found a company, especially a startup, but a tech startup, because it’s just it really is, to use the cliche, it’s a roller coaster, where one moment you’re on top of the world. And the next moment, you you think it’s all over. I mean, all I can say is, it was a lot harder. In the beginning, the first few times that we almost died after like, the 10th time, you learn to kind of ride it out and just think, “I’ve seen this before. We’ve been able to get through it before, and so we’ll do it again.” So, all I can say is it gets easier.” ([23:11]-[23:52] | Mike)
“Part of the reason that I decided to make this pivot I guess into crypto is because I spent some time thinking, ‘What is the most important problem that or a movement or change that I can help contribute to?’ And the idea of a stateless decentralized money felt like that’s arguably the most important thing to accomplish. Because it becomes the catalyst for so much else.” ([34:38]-[35:04] | Mike)
“You have this sort of naive and incorrect idea that once you just hit that success point, and you get enough money that you’re not obligated to work anymore, then it’s, ‘Okay, cool.’ You’ve won. Now suddenly, everything’s awesome and you’re just gonna be great sitting there, just relaxing. But you realize, ‘Okay, well, what now? What do I do now? What’s my purpose in life? What’s the meaning?’ And you realize, no, no, the thing that you’re doing is the meaning. There is nothing else. If you’re not doing something that is giving you meaning, you should probably be doing something else.” ([32:23]-[34:00] | Mike)
Connect with Brendan Dell:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendandell/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendanDell
Instagram: @thebrendandell
TikTok: @brendandell39
Buy a copy of Brendan’s Book, The 12 Immutable Laws of High-Impact Messaging: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578210926
Connect with Mike Silagadze:
LinkedIn: @mikesilagadze
Twitter:@mikesilagadze
Website: https://gadze.finance/
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About the Author
Brendan Dell
Brendan Dell is an author and the founder of The Daily Creative. As a freelancer he's worked with clients like Expedia, Cvent, Panasonic, Brother, Windstream and 100+ more to build unignorable tech brands. At The Daily Creative, he shares advice and lessons to help freelancers level up.
