“You have to be really agile and flexible, but also really stubborn about the problems you’re going to solve,” says Alan Chiu, co-founder of Boba and its contributing company Enya.ai, about the dual attributes successful founders must possess. Blockchain technology, similarly, is a balance of traits. On one hand, it offers a number of opportunities. The open source format and permissionless entree allow people who might otherwise be hindered by their geographical location, race, gender access to a business’s information. This transparency has the potential to decentralize power, and form a system of checks and balances that keep everyone more honest. However, this type of demand on the system leads to slower performance and higher costs. This is where Boba comes in, as it’s the only blockchain platform that takes advantage of blockchain’s features while utilizing the sustainability of Web 2 infrastructure.
Alan discusses how the blockchain model makes money, how to identify the right time to execute on a plan. He talks about the most difficult aspect of scaling and how he approaches risk. First and foremost you must evaluate the founders when deciding to invest in companies, and that those founders must have a balance of strong convictions and openness to new ideas and methods.
Continuing the theme of balance, Alan discusses how he manages both the longterm and shortterm goals of his team. He gives his thoughts on the most common mistakes founders make when starting a company, and the most common reason they fail to scale.
Quotes:
“If these cryptocurrencies increase in value, you are starting to build a pretty interesting portfolio without being subject to biases against age, gender, ethnicity, geographical location. And that’s really powerful. This is the type of opportunity that used to be reserved for Silicon Valley engineers. Now anyone in the world can have access to. ([9:05]-[9:29] | Alan)
“The reason blockchains are always going to be much slower than a traditional web two infrastructure like AWS is because there’s a cost to synchronizing all of these mills that the mega blockchain network with these centralized, the decentralized nature of blockchains is both a feature but also puts a limit on how many transactions you can do per unit time.” ([13:26]-[13:47] | Alan)
For any disruptive technology, in the early days, it’s really hard to come up with something quantifiable and justify that with data, because everything is so new. ([17:48]-[18:01] | Alan)
“One of the most difficult aspects of being a founder is, on one hand, you’ve got to have strong conviction around your vision because there’s going to be a lot of headwind and a lot of uncertainty, if you don’t have strong conviction, it’s really hard to sustain. On the other hand, you’ve got to be really open to advice and feedback, especially feedback from customers, whether they want what you’re building or not. You’re learning and adapting and changing to your customer feedback, and also to a changing competitive landscape and market dynamics and new technologies that continue to evolve.” ([20:47]-[21:20] | Alan)
“Sometimes the best path forward is actually not commercializing the innovation itself. But finding some application for the innovation in a product or service. And commercializing that instead, and using the core innovation as a creative driver of a competitive advantage.” ([52:01]-[53:01] | Alan)
Links:
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 Alan Chiu:
Twitter:@alanchiu
https://www.enya.ai/
Check out Alan Chiu’s recommended books:
Connect: Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends and Colleagues
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780593237090
The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780142001103
The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom by Henri J.M. Nouwen
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780385483483
The Brains and Brawn Company: How Leading Organizations Blend the Best of Digital and Physical by Robert Siegel
https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781264257775
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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.
