SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

768: In Mature Crypto Market, Who Gets Rich?

31 Aug 2017

26 min

4416 words

2 speakers

31 Aug 2017

Audio

Description

Martin Koppelmann. He is the co-founder and CEO of Gnosis, the decentralized platform for prediction markets. He has been an entrepreneur and thought leader in the blockchain space for more than 4 years. He is closely related to prediction markets and has worked on decentralized, market-driven, governance mechanisms. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Martin does not read books, but considers Reddit a good resource What CEO do you follow? – some VCs, but no specific CEO Favorite online tool? — Slack, Trello How many hours of sleep do you get?— Less than 6 If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – He wished he looked earlier into game theory and economics Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:07 – Nathan introduces Martin to the show 01:43 – Bitcoin was the reason Martin got into the crypto and blockchain space 01:58 – This was during the time the Euro was having problems 02:09 – Martin started to evaluate how he looked at money; he learned about bitcoin and the possibility of creating different forms of money 02:35 – Gnosis has evolved 03:04 – They are assuming that Gnosis will be a decentralized platform for prediction markets; for betting, auctions and insurances 04:32 – Martin says companies like eBay, Uber and AirBnB will be replaced by a decentralized platform 04:51 – They may replace companies that go into information aggregation 05:02 – Instead of having different analysts determine the revenue of a company, markets and forecasts will be aggregated to one number 05:15 – Gnosis has zero customers and zero in revenue, but they have a team and have raised capital thru selling GNO tokens; they raised $12.5 million 06:14 – The tokens were sold for 250,000 ether, a blockchain currency, and at the time the tokens were sold, the ether was worth $12.5 million 06:55 – The token has its own value and is currently trading at $240 a piece 07:04 – Gnosis collects ether and pays their employees with it 07:33 – To convert ether into real dollars, Martin uses Kraken, Coinbase and Poloniex 08:40 – The foundation of crypto is its big vision and the vision to create something as big as the internet; however, currently, it is still just speculation 09:31 – The token itself is almost always issued in Ethereum; the consumer creates the rules so the first set of rules they made involved organizing the token sales 10:03 – Martin did the token auction and was completely controlled by the blockchain 10:40 – Compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum was easier to use for developers 11:10 – If crypto becomes the currency of the future, Martin says he hopes that people will become equally rich. He is currently working on a project where each person can issue their own currency and others would agree to accept each other's currencies 11:37 – They are trying to democratize money 12:27 – Nathan says there is a limited supply of ethereum in the blockchain 12:46 – Personally, Martin does not follow the bitcoin model 13:02 – Martin is thinking of a new world where people are part of a new economy; each one gets to issue their own tokens and the tokens have value 13:50 – Inflation can be used to finance a public good 14:11 – For example, let's say you want to create a platform like Uber, Uber is made to serve the public 14:35 – The operating cost is not what made Uber expensive to build, it was the spend on marketing and buying everyone on the platform 14:57 – Martin says there can be a new model where people can create value by joining the same platform 15:13 – The value creation happens when people join the platform, this is where tokens are useful and can be used as incentives 15:58 – The early adopters get more and those who join later will have to pay fees 16:12 – Nathan says this sounds like a network marketing scheme 16:25 – Martin says this is how Uber found success – in the beginning someone paid $2 billion and in the end, it's the users that pay; but, the curve can be much flatter 17:02 – Nathan asks Martin how values go up in crypto 17:42 – Martin says value creation is made when everyone agrees on something 18:15 – The thing about competing token issuances is that people need to find a way to combine their different tokens onto one platform 18:44 – Nathan says he can see the good intentions of the people who are in the crypto space, but he is trying to figure out who will win or lose when the crypto marketplace is more mature and established 19:28 – Martin says assuming there will be a winner and loser, the difference is found in people who have control over a platform 19:49 – For example, in Uber they can change rules and raise fees, but on a decentralized platform, you can structure it in a way that makes restrictions on yourself 20:16 – If you monopolize the platform, you can still get the fee but you have no control in changing it 21:02 – Martin says there is power in making your governance mechanism into something that does not allow you to change anything 23:31 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Crypto and blockchain can be the currency of the future. You create value when people agree to join a platform together. A future where people can have their own currency may be the way to democratize our use of money. Resources Mentioned: The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

Chapters

1. What is the main topic discussed in this episode? 2. How did Martin Koppelmann get into the crypto and blockchain space? 3. What is Gnosis and what does it aim to achieve? 4. What tools does Martin use to convert Ether into fiat currency? 5. Which companies does Martin believe will be replaced by decentralized platforms? 6. How does Martin envision the future of currency and wealth distribution? 7. What is the significance of token sales in the crypto market? 8. What factors are driving the current value of cryptocurrencies?

Featured

Nathan Latka

Martin Koppelmann

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 3.819 Nathan Latka

Founder of Gnosis, again, really playing actively in the crypto space.

Chapter 2: How did Martin Koppelmann get into the crypto and blockchain space?

3.839 - 20.875 Nathan Latka

He come on, raised, sold 4% of Gnosis in a token issuance, depending on the value of Ethereum at any time when you're valuing it, you know, 12 million bucks, maybe 50 million bucks, depending on what it's at. But actively playing in a space, really trying to decentralize things like sports betting. So we'll see how it goes.

Chapter 3: What is Gnosis and what does it aim to achieve?

20.855 - 39.179 Nathan Latka

This is The Top, where I interview entrepreneurs who are number one or number two in their industry in terms of revenue or customer base. You'll learn how much revenue they're making, what their marketing funnel looks like, and how many customers they have. I'm now at $20,000 per top.

Chapter 4: What tools does Martin use to convert Ether into fiat currency?

39.219 - 42.003 Nathan Latka

Five and six million. He is hell-bent on global domination.

Chapter 5: Which companies does Martin believe will be replaced by decentralized platforms?

42.063 - 44.626 Nathan Latka

We just broke our 100,000-unit sold mark.

Chapter 6: How does Martin envision the future of currency and wealth distribution?

44.867 - 48.111 Nathan Latka

And I'm your host, Nathan Latka.

48.091 - 73.71 Nathan Latka

this is episode 768 coming up tomorrow morning we learned from tran hung another crypto interview and i said what tran said do this to use your crypto coins to shop at walmart that's what this company does very interesting way to exchange your crypto to actually use it in the real world tune in to find out how you can do it hello everybody my guest today is martin koppelman he is the co-founder and ceo of gnosis a decentralized platform for prediction markets he

Chapter 7: What is the significance of token sales in the crypto market?

73.69 - 89.508 Nathan Latka

He's been an entrepreneur and thought leader in the blockchain space for more than four years. He's closely related to prediction markets in his work on decentralized market-driven governance mechanisms like foodarchy and research about blockchain scalability mechanisms. Martin, are you ready to take us to the top?

Chapter 8: What factors are driving the current value of cryptocurrencies?

90.69 - 97.858 Nathan Latka

Well, yeah, maybe. You got into crypto and blockchain like four years ago. Tell me how you got into it.

99.104 - 112.708 Martin Koppelmann

Well, back then it was only Bitcoin. So Bitcoin was the reason to go into that space. I was a little bit curious. So I was at the time...

113.347 - 134.73 Martin Koppelmann

getting more into what what money actually is so it was at the time uh when when the euro was well in a little bit trouble there were all those huge bailout things and and i was trying to figure out what what what does those things even mean and what does money even mean what does it mean if those huge amounts are flowing around there and well then

134.71 - 143.479 Martin Koppelmann

That's how I figured out about Bitcoin and that it's possible to create very different forms of money. And that excited me back then.

143.999 - 149.084 Nathan Latka

And so fast forward to today, what Gnosis is your company? What is it? And what does it do?

150.526 - 163.519 Martin Koppelmann

Yeah, so the whole space evolved and now it's not only about money and it's about blockchain and a new form to organize the internet and a new form to

164.107 - 195.666 Martin Koppelmann

um create platforms so to us blockchain is will or we we assume that it will bring as much change as the internet did brought 20 years ago um so gnosis is one of hopefully many um decentralized platforms so that's what we assume will happen we assume that every platform that exists today, Uber, Airbnb, eBay, will be replaced eventually by decentralized platforms. And Gnosis is a platform

196.372 - 213.156 Martin Koppelmann

decentralized platform for prediction markets. And prediction markets are basically just a range of financial products that can range from betting, from options to insurances and a few more.

213.297 - 218.464 Nathan Latka

So name a company today that you hope to replace over the next five years by decentralizing it.

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

768: In Mature Crypto Market, Who Gets Rich?

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Chapter 2: How did Martin Koppelmann get into the crypto and blockchain space?

Chapter 3: What is Gnosis and what does it aim to achieve?

Chapter 4: What tools does Martin use to convert Ether into fiat currency?

Chapter 5: Which companies does Martin believe will be replaced by decentralized platforms?

Chapter 6: How does Martin envision the future of currency and wealth distribution?

Chapter 7: What is the significance of token sales in the crypto market?

Chapter 8: What factors are driving the current value of cryptocurrencies?

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SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

768: In Mature Crypto Market, Who Gets Rich?

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Chapter 2: How did Martin Koppelmann get into the crypto and blockchain space?

Chapter 3: What is Gnosis and what does it aim to achieve?

Chapter 4: What tools does Martin use to convert Ether into fiat currency?

Chapter 5: Which companies does Martin believe will be replaced by decentralized platforms?

Chapter 6: How does Martin envision the future of currency and wealth distribution?

Chapter 7: What is the significance of token sales in the crypto market?

Chapter 8: What factors are driving the current value of cryptocurrencies?

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