Confessions of a Non-Technical Blockchain Executive
By Mimi Slavin
Admittedly, I might not be the obvious choice to head up marketing and business development for a new technology company.
Don’t get me wrong, I happen to be a talented marketer (I’ve confirmed this with both parents, my husband, and numerous friends), and when I am passionate about something, business development is more evangelizing than selling because I can’t wait to share with others how what I’m working on will help them achieve their goals.
Fortunately, I’ve worked on some of the world’s best brands from Nestlé to Warner Bros. to Dreamworks Animation and others close or on par. Because, good or bad, I have an honesty issue. I can “market” something that I don’t personally love, but I can’t sell it — not in the interpersonal way that one needs to for business development. And, as anyone who knows me knows, I just can’t heap praise on something that is, frankly, a heap.
What does any of this have to do with the Blockchain?
Everything.
At the end of 2016, Comcast had acquired Dreamworks Animation and my role as Head of Global Marketing Partnerships was redundant — which is a nice way of saying that I received a severance and the sincere good wishes and a high recommendation from my now former boss. It wasn’t personal (the recommendation was, of course), but it still sucked.
I did what most people in my situation would do — I started meeting with as many people as I could, networking and connecting with old friends and new contacts. At one point, I was about to become head of marketing for a cannabis company, only to discover that because my husband is in a business regulated by the SEC, I cannot own an interest in a cannabis company, nor can I receive income from one. As I prepared to go to war with the compliance department about the absolute unfairness and, really, archaic rule since I am not owned by my husband, much to his relief I was sidetracked by a new technology about which I became obsessed.
The Blockchain.
I had heard about the Blockchain, mainly around Bitcoin, and mostly because I’d read some crazy story about a relatively average guy who somehow ended up using Bitcoin to buy weapons, drugs, and assassins. Naturally, when I learned that an old friend’s company had been bought by a Blockchain company, I wanted to make sure that he had not gone to the dark side.
“You need to explain this whole Bitcoin/Blockchain thing to me,” I said, dispensing with all pleasantries as we usually did. “What exactly are you doing? You’ve got, what, 5 kids? You need to be careful.”
“First of all,” Jonas said, laughing, “ I have 4 kids, at least at last count. Second, you’re confusing Bitcoin with the Blockchain. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that is made possible by the Blockchain platform. Greenfence isn’t about cryptocurrency. We’re focused on using the Blockchain for all of the other things that this type of platform enables.”
“Like?” I asked, skeptical, but intrigued.
“There are incredible implications on the agricultural side in verifying sourcing,etc., which is what the parent company does. Greenfence bought my company, which is now Greenfence Consumer, to focus on the ways the Blockchain can enable things for retailers and consumers.
“Ok, so explain the platform to me. How does it work?”
And with that simple question, Jonas tried explaining the Blockchain to me. For four hours.
First, the concept of a different cryptocurrency — Ether, which included a “smart contract” that was layered onto assets that were on an Ethereum Blockchain. To my mind, Bitcoin with a brain. Next, the idea of a de-centralized ledger system — assets put on the Blockchain are verified across hundreds or thousands of anonymous computers, meaning that no single source could alter the asset. Ok, I got the idea. Then, multiple attempts to explain how it “worked,” that just didn’t make sense to me. Until he hit close to home, literally.
“You just bought a house, right?” Jonas asked, with the patience that I can only assume comes from having 4 kids.
“Yes. We’re still unpacking.”
“Ok. Imagine if you put the deed to your house on the Blockchain, it’s verified, there’s consensus, your house is x latitude, x longitude, the property lines are clear. Two years from now, the government comes and says your pool belongs to them and they are going to build a freeway through it. You can push back and say, ‘nope, I have the deed on the Blockchain, verified across a decentralized ledger that can’t be hacked.’ If you didn’t have your deed on the Blockchain, and the government for some reason decided they had to build a freeway through your pool, on a centralized ledger, someone could hack in and change your property lines. That can’t happen with the Blockchain because they’d have to hack all the computers on which it had been verified at the same time — and those computers are anonymous — to date, it is literally impossible.”
This was my watershed moment. It made sense. I couldn’t yet tell you how to go about putting one’s deed on the Blockchain, but I understood why it would be valuable.
“Ok, now take that concept and apply it to a digital asset — like a trading card. In the past, if an asset was shared digitally, it could be easily copied and would have no intrinsic value. Using the Blockchain, each asset is verified individually, so even if you have 1,000 assets that look identical, they are actually different because they are supported by their own unique code that is generated by verification on the Blockchain. These assets will have value depending on uniqueness, velocity, scarcity, and provenance.”
Having struggled for years with partners and trying to give them valuable digital assets as people migrate their lives to their mobile devices, this idea was the coolest thing I’d heard about in a long time. And Greenfence, unlike any other company out there, was focused on the mass market. Consumers didn’t need to understand cryptocurrency, they didn’t need a third party app — all they had to do was accept a digital asset.
Three very hectic weeks later, we were live with Atom Tickets and a Deadpool 2 digital poster giveaway. The open rate and take rate were beyond expectation. We had made securing a Blockchain asset as simple as signing up for a newsletter.
“We need to take this everywhere. We need to figure out what other cool things we can do with this tech. This is great. Wait. You need to pay me, I want to do this,” I told Jonas as we reviewed our first program. “I’d like to be Head of Marketing and Business Development.” And pretty much, just like that, Jonas Hudson was my new boss.
Now, full disclosure, I’ve known Jonas most of his life. I used to babysit him and his brother — so he’s used to me being a little bossy with him. And he also knows, because he worked for me many years ago, that he won’t find a better non-tech evangelist for Greenfence Consumer.
So if you want to learn about this amazing platform, the really cool ways that Greenfence Consumer is building the infrastructure to serve the mass market rather than just the crypto crowd, and/or if you’re a non-techie that has an interest in how to take the skills you do have and work with a tech company, I hope you’ll follow me on this journey as I go from non-techie to know it all!!!
Oh, and along the way, maybe a few fun stories about adulting at a start-up.
About Bio: Mimi Slavin has worked with top industry influencers and has been rewarded with industry awards for her work (multiple EMMAs, Time Warner Women’s Leadership Conference). Known as a keen brand strategist, she is recognized by her employers, colleagues, and direct reports for driving performance across creative, strategy, digital, production, research, publicity, partnership and advertising functions in several industries including theatrical marketing and distribution, home entertainment, streaming, television, consumer packaged goods and technology. Mimi’s greatest point of pride is her ability to look holistically at situations and work collaboratively to create optimal solutions, all while maintaining a sense of humor. Mimi is currently the Head of Marketing and Business Development for greenfence consumer, Mimi is helping to bring the value of the Blockchain to top entertainment IP Holders, opening new marketing and revenue opportunities, and creating direct to consumer relationships that respect the consumer’s newly recognized need to control their data while continuing to benefit from the companies with whom they wish to interact.
