Ep. 74: Fintech Applications & Cryptocurrency in Emerging Markets with Helghardt Avenant of REHIVE
08/23/18 • 32 min
If you want to work in the cryptocurrency or fintech space, there is no doubt that Silicon Valley is the place to be in terms of access to opportunity, financing and a network of peers. But what if your home country happens to be an emerging market like South Africa? What is it like to be part of a foreign national startup in the San Francisco Bay Area? And how do you effectively manage a distributed team working from a different time zone?
Helghardt Avenant is the co-founder and CEO of Rehive, a platform working to help founders and businesses rapidly build, launch and scale fintech products by providing the necessary building blocks. Users mix and match a core set of features to their specific fintech use case, much the same way Shopify serves the eCommerce industry. Though Helghardt is based in Silicon Valley, 80% of Rehive’s engineering team works from his home country of South Africa.
Today, Helghardt joins us to share the idea behind Rehive and discuss the startup’s many iterations as well as its ideal customer. He offers insight around emerging markets like South Africa, explaining the country’s current crypto economy and what is necessary to inspire widespread adoption. Listen in as Helghardt describes the draw of Silicon Valley for aspiring engineers in the cryptocurrency space and learn how Rehive is streamlining communication among its distributed team!
Topics Covered
The idea behind Rehive
WordPress for fintech applications
Use available building blocks
Helghardt’s introduction to the crypto space
South Africa had limited online payment options
First experience moving money online = Bitcoin
Fascinated by promise of ‘better money’
Helghardt’s insight around emerging markets
Immediate needs don’t require advanced tech
Hard to generate interest without clear idea of value-add
South Africa’s crypto economy
Run by mining or traditional retail, banking
Success stories = EC2 and Naspers
Helghardt’s take on the draw of Silicon Valley
Access to opportunity, deal flow
Requires mental shift (cultural differences)
What South Africa needs to promote widespread adoption
Educate potential crypto distributors on volatility
Begin in areas where end-consumer comfortable
How to get people away from traditional currency
Enterprise tools for banks, governments and retailers
Issue digital denominations (bring into operational flow)
The ideal customer for Rehive
Brands with established user base
Retailers who want to play in financial space
Helghardt’s advice for aspiring crypto startup founders
Get to Silicon Valley for immediate support network
Find token sale, blockchain foundation looking for talent
The many iterations of Rehive
Stable wallet (hedging mechanism)
Bitcoin, Coinbase for South Africa
Helghardt’s tips for distributed teams
Establish guidelines for communicating on Slack
Work in sprints (3 months together for alignment)
Helghardt’s definition of success
Freedom to cross borders easily
Tap into other’s time and energy
Achieve things can’t do yourself
Connect with Helghardt
Rehive https://rehive.com/
Rehive on Twitter https://twitter.com/rehivehq?lang=en
Rehive on GitHub https://github.com/rehive
Helghardt on Medium https://medium.com/rehive-blog/fintech-platforms-b8b0238427ee
Helghardt on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/helghardt/
Resources
Amazon EC2 https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/
Naspers https://www.naspers.com/
Tencent https://www.tencent.com/en-us/
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr/dp/1400077303
Slack https://slack.com/
The Settlers of Catan https://www.catan.com/game/catan
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts https://www.amazon.com/Shantaram-Novel-Gregory-David-Roberts/dp/0312330537
Connect with Boost VC
Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/
Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/
Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVC
If you want to work in the cryptocurrency or fintech space, there is no doubt that Silicon Valley is the place to be in terms of access to opportunity, financing and a network of peers. But what if your home country happens to be an emerging market like South Africa? What is it like to be part of a foreign national startup in the San Francisco Bay Area? And how do you effectively manage a distributed team working from a different time zone?
Helghardt Avenant is the co-founder and CEO of Rehive, a platform working to help founders and businesses rapidly build, launch and scale fintech products by providing the necessary building blocks. Users mix and match a core set of features to their specific fintech use case, much the same way Shopify serves the eCommerce industry. Though Helghardt is based in Silicon Valley, 80% of Rehive’s engineering team works from his home country of South Africa.
Today, Helghardt joins us to share the idea behind Rehive and discuss the startup’s many iterations as well as its ideal customer. He offers insight around emerging markets like South Africa, explaining the country’s current crypto economy and what is necessary to inspire widespread adoption. Listen in as Helghardt describes the draw of Silicon Valley for aspiring engineers in the cryptocurrency space and learn how Rehive is streamlining communication among its distributed team!
Topics Covered
The idea behind Rehive
WordPress for fintech applications
Use available building blocks
Helghardt’s introduction to the crypto space
South Africa had limited online payment options
First experience moving money online = Bitcoin
Fascinated by promise of ‘better money’
Helghardt’s insight around emerging markets
Immediate needs don’t require advanced tech
Hard to generate interest without clear idea of value-add
South Africa’s crypto economy
Run by mining or traditional retail, banking
Success stories = EC2 and Naspers
Helghardt’s take on the draw of Silicon Valley
Access to opportunity, deal flow
Requires mental shift (cultural differences)
What South Africa needs to promote widespread adoption
Educate potential crypto distributors on volatility
Begin in areas where end-consumer comfortable
How to get people away from traditional currency
Enterprise tools for banks, governments and retailers
Issue digital denominations (bring into operational flow)
The ideal customer for Rehive
Brands with established user base
Retailers who want to play in financial space
Helghardt’s advice for aspiring crypto startup founders
Get to Silicon Valley for immediate support network
Find token sale, blockchain foundation looking for talent
The many iterations of Rehive
Stable wallet (hedging mechanism)
Bitcoin, Coinbase for South Africa
Helghardt’s tips for distributed teams
Establish guidelines for communicating on Slack
Work in sprints (3 months together for alignment)
Helghardt’s definition of success
Freedom to cross borders easily
Tap into other’s time and energy
Achieve things can’t do yourself
Connect with Helghardt
Rehive https://rehive.com/
Rehive on Twitter https://twitter.com/rehivehq?lang=en
Rehive on GitHub https://github.com/rehive
Helghardt on Medium https://medium.com/rehive-blog/fintech-platforms-b8b0238427ee
Helghardt on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/helghardt/
Resources
Amazon EC2 https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/
Naspers https://www.naspers.com/
Tencent https://www.tencent.com/en-us/
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr/dp/1400077303
Slack https://slack.com/
The Settlers of Catan https://www.catan.com/game/catan
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts https://www.amazon.com/Shantaram-Novel-Gregory-David-Roberts/dp/0312330537
Connect with Boost VC
Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/
Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/
Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVC
Previous Episode
Ep. 73: Designing AI, VR and AR for Social Good with Sean White of Mozilla
We’re familiar with product/market fit, but have you ever considered product/person fit? Having empathy for the end user is what differentiates the companies that design technology for the benefit of humans from those that are simply out to make a profit. So, how do we design AI, VR and AR products that promote social good—and truly change people’s lives?
Sean White is the Chief R&D Officer for Mozilla, the non-profit company behind the Firefox browser. Sean also serves as a visiting lecturer at Stanford University as well as a judge for the environmental category of the International Tech Awards. An entrepreneur and inventor, Sean is dedicated to leading the development of the technologies that enable creative expression, connect us to each other, and enhance our understanding of the world around us.
Today, Sean joins us to share his background in academia and startups as well as his experience in the early days of mixed reality. He explains what is necessary to promote the widespread adoption of VR, how to identify your personal mission, and the value in asking questions about emerging technology through art. Listen in for insight around Mozilla’s role as a ‘trusted personal agent’ and learn how the company works to create product/person fit!
Topics Covered
Sean’s background in academia and startups
Grew up in San Antonio, TX
Silicon Valley in 1988 to attend Stanford
Mozilla’s take on their role in advancing technology
Internet is public good
View selves as ‘trusted personal agent’
Sean’s experience in VR, AR and MR
PhD in mixed reality
Cost $1M to drive each eye in early days
Sean’s favorite recent AR experience
Laurie Anderson, Tribeca Film Festival
Reveals poem, song ‘inside her mind’
How to promote the wide adoption of VR/AR
Normalization of hardware platform
Less expensive, more ergonomic
Mozilla’s view of user identity in VR
Ability to control identity is vital
Sean’s involvement with The Tech
Promote innovation, change people’s lives
Smithsonian AR project to identify plant species
Sean’s insight on finding your mission
Worked with Professor Terry Winograd (inventor of AI)
Learned about social responsibility, heart
Aligns with Mozilla mission to benefit humans with tech
Sean’s take on asking questions through art
Explore hopes, fears around new technologies in film
‘Art is good at asking questions’
How Mozilla tracks success and progress
Measure by people using (where and how)
Product/market AND product/person fit
Connect with Sean
Mozilla https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/
Mozilla on Twitter https://twitter.com/mozilla
Sean on Twitter https://twitter.com/seanwhite?lang=en
Sean on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanwhite/
Sean on Medium https://medium.com/@seanwhite
Resources
Favor https://favordelivery.com/
VIVE https://www.vive.com/us/product/vive-virtual-reality-system/
Oculus Go https://www.oculus.com/go/
Tribeca Film Festival https://www.tribecafilm.com/immersive
Fortnite https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/buy-now/battle-royale
The Tech Museum of Innovation https://www.thetech.org/
Crisis Text Line https://www.crisistextline.org/
FirefoxReality https://mixedreality.mozilla.org/
Mozilla ‘Hubs’ https://hubs.mozilla.com/
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448
The Lawnmower Man https://www.amazon.com/Lawnmower-Man-New-Line-Platinum/dp/6304604572
Next Episode
Ep. 75: Solving Big Problems with the Power of VR—with Morgan Mercer of Vantage Point
When problems don’t affect us directly, they are easy to ignore. But if we create a connection with the people who ARE impacted and truly understand the consequences of our own action (or inaction), that’s when we start to care. What if we leveraged the immersive experience of virtual reality to establish empathy for marginalized groups? What if VR could give people the agency to take action and solve the world’s biggest problems?
Morgan Mercer is the founder and CEO of Vantage Point, a startup that offers a cutting-edge, fully immersive sexual harassment training program experienced in virtual reality. Vantage Point’s B2B product focuses on identifying sexual harassment and assault, bystander intervention, response training, and societal stigma and bias. Prior to Vantage Point, Morgan served as the Head of Digital Marketing for the online designer consignment platform LePrix.
Today, Morgan joins us to discuss her inspiration to change the world of human resources by way of VR. She offers insight around what it’s like to be a female founder and how women can arm themselves to better navigate life as an entrepreneur. Listen in as Morgan describes the parallels between entrepreneurs and athletes and learn how VR can empower us to solve big problems with thoughtfulness and compassion.
Topics Covered
Morgan’s inspiration to transform HR
Year abroad revealed own biases, ignorance
VR has power to create connection
Why virtual reality is ideal for HR training
Form relationships and empathy
See outcome of actions
The barriers for female founders
Avoid events because only woman in room
Create environments, processes more inviting to women
How female entrepreneurs can arm themselves
Learn to negotiate, stand ground
Get comfortable in uncomfortable situations
Morgan’s insight around VC fundraising
Investors are partners, allies
Work together to get to next stage
What the world looks like if Vantage Point succeeds
More thoughtfulness and compassion
Run toward problems, empowered to act
Morgan’s moratorium on social media
Who are you living for?
How does that influence actions?
Morgan’s take on asking good questions
Inspired by friend Samier Mansur
Questions influence information uncovered
The parallels between working out and entrepreneurship
40% rule
Requires long-term commitment
Push limits to gain strength
Morgan’s definition of success
Go beyond what believe can achieve
Pursue something meaningful
Connect with Morgan:
Vantage Point https://www.tryvantagepoint.com/
Morgan on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/morganrmercer/
Morgan on Twitter https://twitter.com/themorganmercer?lang=en
Resources:
Halogen Ventures http://halogenvc.com/
LiveSafe https://www.livesafemobile.com/
The Art of Being and Becoming by Hazrat Inayat Khan https://www.amazon.com/Being-Becoming-Hazrat-Inayat-Khan/dp/093087241X
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho https://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0061122416
Evan Spiegel at Code 2018 https://www.recode.net/2018/5/30/17397120/snap-ceo-evan-spiegel-transcript-code-2018
The Little Prince Animated Film https://www.amazon.com/Little-Prince-James-Franco/dp/B01F8505M4
Connect with Boost VC:
Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/
Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/
Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVC
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