The Exchange with KB Kirill Bensonoff

In The Exchange with KB, host Kirill Bensonoff continues his series of interviews with today’s top innovators and business leaders to know. In today’s episode, KB is joined by Alex Adelman, CEO & Co-founder of Lolli which rewards online shoppers with bitcoin.



Learn more about our guest:

Alex Adelman is the CEO & Co-founder of Lolli, a rewards application that lets people earn bitcoin when they shop online. Alex has also served as the CEO & Co-founder of Cosmic, the leading e-commerce gateway, which was acquired by PopSugar in ’15 and then by Ebates in ’17. He has also been listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Retail & E-Commerce.


Visit: www.lolli.com and follow him on Twitter: @alexadelman and @trylolli




Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome and introduction
01:02 About Cosmic
03:34 Starting in E-commerce
05:53 Building the Cosmic team
09:03 Will remote work scale?
11:50 Dealing with hiring
14:13 What is Lolli?
16:57 How Lolli works
18:01 Creating accessibility
20:23 Bitcoin pushback
23:21 Challenges for Lolli
25:43 Adding other cryptos
28:14 Merchants and bitcoin volatility
28:50 Stance on Libra and stablecoins
31:54 What’s next for Lolli?
33:55 Conclusion

In The Exchange with KB, host Kirill Bensonoff continues his series of interviews with today’s top innovators and business leaders to know. In today’s episode, KB is joined by Arianna Simpson, an early-stage investor and founder of Autonomous Partners, a fund that invests in digital assets and blockchain-based companies.


Learn more about our guest:

Arianna Simpson is the founder and managing partner of Autonomous Partners, an investment fund focused on cryptocurrencies and digital assets. She is also an active angel investor and venture partner at Crystal Towers Capital, an early-stage VC fund which Arianna and her partner launched in 2015. Prior to Crystal Towers, Arianna spent time working in sales and product roles at Facebook and BitGo, an enterprise security company for bitcoin and other digital currencies.


Visit: https://www.ariannasimpson.com/ and follow her on Twitter: @AriannaSimpson


Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and welcome
00:44 Background
01:49 Getting started in crypto
03:25 Believing in bitcoin
05:20 True bitcoin uses
07:46 Accepted like gold
09:02 Promising altcoins
13:36 Investing outside of blockchain
14:55 Autonomous vehicles
15:33 Unusual investments
18:05 Choosing good founders
20:23 Conquering fear
21:25 Investing based on gut
25:02 Advice for young investors
26:30 Running operations
28:44 Lightning Round
29:26 What’s next for Arianna
30:20 Conclusion

In The Exchange with KB, host Kirill Bensonoff continues his series of interviews with today’s top innovators and business leaders to know. In the next immigrants who kick-ass instalment, KB is joined by Natalia Karayaneva, founder and CEO of Propy.


Learn more about our guest:

Natalia Karayaneva is the founder and CEO of a proptech company Propy, an advisor to Arrington XRP Capital, and noteworthy Forbes Contributor. Natalia boasts an impressive twelve-year track record in international real estate and real estate development prior to launching Propy, including work in blockchain. Natalia also holds qualifications in software engineering.


Visit: https://propy.com/ and follow her on Twitter: @NataliePropy


Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and welcome
00:18 Background
01:00 Starting Propy
03:20 Propy and blockchain
06:33 The potential of real estate
07:50 International real estate
08:30 The US vs the world
12:08 Blockchain in developing countries
13:37 Local vs international transactions
15:23 CEO focus
17:43 Challenges of blockchain
20:43 Industry resistance
23:51 Industry costs
27:10 Startup reception
28:14 Comparisons to the US
30:58 What’s next for Propy?
31:50 Conclusion

Follow The Exchange With KB on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theexchangewithkb/

In The Exchange with KB, host Kirill Bensonoff continues his series of interviews with today’s top innovators and business leaders to know. In this latest episode, KB is joined by Zac Prince Founder of BlockFi.


Learn more about our guest:
Zac Prince is the founder of BlockFi, which provides access to high-interest crypto accounts and low-cost credit products to clients worldwide. His experience also includes leadership roles at multiple successful tech companies. Prior to starting BlockFi, he led business development teams at Orchard Platform, a broker-dealer and RIA in the online lending sector, and Zibby, an online consumer lender. Zac also holds qualifications from Texas State University and holds a BA in International Business.


Visit: https://blockfi.com/ and follow him on Twitter: @BlockFiZac


Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and welcome
00:36 Background
02:58 Starting BlockFi
05:13 The BlockFi business model
06:58 BlockFi cards
09:16 Crypto-backed loans
11:00 Bitcoin beyond the hype
14:00 The challenge in finding VC’s
16:00 Roadblocks to crypto adoption
18:14 What is crypto really?
20:22 BlockFi and stablecoins
22:00 Tokenizing other assets
24:00 Globalization of crypto
27:25 Savings on the blockchain
28:36 Regulation in flux
31:05 Sovereign cryptocurrencies
31:48 Regulatory clarity
34:27 What’s next for BlockFi?
35:00 Conclusion

In The Exchange with KB, host Kirill Bensonoff continues his series of interviews with today’s top innovators and business leaders to know. In this latest episode, KB is joined by Nick Soman, CEO of Decent.


Learn more about our guest:

Nick Soman is the founder and CEO, of Decent, a company that is charting a new path forward for affordable health insurance in America. Nick is also a serial entrepreneur who scaled his first company to millions of users and successfully sold it to Napster prior to becoming Growth Lead at Gusto. Along with his vast experience as an entrepreneur, Soman also holds degrees from Harvard Business School and Stanford University.


Visit: www.decent.com and follow him on Twitter: @decent


Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and welcome
00:42 Background
03:30 Founding Decent
07:28 Healthcare for all
08:51 Decent in detail
12:17 Eligibility
13:25 Delivering lower-priced insurance
17:27 Decent reception
20:33 Direct primary care
23:05 The concierge option versus others
26:03 The US healthcare system
28:20 What’s driving healthcare costs?
34:33 Motivations for healthcare workers
36:29 Utilizing blockchain
39:48 Plans for Decent
41:47 Seeking allies
42:05 Conclusion