Don’t jump on the bandwagon just because it’s leaving the station today, especially when/if you’ve been working on a longer-tail idea that may need the time to mature and be ready for its moment. Like I said in #1, it’s easy to see others getting quick success and want to go that route; but the copycats–and their success–will be but a flash in the pan, and you want the staying power of sticking with your bigger, bolder vision.
As a part of my series on “Five Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me At The Start Of My Career” I had the pleasure of interviewing Griffin Anderson.
Griffin Anderson is co-founder of Phi Labs, a core contributor to Archway, the value capture chain. Griffin created the concept of Archway while Head of Product at Ignite (formerly Tendermint). Prior to that, he was an early contributor to the Ethereum ecosystem, as Senior Director of Product Management at ConsenSys. Griffin was also a Founder of blockchain-powered accounting tools project Balanc3 and a Founder and Board Member of the Accounting Blockchain Coalition. The views and opinions expressed in this interview are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Phi Labs.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
While I majored in finance in college, my true passion was always computers. I started studying computer science as a hobby while working in the fintech entrepreneurial field as a software engineer. On the side, however, I was always building applications, mainly iOS and Android apps and Chrome extensions.
Around 2012, I became disenfranchised with Apple’s App Store and how difficult it was becoming to reach people in such a crowded market. That’s when web 3.0 started to emerge, and in 2015, I found out about Ethereum and the concept of building decentralized applications on top of it. I got really excited about this opportunity, so I began participating in the ecosystem and eventually became one of the first hires at ConsenSys, which was a really fun ride. I went through ups and downs, including having been on the call when the original DAO hack happened. I definitely learned a lot from that experience. After leaving ConsenSys, I was hungry to start something of my own.
I became involved with Tendermint, the private company behind the Cosmos ecosystem, when they reached out and asked me to play a strategic role in the Company. They also gave me the opportunity to incubate an endeavor of my own. This is how Archway came into the picture. I had an opportunity to collaborate with an established company to incubate a brand new project, which was really just an exciting opportunity that brought me where I am with Archway today.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
One of the most interesting stories from my career involves a mistake I made while working on a demo product for a large financial services company in the insurance space. The company put out an RFP to build the demo using blockchain technology, and we had just two weeks to complete it. I was leading point on this, and this was a very tight deadline for what we were trying to deliver.
Despite partnering with one of the largest tech companies in the world alongside a major consulting firm, we were unable to finish the demo on time, which basically put their multi-billion-dollar business at risk. This resulted in angry calls from the top CEOs at these major billion-dollar businesses, which was fair as billions of dollars were put at risk after failing to deliver this simple proof of concept demo. Overall, it was a humbling experience to realize the impact my work could have.
Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
To put it simply, the Apple App Store charges developers a fee when users buy their apps or virtual goods. This model is not unique to Apple — almost every platform, such as YouTube, operates in a similar way, taking a cut of revenue from content creators.
However, our platform, Archway, is different. It operates as a Web 3 platform built to incentivize the developers who build on top of it. Archway enables developers by allowing them to capture the value they create for the protocol through a mixture of revenue-creating mechanisms. This shift is a significant departure from the extractive value model that dominates the industry. Ultimately, Archway aims to support contributors and developers by rewarding them for their contributions.
How do you think this might change the world?
As someone who has had the opportunity to travel extensively, I’ve seen how the internet has democratized access to information. However, many entrepreneurs around the world lack access to capital, resources, and connections that are more widely available to those in major cities such as San Francisco. The Archway protocol aims to level the playing field by providing a revenue stream to anyone, regardless of their location, who builds an application that gets some usage.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks of this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Blockchain technology can’t and won’t solve for greed, bad actors or malicious intent. These things are fundamental to human society, especially in the financial industry. However, while it won’t solve all the problems on Wall Street, it can certainly improve transparency, reduce fraud, and democratize access to financial services.
The blockchain industry has often been painted in a sinister light when it really isn’t sinister in nature any more than any other business. Ultimately, the success of blockchain technology will depend on how it’s implemented and how it’s used by people and institutions. It can improve access to information, improve financial tracking and reporting, etc. It can make many existing tasks easier, faster, and more reliable. However, it is up to us to implement it in an ethical way.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
To me, Web 3 is all about incentives. When I was considering building an application on Ethereum or another layer one blockchain, I noticed that the largest token holders benefited the most, meaning those who got in early made a lot of money. I knew some of the early Ethereum contributors who were now retired and not contributing meaningfully. Platforms like these still have the same problem as Web 2, where value extraction occurs, but it doesn’t benefit all stakeholders. Developers, contributors, and others missed out on the value-capturing opportunity. This realization was the tipping point for me. As a developer bringing transactions, users, and activity to the platform, I wouldn’t receive the equitable value for my contributions, just because I wasn’t there early enough. The same problem existed in the Apple App Store. Developers build and contribute to the platform, but Apple ultimately extracts the value. That is why I set out to change value capturing dynamics with Archway.
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
I believe we’re still early in this. The first thing that needs to be addressed is the regulatory aspect for blockchain and crypto technology. There needs to be a clear path for operating in a safe environment with both industry and regulatory oversight. This is crucial for public adoption and probably the biggest blocker right now. Once this is addressed, we can improve interfaces and user experience, prompting larger companies to jump in to tackle related problems. Overall, regulatory issues are the biggest bottleneck for the technology’s adoption at this time.
What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?
The Archway community is primarily focused on developers, and we’ve been putting in a lot of effort into grassroots education initiatives. For example, one of our projects is called Area-52, which is a free tutorial for developers to build and deploy smart contracts. Our main focus has been on educating and training developer communities.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I don’t know if there’s one individual that pops out specifically, but there’s just definitely been a lot of people in my life that have been supportive, willing to take a risk, bet on us, and help get us to this point. They’ve been supportive and contributive in different ways, and I’m just enormously appreciative of all their contributions that have led us to where we are at today.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Overall, I believe this technology will create greater opportunities for individuals worldwide to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. If we are successful in implementing this vision, this technology can make significant progress in solving many underlying problems. Although not a silver bullet, it can provide people with the necessary resources to achieve their goals.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
- Stick with the idea. It’s going to take longer than you expect. The journey may take longer than anyone thought, but it will be very rewarding in the end. You will face challenges along the way, but you must persist through both good and tough times to survive. If you can do that, success awaits you at the end of the tunnel.
- Never apologize for your own enthusiasm as a founder. It is more than ok to be humble and kind and make space for the ideas and vision of others! It is also important to remember that we’re always iterating if we’re doing it right- things can always be improved. THAT said; along the way, you must be confident enough not to doubt your own velocity–and that of your vision–too much. If you don’t believe in it, who will?
- You must remember to prioritize mental health and wellness or the grind will definitely catch up with you.
- Don’t jump on the bandwagon just because it’s leaving the station today, especially when/if you’ve been working on a longer-tail idea that may need the time to mature and be ready for its moment. Like I said in #1, it’s easy to see others getting quick success and want to go that route; but the copycats–and their success–will be but a flash in the pan, and you want the staying power of sticking with your bigger, bolder vision.
- Crypto is not for the faint of heart. This has been repeated 100 times over, but it always bears repeating!
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I think if we succeed in building out this technology to work in the ways we are hoping it does, it will be a major tool in the toolbelt to enable entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams. So, no surprise here from the rest of what we’ve discussed in this interview- but bringing our fully realized vision to fruition genuinely would empower quite a lot of people to take the power back, so to speak, in many areas of their lives and businesses.
Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
If you’re a crypto VC, I would pitch Archway by saying that this is the first protocol to align ALL stakeholders with the underlying protocol. By incentivizing developers, we are enabling them to create new business models and use cases that were not possible in the Web 3 ecosystem, as well as providing them a way to receive sustainable revenue from the underlying protocol itself. By supporting the creators behind dApps, the Archway Protocol is in a position to incentivize builders to innovate beyond the traditional limits of Web3.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can follow our journey to enable developers to capture the value they create on Twitter @archwayHQ
Feel free to follow me on Twitter as well on my personal account @andergri
Website: https://archway.io/
Newsletter: https://archway.io/newsletter?utm_source=authority-magazine
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Griffin Anderson of Phi Labs On Five Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me At The Start Of My Career was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.