Blockcast.cc: My name is Jenny Zheng, co-founder of Blockcast.cc. This week, we have the honour to invite Alexander Shulgin for our interview. He is a true visionary and have a good track record in venture capital. In order to facilitate this interview better, we have invited Anndy Lian, a futurist and book author of Blockchain Revolution 2030 to be here.
Anndy: Hi Alexander, let me say that it is a privilege for me to talk with you.
AS: It is a privilege for me also.
Anndy Lian: Thank you. Well, to begin with, many people say you are a visionary, and it is often stated that you have more than 15 years of investment and venture capital experience.
You are also often referred to as “a unique Russian composer who successfully combines creative work with business”. I believe that you currently manage GRUPPA KOMPANIY FAMILIA, which specializes in investment and venture capital in blockchain, media, publishing, and entertainment sectors. You are a founder of a worldwide consulting group, The 5 Continent Consulting Group specializing in the IT-sector, biotechnologies, digital healthcare and financial management and amongst other ventures you also founded Rasia Capital – an investment boutique focusing on Asia. I hear that you also personally invest in Blockchain infrastructure, esports and Mixed Reality.
Would you say that is a good summary of what keeps you busy at the moment?
AS: It is a very good summary Anndy, but it is not really enough, I have a lot of other activities that keep me busy. I still have more funds and of course you are right that I personally invest a lot in blockchain, in blockchain infrastructure, because I see this technology and it has a very strong and optimistic future.
Anndy: I agree with you that blockchain technology has a very bright future. That is the reason why I started advising governments on this technology. It has been fun and fruitful for me. Well since we are connected through the company Gaimin.io and Gaimin are focused on the Blockchain and the gaming industry, they must have sounded like a good fit when you first met them?
AS: Yes, very good. A perfect fit. My background is entertainment, and gaming has the largest growth in this sector. Gaming will be one of the main markets in the entertainment sector. They are like a bird’s wings, each complementing the other: Entertainment and the Blockchain. There is interdependence between them. When I met Gaimin, I thought that what we are doing is perfect synergy. And that is the reason why I have agreed to be Gaimin’s advisor.
Anndy: I did hear that the Gaimin team met you for the first time by flying out to Hong Kong in May last year and that your meeting continued on to the famous Employees Only club. What was your first impression of the guys?
AS: Time flies! It seems like I met the team not so long time ago but it is almost 18 months ago. It was a big pleasure to meet the guys, to see their young sparkling eyes, very passionate and passionate over the ideas. I felt like I had a rock and roll time.
Anndy: And so, you’ve known them for well over a year now. You’ve been watching them obviously and how they have developed, what has made you continue working with them compared to many projects that have, I am sure, been introduced to you?
AS: It’s a very good question, because when we met it was a very good time for decentralized based projects and then after the May saw a kind of crypto-winter and many of the projects, many of the teams were very disappointed, they were in despair, depressed and they were lost. Whereas this team were like a British soccer club start going faster, start going harder, they are moving through this crypto-winter, going through this, moving forward and they are brave, they are brave to go ahead, I like it, I like it. It doesn’t matter the age of the founders, 15 years old or 50 years old or 25. They must have the courage to see things through: a good finish is based on a good start. I feel that they have the ‘cojones’ for the fight.
The full interview can be found at https://blockcast.cc/interviews/the-godfather-of-blockchain-alexander-shulgin-on-why-he-is-bullish-on-gaimin-io/