An insight into Polyswarm
Where can you find the most engaged and excited teams in the world?
At the Googleplex? In the boardroom? Within a techie start-up?
No…
Just visit your local park on a Saturday morning to observe driven and motivated teams in action. They work together towards a common goal, celebrating small victories along the way. They learn from their mistakes, acknowledging how each member can improve on the next go-around. They’re led by a confident, charismatic leader, who helps them understand their individual roles and communicates and upholds the team vision. And when the team hits a home-run, everyone cheers and high-fives, knowing they’ve reached that success together.
It’s the mortar, not just the bricks, that makes a building robust.
The mortar, in this context, is social capital: mutual reliance, an underlying sense of connectedness that builds trust.
This idea of team work grew out of the study of communities and what made them survive and flourish in times of stress.
But the concept takes on vital importance when applied to organizations that are now routinely beset by change, surprise, and ambiguity.
At work, no less than in communities, the core team plays a critical role in making individuals and companies more resilient, better able to do conflict well.
If you have been following my articles at all, you know how much emphasis I put on research. Hardcore Research. Of the technology and team both.
And while I never got up-close with any team in particular, I recently had the chance to connect with the Team of Polyswarm, a threat intelligence blockchain start-up which relies on a decentralized ecosystem of enterprises, consumers, vendors and geographically diverse security experts to solve security concerns in real-time.
Poly…what?
Polyswarm.
Functioning on the Ethereum smart contract platform, the company aims to incentivize developers, enterprises, security experts, and umm… just about anyone who provides punctual and swift threat intelligence to security issues posted on its interface
A first in this Industry, which gives it a solid first mover advantage, this seamless, blockchain based system efficiently creates a market for tailored threat detection solutions.
Why experience matters in the Crypto market ?
Blockchain is a tech tool — and a complex one at that — and teams need first-rate developers to help you set it up.
If they have no blockchain master at hand.
Fatal. Right ?
Not really. This being quite a new field, experts are still a rare breed, but most great developers can learn the ropes and the right languages.
Just note that it might take a few months, and many set-backs.
It doesn’t stop there: teams need business-oriented people to get on board with the whole project. Keep in mind that blockchain is not a stand-alone technology, but one that should serve your operations and your bottom line.
Quite evidently, the Polyswarm team seems to be aware of this fact, and has put together a team of highly experienced techies, security geeks, marketers, and finance stalwarts.
Team Research 101. A.K.A How to meticulously research a team before making an investment.
I have advocated in previous articles to dig the past of a team’s founder just like you would dig the past of your first crush. Or an ex-wife.
This is after all an investment with real money you make. An investment in people.
The team at Polyswarm comprises of InfoSec veterans with decades of experience in government and industry.
“We’re driven to improve the threat intelligence landscape for ourselves, our clients and the industry at large.” — PolySwarm.
After a basic glimpse on its website, I found out that all the founding members of Polyswarm were directly involved in a previous firm called Narf Industries.
Yes. That is the NARF LOGO.
Intrigued, I searched online to find out what Narf was and if it was related to Polyswarm in any manner.
And to my satisfaction, Narf turns out to be a boutique information security firm specializing in tailored solutions for government and large enterprises. Operational since 2011.
Exactly what I would have liked to see. A blockchain firm whose founders have been in the industry since YEARS. This was the single most important factor for me.
A team of experience = A Stamp of approval.
Narf operates on the cutting-edge of InfoSec, blockchain and cryptographic research. According to the site, it has recently completed a blockchain-based identity management project for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as well as several cutting-edge partial homomorphic encryption projects on behalf of DARPA.
As a vote of confidence, Narf plans to develop products and services that serve the PolySwarm market. The team expects fierce competition in the domain, and is ready to take the challenge head on !
“After the past experience is confirmed, let’s individually disect the strong, impressive, threat- intelligence whizkids.”
The Polyswarm team. A.K.A The people you are investing in
CEO — STEVE BASSI
After founding Narf, an information security research firm, Steve brings in over 20 years of experience in the Information Security domain to Polyswarm. It is interesting to note that he previously worked with all-star clients in the industry. From DARPA to Fortune 500 companies.
Steve has also worked on government projects involving advanced development of incident response, identity management, and analysis tools for DARPA’s CGC**.**
Previously, he competed in several DEF CON “Capture The Flags” as a member of Sk3wl of R00t.
Brainfood - Imagine him leveraging all those contacts to use the Polyswarm platform.
CTO — PAUL MAKOWSKI
Paul brings over 10 years of experience in modern software exploitation, program analysis, vulnerability research, reverse engineering, cryptography, and low-level development.
Paul got serious about security when he found flaws in his University’s ID card system. He hasn’t looked back.
Prior to co-founding PolySwarm, Paul reverse engineered and wrote bespoke malware disinfection tools for Fortune 100 clients. Similar to Steve, Paul worked on government projects for identity management on a contract for the US Homeland Security.
The Freaking HOMELAND SECURITY!
His research skills pertaining to information security has been defined as cutting edge, and while working with CERT — he played a central role in identifying flaws in the defence tools used by networks.
PRODUCT SECURITY — BEN SCHMIDT
Just like Steve and Paul, Ben brings over a decade of experience in information security to the board. He has led research on automated program analysis, malware reverse engineering, secure software development, cryptography, cryptocurrency, and vulnerability analysis.
In the course of his career, hundreds of compromised security instances were discovered by Ben, spanning multiple domains and sectors. He authored many source and binary analysis tools to aid in his research, ensuring that future bugs can be found quickly and efficiently.
Do you see the trend yet?
Ask your self if the token teams you throw money on actually have any experience in that field ?
Are they people who majored in History, worked in sales, and are now talking about Supply chain ?
Are they people who have 10000 degrees and certificates and no work experience whatsoever ?
Or Are they people who majored in software, worked in software, and are now starting-up a software firm?
Be smart, and do the right thing.
Let’s check out the rest of the core team now -
COO — NICK DAVIS
Nick brings substantial experience from his days in the Navy, where he was the Head of Threat Analysis and network forensics, right from 2009. That’s over 8 years of top notch experience including working in the defence forces!
He also co-founded Narf with the others on this team, and manages and conducts information security audits. According to his LinkedIn- Nick audited thousands of lines of code for security vulnerabilities, and created a variety of custom-designed binary applications each possessing intentional vulnerabilities that are used to test the efficacy of automated program analysis tools.
Nick is reported to often spending his days in a naturally lit room, with a view of the trees, coding up a storm and crushing bugs.
CMO — ADRIAN ESCUDE
Adrian brings 10 years of experience in data driven Marketing, Product Management and Market Research working and consulting for Fortune 100 companies, professional services firms and start-ups across diverse industries.
Adrian led the Market Intelligence department and Marketing Analytics consulting engagements with companies such as General Electric, HP, Siemens, Lenovo and Honeywell.
Adrian was recently awarded as the “Agency Professional of the Year” by SDX, which is the oldest Marketing association in San Diego, California.
He was posted in Latin America with Sony Electronics, where he managed the tablet and computer business for 5 years, increasing both sales and profits.
CHIEF ECONOMIST — EVELYN HYTOPOULOS
Evelyn brings over 5 years of experience across a variety of sectors and a proven track record of using advanced analytics and big data to decipher information and deliver actionable intelligence.
Via data-driven decision making, Evelyn uses technically rigorous econometric evaluations to enable business growth and process optimization, alongside an increased value for money.
VP GROWTH — BILL FEHR
Bill brings 23 years of experience in helping start-ups grow fast. He is a business development and marketing expert who is practiced at designing user focused adoption strategies, selling technical services to large and small companies as well as building and leading effective marketing and sales teams.
Most recently, Bill was Director of Growth & Partnerships at Digital Telepathy, which was acquired by ServiceNow.
Bill has a proven track record of closing deals from 10k to 1+ million. He co-founded, built and managed a 42 person UX interactive agency running major development programs for clients such as Cisco, Logitech, Cartus, Adaptec and KPMG.
VP OF COMMUNITY — JESSICA THIEFELS
After 10 years of working in digital marketing, community management, and content, Jessica Thiefels has huge experience consulting the players of the digital industry. Her work profile comprises start-ups and large firms.
Her mantra? Using a data driven approach towards content marketing and delivering stuff that really works for customers. A brand called Learn2Earn, where Jessica was the lone marketing wolf, saw a surge in monthly visits from 0 to 180K. Her efforts also reflected in the social media channels, which had a multifold percentage increase after her joining.
The Moral?
Polyswarm is not just another, run-of-the-mill MIT graduate led blockchain start-up that sells promises and is two steps away from exit scamming any minute. Why do I say so?
Cause the whole core team has an average experience of 12 years.
In the same domain.
It is pretty safe to say that Polyswarm is spearheaded by a bunch of highly experienced Security Engineers who are leveraging another tool to do what their best at.
The kind of entrepreneurs I would like to see more in this place, who see blockchain as another tool, and not a magic internet money genie.
You could argue that they have a lot of brains in the room — and they do.
But they also have something more important. The founders largely knew and worked with each other for years. They have the trust, knowledge, reciprocity and shared norms that create quality of life and make a group resilient.
They have what I’d like to call Social Capital.
In any company, you can have a brilliant bunch of individuals — but what prompts them to share ideas and concerns, contribute to one another’s thinking, and warn the group early about potential risks is their connection to one another.
Social capital lies at the heart of just cultures: it is what they depend on — and it is what they generate.
Many people often ask “What is crypto backed by?” And the answer is mostly — Umm, Nothing?
My personal unpopular opinion states that the Cryptos are backed by the teams themselves.
An experienced and successful team will go to any length to achieve what they envisioned on the blockchain, goal wise. They won’t exit scam, they won’t give out unattainable promises, and they certainly won’t have a product which makes you scratch your head.
And that is real human value we are talking about.
Thus, researching on a team thoroughly before investing can go a long way to making you crypto –rich. If ICO’s are said to be micro-VC’s, then do what a VC does and seek value in the team’s people, not the bunch of technical lies that Reddit would tell you.
One last thing before I sign off — With experienced industry experts, whose roles range from defence contracts to educational blogs, the team of Polyswarm has spectacularly backed its NCT (Nectar Token).
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Articulating my thoughts from over the years and super stoked to write about Blockchain, trading, cryptocurrency and life.
I aim to bring Cryptocurrencies to the masses in a well refined, easy to understand manner. Being complicated helps none and neither does the biased media.
Yes, I think the system is a massive lie and it is about time to change that.
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#longlivecrypto.
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