Louise Ivan started his tech journey studying green IT and the history of digital cultures. In 2016 he realized that if he wanted to stay in tech, it would probably be helpful to understand what was coming with web3 and crypto, so he got to work educating himself, but soon found understanding the terms was a lot harder than he expected. While he persevered with learning all he could, and eventually put himself forward for a role with Stacks, it took years before Louise felt truly confident to be a strong voice in the crypto space. Today, Louise is committed to simplifying the same user experience he found so tricky to navigate as the co-founder of Ryder, the world’s first social wallet that blends crypto and real life social interaction.
I sat down with Louise for a short but sweet conversation to talk about his work with Ryder, the importance of blending online experiences with real life interactions, ubiquitous computing, and his journey to becoming a thought leader in the web3 space.
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Meet Our Guest
Louise was the Growth Lead at the Stacks Foundation, leading community and token growth. Here, they manage more than 100M STX in treasury to work towards ecosystem growth, governance, education, and funding.
He has a double master’s Degree in Green IT from the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Louise started as a passionate Stacks Community Member before becoming a team member of Hiro PBC, formally known as Blockstack PBC, mostly known for the first-ever SEC-qualified US Reg A offering and concurrent Reg S offering in 2019, which raised a total of $70M+. Currently, STX is the number 1 web3 project on Bitcoin.
Under Louise's leadership, Stacks grew to more than 100,000 dedicated community members, spanning 30+ countries while increasing STX access through various growth efforts, partnerships, and integrations. Passionate about the user-owned internet, Louise co-founded Ryder with the aim of bridging the digital and physical world together while bringing crypto to the next billion users.
Connect with Louise on Twitter
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What We Unraveled
* Louise’s background in green IT, his interest in digital cultures, and why the appeal of shifting dynamics was the reason he got into crypto
* Why Louise believes his intuition is his super power
* The genesis of digital communities in the 90s
* Louise’s first foray into crypto in 2016 and how it led him to put himself forward for a role with Stacks
* What Louise did when he first got a ‘no’ from the Stacks hiring team
* Why Louise felt insecure in the early days of working with Stacks
* Louise’s path to being a thought leader in the space, and how he approaches understanding new knowledge
* What excites Louise most about the crypto space right now, and how a bear market shows us who is here to stay
* What Ryder, the world’s first social crypto wallet, actually is, what and the problem that inspired the project
* Why there is a lot of confusion about what Metaverse is, and how it might integrate with real life human experience
* How Louise explains what a bitcoin domain is, and why it’s important
* The areas of growth Louise sees in crypto, including defi applications and identities
* The advice Louise offers to newcomers
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Unravel Further
Louise on Instagram
Louise on LinkedIn
Ryder
Ryder on Twitter
Stacks
Stacks Open Internet Foundation
Blockchain.com
Muneeb (Co-Founder of Stacks)
Patrick Stanley
Zest
Bitcoin
Ethereum
Bored Ape Yacht Club
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Connect with Vane
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
TikTok
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