Expanse — Behind the Tech is a new blog series that provides a glimpse into the people behind the scenes who make everything happen at Expanse.Tech™. Think of it as a window into the lives and driving forces of the people that forge our path and work hard every day for the community and to achieve the Expanse goals. Without our team members, vendors, influencers and contributors, we would not be on the solid footing we have achieved to date. I’m proud that our first profile focuses on Omar Alvarez, Expanse team member and Gameboard CEO. As is characteristic of the exuberance and motivation he brings to all of his projects, he has penned his own profile. I hope you enjoy the series.

— Christoper J. Franko, Expanse Co-founder

My Journey with Expanse

By Omar Alvarez

Everything starts with a wish…

I remember that I was sitting in the concourse of the Guatemalan National airport with some friends. We were heading to the Collision Conference in New Orleans, LA. We were reading about the attendees, informational sessions and new technology awaiting us at the conference. The year 2016 was amazing for the Dev Shop, my company, and 2017 was the moment to launch my gamification platform. Sitting there with business cards, web page and a t-shirt we created, I felt proud. I didn´t know what was coming was so big.

So, the Collision conference went fine, and I met a lot people, I got some new clients for the Dev Shop back here in Guatemala, and I attended a lot of fun meetings and parties. The NOLA food and beer were amazing. I was so excited to be there, waiting for an opportunity to introduce GameBoard, The Gamification Playground, to someone that would take the platform to the next level.

After meeting with some local clients, I knew something awesome would happen — and it did happen in a way I really did not expect. Let me tell you about it.

The AHA! Moment

So it was the last day of the conference, and I didn’t get a chance to present Gameboard to anybody. S I put my Gameboard T-shirt on, got my business cards ready, and had faith. I wanted to have breakfast in a small restaurant, run by some cool girls near the Convention Center. It was about 5km from the hotel where I was staying, and it was an amazing morning to walk. I started walking and thinking about how I was going to present the platform to somebody. (Have you ever had that feeling when you want to make other people believe in the things you do, like you do?)

After my 5 km walk, I arrived at the coffee shop, but it was full. I had no problem waiting, so I stood in line. After all, I was just looking for some feedback and validation, despite being successful in the local market. I needed to know if we were ready for the world.

Standing in line, I was approached by a tall, thin guy who introduced himself as Timothy Suggs. He said, “Do we have to sign in to have breakfast?” I said no, and after about 10 minutes waiting, he started talking to me about the blockchain with a passion that you don´t see in many people. He told me what he did for a living, and began to talk about this amazing technology that would change the world. “This is the future and you are in the beginning of new revolution,” he said. He mentioned that he is part of a community supporting a company named Expanse, which he described as pioneers in blockchain technology who are setting out to change the world. He was so passionate about the tech that listening to him was mind blowing.

The Hamster in my head, stumble and fall

So 10 minutes before we finished breakfast he asked me what I do for a living. In my mind, the hamster running on the wheel stopped, stumbled and said, “Hey this is it, say it, go!!”and started running like hell. I said, “I created a gamification platform to add the mechanics to any platform. If you have an API to connect your system, I will give you dashboards, leaderboards, points, levels badges… it is a Gamification playground.” Then he asked me to stop talking and to explain it to the Expanse CEO. The hamster stopped again. “The CEO? Oh man.” He told me he would look for me at the conference so we could talk to him. He stood up and left — my mistake I didn´t give him my business card and didn´t get his number.

After the whole day in the conference talking to people about GameBoard and collecting contacts, suddenly Timothy messaged me in the Collision App and said, “Where are you? Come to the food area to meet my CEO.” The hamster collapsed and said, “The CEO?”(You imagine this 60-year-old guy with white hair with a young beautiful model by his side, 6’8”, 240 pounds, so direct and business oriented that you have 30 seconds to tell him what you do.

I was walking cool to the meeting with my heart pumping like hell and there is Timothy with a guy that looks like a “normal developer person” and a beautiful lady. Tim said, “This is Christopher Franko our CEO.” When I met Chris, he made me feel so confident — he was just a regular guy, a person, someone who had a dream and he was living it. He asked me about my life and my story, and then he started talking about his rap music, cryptos, kids, and Expanse.

The hamster sits down open a beer and said, “This is dope!! Enjoy!”

(Oh!! I forgot, the beautiful lady was Chris’ wife, Heather — awesome person.)

This is the real AHA! Moment

After we explained our platforms and ideas, Chris said I have this project that I always wanted to do. It is about life and I am looking to gamify the experience. After he said that, we talked for an hour about it, creating this amazing platform in our minds. He said, “We will talk next week and do the necessary partnership paper work. This is awesome.”

We both shook hands and said goodbye, somehow, I felt like I knew this guy, maybe from another life. “The big CEO” became an accessible person with values and a dream.

After a few months designing and creating the EXP.Life project, we wrote the whitepaper and create the logo (coming soon) I started working with Expanse. I am sure this is the greatest opportunity that life gave me, I am in charge now of the project, creating new and amazing things for the platform, part of the Advisory board, and the Ambassador in Guatemala for Expanse. I already held the first meeting with the Blockchain Guatemala group that I created, and I am learning a lot.

For an entrepreneur in Guatemala, with a lot of dreams and the desire to change my country and the world, Expanse has become an excellent opportunity to dream, to work, to accomplish, to create the world that I want to live in.

I will try so hard that one day I will accomplish.

So, thanks Chris, Tim and the whole team, I feel very welcome.

Omar Alvarez — Husband, Dad, Guatemalan, Improv fan, entrepreneur, gamification lover and proudly Expanse Team member.