Startups are much beyond companies striving to solve problems. They are tales of passion, rapid reflections of the latest agile x.0 and teams with great visions of change. They create, iterate and repeat — often going back to the roots, unlearning, relearning and going back to square one in the process — until they come up with their stories of perfection, their solutions to the unsolvable.

At Iconiq, we decided to delve deeper with our startups and present them to you as a series of Q&As between the entrepreneur and their blockchain audience.

To start with, we interviewed Chris Georgen, the Founder and Chief Architect of Topl. Topl is building an open capital infrastructure tailor-made for developing markets, investment returns and their economic impact can be greatly improved. Their investment protocol is designed to help investors overcome the numerous barriers that suppress the flow of capital into developing regions, thereby raising investment to levels appropriate to the vast potential of these economies. The Topl team believes that responsible investment in young, innovative, and locally-based companies is among the most effective drivers of economic growth and long-term social impact.

What is the vision behind the company? What problem are you addressing?

Topl is working to facilitate impactful investment into emerging markets. By bringing lower cost, more accessible capital, we are unlocking the economic potential and human potential of these still developing regions.

Why did your team decided to use Blockchain?

We decided to build a blockchain protocol because unlocking international investment requires us to solve problems related to trust, access, and incentivized coordination. Luckily for us, solving these three problems goes to the core of the design philosophy of Satoshi and the blockchain.

What are the milestones completed so far?

To date, Topl has developed its own functioning blockchain protocol and sourced millions of dollars in investible opportunities from countries such as Colombia, India, and Ghana.

What are the milestones for the next coming months?

Over the coming months, we will be finalizing the features and functionality of our blockchain before launching the main net in the winter (2018/2019)

What use-cases(if any) do you see trending in your space?

Right now there is a great deal of interest in using the blockchain for supply chain applications.

How has Iconiq Lab helped you with your business? Would you recommend an accelerator to blockchain startups?

We would (and have) recommend(ed) Iconiq as some of the best strategists and advisers in the token space. Their expertise is especially relevant to teams less familiar with the legal requirements of conducting an ICO as well as to companies without a firm grasp of token mechanics.

Tell us a bit about the journey from the start.

The idea behind Topl came from discussions held at Rice University in the Center for Computational Finance and Economic Systems back in 2015. In early 2017, full-time work on the Topl protocol began. Since then we have continued technical development taking into account guidance from advisers and future users.

What would you say was a game changer for your startup?

The biggest decision we’ve made to date was the decision to build our own blockchain protocol as opposed to simply building a DAPP. Doing so has made our project technically feasible and ensures we’re not dependent on any other project for our survival.

Do you have any paying clients/customers using your product?

We do not have any paying clients at this time since our platform hasn’t been released. However, we do have a number of clients that have agreed to be part of our platform as soon as it launches.

Are you ICO ready? Yes

We wish Chris and his team all the very best. Topl shall be opening their token pre-sale in July — stay tuned to the latest updates on their Telegram!