With Ivan on Tech in OriginTrail office in Ljubljana, Slovenia

I was thrilled to get to meet Ivan when this cryptocurrency/blockchain development legend visited the OriginTrail team in Ljubljana and Belgrade. His mature view that different blockchains and blockchain-based solutions will continue to coexist in the foreseeable future, and that interconnectivity is the name of the game for business adoption, totally resonates with our vision of how enterprise blockchain adoption is going to play out. So, it seemed like a brilliant fit to open our doors to him and introduce OriginTrail to a broader audience by inviting him to document what life is like in a company on a mission to enable businesses to speak the same language.

This video is the result of our collaboration

Ivan Is One of the Most Genuine People I’ve Ever Met

For the two readers of this blog post who are not into crypto YouTube :), let me introduce Ivan on Tech really quickly. He is a Sweden-based YouTuber who dropped his computer master studies to pursue a vision of educating the blockchain community on technical aspects of this exciting field. And boy, did he make it. After a year and a half, his YouTube channel has nearly 200K subscribers, he broadcasts daily, and has a couple more thousand followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

He grew his audience organically and the engagement level on his content is the object of jealousy for many fellow YouTubers. Ivan is also an international speaker and an educator. The alumni of his blockchain programming and business courses are 11K-strong. That blew my mind and we will return to it shortly. Ivan also manages the online media outlet Toshi Times.

It was very interesting (and frankly a load off for a host :)) to realize that Ivan is an easy-going, zero-complications kind of guy. He gets things done, is awesome to talk to, flexible when it comes to plans, and absolutely does not have a diva attitude. He talks about his family, girlfriend, fellow YouTubers, and the community openly, respectfully, and kind-heartedly. He is smart. That is why he will never go to crazy lengths to impress someone or search for ego pampering. He is the guy who sits down with you, talks openly, welcomes new people and smiles from his heart when playing the crypto cards board game while listening to the “Bitcoin please go to moon” song.

Ivan on tech attending OriginTrail’s Vostok Mainnet Announcement Event

3 Lessons Learned from Talking to Ivan

No matter how down to earth he is, Ivan definitely has an extraordinary value system and habits (better said commitments) that make this wunderkind in his early 20ies stand out from the ever-increasing competition on YouTube and elsewhere. I was lucky that Ivan sat down with me for a couple of hours during his visit and answered some questions that I had. While the content of the conversation will remain confidential, I am happy to share three lessons that, by my observations, guide Ivan’s path and make him stand out in the best way possible.

1. Become Obsessed with a Notion of Value Creation for the Audience

When I asked Ivan about how somebody can get started with regular broadcasting, he came up with a very interesting answer. Before you sit down and start working on your script, ask yourself “What will the audience learn from this video?” Being value driven and thinking about “What is in it for them?” is not a new thing, every Gary Vee reader would agree. But, what is fascinating is how Ivan’s work is unapologetically guided by this principle.

When we were recording the interview, he was super professional, but at one point he said: “Guys, non-technical people will not understand this, say it in a simple way.” It made a lot of sense for him to say this and when a devoted business practitioner eats, breathes, and sleeps his or her business, the notion of “general knowledge” tends to get blurred and reminders that information asymmetry exists are inevitable.

Interview recording session in Origintrail’s Belgrade office

There was another instance that blew my mind. When we were in Belgrade, there was one very bad day on the market and Ivan looked at us seriously and said: “Now, I gotta go live and explain to people what is going on.” And, five minutes later, he was recording. This devotion and personal responsibility to his audience make him truly great and differentiate him from “hustle kids” that are in the game for money and personal fame.

Getting familiar with our brand story & Hodling a blockchain traceable yogurt :)

On a similar note, there is something else he mentioned that resonated with me: Consistency is everything. You should commit to a content creation schedule that is doable for you (maybe you don’t have time for daily streams, but why not weekly ones?) and stick to it. Your job as a content creator is to consistently deliver high value added.

2. Educate, Educate, Educate

It is only logical that once you create an enormous amount of value, the reciprocity kicks in. Ivan’s videos are free of charge and in his short — 1.5-year-long — impactful career, he has changed many lives for the better. He is, as he should be, selective when it comes to the projects he works with. His unique value proposition is that he has a technical background, but a kick-ass skill to present complex concepts in an understandable language to the average viewer with or without a limited technical background.

Ivan took this mission a step further by launching online courses at his Ivan on Tech Academy. Over 11 thousand people have taken his courses and if you briefly view his online forum at Toshi Times, you will clearly see how engaged the community is. They are helping each other tackle technical cases. They are not in it just for the certificate. When I learned about this, my admiration and respect for Ivan grew exponentially.

Ivan getting ready to go live

I am an educator myself with a 35K-alumni online marketing and growth online course on Udemy. I understand 100% what the power of alumni is and that one of the most fulfilling sensations that exist is when someone writes to you “Thanks for helping me transform my career.” I am excited to announce that Ivan on Tech and the team at OriginTrail are looking into ways to collaborate in the education field. I will try my best to establish a new synergy there because I truly believe we can change the world by educating people — this is very powerful and meaningful.

3. When You Approach Influencers, Don’t Bullshit Them

As CMO, I am of course interested in how to build relationships with influential people in the industry. When talking to Ivan, it became extremely interesting how some of the common pitching techniques that may seem innocent to us may actually be a total deal breaker. Ivan said that there is something that he really does not like: people saying that they watch his videos and then being completely clueless about the value he delivers to the audience.

Don’t think that a little white lie that maybe comes from a good place of politeness in your heart will go unnoticed, and not in a good way. If you have not invested at least one hour of your life in learning more about the influencers, why on Earth should he or she bother to endorse your projects, which are, in the majority of cases, inferior to his or her audience. No one likes to be hijacked for a quick attention grab. The best collaborations, as well as partnerships in life, are born from mutual interest, respect, and affection.

Build good relationships and win-win collaborations:

I cannot emphasize enough how impressed, grateful and inspired I was after meaningful conversations that I had with Ivan on Tech. In blockchain marketing, there is a huge lack of good content, so following his advice to selflessly create value, I decided to share some of his wisdom with the community. If you want to learn more about Ivan, subscribe to his YouTube channel, enroll in his blockchain business course, or simply follow him on social media.

I am convinced that we will hear more great things about this amazing person and I want to once again express my sincere gratitude to OriginTrail, for giving me the chance to meet him, and Ivan himself, for taking the time to talk about things that will help many people be better blockchain content creators.

Hvala Ivan, hope to see you again soon!

Trace on,

Maja

Meanwhile, enjoy this video- 13K views & counting

P.s. Here is how you get behind the scenes pictures.

👇 More about OriginTrail 👇

Web | Twitter | Facebook | Telegram | LinkedIn | GitHub | Discord