Team Member Interview: Christopher, Auctus’ Marketing Manager

Christopher will be joining Auctus to help with the direction of market branding

One of my responsibilities of my recently accepted role at Auctus is to conduct interviews of all new team members. So here I am, the Marketing Manager of Auctus, conducting our first team member interview, with myself.

it me.

So, who am I and how did I get here?

I’m currently based in Brooklyn, and have been for about 18 months now. My professional experience and most of my career has been in customer facing roles. I’ve done everything from end-user marketing and business development of emerging markets, to sales management of new and seasoned customers.

I’ve always been interested in technology, but was always on the consumer side. I became more interested in tech when I started paying attention to the cryptocurrency market. I had heard about bitcoin several years ago, but it wasn’t until late 2016 that I really started looking into it. The way I got into crypto was like many others: I blindly put in a small amount of money right before the boom of 2017. The market went crazy and it was hard to look away. It really changed for me when I started looking into the products themselves and the incredible amount of information and projects out there. What really attracted me to blockchain technology though was the energy of the people behind it. It felt like a movement. A technology to potentially create more democratic experiences with products and services that we use everyday.

Oh, you mean how did I get to Auctus?

I became aware of Auctus after attending the Ethereum Community Conference in Paris, but I started looking into them in earnest when a friend told me about the team. I’ve read a lot of white papers, but while reading Auctus’, the project really stood out to me because it is a useful project that aligns with my interests.

Although I never worked in the finance industry, I do have an MBA in finance, and more importantly, I’m interested in financial independence with a real emphasis on and awareness of employer and individual retirement investments. I was always the person in the office telling colleagues that they should max out their employer sponsored retirement accounts instead of buying a new car every two years. I’ve also been preaching to my friends and family to not only be aware of investments for retirement, but also to take control of their retirement situation. I think the majority of people will relate when I say that no one is coming to save you; there isn’t a $5 million trust fund waiting for me in the end. Combined with my aforementioned affinity to crypto/blockchain, and the Auctus project really spoke to me.

Most of the traditional investment portals out there now have not kept up with the times. My situation isn’t going to be like my parents who followed a traditional path of working for the same company for forty years until they retired and received pensions when they did retire. The world is a different place. We are changing jobs and working abroad more frequently, and a professional lifestyle that what was once called non-traditional is becoming the norm. Is it too much to ask that I have some control over my retirement accounts? It’s money I’m investing into my future, so why shouldn’t I be able to invest in what I believe in?

What makes me interesting?…Easy since I’m interviewing myself ;)

Early in my career, the company I worked for sent me to Thailand for a little over three years. My job went from building awareness of the brand and products in the first year, to a business development role of teaching the market about the products in my second year, to growing the business with key partnerships that focused on long-term sustainable growth in my final year there.

Growing a new market was a humbling and unique experience. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work in a startup environment with corporate backing. As part of a small team, we had an enormous task, but I can say that the key to our success was by having a clear direction with tangible goals in which the entire teamed worked at achieving together.

What am I going to do for Auctus?

Crypto has a lot of flashing lights, but Auctus is a project where there is substance behind the lights. Since I’ve been involved in the blockchain space, it’s apparent to me that some people have a hard time of separating the hype from real business use cases.

I’ll be using all of the skills I’ve gained building brand awareness and sustainable growth to help build up Auctus’ business portfolio. I’ll be communicating the Auctus vision to our audience so they know what our product is capable of.

Most importantly what I want to first achieve at Auctus is the communication our vision to our audience. We need to stay ahead of the curve by listening to our audience and staying nimble in the ever evolving blockchain space. I want our users and investors to feel confident in our team by having a clear and up to date understanding of what we’re up to, whether that be pushing code, attending conferences or having Q&As on Telegram.