CEO, Mercury Exchange – www.mercdax.com
Market Research: We went through deep market research and discovered the need for High Performance and low latency exchange for institutional investors. The Design methodology was used to discover the opportunity by conducting and documenting interviews with almost 400 experts in the industry. This is a large cap project rivaling many large and well-funded projects.
Execution: A team was brought together, legal registration, framework laid, an equity system created for the team, pitched the idea to investors and customers and brought the system to production ready state all with self-funding. Two patents and 3 Trademarks were applied for Mercury Exchange. Created the partnership between Mercury Exchange and the law firm Dilworth Paxson. Also, created custody and banking partnership with one of the biggest Digital Assets custodian Kingdom Trust with more than $2B AUM. Hired several key members in achieving the goal set out and communicated frequently with C-level executive across the ecosystem. Keep track of hours, stock grants and budget. Contract negotiations with partners, vendors, employment agreement and policy decisions about the exchange. Create and review all contract terms thoroughly for business impact and review such topics that could limit or expose us to legal challenges. Stay abreast of the competition with daily news reviews from authentic sources and its impact on the industry as a whole and as a business unit in the ecosystem. Always looking for good talent, make hiring and firing decisions. Stayed abreast with technology team to guide and fine tune the product roadmap, specifications, planning and version control. Ensure a stable demo environment available all the time. Manage all of the technical and non-technical priorities adhering to strong Agile development methodologies using Jira, Bitbucket, automated release management.
Strength: Believes in running business on a daily self-directed checklist in a calm state of mind through meditation not on the inbox. Avid networker and an open and friendly personality to make and keep long time relationships despite the vicissitude of the transactions of the business. Keeping calm under severe pressure and making progress throughout were the hallmark of this challenging opportunity. Very much aware of my own biases, notice it in the rest of the world and navigate the conversations to acknowledge both. Aware of noticing the “yes” in a “no” answer and “no” in a “dirty yes” answer and open to listen to the root cause of the concerns. Comfortable in asking for meaning behind the words used and make good decision based on as much facts on hand and yet navigate the course correction as new information becomes available.
Skills: Written, Verbal and Presentation