Blockchain Startups: Meet the founders of NOIZchain
Today, we’d like to share the inspiring story of three serial entrepreneurs transforming the advertising industry and the connections between consumers, advertisers, and publishers. NOIZchain’s ad exchange weeds out spambots, and thereby works to solve the $19 billion a year problem of ad fraud.
Read on to learn how founders Andy Ann, Kelvin Cheung, and Ricky Goswami got involved in the blockchain & AI adtech industry and collaborated to build a decentralized ad network that incentivizes its community to engage with ads and make a social impact.
- How did you first get involved with the blockchain industry?
Andy: In 2012, I hosted a ‘town hall’ meeting for my staff at NDN Group, a digital conglomerate and investment group based in Hong Kong. It was the first time I presented to the team about digital currency and bitcoin. It wasn’t so much about blockchain — I focused more on data security and digital payment. Fast-forward to 2016, I founded Klarity Analytics, a social media analytics company. Through the understanding of Big Data and combining AI for business intelligence and predictable analysis, we began looking into using blockchain technology to ensure customer data privacy.
Kelvin: I was in Macau for a weekend back in 2012 attending a technology and legal conference. I thought “Why not go take a look?” and it ended up being an eye-opening experience. I had the opportunity to speak with various programmers who were discussing bitcoin and blockchain technology, and how it can streamline many processes in the financial industry. The ideas and visions were quite innovative, and some of these people became the blockchain heavyweights we all talk about today.
Ricky: I first started using the blockchain as a currency and for investment, but soon learned the potential of the technology behind it. I helped several local businesses start accepting it as a mode of payment and wrote smart contracts to help them do business.
2. What inspired the idea of your blockchain company, was it spontaneous? Was it an idea you had for a long time?
Andy: One of my companies, Klarity Analytics, specializes in analyzing social media data. We see a lot of data that cannot be explained. Ad fraud has been around for a long time, but no one had a solution — so I started throwing ideas around; a decentralized ad network that benefits all parties involved. Some people thought it couldn’t be done, but I disagreed. I met Kelvin through a social impact project. One day we were chatting and I told him my idea, then he agreed that it was possible. We started exploring the idea and researching into it, and that’s how it all started.
Kelvin: Throughout my career as a software and system developer, I learned that companies always want to optimize everything. Blockchain can streamline many processes. I do believe blockchain will be a dominant technology in the near future, and I’ve had this belief for quite some time, as I am an early adopter of Bitcoin. I bought my first bitcoin when it was around $30 USD so I have been studying its evolution closely. When Andy told me his idea for the NOIZchain project, I realized its potential to solve a real industry problem.
Ricky: My background is in AI, and I have been following the Bitcoin phenomenon as well. Just like AI, I truly believe blockchain can change and improve productivity in many areas. It is a powerful technology that cannot be ignored. I had also been wanting to do a project that incorporates AI. When Andy told me the idea of NOIZchain and how rampant ad fraud is, I thought the idea was brilliant and the fact that it contributes to social causes makes the project even more meaningful.
3. What did you do before starting NOIZchain? Did you demonstrate prior expertise in blockchain?
Andy: Unless you consider trading cryptocurrencies as expertise, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert in blockchain technology. Kelvin and Ricky definitely know more than I do. I have seventeen years of experience in digital media. In my early career, I was selling digital displays for food and beverage (F&B) outlets, and started a high-fashion wedding platform. Now I focus on the mobile advertising network, big data and digital transformation. In addition, I am a serial entrepreneur and an angel investor to various startups.
Kelvin: In over twenty years of my career, I have focused on system and software development. Early on, I helped blue chip clients optimize their operations by introducing and implementing different systems. Later, I ventured into payment solutions and launched a number of cryptocurrency-related businesses. Recently, I launched a cryptocurrency mining box that uses solar energy, which is now being used in one of our social impact projects. Being an early adopter of Bitcoin definitely gave me some sound knowledge on blockchain as well.
Ricky: I have over eighteen years of experience in digital technology and am well-versed in marketing automation and big data. In addition, I am a co-founder of two AI companies. The first focuses on providing AI chatbot solutions for the finance industries, and the other is geared towards training AI and web crawling services. I do follow closely how blockchain is evolving and would consider myself quite knowledgeable on the technology.
4. Who is the team behind NOIZchain and why are they awesome?
The NOIZchain team is made up of advertising veterans from global advertising and media agencies, such as Ogilvy, Dentsu and IPG Reprise. Besides that, we also have industry heavyweights from the industries of finance, law and tech — these include a Global Top 10 Influencer on fintech & impact, an ex-partner from PwC and a member of the Blockchain Research Lab supported by Harvard, among others. We have all come together to solve a $19 billion ad fraud problem, and want to turn that money towards supporting meaningful causes.
5. What problem does your company plan to solve?
The current digital advertising landscape is facing challenges and scrutiny because of ad fraud and data privacy breach. Ad fraud occurs as a result of fake impressions created by spam bots and will cost advertisers up to $19 billion USD in 2018, representing 9% of total digital advertising spending, and is projected to rise to $22 billion USD in 2020. This means advertisers are wasting their money on ads that never reach their intended targets.
Furthermore, consumers’ increasing concern over data privacy and their mistrust of content severely dampens engagement with ads. Facebook’s recent Cambridge Analytica scandal is one example where consumer data has been sold and used without user consent. Publishers, on the other hand, are losing the interest of advertisers because they are unable to provide validated, transparent user data. Publishers are often dropped by centralized ad exchanges when their audience numbers don’t meet the criteria of the ad exchange ‘algorithms’. Through blockchain technology and AI, NOIZchain is able to solve these problems as we can provide accurate and transparent data to advertisers, publishers and consumers. Most importantly, NOIZchain users will have autonomy over their digital footprint.
6. Please walk us through the user experience of someone who would use NOIZchain.
The user experience for an advertiser, publisher and consumer will be slightly different.
Let’s say you are a consumer going to London for Christmas. While browsing WSJ.com, you see a W Hotel Cognitive Ad and it reminds you that you need to book the hotel for your trip. You engage with the Cognitive Ad and like the offer for the hotel, so you pay on the spot. While interacting with the Cognitive Ad, you’re being rewarded with NOIZ tokens and during the interaction, you can choose what personal data you wish to disclose or not to disclose.
For publishers, they will obtain the opportunity to have a better understanding of their users. It’s quite common for publishers to have to tie to a third party ad exchange network in order to manage their ad space, because advertisers prefer programmatic ad buying, which generates higher ROI. By partnering with ad exchanges, it limits your say on how you want the ad to appear and where. With NOIZchain, there is no middleman, it’s a peer-to-peer network. AI will filter out spam bots so you can get accurate data of your website traffic.
As for advertisers, your advertising experience will be streamlined. All you need is the NOIZchain dashboard. You can place advertisements, prepare and submit creative work, and monitor campaign results — all in one place. Say you are a skincare brand launching a new anti-aging line. You want to know whether your brand should target consumers in their thirties or forties. With NOIZchain, you can simply run a campaign with a sample giveaway and a free skin consultation at your retail shop. A campaign like this can give you a better idea of which age group is interested in your brand and can help you refine your overall strategy.
7. What motivated you to include social impact, accountability and community empowerment in NOIZchain’s business strategy?
Andy: Just like Howard Schultz, Founder of Starbucks once said: “Companies should not have a singular view of profitability. There needs to be a balance between commerce and social responsibility. The companies that are authentic about it will wind up as the companies that make more money.”
Kelvin: A social impact project is what initially connected Andy, Ricky and I, so incorporating social impact into NOIZchain came very natural to us.
Ricky: The three of us run our own business respectively and have children. We agree that besides profit, we want to contribute to society, help make a difference in the world, and make it a better place.
8. How big is the market you are addressing?
Ad fraud costs advertisers $19 billion USD in 2018 yearly (representing 9% of total digital advertising spending), and is expected to rise to US$22 billion in 2020. This number is expected to grow.
9. Who are the major investors behind NOIZchain?
MindWorks Ventures, Blue Block, NDN Ventures and Hotmob Ventures.
10. Where is your blockchain company registered? Which country?
Hong Kong.
11. What is your favourite blockchain that was created and why? Do you use it yourself?
Andy: Bitcoin is still my favourite and I use it. I think no matter how advanced a blockchain protocol is, if it is not widely adopted or commercialized I don’t think there is much added value.
Kelvin: Burst is my favorite blockchain project because it utilizes disk space for mining instead of a custom computer chip, which is much more environmentally friendly.
Ricky: I think an ideal blockchain has not been created yet. The closest a blockchain gets to this point is Ethereum in my opinion, just because it was the first of its kind, and its adoption right now beats everything else. I use the Ethereum blockchain to tender payments and consult local businesses in expanding their modes of payment and smart contracts based on Ethereum.
12. If you had the opportunity to meet the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, what is the one thing you would want to ask him?
Andy: Bitcoin consumes a great amount of energy. Is there a way to make it greener, yet maintain its core competence?
Kelvin: Why did you pick 21 million to be the total number of bitcoin?
Ricky: I personally think that Satoshi Nakamoto is a group of people and not one person. One of the things that blockchain technology tends to foster is an anarchist school of thought, and I would like to know if that is what ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ had in mind when writing the paper for a stateless, self-governing technology.
For more details on NOIZchain, you can read through their whitepaper here. And to learn more about their news and updates, stay in touch by checking out their social media platforms!
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/noizchain/
Telegram: https://t.me/noizchainenglish
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NOIZchain
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NOIZchain
