
As more and more blockchain solutions start to emerge, it becomes increasingly difficult to identify which projects will be a success and which ones a failure. Furthermore, blockchain encompasses several different fields including cryptography, economics, philosophy and finance. Understanding the technology and its implications is a very complex task, therefore, trust in the team is inevitable even for the most technical amongst us.
This paper will take a different approach to answer the question — will Ocean Protocol be a success in the near future?
It aims to do this by scrutinising the major stakeholders and asking the following questions — who are they, what have they done (career), do they have the right expertise and knowledge to take on a complex project like Ocean?
The answers to the questions posed above, will provide another data point in your fundamental analysis toolbox to help make an unbiased, objective decision to the success of this project.
Acronyms used:


The following section will focus on the three major stakeholders responsible for driving Ocean Protocol. Behind the scenes, the team is composed of 40+ employees including developers, researchers, architects, marketing, etc and 35 advisors around the globe. Furthermore, they are also actively recruiting to fill new roles.
Dr. Trent McConaghy
Dr. McConaghy has 20 years of machine learning, data visualisation and user experience. He has written two books on machine learning, creativity and circuit design and has authored or co-authored more than 40 papers and patents.
Dr. McConaghy began his career in AI working for the Canadian National Defense. Though still an undergraduate, he co-authored a paper titled “Genetic Programming with Least Squares for Fast, Precise Modeling of Polynomial Time Series”. Trent then entered the world of computer chip design, where he helped co-found “Analog Design Automation” (ADA) in 1999 with 6 other engineers. The company received a total of $17 million in funding before being acquired by Synopsys Inc in 2004.
Dr. McConaghy then went on to start his second company called “Solido Design Automation” (SDA) which received $10.2 million in funding before being acquired by Siemens for an undisclosed figure. Whilst working at SDA, he co-authored a book called “Variation-Aware Design of Custom Integrated Circuits: A Hands-on Field Guide”. Solido software is used for most modern chip designs today.
Dr. McConaghy stepped foot into the world of blockchain by starting a company called “Ascribe” with his wife Dr. Masha McConaghy (phD Arts) and Bruce Pon. As the number of users on Ascribe grew, there was a need to scale operations. Therefore, the team open-sourced “Ascribe” and shifted their focus on the next start-up called BigChainDB. This company has raised $5.4 million in funding and is helping with scaling on Ocean Protocol.
Ascribe was the first company to put IP on the blockchain. Vitalik Buterin worked as a contractor for Ascribe before he went onto create Ethereum.
Bruce Pon
Bruce Pon has an Advanced Executive Certificate from MIT Sloan and a B.Sc in Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan. Bruce is a Master Practitioner of NLP, speaks English and German and has studied French, Russian and Chinese.
Bruce has been around the finance, automotive and IT industry for 20+ years. He was a co-founder of Avantalion International Consulting. Partnering with clients such as as Daimler, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Jaguar-Land Rover, and D’Ieterenm, Bruce helped build 18 banks and financial services in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Prior to this, Bruce worked as a project manager at Daimler AG and a consultant at Accenture. As mentioned above, Bruce was one of the founding members of Ascribe, BigChainDB and recently, Ocean Protocol. He also is an advisor/investor in six start ups.
Razvan Olteanu
Razvan Olteanu has been in business and technology for 20+ years. Razvan started his first company at 18 years old called “Computer Universal Business”. With no initial funding, he was able to grow this company from 0 to 50 employees and $700k Eur in revenue.
Razvan then went to work for IBM as a Software Consultant. Here, he wore many hats including Project Manager, Software Developer, Quality Assurance Manager and Trainer. From 2006 to 2016, Razvan worked for Romsys — initially starting out as a Solution Architect then Chief Development Officer and finally the CEO.
After a successful career at Romsys, Razvan returned to entrepreneurship as a Managing Partner at Smart Control SRL. He was responsible for transforming a start-up into a multi-national operation, with deep competencies in the latest technologies, both enterprise and open source. By unlocking new ways of working, new business models and new revenue streams, he achieved 30% YOY growth 3 years in a row.
Razvan holds an Executive MBA from Vienna University of Economics and Business / Carlson School of Management (2012). He is a graduate of L’École supérieure d’électricité — Supélec, Paris (2007) with a major in Computer Science and he also earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Polytechnic University Bucharest (2007).
A Romanian native, Razvan is fluent in English, German and French.
Conclusion
Trent with his technical expertise in AI and blockchain along with Bruce and Razvan with their expertise in running a business, have set themselves an audacious goal — but one that is necessary, if we are to move humanity forward. Having closely scrutinised the three figureheads of Ocean, there is strong reason to believe that the Ocean protocol will be a success. This is evidenced by the fact that the team has already created a working product and have formed strong partnerships with Toyota, MOBI, SingularityNET, Singapore Government, Roche and many others (more on this in the next article).
