DAO Snippets: Signaling Blockchain — an interview with Mark Fitzgibbon

In the previous installment of this series, we met Ugur Mersinlioglu, leader of the dAPI team. With a background in IT, Ugur began his Web3 career as a business developer at API3 and gradually shouldered more responsibilities, leading to the establishment of his own team integral to the project’s development. Today, we are interviewing another core contributor within the API3 DAO. Meet Mark Fitzgibbon, member of the Operations Team and Director of the API3 Foundation, who engaged in various business environments across the globe before eventually finding his way into Web3.

Marcus:
Hello Mark. Thank you for joining me for the interview today. Before we get started, please tell us a little bit about your background.

Mark:
Thanks, Marcus. I have a background of nine years in the military, where I served as a signal intelligence and electronic warfare officer. Throughout this period, I was deployed in North Ireland and Germany. My responsibilities encompassed training people in basic signals protocol and encoding, as well as monitoring comms and running the comms aspect of command and control in an operational battlespace. After my service, I made a deliberate shift into academia, where I pursued my Master’s degree in Propaganda Theory. I also started a PhD thesis, but the funding was lost early on, so I was unable to continue. I eventually got occupied in a different field and pursued a role as technical support in an ISP company. After three months, I was headhunted by what later became UUNET and WorldCom. Initially, it went very well for me, but after the Dot-com bubble burst, I had to find a new occupation. Thus, I pursued my Cisco engineering certifications and delved into project management and network engineering. I was pretty successful, with contracts spanning about eight countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Hungary, and the Netherlands.

Marcus:
You have been around a lot.

Mark:
Yes, I have. Before I had to undergo major surgeries due to health complications, I also worked as a diving instructor. It did not pay well, but it was the best job I ever had. You can dive the same place a hundred times at different times of the day, and every time you do, it is a unique experience. This is the great thing about it. Combined with all the equipment and how alien the environment is, diving into a different world is the closest thing to becoming an astronaut.

Marcus:
That is a really good analogy. In light of all these adventures, when did you begin diving into Web3?

Mark:
It was in 2017 when I first discovered Bitcoin during my research about the dark web. After reading the whitepaper, it just clicked, and I wanted to learn more about blockchain. Subsequently, I became proactive and engaged on Twitter, where I joined a research-oriented blockchain Discord group through a contest. It was a contest to join the research group. When I joined, I began analyzing whitepapers and put out reports for the group to read. Eventually, I also tried my luck with trading but came to the realization that I am terrible at it.

Marcus:
Oh, I feel you. Where did you take it from here?

Mark:
Well, I lost quite a bit of money, so I was thinking about ways to earn it back. Through my involvement in the Discord group, I eventually found work by doing technical and economic research for various venture capital entities and engaging in calls with projects looking for fundraising. I also became the Head of Research for a VC firm. It did not pay well, but it was a decent short-term solution to recover some of my losses. My aim was to acquire a more fulfilling employment opportunity in the long run by finding a way into a Web3 project through the insights gained from my research for the VC firms. If you think about it, it is quite a funny story that my attempt to recover some of my trading losses kicked off the whole process of trying to find employment in the Web3 space, which ultimately brought me here.

Marcus:
That is indeed a funny plot twist. How did you end up joining API3?

Mark:
Eventually, one of the VCs connected me with members of API3, who were part of the same research Discord group I was in. After researching it, I pitched it to the VC firm I worked for and organized the call with API3. As I realized that API3 is building something unique, I was no longer interested in being on the other side of the table. One thing led to another, and I eventually joined API3 and left my previous job behind.

Marcus:
Interesting transition. What were your responsibilities when you started at API3?

Mark:
My role encompassed a wide range of responsibilities. I oversaw day-to-day operations and helped re some partnership acquisition, joining EEA, helping find and recruit contributors, and establishing strategic partnerships that aligned with the project’s vision and objectives. A significant part of my work was implementing a robust internal system to streamline our workflows effectively. Additionally, I was tasked with ensuring compliance with GDPR regulations.

Marcus:
Were you immediately able to apply any of your business experience and knowledge?

Mark:
Yes. My experience garnered from diverse roles across various global locations enabled me to manage human relationships based on a deep comprehension of human nature. It is a soft skill that develops through practical experience and is not acquired solely through theoretical learning. In Web3, you work with incredibly smart and talented people, but they often lack this crucial experience, mainly developing in a formal environment. This notion holds true for business management as well. Generally, the most effective approach to business management entails prolonged engagement, especially in various environments, rather than exclusively pursuing an MBA. While the primary job responsibilities may remain consistent worldwide, there exist variations in professional dynamics, including communication strategies, priorities, and expectations, across different regions. This requires adopting different advisory methods to fit each distinct cultural setting. My complex understanding of the intricacies of human nature in various cultural settings and business environments is a skill that I brought to the table when I began my work at API3.

Marcus:
That is a very valuable skill set. What does your typical workday look like right now?

Mark:
I reconcile fiat payments with service providers, conduct the annual GDPR reports, and address any issues with Google services. Additionally, I also sign anything that requires the foundation’s legal signature. This responsibility requires someone with specific qualifications related to where you are from, where you live, and your level of experience and knowledge. When it comes to systems, pretty much everything is automated now. My level of responsibility remained the same, but the time demand is different now. This might change once all products are live again, though.

Marcus:
Given all the responsibilities, what were the most significant challenges when you began working at API3?

Mark:
Ramping up my knowledge and working with a new family. I had to learn fast, plus everything had to be built from scratch regarding internal workflows and systems. This was quite intimidating, and it took some time for me to get a handle on it. Additionally, establishing my mindset as part of a business team in a different area of IT took a while, and it was hard. After all, being so long away from that environment, you get a bit of impostor syndrome, which is not fun. But in the end, I overcame this.

Marcus:
Would you be interested in pursuing a more technical role?

Mark:
In terms of personal satisfaction, yes. However, in terms of practicality and what is best at my age, I would have to say no. My needs differ significantly from other team members regarding career progression and finances because I am much older. I do not have decades left to learn everything and reach my financial goals simultaneously. Therefore, I go for certain types of roles that suit my age based on my experience and skills, and that also allows me to find a healthy balance between my professional responsibilities and personal pursuits. Anyone that works with the development team knows that their work is incredibly time intensive, and although I can code Solidity and easily write and deploy a contract, it is not my core skill set. I am enthusiastic about achieving personal success, but pursuing a more technical role would not align with my current life stage and objectives.

Marcus:
That is very reasonable. Any recommendations for people who would like to find a job in Web3?

Mark:
Take a good look at what you can offer now. Whether it is content creation, marketing, operations, system administration or other skills. Think about what you can bring to the table right away, and have the self-drive to educate yourself on blockchain to have a profound understanding thereof. For instance, as a system administrator, you can quickly learn how to code Solidity because you typically have experience with Linux and Unix. Generally, I recommend joining a project if you have the opportunity and contributing in any way you can at that time and then doing the necessary networking to eventually take on a more preferable role. It’s comparable to enrolling in a university for a degree with the intention of gaining admission first so that you can eventually change course and delve into your favorite subject. Many people do it, and it’s a legitimate approach. To sum it up: Take stock of what you can offer, do the necessary research to learn the basics of blockchain technology, and engage in networking to take on roles you are most interested in. The best places to network are relevant media and platforms, such as Twitter, Discord, and Stack Overflow. If you are a developer, GitHub is a great place to get engaged as well.

Marcus:
Thank you for your valuable input. Many contributors to the API3 DAO have been regular community members that took the opportunity to join and participate, and eventually took on more responsibilities over time as they gained more experience and knowledge. Contributing in any way or form and putting your name out there can get you very far, and this is something I keep repeating in this series.

Mark:
Absolutely. Networking is crucial to find your way into projects.

Marcus:
Last question: What is your future vision for API3?

Mark:
For this year, the focus lies on the product rollout, particularly the live deployment to phase 4. In the long run, I predict that API3 will establish a dominant position in the oracle space by surpassing the offerings of prevalent oracle solutions. By its design, API3 can provide services on blockchain networks where other oracles can’t due to technical and cost implications. For instance, providing services for real-world assets, such as commodities, equities, perpetual contracts, and various other asset types, including bonds and forex. I am also looking forward to many new exciting projects that build off API3, and that might get funding through the DAO and the usual funding channels. In my opinion, projects with good use cases deserve financial support to get going, and the API3 DAO could support such initiatives.

Marcus:
We are at the end of our interview. Thank you so much for sharing your insights with our community.

Mark:
Of course, thank you for the interview.

Web3 offers people, regardless of their background, the opportunity to participate. Anyone with the necessary dedication and the drive to learn independently in this rapidly growing space can participate and contribute value.

Join the API3 Community and begin your own Web3 adventure.