Recap from OST LIVE with Glen Hendriks, Organizer of OSTonians — the unofficial OST Telegram community

Glen joined us on Episode 36 of OST LIVE to discuss his passion for all things OST, how he got started in blockchain, his experiences managing community as a volunteer, his thinking about Community as a Service (CaaS) and the product he built; Community-in-a Box.

In 2016, Glen began to trade derivatives and Forex and was later introduced to crypto-assets via a derivative called the Bitcoin index. Intrigued by the concept of Bitcoin, he researched blockchain-based projects and came across the Simple Token ICO in November 2017. He participated in the Simple Token ICO and became part of the OST community by joining the Telegram channel.

What makes OST stand out?

If a company wants to leverage blockchain to tokenize their application, the traditional solution is to hold an ICO, hire expensive blockchain developers, and shift focus from their product to blockchain engineering. They must be compliant with regulations and follow uncertain guidelines, too. Businesses would rather focus on building their product and grow their customer base without incurring those high costs. Mainstream adoption of blockchain-based products won’t happen until we can offer customers a user-friendly alternative to 50–60 character private keys.

Glen says OST stands out because it offers a full-service solution that allows any business to launch its own branded token economy without hiring a crew of blockchain engineers. Businesses simply purchase OST, stake it, and mint their branded tokens. OST KIT provides the complete blockchain toolkit for business to run a blockchain-powered economy on scalable OpenST utility blockchains without the need for an ICO. OST makes it simple for individuals to build a branded token economy and for customers to use branded tokens. OST has since built token rules contracts, token holder contracts, and a key management system, making it even easier for end users to use branded tokens.

The OSTonians Community

Initially called “Simple Token Traders,” the OSTonians Telegram community was started by Sid N. (@lsqsid on Telegram). The official OST Telegram channel is not a trading channel; it does not allow trading or price discussions. OSTonians is the unofficial OST Telegram community that allows free discussion about any aspect of the OST project, including trading and prices. The OSTonians channel was initially devoted exclusively to trading and price information, but over time it evolved into a product discussion channel. Glen fell naturally into the role of an admin and then a community manager of OSTonians.

Glen has managed the OSTonians community for about a year, getting conversations started and connecting people to educational content. In doing so, he has taken on many roles such as a Community Builder, a Community Manager, a Community Liaison, a Community Educator, a Community Motivator, and even a Community Brander. Community participants were called OSTonians, and Glen rebranded the channel from Simple Token Traders to OSTonians, giving it a unique identity.

Community Building

Whether it’s to increase their own value or to extract valuable information, people join communities to obtain value. A community must have valuable content, engaging discussions, educational pieces, and insights. Members need to feel connected to the brand. If value is provided, members will remain engaged in the community. Glen believes that about 90 percent of the proof-of-concept challenges that OST held came from the OSTonians community. That’s engagement.

There is also an emphasis on education. The key to bringing across something that’s unfamiliar and abstract is to repackage it into something that a newcomer can easily digest. Community managers can motivate the community to partake in community assignments, they can reach out partners, formulate AMA’s, receive commentary from company executives, and write informative articles. New members can be recruited from outside the community from such places as Twitter, Reddit, and other Telegram channels. These are some elements of community building.

However, in Glen’s opinion, community building is not just about simply getting a vast amount of members to your channel. It’s about connecting a brand with the community. It’s about Inspiring engagement, motivating & connecting people, providing resources, support, storytelling and about sharing through education and conversation.

Community as a Service (CaaS)

Glen says “any company that is starting a brand new community should outsource it.” We are seeing an accelerated trend where companies re-aggregate seperate services and products to build their buisiness. Most companies have a technology stack that is filled with specialized solutions such as Twilio, Stripe, and Amazon Web Services. Some companies are starting to outsource community, seeking products and solutions in the field of Community as a Service (CaaS).

Building a community requires soft skills. Glen believes that companies should outsource community and get CaaS in their stack so they can focus on their core products. Blockchain companies are aware that Telegram is a great way to connect with communities. However, many small and medium sized businesses and enterprises aren’t taking advantage of Telegram and even blockchain companies who do get that Telegram offers a platform for community are still left to provide and deliver every aspect of CaaS related services & skills themselves.

Glen says that Telegram “provides a platform that keeps all your data (people & conversations) in one place.” Telegram provides direct access to the community. The product that he has developed in the field of CaaS, Glen says, is “basically a stack of community oriented roles & services molten together and pored out as one product; Community-in-a Box”. This is a Telegram-centric Community as a Service (CaaS) combining Glen’s background, skills and experience & Telegram as the central hub.

Coming Up Next on OST LIVE: Sal Matteis

Sal Matteis is an entrepreneur, operator, and senior executive in technology with experience in startups and large companies. Matteis will join us to discuss his background as a VC, his experiences with blockchain, and his views on the crypto market. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel or listen to the audio anywhere you listen to podcasts, including iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. We’re also available on Alexa — simply add “OST LIVE” to your flash briefing.

About OST

OST blockchain infrastructure empowers new economies for mainstream businesses and emerging DApps. OST leads development of the OpenST Protocol, a framework for tokenizing businesses. In September 2018 OST introduced the OpenST Mosaic Protocol for running meta-blockchains to scale Ethereum applications to billions of users. OST KIT is a full-stack suite of developer tools, APIs, and SDKs for managing blockchain economies. OST partners reach more than 300 million end-users. OST has offices in Berlin, New York, Hong Kong, and Pune. OST is backed by leading institutional equity investors including Tencent, Greycroft, Vectr Ventures, and 500 Startups.