Interview with Featured Pledgecamp Advisor: Hwang Sung Jae, CEO & Co-Founder of Foundation X

Pledgecamp has a number of notable advisors who have helped scale organizations across the media, software, and blockchain markets. Here is our introduction and testimonial video of the Pledgecamp advisor, Sungjae Hwang, PhD — Founder of FoundationX (blockchain accelerator) and former serial entrepreneur (Fluently Inc. and Pium Lab Inc.).

[Private video removed by request by the Korean government out of respect for his new public position.]

Below is the transcript from the video above:

Hi. Nice to meet you. My name is Hwang Sung Jae from Foundation X. Foundation X is a platform that trains and invests in blockchain startups. It is a subsidiary of Future Play. Kickstarter is a super banker. And Kickstarter has been backing more than 300 projects for the last three years, whereas Indiegogo backed hundreds. Because I am an investor, I tend to invest in new values before others do. Such experience is what gets me to contribute to developing new values. That is why I make an effort to put more time and money into such crowdfunding projects to make investments. First, Podo tried to get their idea across by using the Kickstart program. By receiving investment, then proceeding with delivery but Kickstarter and other centralized platforms have many issues.

First is the issue of trust.

What I mean by ‘trust’ is when a user starts backing and investing, the user is not guaranteed the delivery of the product but it is simply an investment. So, if there is something wrong with the product or the process, there are cases when the user may not receive the product. Therefore, there were a great number of cases when the users end up investing and not receiving the product in return.

Second is participation.

Therefore, before there was blockchain, and only Kickstarter and Indiegogo was around it was a one-way platform. So, even when there were various products introduced in the centralized server there was no way to contribute to this product but by way of investment from the client’s perspective. However, when we make use of the blockchain technology, I can advertise on behalf of the blockchain technology and receive a reasonable amount of token in return. Or the user may offer to contribute to the project by making a level-headed judgment or offer my own idea to be adapted to the project. Therefore, there are two initiatives. One is trust, and the other is participation by the users. These two initiatives are what is key to serving crowdfunding based on blockchain technology.

Pledgecamp is a startup that has dug into the loopholes of the former technology, and it seems like a democratized platform with high utility. I trust that it should serve such a purpose. The biggest differentiation point would be that it is founded on blockchain technology.

There are two positive outcomes achieved by using this technology.

First is decentralization. Decentralization is when the middleman is capable of granting authority and changing the framework in exchange of a fee.

Second, it encourages the participation of the users by structuring ‘token economy’. For example, Kickstarter and Indiegogo in the past made possible for contribution only if I had assets to invest.

However, if this token economy settles in, especially based on the various features designed in the Pledgecamp, I may receive a token of my share for introducing this project to another person. This platform allows for a chance to earn tokens for offering my ideas and receiving tokens when my ideas are implemented. That is what makes this technology so different from others. It allows for user participation.

I believe that blockchain is built on three factors. One is technology. It is the blockchain technology itself. Second is an asset. And the third is people. An entrepreneur. I believe that Podo set-up with embedding element of people with such entrepreneurship. The greatest value of Podo is its execution ability. We have witnessed what Podo has executed for the last five years.

They designed the concept of the actual product, put this product out in the market, then reflected the feedback received from the market. Such virtuous circulation has been established which is why I believe that it will serve its distinctive function within the new ecosystem built upon the use of blockchain.

Second, after going through Quickstart about four times, we have personally experienced how such a Quickstart Platform, or crowdsourcing platform, is understood by the users as well as the problems therein. That is why we believe we have a good understanding of the structure and the issues of the crowdfunding system and structure.

Based on such a foundation, we trust that new innovations and try-outs will be experimented using this blockchain technology. Because blockchain market is so hot, many startups who are not yet ready jump into the market. That is why investors, including myself, need to focus on asking the key question, why blockchain? What is their answer to this question?

The business model they have now, does it reflect the technical values of blockchain well? I think this question should be addressed to them very seriously. And we only invest and work with the companies that provide sufficient answer to this question. One of the greatest merits of Pledgecamp is its culture. Using the blockchain technology, it connects the inventors and consumers. Such a great innovation. And this connection is not just binary.

For example, in a binary connection, you either invest or do not invest in a product. Or you either purchase or do not purchase a product. In a binary environment, actions with clarity but analogic nature are possible. Here, I can invest but my money will only reach you once I see your progress. Or, I may be able to invest with less money if I advertise this project in various places.

If this project does not work out well, the money that I had invested can be protected by way of insurance. Such various scenarios are feasible. Such scenarios may seem innovative now, but with such innovations and new try-outs, it builds on a culture where users participate more.

We decide on our blockchain investment based on three pillars. One is whether it has the blockchain technology. We need to see that there are various assets that could make use of technology.

Second, is blockchain technology a necessity for the business model pursued by them? There are many cases where it is not a necessity, but they use it because blockchain is the new hot keyword. That is why we need to check to make sure we avoid such cases.

Last, is the people. Are the members of this team capable of utilizing the two factors listed above? Can they prove it? These three pillars are what I use as important standards in judging whether to invest in this particular startup blockchain or not. I invested in Pledgecamp because it fulfilled all three of these standards. This is what I can tell you.

Learn more about Pledgecamp’s other advisors by watching our YouTube video interviews and/or reading this blog post introducing them.

More about Pledgecamp

• Join our channel on Telegram
• Read our Whitepaper
• Follow us on Twitter
• Find us on Facebook
• Subscribe to our subreddit