Meet the Founders with Andrew Marquardt
Andrew Marquardt, a recent graduate of Michigan State University, started Spartan Blockchain Solutions (SBS) with his brother, Joshua Marquardt, and Sidd Chhabra after discovering students’ rising interests in blockchain and cryptocurrency. Andrew explains that SBS was originally a “club focused on cryptocurrencies and the trading side of Blockchain and Bitcoin.” After a semester of club meetings a large knowledge gap between new and experienced members became clear.
“We decided to shift the organization to focus more on Blockchain education and outreach,” says Andrew. “That’s when we decided to rebrand, and founded Spartan Blockchain Solutions.”
SBS’s rebranding entailed a refocus on education and teaching Blockchain technology to less experienced members. Additionally, a branch of SBS was created to allow experienced students to work with companies “to see if Blockchain technologies are applicable to their organizations”. Andrew also adds that this new side of SBS allows students to “work hand-in-hand with organizations like analysts or developers to develop [Blockchain] solutions for them.”
SBS’s evolution from lecture-based club meetings about Bitcoin, to educational gatherings focused on the development side of Blockchain technology, have all led to the non-profit consulting firm that exists today.
Andrew, a self-driven and goal-oriented student, shares that the SBS mindset is very much a linear approach. Andrew explains: “ hosting one small innovation competition leads to hosting a bigger conference, just like gaining one client leads to two or three different clients. It’s the understanding of, ‘what’s kind of the goal at hand?’. And then how do we 100% deliver on what we said we’re going to do leads to more opportunities in the future.”
Andrew elaborates on the SBS mindset and the firm’s emphasis on accountability. “Each person is solely responsible for their work stream, and they can accomplish their goal however they see fit.”
As a founder of SBS, Andrew was prompted with the question, “What are you most proud of?”. His passionate response focused around the 2019 inaugural Spartan Blockchain Innovation Competition.
“We didn’t even start planning for that event until about January of that year, and we hosted in March” says Andrew.
He describes the jam packed months of January, February, and March to be a sort of team building experience: “Myself, Shawn, Sid, the executive board and even the team as well, really came together and created this creative competition that brought together both sponsors as well as student teams from across the Big 10.”
