TATAU.io Co-Founder & CEO Andrew Fraser in the Shark Tank in Singapore
Tatau CEO Andrew Fraser was a participant in a panel session hosted by iCapital during a VIP event at Bayswater Kitchen, chaired by Ran NeuNer of CNBC. The panel included a number of prominent investors and experts in the blockchain space, as well as two leading companies being showcased. During a Shark Tank-style Q&A session about Tatau, Andrew was asked a number of interesting questions from panelists:
Albert Chang, VP at Kenetic Capital, asked about Tatau’s go-to-market strategy — the defining difference in a world where blockchain companies now have to execute business plans in addition to just writing white papers. Fraser outlined the fact that Tatau, despite being built on a high-tech foundation, actually follows a very traditional sales cycle that has been tried and tested. The differentiation point is in the ROI, derived by more cost-effective pricing through innovation of the delivery model, combined with a more flexible and user-centric experience.
Another area of interest, particularly from VC and blockchain-expert Hongzhuang Lim, CEO of XSQ, was around Tatau’s early customer and suppliers. Product traction is becoming increasingly important in the maturing blockchain investment space; traditional VC diligence techniques are being increasingly applied, and real customers are a key proof point. Although unable to give away too much due to confidentiality agreements, Fraser talked about MOUs in place or underway with major suppliers (large-scale crypto mining operations and high-performance computing datacenters), AI customers, as well as global distribution partners. Over the next few weeks, Tatau will begin to make announcements about some of these and it will become clear that Tatau is filling a very real industry-demand.
Yaniv Feldman, CEO of One Alpha, part of First Digital Assets Group, asked a fundamental and important question as to why the Tatau platform needed to be built on blockchain, and not just offer distributed compute without the complication of using blockchain technology and producing a token. The answer lies in economics and transaction volumes, according to Fraser. Although it might be viable to accept payment from customers in fiat currency, the distribution of micropayments to hundreds or thousands of suppliers, for millions of transactions across a global network requires a technology like blockchain to handle them. Furthermore, in order to remove transaction costs (i.e. mining fees paid in ‘gas’) as a part of the equation, the Tatau token is used.
