Building the Future — Interview w/ Travis Walker, Co-Founder & CMO of ARK.io
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David Gil speaks with Travis Walker (@dontminedotcom), the co-founder and CMO of ARK. ARK is arguably one of the most ambitious tech projects being worked on currently. They discuss many things, including how to compete with multi-billion dollar companies like Google & Facebook, what he looks for when hiring new people for his team, how his team is able to work remotely rather than being based in Silicon Valley or some other tech hub, why Ark chose to go with DPoS over other consensus mechanisms (don’t worry if you’re not sure what that means, we’ll explain it) and much, much more.
Time Stamps:
(1:30) — Travis’ background and what led him to co-found ARK.
(2:27) — What is the goal of ARK?
(3:07) — How Travis approaches the marketing and UX of a complicated tech product.
(4:32) — With all of ARK’s major ambitions, what is the primary focus for the team currently?
(7:20) — Where Travis sees ARK being in 3–5 years.
(9:32) — Why ARK chose not to centrally locate in a tech hub like Silicon Valley and instead chose to work remote, and what challenges or advantages that choice brings.
(11:15) — The main character traits Travis looks for when hiring.
(13:17) — How a small teams of 20–30 people like ARK are able to take on multi-billion dollar behemoths like Facebook, Google, IBM, and others.
(15:20) — Why ARK chose DPoS over other consensus mechanisms like PoW or PoS.
(16:58) — Why 51 delegates is the optimum number for a DPoS system.
(18:53) — Should delegates be able to remain anonymous or should their identities be revealed?
(20:34) — What are smartbridges and how do they work?
(22:56) — With which major blockchains does ARK currently function?
(24:05) — What decentralized applications (dApps) Travis thinks have the most promise.
(25:00) — Is there potential for a blockchain based, decentralized social network?
(27:21) — Of all the places Travis has traveled in the past few years, which destination was his favorite?
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