Blockchain Introduction and Investment Themes

Can you believe someone can raise $32 billion in 60 seconds with just a Blockchain white paper and without a product out in market? Yes it can happen! Blockchain is disrupting the way in how we transact with each other. This smart, trusted, decentralised and encrypted network of computing blocks is poised to be the next disruptive wave in digital business. Blockchain provides new infrastructure to build next wave innovative applications beyond Cryptocurrencies which can have meaningful impact on people and society as whole.

In partnership with Target, Sunnyvale, Women in Product hosted an event on blockchain introduction and its investment trends on May 10th. Audience got an overview of blockchain, existing/future applications, and some recent investment trends. Additionally, the barriers in adoption to blockchain technology were also examined.

Our speakers consisted of product leaders in the tech industry including: TT Ramgopal, Global Head of Android Partnership Engineering, Google; Senia Maymin, Founder and CEO, Silicon Valley Change Executive Coaching; Aarthi Srinivasan, Director of Product Management, Personalisation / Machine Learning / Blockchain, Target; Satyajit Gupte, Lead Data Scientist, Target.

The evening started with a lightning talk from TT Ramgopal on innovation and learnings from 11 years at Google in different roles. He shared nuggets of wisdom and experiences from Google and his day to day work experience at Google. Following his talk, Senia Maymin conducted a small workshop and discussion on ‘How to be more brave’. These two lightning talks were followed by a session on Blockchain.

Here are my key takeaways from the session.

Lightning talk from TT Ramgopal

• Be a firestarter not a firefighter
• Think 10x not 10% e.g Google innovation of Loons, renewable energy
• Default to open- share it to all- Android open source platform and it led to exponential growth of platform because developers were creating applications which increased the overall platform value
• Google’s approach to innovation- We didn’t invent all the ideas e.g. Google’s OKR approach was taken up from Intel, who invented it
• Fail fast and move ahead after doing vigorous post mortem and taking learnings forward
• Innovation can’t be ordained. However, you can create an environment where it will evolve organically.
• Focus on the user and other things will fall in place

Lightning talk from Senia Maymin- How to be more brave?

• Start with small things and show bravery in those.
• Schedule meeting with yourself at 3 pm everyday and ask yourself can I be more brave now?
• What is the the one thing you are most afraid of? List down that one thing and you can conquer that with practice. Practice and practice till you are no longer afraid of it.

Senia Maymin, PhD, MAPP, MBA, leads Silicon Valley Change Executive Coaching, a global executive coaching network for premiere companies focused on their highest performers. She is the co-author of Profit from the Positive: Proven Leadership Strategies to Boost Productivity and Transform Your Business.

Blockchain Introduction, Type and platforms

What is Blockchain?

• A Blockchain is a growing list of digital records or blocks that are secured and linked. It’s a digital ledger in which transactions are validated by a decentralised network of nodes(computers), chain linked and recorded chronologically.

Each block contains:

• Link to previous block
• Timestamp
• Data
• Blockchain was first coined by Satoshi Nakamoto(Bitcoin Paper). It’s revolutionary because it creates a decentralised system and eliminates the intermediaries

Types of Blockchain

There are two types of blockchain-

• Permissioned: Restricted actors can validate block. Various methods of consensus are used e.g. Byzantine fault tolerance
• Permissionless: Anyone can participate or validate block. Common validation method proof of work

Example: Blockchain platforms

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Hyperledger
• R3 CORDA

Barriers in Adoption of Blockchain

• Cryptocurrency is muddying waters of the blockchain technology
• Overvalued- Too many ICOs without real product
• Lack of platform standardisation and changing protocols using forks
• Lack of regulation & unproven value
• Learning curve/ Migration efforts

A lot of VC money is being pumped into the Blockchain space. $4 Billion funding has already happened and it is expected to grow by $20 Billion by 2024.

Applications of Blockchain

• Unified User Identity
• Regulatory compliance
• Decentralised compute and storage
• Lending platforms and cryptocurrencies
• AI & iOT applications
• Supply Chain

What is Bitcoin ming and what are steps in Bitcoin Protocol?

Bitcoin mining is the process by which transactions are verified and added to the public ledger, known as the blockchain. Bitcoin mining is also the means through which new bitcoin are released.

Steps involved:

• Start, broadcast new transaction
• Verification: User Signature & Funds
• Proof of work: Prevent double spending
• Mining: Earn bitcoin rewards
• Recheck transactions & start new block

Interesting facts about Bitcoin:

• Odds of finding solution when mining bitcoin: 1 in 2⁷². Grains of sand on earth are estimated to be 2⁶⁰. So it’s equivalent to finding one grain which will fit in as solution.
• 5 million trillion mining per second can get you bitcoin in 40 minutes. So don’t try Bitcoin mining at home.
• BTC.com owns 25% Bitcoins and Antpool owns 17%.
• It takes around 5 Giga Watts to mine one bitcoin

Women in Product® is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing diversity and inclusion in product management. Founded by senior women product leaders in Silicon Valley, Women in Product’s mission is to educate, empower, and create a global community of women product managers to build impactful products at scale. Join our community: http://www.womenpm.org/join/