How the crypto workforce changed in the pandemic
The pandemic has put hundreds of thousands of businesses out of action, saw others fold and decimated great swathes of the economy.
But, crypto thrived in this distributed environment. As the world clamped down and everyone was forced to decentralize, the crypto world shone.
Perhaps crypto, born of a crisis, is most at home in one. Working from home is where we all have spent most of this crisis.
Gaurang Tovekar is the CEO and co-founder at Indorse, a blockchain-powered enterprise SaaS platform. He says the company was perfectly placed to ride out the upheaval as the entire team has never been in the same physical location since the company’s inception.
“Although the pandemic accelerated remote work and the adoption of decentralization in the workforce globally on an unprecedented scale, it was already a norm within the crypto industry well before the pandemic struck.”
He points out that although the company once had offices in Singapore and London, he’d already swapped them out for hot desks in co-working spaces before the pandemic.
“That way, those of us who want to meet up once or twice a week and bond socially can still do so in the office while working from home the majority of the time.
“We have adapted our work styles and got used to this new normal in the last year and a half. I am sure that we as a company will not lease swanky office spaces any time soon, but rather provide better flexibility and other perks that make working from home more pleasurable for our team,” he concludes.
7) I'm (in)famous for playing League of Legends while on phone calls.
I'll also try to avoid restarting my RAM if possible.
One side advantage of the bean bags: if I sleep in the office, my mind stays in work mode, and I don't have to reload everything the next day. pic.twitter.com/AKlQm7wneI
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) February 4, 2021
Office as a luxury?
Stefan Rust, the former CEO of Bitcoin.com and now CEO and co-founder of Sonic Capital, is taking a different approach to remote working. He’s just signed a lease on a “swanky office” in Hong Kong – but at a substantial discount. He intends to use this real estate luxury as a perk to benefit his mostly remote workforce.
“I plan on creating large open plan spaces with sofas, TVs, screens and hot desks. I want people to be able to come in and relax, enjoy time with their co-workers, conduct meetings or just chill. The new office has to be a place where people want to come — it’s about choice,” explains Rust.
So, perhaps as pandemic restrictions wind back, an office will be seen as a luxury perk for tech and crypto companies, a central clubhouse that people use how and when they want.
Ramadan Ameen, CFO for privacy startup Panther Protocol, reflects that his international team was put in place during the pandemic in Jan. 2021. Not only has his team never all been in the one location, but the majority of the twenty staff also have never met each other in person. For Ameen, a team meetup and bonding session are significantly ahead of company offices, for now.
“The co-founders have met, but the team is spread out across North and South America, Asia and Europe. We are looking forward to a team meetup in the fall, depending on Covid restrictions. Right now, our choices are limited, so we are still deciding among a few central locations.”
Zoom zoom
For the Unique.network, a next-generation NFT chain for Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems, the lockdown was very positive. CEO Alex Mitrovic says his dispersed team put their collective heads down and just worked on the project. They entered a major Hackathon on Kusama to “build a blockchain” back in January 2020 and won. That set them up for earning more Web 3.0 Foundation grants before being accepted into the accelerator program run by Jamie Burke, CEO of Outlier Ventures, at the start of this year.
“Having an internationally dispersed team is normal for me, lockdown just made it tighter,” he says. “People, often limited to restricted locations, wanted to connect and so we made it work.
“The fact that, as lockdown proceeded, we re-entered a bull run didn’t hurt at all.”
One thing that unites remote workers in crypto is their passion and commitment to the industry Mitrovich says.
“To work remotely often requires a degree of self-motivation and discipline. These are the very hallmarks of people in this space. And everyone gets the decentralized approach — it is part of the territory.”
Mitrovich says that remote work also offers a world of options for skilled workers in the blockchain sector.
“People have more choices,” he says. “If they don’t like someone or something, they can leave and move on. They might be restricted in geography but not in choices. I like to quote Jamie when he says Outliers operates a ‘no jerk policy’ which cracks me up but which is also very cool.
“I see my team blossoming in this lockdown. They are more honest about what they can and cannot do. And it’s my role as CEO to support them. No more top-down management, it’s all about consensus.”
The etiquette of Zoom
Mitrovich feels that since the entire world first went into lockdown, people have been looking for ways to connect. Moreover, it had the feeling of democratizing the new workplace — the home — since few were still working out of boardrooms and offices.
“It didn’t matter where you were, everyone was reduced to a zoom screen,” he says.
Interestingly, he says fewer people are late for meetings anymore.
“I’ve done 1000s of video calls and everyone turns up on time – it’s like a mark of respect. No one has to travel of course and so it’s easier to be punctual,” he says.
Cultural differences in approaches to video calls have become apparent as Mitrovich raises funds and speaks with investors across Asia.
“I have never asked but Asian people tend to keep their videos off, whereas Western people leave theirs on. Maybe it’s because accessing videos from China for example requires a VPN or maybe it’s a question of poor connections.”
Apparently it's international dog day. pic.twitter.com/stzxvnMcH7
— CZ