Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?
My name is Arran Stewart and I’m the Co-Founder of Job.com here in the US. I was born in the UK, however, in a working-class town called Luton — about 20 miles north of London. I’m married and we have five children. There are a number of things that I am passionate about — the first one being that my life’s work is to help as many people as I can feed their families and pay their bills. The second is technology — I love emerging tech and the potential it has for good and to improve the quality of all of our lives. Third and final, I am a huge car guy and have had a deep love of cars for the last 30 years.
Can you tell us the story of how you got first involved in blockchain and the cryptocurrency industry?
I have known and dabbled in cryptocurrency since 2012. However, at the time, if I’m honest, I thought that it was more of a gimmick, rather than something I thought would actually take off. Several close friends starting to collect Bitcoin eventually brought it more onto my radar. Then, in 2017, I truly jumped onboard and became very excited about all the possibilities of crypto including all of the various benefits that its underlying technology blockchain could offer to various industry silos as well as the practical applications.
Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?
My current business partner, Co-Founder of Job.com, Paul Sloyan. I was fortunate that I had some decent success at a young age in my career, but when I joined Paul in 2011 to build a business that would transform the recruitment industry, he had significantly more experience and wisdom than I did. Over the years he has helped craft my abilities as a businessperson, a father, and a husband — not to mention my general development. All of which has given me a “success” gene — I believe success only happens if you manage your entire life with balance and control, which is something that Paul taught me.
Can you share a story of a time when things went south for you? What kept you going and helped you to overcome those times?
After I finished college, I went to work for a publicly traded recruitment company in central London called SThree. That company owned a job board called The IT Job Board. I worked there for only a very short period of time since I quickly realized how much money they were making and with my decent level of technical knowledge thought I could replicate what they were doing, but better.
I handed in my notice and left the company to set up my own job board, called Jobsfromblue. I took out business loans, personal loans, money from friends and family. All in all, at a very young age, I was in hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of debt from getting this business off the ground — and it failed miserably. At the time, it was very scary and was a huge financial as well as emotional set back. My own arrogance and naivety though were the reason I kept going and worked my way out of the mess I had put myself into. Today, I look back at that mess fondly — it was a baptism of fire in lessons learned — and I’m glad I went through it since it helped shape who I am today.
In your experience, what are the top strategies that blockchain companies should consider to have a stronger competitive edge?
Attempt to make products and services that make blockchain technology accessible and less foreign to the masses. We need true mass adoption of this technology and cryptocurrency if it’s to have a hope of becoming household prominent. Accessibility is the key to success here and currently it sometimes feels like certain blockchain services are simply not user friendly enough and too complex for the majority of people (or anyone really who is not extremely tech literate).
What are the 3 things that most excite you about the blockchain industry in general? Why?
- I’m excited about the democratization of data and how crypto will eventually become a currency that will help general internet users earn money from their own data. When you look back 25 years, the internet and dot-com companies gave us websites in return for our data and the monetization that comes with that. Today, Gen Z and Gen X will be far too aware of this and will demand a level of participation reward for providing that asset to a platform. This is where crypto and blockchain will come in, to support the process of paying people for their asset — which is their data.
- I’m also excited about a decentralized banking system. While I’m not for completely removing the establishment, I am for removing some of the power away from an unelected power that has such an influence over our lives and finances (like the banking system currently does).
- Lastly, I’m excited about transparent, secure, and real time voting for who is in power. With all the technology we have, the voting system in the US (and globally) is still archaic, which could all too easily be manipulated or corrupted. Blockchain is an irrefutable ledger, and we can use this technology to provide everyone with a key, which would allow them to vote and that be full and final. There would be no concerns about voter fraud or allegations of ballots being submitted by people who were deceased.
What are the 3 things that worry you about the blockchain industry? Why?
- Corruption of wallets. There have been many high-profile crypto heists, which provides a negative connotation for the masses. This sort of news in the mainstream media puts a lot of people off from ever considering using or even being associated with crypto.
- Pump and dump. There has been manipulation through pumping and dumping of blockchain platform finance raising, including some of the historic ICO’s in the past. These sort of wild west financial manipulations offer nothing to convince mainstream users (and regulators) that blockchain is anything more than a facilitator for illegal activity. We need to eradicate as many of the bad actors as possible.
- Major government intervention. It’s no secret that China is not happy about cryptocurrencies and the underlying technology blockchain that powers it. If all global powers were to crack down heavily with regulation, it could stifle innovation, progress, and even potentially remove the point of decentralization.
Can you please share “5 Things That Can Be Done To Improve and Reform The Cryptocurrency Industry”? If you can please share a story or example for each.
1. Focus more on stable coins. We need to bring a level of stability to the volatility that current crypto has. Its instability has been an incredible way of raising awareness for the crypto market and has been instrumental in attracting the few early adopters who are looking to chase the goldrush. But to truly unlock the power of DeFi and take the full global advantage of this technology, we must make it stable enough that someone could buy a Big Mac with it.
2. The carbon footprint of crypto is a problem. This is especially true with Bitcoin and is something that I personally believe puts an eventual shelf life on Bitcoin — it’s impractical for day to day purchases. There needs to be a new master coin that is built with a “green” protocol that is scalable, stable, and doesn’t cost the planet.
3. Regulating coin raises. I can almost hear the booing now from the community for this, but we simply cannot allow this method of fundraising to continue. Especially with so many grey areas that allow others to quite literally steal another person’s digital assets. The most famous regulator intervention of a coin raise must have been for Telegram, where they were forced to pay back $1.2 billion of their raise along with an $18.5 million fine. I agree with this, if there is illegal activity, it should be stopped and it should be punished.
4. A greater regulation over exchanges. There have been many times where exchanges have literally gone down when there has been a volatility rush towards buying certain coins — Binance is a great example of this. It feels like there could be foul play at hand and offshore entities like exchanges should be held accountable. Again, I understand that many will state this is defeating the purpose of decentralization, but there have to be some rules at play as well as consequences if those are not followed. Otherwise, the general masses will never adopt it out of the fear of being ripped off.
5. Make the explanation of how crypto works and the technology behind it, far more accessible. This will help those who are not from that world, to understand, embrace, and adopt it. At the moment, the industry is so tech led that it feels far away from the average consumer, which is a real problem — especially since people naturally fear what they don’t understand.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share a story?
As mentioned earlier, my job is to create technology and platforms that make it easier for people to find employment and opportunity. I have been doing this my whole career and I pride myself on helping as many people as I can both feed their families and pay their bills. As the Chief Visionary Officer of Job.com, that is always my vision and goal.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“He who dares.” I have always dared to be different and try new things — despite the naysayers, those that wish to criticize and relish in hoping you fail. But I’m grateful to them as it provides me with further motivation. My intentions have always been pure, and I look to provide a good life for my family while also monetizing from a business that actually helps people, like Job.com does.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can follow me on Nasdaq, the Job.com Blog, or Twitter.
Interviewer: Tyler Gallagher
Interviewee: Arran Stewart, CVO and Co-founder of Job.com
Original article found here