Jenil was selected as a Pioneer in February 2021 for his work on Coinvise, a platform that allows anyone to mint and exchange their own social cryptocurrency. They recently raised a $2.5M seed round led by IDEO CoLab Ventures. We sat with him to discuss the milestone and what lies ahead for the business.
Where did the idea for Coinvise begin?
In late 2020, I met Fabian Vogelstellar (creator of the ERC20 Token Standard) who was working on Lukso, crypto infrastructure for the digital fashion economy. Around the same time, we saw creators and communities like Alex Masmej and Karma DAO successfully tokenize themselves and their work.
I quickly realized how powerful crypto could be when brought to consumers. We’d capture immense value as the platform that helps any individual or network of people mint their own currency and set the foundations of their entire digital economy.
How do you see it changing the Internet?
Today’s digital economies are based around a few monolithic social media giants. Coinvise could change the internet by redirecting the power of a handful to the hands of an infinite number of individuals and communities.
We’ll do that by letting individuals and communities easily mint and exchange their own social token. More broadly: we allow people to build open economies on Etheruem that can’t be censored or taken down.
What are some major milestones you’ve hit since becoming a Pioneer?
Crypto is a wild, untouched frontier. There’s much to be built. I’m particularly proud of the technical achievements we’ve made so far.
We started with enabling the creation and exchange of tokens on Ethereum. We’ve since created infrastructure for token bounties, NFTs and airdropping. And we recently introduced a discord bot that integrates our tools right into existing communities.
Lastly, we’re open-source! We believe that anyone on the internet should be able to leverage our infrastructure and build on top of it. The creator economy has infinite possibilities and we’re opening access for developers to explore and experiment freely.
When did you last talk to a user? How’d it go?
Yesterday, I talked to one of our creators, and one of their primary concerns was educating and getting started with crypto. Their audience was new to it, and it seemed intimidating to navigate through the space. While this is a problem every platform aims to solve, we’re working towards making onboarding simple.
What’s on the immediate roadmap? Describe a specific upcoming feature you’re really excited to build.
We’re excited to introduce in-profile tipping to accept payments and subscriptions in crypto in the coming few weeks. We also plan to build a bridge between different Ethereum Layer 1 & Layer 2 chains to create a seamless user experience.
What companies do you look to for inspiration?
Showtime. They’ve built an excellent network for creators, bringing them value and a stage to showcase their NFTs.
What about your past has prepared you for this company and role?
I spent a lot of time doing research in college (as a research assistant) on Ethereum. Doing research is a lot like starting a company, you need to work on something new, learn from previous work and prove your thesis in a justifiable way.
How has Pioneer been most useful to you?
It’s been an incredible resource for getting feedback early on products that helped me iterate over what we were building.
Tips for other players in the Tournament?
Keep iterating & ask for feedback from fellow Pioneers, it helps in understanding whether it’s the right thing to build.
Working on a project? Join the Tournament.