What makes a Web3 expert? Is it decades of experience in the industry? Is it a thorough knowledge of financial markets? What about a deep technical knowledge of how dApps work under the hood?
The truth is that Web3 is constantly evolving and there’s no such thing as a “Web3 background”; even someone in the space since 2015 might not understand the next wave of innovation.
Web3 people are a motley crew to say the least. And so are our Outliers. That’s because being an industry leader requires staying ahead of the curve. And we wouldn’t be the innovative, forward-thinking company that we are if it weren’t for our staff’s diverse professional backgrounds.
Let’s have a quick look at the Web3 journey of Katie Lundie, a seasoned Program Manager who is running our upcoming Real World Assets accelerator program.
Bringing together art, finance, and technology
Katie’s background in arts and culture has given her a unique foray into the Web3 space and its blend of arts, finance, and technology. After studying Chinese and History of Art at university, Katie quickly became one of the UK’s renowned experts on Chinese antiques. In the eight years that she was at Christie’s, both as an auctioneer and a fine art specialist, she quickly gained an appreciation and thorough understanding of the luxury market, something she would go on to apply while working on the FARFETCH Dream Assembly Base Camp.
Keen to take on the world of technology, Katie went down the NFT rabbit hole in 2021. With large auction houses like Christie’s selling NFT’s for tens of millions, Katie wanted to understand the core of the technology and what it could be applied to. She was especially interested in how to digitally represent the value of Real World Assets (RWAs).
That’s when she joined Bond180 (now Encloud), an Outlier Ventures Portfolio company that was part of our second ever Base Camp program in 2020.The company was helping investment businesses better access, structure, and invest in debt via their data-driven matching engine powered by DLT. At the time, they were looking to pivot their tech to alternative industries and Katie was brought on to explore how they could be applicable to arts & culture. She secured a paid residency with the National Gallery to work on a research report detailing how blockchain technology could improve digital asset management infrastructure across the museum sector. Eventually, she ended up leading the fundraising initiatives for Bond180’s sister company – 180Protocol. Sadly timing wasn’t in their favor as the bear run set in. Although the startup didn’t onboard a billion users, it was an early innovator, laying the groundwork for the RWA boom that is beginning to take shape.
More importantly, though, working at an innovative startup gave Katie a deep appreciation for the energy and excitement of working with startups and their founders; something which she loves doing every day as part of her role at Outlier.
The time is now
Given her experience in the worlds of arts and culture and finance, it’s especially fitting that Katie will be leading our upcoming Real World Assets Base Camp, working with the best startups bringing the real world on chain.
“I think in terms of RWAs, things are really different now,” Katie explains. “One reason is that we’ve gone through a bear run and there’s been some big advancements in infrastructural technology…And finally, there’s just more of an acceptance of institutions that are willing to get involved in the conversation.” Simply put: the time is now, and we would encourage all founders building in the RWA space to get in touch to learn more about our program.
<Read our thesis on Real World Assets>
“I’m really excited to be leading this program and I think it fits quite nicely with my historical experience.”
“Don’t burn any bridges”
Through multiple market cycles, Katie loves transmitting her expertise to help founders develop great products. For founders just starting out, Katie looks forward to working with founders throughout and beyond the program.
“My advice to founders is don’t burn any bridges. You never know what a particular relationship might bring to the table at any point in time.”
We often say that “we are still early”. That means that anyone you meet in the space today can define your career. Be it a partnership, an investment, or an accelerator, we’re all here to help each other thrive. Us Web3 people are an eclectic bunch; we come from all different professional backgrounds drawn to and inspired by the transformative power of this emerging technology.
If you’re a founder, investor, or corporation looking to ride the wave with us, learn more about how we can work together at outlierventures.io/base-camp/
