Mr. Owen Robertson
Professional: Mr. Owen Robertson
Title/Position: President of Texas Blockchain Club
Date: Monday, 2/7
Time: 5 pm - 7:30 pm.
Location: Zoom
Last Monday the 7th I had a meeting with Mr. Robertson, this meeting has been by far my most efficient, informative and interesting meeting. In this assessment, I will explain to you why I really enjoyed this interview.
However, to start, Mr. Robertson is a business student at UT Austin and the president of the Texas Blockchain Club. Unlike all other interview assessments, my purpose for this interview was not to get a mentor but to hear the opinions of college students interested in Blockchain Technology. Previous to this meeting I met with many intellectual older professionals interested in blockchain technology, and most all their opinions were very similar, therefore I wanted to test if the opinions would be different in the younger generation - to which it was.
To start, the first hour and a half was the introduction meeting for the Texas Blockchain Club. During this time I met with around 10 students at the meeting. They talked about how they worked with the creation of smart contracts and some even built their own tokens. Some attendees were so expertised that they had started their own startups and made thousands of dollars in profits. This was the case for Mr. Jaden, he started his own business, which was essentially an NFT marketplace. Curious about what made it so different from other types of NFT market I asked him just that, to which he responded with “User Experience”. He proceeds to explain how in the blockchain industry,( from De-Fi to NTF’s) users often have trouble managing their digital items, making them very dangerous. In this way, his business provided a quality user experience and in a way increased security in the market. With my previous knowledge on the lack of user experience, I completely understood how important user experience was as many companies like Bitcoin and Solana even lack in it. Additionally, this lack of quality user experience can make the process very stressful and very dangerous ( people can lose millions in one wrong click). Mr. Jaden then continue to explain what his business did, the amount of detail in the business plan really shocked me. Inconclusive, the only negative part of this experience was I had completely forgotten to ask for his LinkedIn or any other way to keep in contact with him. This is what I regret a lot since I now don't have the ability to follow up with him regarding the business.
However, after meeting with a few other people, the meeting officially ended and I was given the opportunity to talk to Mr. Robertson. However, better yet since the other members of the Blockchain of Texas council were present, I was able to speak to them as well. Speaking to them ( college students ) honestly was much easier than speaking with older professionals since there was a small sense of relatability in the way they spoke, overall making the atmosphere of the interview very comfortable. They gave me advice on my blockchain idea, answered a few questions, made corny blockchain jokes, and even gave shared their experiences at college and how they got into UT Austin. I feel like due to the comfortable atmosphere, we were able to get through more questions, get more opinions, and more advice. We discussed how Qui worked in Ethereum and how they really believe that blockchain will become a big part of the future.
In comparison to the older professionals I spoke to, the college students seemed more enthusiastic and excited about the technology, whereas the older adults were more suspicious and unsure. For example, when I ask the college students on NFT’s and Metaverse, they immediately started to passionately speak about its relevance in gaming and even day-to-day activities. Whereas the older professionals responded more unsurely, saying they were not sold on the idea and were skeptical on if it would work and how it may not be safe. I feel like hearing the different ages having different opinions allowed me to gain a more well-rounded opinion on the future of blockchain. Similar to the college student, I believe Blockchain will definitely be something big and be a huge part of the world.
In conclusion, through this meeting, I met with many blockchain enthusiasts and received inputs from around 15-20 people which was extremely exciting. Over the past few weeks, I have been following up with them and found this orgnization/club to be full of very smart and creative men and women college students. I look forward to speaking to them again and would sincerely like to thank everyone I spoke to that day for their time and effort, it really was a growing experience for me.
Thank you,