Chris Georgen
Chicago, United States
Board Member & Advisor at Apparatus | Fintech & Social Impact Leader | Product & Strategy | 3x founder | web3 since 2012
Summary
An active contributor to the web3 space since 2012, I founded my first blockchain startup in 2015, leading go-to-market and product strategy for a mobile payments and customer engagement platform built using the Ethereum blockchain. In 2017, I founded Topl, now Apparatus, as a web3 protocol for builders working across ReFi, social impact, and financial inclusion. Over the years, I led our product development, tokenomics design, and overall fundraising and strategy efforts, with more than $17MM raised across several rounds of capital raises. Shortly after launching my first startup, I graduated from Rice University, having studied Math, Physics, and Philosophy. While at school, I helped managed our student run coffeehouse (one of the largest independent coffeeshops in Houston) and co-authored 3 papers in condensed matter physics. Over the past 8 years, I've found myself becoming rather active as a speaker in both the web3 and impact spaces. I've had the privilege of being invited to share my experience and perspective at events and conferences in 23 countries, even getting to speak at the UN. Beyond, this, both Rice University and the University of Maastricht have been generous enough to keep me in regular rotations for guest lectures on technology and startups.
Board Member & Advisor
Apparatus
1 Jan 2024 - Present
2yrs 7mos
Concurrent with Apparatus's (formerly Topl) transition as an L1 to a Bitcoin-aligned layer 1.5, I transitioned from a leading the company as Managing Director to serving as a board member and advisor. - Overseeing tokenomic design to align protocol incentives to maximize Bitcoin TVL and adoption. - Guiding go-to-market strategy and overall competitive positioning. - Providing fundraising and management guidance to Apparatus's new management team.
Blue Bonnet Member
ATX DAO
1 Jul 2023 - Present
3yrs 1mo
Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area
ATXDAO is Austin's "city DAO" and one of the main centers of gravity for web3 across Texas and the central US. Invited and accepted to join the DAO as part of its third cohort, Blue Bonnet.
Topl
1mo
Founder & Managing Director
1 Apr 2022 - 31 Jan 2024
1mo
Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area
Assumed responsibilities as the company's Managing Director to lead the next phase of the company's growth and direction. - Negotiated and closed on $12MM in venture funding for the company's Series A financing, bringing in leading crypto and fintech firms to support Topl's vision. - Oversaw the restructuring of enterprise product development at the company into a dedicated and focused division. - Led the team to scale to 40+ employees with more than 80 applications and platforms being built and scaled by developers across multiple geographies.
Founder & Head of Product
1 Feb 2020 - 31 Mar 2022
1mo
Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area
Transitioned to build the company's product organization. Grew product portfolio to 4 shipped product lines in less than 2 years. - Built and managed a 5-person product and design team responsible for business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and business-to-developer (B2D) products. - Collaborated closely with the company's blockchain engineering team to oversee the overall product architecture and to deliver SDKs and API libraries across 3 languages (Python, JavaScript, and Scala). - Led product design and development for a consumer crypto wallet (B2C) along with supply chain and carbon credit platforms deployed across 6 countries (B2B).
Founder
1 Mar 2017 - 31 Jan 2020
1mo
Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area
Founder and first-money-in developing a novel web3 protocol focused on supporting projects and builders across sustainability and social impact. - Responsible for the initial ideation and design of a unique layer 1 blockchain protocol dedicated to powering profitable positive impact. Recruited initial founding team of 4 and raised $1.4MM across two rounds of funding. - Led product and technology discovery processes resulting in key stack choices including programming language (Scala), ledger model (UTxO), and consensus protocol (Ouroboros). - Expanded operations through the creation of a Netherlands-based subsidiary, securing a 5x increase in pipeline growth and early developer traction.
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