I know this is not an easy job. What drives you?
CoinCentral fulfills a handful of very powerful motivations for me, most notably making an impact, learning at a high level, and the opportunity for personal growth.
As one of the largest media sites in the cryptocurrency space, we have the opportunity to make an impact on millions of people trying to educate themselves on project fundamentals and fascinating developments. The cryptocurrency industry is a weird amalgam of highly intelligent people with various skillsets, a battleground of ideologies, a volatile market and the inevitable speculative crowd that develops with it, and a mix of traditional and non-traditional startup culture.
We’ve become voracious learners to stay as informed as possible. Fortunately, we never run out of things to learn about since blockchain and cryptocurrency intersect with virtually any other industry. One month, we’ll be doing a deep-dive on blockchain and art, another we’ll focus on the value provided for third world economies, another we’ll dive into global politics such as when Venezuela launched a cryptocurrency called the Petro, and many more. This sort of stuff is fascinating to me, and I’m psyched every day to be able to write about it at this level.
Being the Editor-in-Chief and managing our team of 30+ people requires an enormous amount of personal growth few 26-year-olds are challenged with. I have a blast learning and understanding the media space, how to build a high-octane team of journalists, and best of all, I get the opportunity to directly interview so many awesome entrepreneurs.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? What lesson did you learn from them?
Oh man, it takes a village to raise an Alex. There are so many people I’m grateful towards for going above and beyond to help me grow. In no particular order, Matt Colletta, Doug Polk, and Ryan Fees from CoinCentral, Troy Osinoff and Mike Lisovetsky from JUICE, Jesus Najera from SetOcean, Devin Schumacher, my Mom (the OG Internet entrepreneur), and Steven Buchko. If go on listing friends that have helped me keep my mental sanity, brainstorm, and perform at a higher level, this list will go on forever (shout out to Justin Kelsey, Pavel Stefanov, James Risberg, Phill, Gabi in particular, though!).
Each person has played a unique role in helping me become who I am today, and for that, I’m forever grateful. I’d love to spill their secrets, but you’ll have to get to know them all if you want to learn more about them.
If I had to glean one ultimate lesson from all of them, it’s the relentless pursuit of becoming the best version of yourself that you can be, whatever that means to you. Be fun, but take yourself seriously.
How do you push through your worst times?
I start to prioritize my personal well-being and eliminate wasted time. Your worst times are when you should be taking care of yourself the most. Make time to stretch, meditate, work out, run, etc. Make time for your mental health. Call family, friends, people that help ground you. Read philosophy and psychology.
Thankfully, most of my worst times thus far can be solved with caffeine, headphones, and focus, but I keep myself nimble to avoid any potential overwhelm. Most problems you face are essentially just puzzles, some more complex than others. As long as you have the mental bandwidth and tools to solve them, you’ll be fine. If you don’t, those puzzles can cause an enormous strain on your life.