Exclusive interview with Moran Shaked the Founder & CEO
We had a chance to make an exclusive interview with Moran Shaked, the Founder and CEO of an exciting project called Miss Bitcoin. The official launch is going to take place at the upcoming London Inside Bitcoins conference on 15 September. After that Miss Bitcoin will be presenting at the Inside Bitcoins Tel Aviv, Israel in October and at Bitcoin Australasia Conference in Perth, Australia for their Australian launch in November. Until then, let’s get a little closer to the Founder and CEO, Miss Moran Shaked:
Bitcoinist: When did you first hear about crypto currencies? Was it love at first sight?
My first encounter with Bitcoin was in the early 2012, when economic newspapers only gave it a tiny tiny slot at the bottom of their pages. Not sure if you could call it love at first site, but I do remember thinking to myself: “I don’t quite understand what this Bitcoin is all about, but if it’s real, I’m witnessing the next big thing here.”
Bitcoinist: How deep are you involved in crypto business now?
These days I’m focused 100% on Miss Bitcoin. If you haven’t already noticed, we have been doing mini pop up launches all over the globe! You can look out for our hashtag #missbitcoin or @TheMissBitcoin and see what we are all about and how we are spreading the word out there.
Our official launch will be at London on the 15 September at the Inside Bitcoins Conference, following from that we will be presenting on the Inside Bitcoins Tel Aviv and next to our Australian launch at Bitcoin Australasia Conference in November, which I can’t say too much for now, I guess you will just have to follow us on twitter.
What I can say is our London launch will be the first time Miss Bitcoin officially steps out to meet the world.
I’m excited to announce that for the 48 hours of the conference, we will be offering all participants to be the very first members of Miss Bitcoin, as we will also launching our super powers on MyPowers.com.
On these 48 hours, Miss Bitcoin will give the opportunity for those who want to be part of truly making a change, and take advantage of the special benefits that come with joining us.
You will be able to find out who she is, what she has been doing and what she is all about.
I can tell you now there will be some very very exclusive invites on the day of the launch.
So come find me and our Miss Bitcoin girls if you are there.
Bitcoinist: What was your main motivation when deciding establish Miss Bitcoin?
Miss Bitcoin started with a “I dare you” joke on FB. I wanted to conduct a meet up focused on women, since I hardly saw any of them in the conferences and meet ups I went to (and I’ve been to a lot!). My main motivations was the belief that money as we know is about to change and this is the future economy. Now since the concept of “money” is something that touches every single one of us, everyone should understand what Bitcoin and crypto it’s all about. I have decided to focus on women, since I thought I could deliver it best as a woman to another woman.
My background is advertising and marketing, so I was asking myself if i want to see more women involved: How should I approach my target audience best? How do I make them comfortable enough to come find out more? That’s how Miss Bitcoin came to life. From a small meet up initiative tailor made for women, it grew to be so much more.
Bitcoinist: What’s the aim of this exciting project?
Miss Bitcoin is a platform that maximizes engagement of women with the new economy and crypto currencies by making them accessible, understandable and providing content, services and products that utilize the new currency. Women in Bitcoin, is an untapped market waiting to happen. I am very excited to merge that market with Bitcoin.
Miss Bitcoin is about realising that women are the ones who are making the most day to day financial decisions. It is about understanding that what makes the wheels of the economy turn, are those mainstream spendings. It is about giving a solution for a real problem of how can we put crypto currencies into their hands in order to fuel that economy.
The women of the new economy will need a trusted source to inspire them, educate them, and provide them with the news, services, reviews and products they are most interested in specifically tailored to women. Miss Bitcoin aims to become the main channel, the go-to place for women who want to adapt to our new financial reality.
Bitcoinist: What’s the people’s reaction?
I can divide it to two main reactions:
1. When I tell people about ‘Miss Bitcoin’ and what it’s all about I usually get very positive reactions. Whether it is men who would like to see more women buying their products and services or whether it’s women who are already involved in crypto.
They all seems to understand the crucial role women are playing in kick starting the crypto economy and the huge business potential of women’s financial power. Imagine that this driving force of the world’s economy were empowered with the right tools to make Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies the currency of choice, the standard. What would that do for Bitcoin and for the world’s economy?
2. Some people wonder why do I need to make that “separation”. When I discovered Bitcoin I got thinking: How is it that only 7% of Bitcoin users in the world are women? Why? I can only assume that it’s the blend of technology, finance and economy and it’s classically considered a man’s realm.
So my answer to those who ask me is: If I want to sell a jeans, I can sell the same one for men, women or teenagers and each time I sell this jeans I will sell it in a different way. I will sell it in the best way my target audience will relate to, right? Same here.
Since I don’t have a technological background nor a finance one and since I’ve had to deal with all these obstacles by myself and learn the “language”, I have the knowledge to deliver it in a way my target audience can relate to. As a logical person I know they need to understand two simple things: benefit and practicality (and practicality matters to women). In the end of the day, that is what counts when you are talking about the mass market.
That is why the answer is Miss Bitcoin.
Bitcoinist: What’s your short and long term plans?
Miss Bitcoin and Miss Bitcoin! As mentioned we will soon be launching Miss Bitcoin. We are still establishing our global infrastructure and we already have Miss Bitcoin Ambassadors all around, even an Australian one! Feel free to join us and spread the word: #M for #MissBitcoin #M for #MakingHistory. In the long term I would like Miss Bitcoin to be the one who will be putting crypto currency into the hands of those financial decision makers by bringing them into the Miss Bitcoin world.
Bitcoinist: Who is your role model, and why?
I don’t have one specific role model. I do love watching interviews, to hear how people who I consider successful actually did it, what obstacles they had to deal with and their personal point of view. I take a bit of each one and I find a small mentor in each one of them.
Bitcoinist: Tell me about a project or accomplishment that you consider being the most significant in your career.
The first ever Bitcoin Hackathon in Israel, where me and my team won with my idea and where I received my first 2 Bitcoin as well.
I was quite a “Technophobic” at the time and I remember the only thing I was thinking about was: “forget all the big scary technology words, now how do I use this Bitcoin?!” It was a major milestone and literally paved my way into the crypto world. All the rest, I believe will be making history, in the history books.
Bitcoinist: What’s your superpower, or what’s your spirit animal?
My superpower is two magic little words “baby steps”.
In times when things don’t always go as planned, when there is lots of pressure or when it looks like things are falling apart, instead of hiding under the bed until the storm fades away, I take baby steps. You start doing one little thing, then you move to another and another and… just like that, you find yourself moving forward and the “storm” transforms into an energy of doing.
What do you think I would be most surprised to find out about you?
In the past year, I truly understood what Nike’s tag line, “just do it”, is all about. Suddenly I realised what these three simple words are standing for, and this was a game changer for me.
I started. Just. Doing. It.
Bitcoinist: What is your future prediction for the crypto business?
I strongly believe that you don’t need to be a great visionary to realise that digital currencies are the future economy. As soon as the technology and apps will evolve into a more user friendly experience for the common user, the image of crypto belonging only for techies will be dissolved and people would be more and more encouraged to engage with it.
Additionally, governments and banks also realised that this train has left the station and can’t be stopped. They understand that they need to learn how to deal with it and regulate it without killing the technology and its advantages. We are living in historical times and witnessing a new market education and it will happen much faster than we can even imagine.
If you wanna be part of the history making, don’t forget to check out the official pages of Miss Bitcoin:
Web:http://www.missbitcoin.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheMissBitcoin/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/msbitcoin
Written by: Vivien Gal
Image sources: Miss Bitcoin
