Monday, 28 April 2025

The Linux Guy Outside the Library Now Wants to Reinvent Your Bitcoin Wallet- An Interview with Dan, CEO & Founder of Boom

 

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of open standards."

This isn't just a tagline in CEO Dan Trevino's email signature or a line he repeats to sound smart at crypto conferences. It's the hill he's been willing to die on since the days when explaining "open source" to someone was about as effective as teaching quantum physics to a golden retriever.

The Guy Handing Out Linux CDs (Yes, Really)

Picture this: Early 2000s. While most people were discovering the wonders of Windows XP and wondering if Napster was legal, Dan Trevino was that guy standing outside public libraries, enthusiastically handing out Linux CDs to bewildered passersby.

"I was one of those guys handing out Linux CDs at the early days in front of libraries, trying to get people to try this new operating system that barely worked," Dan confessed during a recent lightning talk, the kind of admission that makes you simultaneously respect his conviction and question his social survival instincts.

He ran a Linux user group in Florida—because apparently Florida needed something else to make it uniquely Florida—and later led a Google developer group. All this time, he wasn't just a tech enthusiast; he was a digital freedom fighter in flip-flops, convinced that someday people would care about controlling their own data.

"We definitely were advocating for people taking back control of their own data from early days," Dan explained, with the nostalgic tone of someone who was right too early—the tech equivalent of bringing reusable bags to grocery stores in 1995. "Privacy and data portability—user owning access to their own data—is kind of one of the things that's always been important to me."

This philosophy would later become central to what we're building at Boom.

When Crypto Was More Scam Than Substance

By 2016, the blockchain world was experiencing its first major hype cycle, full of projects with names like "MoonCoin" and "LamboCash" that seemed more focused on yacht-acquisition than actual development.

"We had a lot of blockchain people that were not authentic," Dan recalls, masterfully employing what might be the kindest possible way of saying "surrounded by scammers."

But amidst this digital gold rush, Dan discovered Blockstack—a community working on what they called "a new Internet." Unlike the blockchain bros promising 10,000x returns by Tuesday, the Blockstack developers were doing something unusual: actually building things.

This resonated with the values that would later guide us at Boom—focusing on real utility rather than hype.

"I found the block stack developers were focused more on like heads down development," Dan explains. "They weren't shouting about, you know, the fact that they were the greatest thing ever."

It was like finding a vegetarian at a BBQ competition—rare, principled, and secretly thinking they've got a better long-term strategy.

"I loved the ethos of the developers and the team that was running things back in the day," Dan recalled. This alignment of values inspired him to dive in, run meetups, organize hackathons, and eventually build a privacy-respecting note-taking app called Notewrite—where your notes were so private even you might have trouble finding them sometimes.

From "What's a Wallet?" to "We Built the First One"

As Blockstack evolved into Stacks and prepared for its 2.0 launch with a new blockchain and proof-of-transfer consensus mechanism, our journey at Boom began to take shape.

Dan and the early team had been working on an app discovery platform called Webby, because finding Blockstack apps was apparently harder than finding a vegetarian at the aforementioned BBQ competition. But as they approached the Stacks 2.0 launch, a new opportunity emerged—NFTs and wallets.

"We kind of evolved into scratching our own itch," Dan explained, using the startup world's favorite euphemism for "we pivoted because our first idea wasn't working." What started as a UI experiment with wallet functionality eventually transformed into something bigger.

The result? Boom—the first NFT platform and web wallet on Stacks, launching just a week after the blockchain itself. If being first to market is an achievement, being first to market before the market exists is either genius or madness. History suggests we might have been onto something, as Boom went on to mint the very first NFT on Stacks.

All Crypto Wallets Look Like They Were Designed by the Same Boring Person

If you've used cryptocurrency wallets, you've probably had this thought: "Did the same person design ALL of these?" Balance at the top, send button, receive button, maybe a swap function if they're feeling particularly creative that day.

Dan puts it bluntly: "These wallets all look the same. They're all essentially the same."

It's like walking into a party where everyone decided to wear the exact same outfit—functional, sure, but a complete failure of imagination.

At Boom, we aim to break this mold by reimagining what a wallet can be. In a moment of clarity that probably deserves dramatic music, our team realized something: the wallet shouldn't be the star of the show.

"We want to pull the wallet back," Dan explains. "When you go to an Amazon or Alibaba, they don't throw the wallet up as the first thing you see. They're showing you product."

This insight is so obvious in hindsight that it makes you wonder why everyone else is still designing wallets like they're digital versions of George Costanza's exploding wallet from Seinfeld. Our vision at Boom is closer to a digital marketplace where your wallet exists in the background—like at normal stores where people buy normal things.

Your Name Is Not 0xF3D...921 (Unless Your Parents Really Hated You)

One of Boom's most standout decisions is making the Bitcoin Naming Service (BNS) a fundamental part of the user experience. Unlike other platforms where names are optional add-ons (like buying the premium version of an app to remove ads), Boom gives every user a BNS name immediately upon sign-in through BNS subdomains.

"Your BNS is your address," Dan emphasizes, in what might be the simplest yet most profound statement about crypto UX improvement ever made.

Think about it: would you rather send money to "sarah.boom.btc" or "SP1X3JPGFT57NS4S93XX0GYKFH5BHQKC7MRSF801K"? Unless you're a robot or have a strange fetish for hexadecimal characters, the answer is obvious.

This seemingly small detail transforms the user experience from "please triple-check this 42-character string before sending your life savings" to "I'm sending money to Bob." The psychological difference is enormous—like the gap between performing brain surgery and making a sandwich.

"We don't have to wait for somebody to get Stacks and then go to a different website and buy a name, and then come back and tell us what their name is," Dan explains, describing the current convoluted process with the thinly veiled patience of someone who's watched users struggle with it one too many times.

When Lightning Isn't Fast Enough (The Irony!)

After a stint at Deep Lake (a Bitcoin startup focused on Discrete Log Contracts), Dan returned to Boom with fresh insights about the limitations of Bitcoin's Layer 1 and Lightning Network.

Working with Bitcoin's main chain, Dan discovered, was about as user-friendly as assembling IKEA furniture with chopsticks. Even Lightning Network, Bitcoin's speedy layer 2 solution, came with enough limitations to make an engineer cry.

"We could see the kind of trade-offs that were necessary and the difficulties in working with Layer 1," Dan recalls, in what might be the understatement of the year for anyone who's tried to build Bitcoin applications.

These experiences shaped his vision for what Stacks and sBTC could become: "a better Lightning than Lightning." It's like promising a better chocolate than chocolate—bold, borderline blasphemous, but intriguing enough to make you listen.

"Lightning without the trade-offs," he explains. "Without having to lock liquidity into channels like you have to do with Lightning. Without the decentralization trade-offs. Without the trust trade-offs."

This vision materialized in Stacks Pay—a protocol so straightforward that Dan himself momentarily forgot its comparative Bitcoin technical specifications during his talk: "I can’t recall the exact Bitcoin BIP," he laughed, referring to BIP-20 and BIP-21 which Stacks Pay compares to, while discussing the similarities between the Stacks Pay SIP, Bitcoin BIP,  and Lightning BOLTs. This lighthearted moment demonstrated that even the creators and contributors of protocols sometimes get lost in the alphabet soup of terminology.

Stacks Pay makes cryptocurrency payments as simple as scanning a QR code. It's designed to deliver the "scan, confirm, pay, done" experience that people expect in 2025, not the "copy this address, double-check every character, say a prayer, and wait 10 minutes" experience that Bitcoin has normalized.

"Right now, if you're using Lightning, you usually scan in a QR code, and then you validate, confirm that you want to make a payment. You press pay, and it's done—two steps, two seconds," Dan explains. "That's kind of the vision that we're unlocking here with Stacks Pay."

Our protocol handles not just simple token transfers but also complex smart contract calls, allowing users to easily share transaction information for buying NFTs, purchasing services, or for example acquiring digital pet rocks from Faizan (Spaces host).

Your Wallet Should Be as Social as You Are at a Party After Two Drinks

Perhaps Boom's most ambitious feature is our integrated social layer. Recognizing that "money is social," our team is developing a communication platform alongside our marketplace.

If you think about it, the idea of a non-social wallet is as absurd as a silent karaoke bar. Money has always been a social tool—from ancient marketplaces to Venmo's public feed where people announce they've paid their roommate for "definitely just utilities 😉."

"We're implementing a social platform which is deeply integrated with the marketplace, but also separate from it," Dan explains, describing something that sounds like the lovechild of WeChat and a cryptocurrency wallet.

Initially, Dan looked at Nostr as a potential foundation for this social layer, but quickly discovered that even the Nostr developers weren't using their own protocol. "I went to look for the Nostr Relay communities, and the Nostr relay builders are on Telegram," he recalls with a laugh. It's like finding out that Coca-Cola executives secretly drink Pepsi—not exactly a vote of confidence.

Instead, Boom's social layer is built on Matrix, an open protocol championed by developer Friedger (Dude’s like among the Jedi coders on Stacks). "Friedger and I actually had this discussion a couple of years ago about how the Matrix protocol is really modular," Dan admits, "and I wasn't listening properly at the time." It's the tech equivalent of ignoring your friend's Netflix recommendation only to discover two years later that yes, that show IS actually amazing.

The social layer emphasizes user ownership and data portability. "If we're creating a user account and we're creating a chat account for you, you can take that chat account with you and go somewhere else," Dan emphasizes. "You don't want to see Stacks anymore? Your chat account is still your chat account."

This commitment to user autonomy is the digital equivalent of a restaurant letting you take your unfinished meal home in a doggy bag—it's your data, you should be able to take it with you.

Building LEGO Blocks for Money (No, Not Those $20,000 Bitcoin LEGO Sets)

Throughout Boom's development, we've focused not just on building a better product but on creating open standards that benefit the entire ecosystem. From co-authoring SIP-16 (the NFT metadata standard for Stacks) to developing Stacks Pay as an open protocol, our approach emphasizes collaboration over competition.

When asked about involving other parties in building Boom's "super app" vision, Dan articulated a vision for "Lego blocks for like a super app"—a modular platform where developers can plug in their own components. It's less about building a walled garden and more about creating a public park where anyone can set up shop.

"We'd want to build like this kind of basic platform and allow people to plug in their own kind of pieces," he explains, sounding more like a community organizer than a tech founder protecting proprietary code.

"What we're hoping for is that Stacks Pay creates this environment where we see multiple wallets and multiple POS systems evolve using the same standard," Dan explains, envisioning a world where Bitcoin payments are as standardized and simple as email.

When asked about Stacks Pay's potential for adoption by retailers—coffee shops, food chains, and local businesses—Dan acknowledges the challenge: "There's obviously limits to what you can do as a single company getting started."

But he points to how Lightning evolved: "There used to be at least like 12-15 different Lightning wallets." His hope is that Stacks Pay will catalyze a similar flourishing of compatible applications, especially in emerging markets where crypto adoption is outpacing traditional finance.

"If you go to a lot of 3rd World countries, a lot of growing economies these days, people have kind of thrown out the whole POS system," Dan observes. "They're just using their phones." It turns out the future of payments might not involve fancy terminals, just the same device you use for doomscrolling during bathroom breaks.

What If It All Goes Wrong? (The Stakes Are Higher Than You Think)

The stakes are clear and surprisingly profound: if projects like ours can't make Bitcoin accessible to everyday users, cryptocurrency remains a niche technical curiosity—the digital equivalent of that bread maker you bought and used exactly once before relegating it to the back of your cabinet.

But at Boom, we aren't building just for crypto enthusiasts or traders comparing charts on multiple monitors. We're building for everyone who deserves financial sovereignty—which, last we checked, includes pretty much all humans.

The parallels to Dan's early Linux advocacy aren't subtle. Linux eventually succeeded not by convincing everyone to learn command line interfaces, but by powering billions of devices, from super computers to phones - whose users never type "sudo" anything. Similarly, Bitcoin's success depends on hiding its complexity behind interfaces so intuitive that users never have to know what a "UTXO" is.

Full Circle: From Handing Out CDs to Handing Out Financial Freedom

Today, Dan's journey has come full circle. The idealistic Linux advocate who once handed out CDs to promote open-source software is now building open-source money based on Bitcoin.

"We're fighting for open source money," he says, connecting his current work to those early days of digital advocacy when explaining "operating system" to strangers required both patience and creative analogies.

As Boom continues to evolve—focusing on mobile-first design, simplifying payments, and creating an integrated marketplace—the core mission remains unchanged: empowering individuals through technology that respects their autonomy.

The Linux enthusiast standing outside the library with a stack of CDs has grown up, but his fundamental belief—that technology should free people, not constrain them—remains intact. He's just upgraded from distributing operating systems to distributing the future of money.

The blockchain world needs more Dan Trevinos—people who care more about usability than buzzwords, who prioritize user autonomy over lock-in effects, and who understand that the best technology often disappears into the background rather than demanding attention.

As for Boom itself? While other wallets continue showing you how many tokens you have (congratulations?), we're building something more ambitious: a platform where regular people can use Bitcoin without feeling like they need a computer science degree first.

And that might be the most revolutionary idea of all.


Visit boom.money to learn more about the project or follow us on X @boom_wallet and Dan at @DanTrevino.


Tuesday, 22 April 2025

Beating the Tariff Game: How Digital Businesses Can Thrive in a Trade War World Using the Bitcoin Network

 


Imagine waking up to discover your profit margins slashed overnight—not because of anything you did, but because powerful nations decided to play economic chess with tariffs as their pawns.

With US tariff rates set to hit 22.5% in 2025—levels not seen since 1909—small businesses dealing in physical goods are scrambling for survival. Meanwhile, digital entrepreneurs have discovered a powerful shield: by combining tariff-exempt digital products with cryptocurrency payment systems built on Bitcoin's foundation, they're not just surviving—they're thriving.


The Tale of Two Economies: Physical vs. Digital Goods

Physical goods merchants face a perfect storm:

  • Clothing prices up 33% (try explaining that to customers without them thinking you've launched a luxury brand overnight)
  • Food costs jumping 4.5% (apparently tariffs have expensive taste)
  • Profit margins vanishing faster than free samples at a trade show
  • Supply chains fragmenting like New Year's resolutions in February
  • Customs paperwork multiplying (agents apparently use "business days" from Jupiter's calendar)

Just across the digital divide, a completely different reality exists. Here's the golden ticket: digital goods are completely exempt from tariffs. They simply don't register in the tariff system—like calories don't count on your birthday (except this one is actually true).

This isn't just a small advantage—it's a business-transforming opportunity. Smart entrepreneurs are moving their most valuable assets to digital high ground where tariffs can't reach them.


The Bitcoin Advantage: Beyond Traditional Borders

When digital businesses pair tariff-exempt products with cryptocurrency payments, they unlock several game-changing benefits:

1. True Borderless Transactions

When your online studio accepts Bitcoin, customers from Tokyo to Toronto can purchase your digital designs without currency conversion fees or payment delays. It's like having a teleportation device for money, minus the risk of accidentally merging with a fly during transport.

Fun Fact: Peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions can be completed in roughly the same time as sending an email, regardless of amount or distance!

2. Escape from Currency Manipulation

Trade wars often involve strategic currency devaluations that wreck international pricing models. By accepting cryptocurrency, you insulate your business from politically motivated currency fluctuations.

Many Argentine businesses have embraced this approach, using crypto to overcome local currency restrictions—proving this isn't just theory, but a practical solution already working today.

3. Smart Contract Automation

Smart contracts on blockchains like Stacks enable automated, enforceable trade agreements that adapt to changing conditions. Imagine setting up recurring payments from international clients that automatically adjust—without renegotiating terms or involving payment processors.

4. Lower Transaction Costs

Traditional international payment processors often take up to 5% of each transaction. Many cryptocurrency exchanges allow borderless payments with significantly lower fees, resulting in immediate savings that drop straight to your bottom line.


Cryptocurrency Solutions: Your Field Guide

Here's your quick guide to selecting the perfect crypto mix for your business:

Bitcoin: The Undisputed Champion

What it offers: Global credibility and instant recognition.

Business advantage: A developer in Eastern Europe selling to US clients can skip the 3-5 day bank transfers and 3-4% fees—receiving payment same-day with fees under 1%.

Best for: High-value transactions where trust and recognition matter most.


Stacks: Bitcoin's Business-Savvy Sidekick

What it offers: Bitcoin's security plus smart contracts and speed of execution.

Business advantage: Digital creators can program automatic royalties or subscription renewals while leveraging Bitcoin's security.

Best for: Recurring business models and businesses needing programmable money.


Stablecoins: The No-Drama Option

What it offers: The middle ground between crypto innovation and predictable value.

Business advantage: Price services in familiar currency (like USD) while still receiving payments within minutes instead of days.

Best for: Everyday operations and businesses with thin margins.


Memecoins: Your Community Connection

What it offers: Access to passionate crypto communities with growing spending power.

Best for: Limited editions and businesses targeting crypto-native audiences.

Warning: Memecoins can be volatile enough to make a roller coaster feel like a meditation retreat. Don't bet your business on a currency named after someone's pet hamster.


Real-World Success Stories

The Digital Artist Collective

A group of artists from five countries launched their NFT marketplace on Stacks, accepting Bitcoin and Stacks tokens. By operating on a decentralized platform, they avoided both tariffs and traditional marketplace fees, allowing competitive pricing while earning higher profits.

The International Consultant

A business consultant pivoted to offering expertise as digital guidebooks and online consulting. By accepting cryptocurrency through Boom Smart Shop, she expanded to regions with currency controls, doubling her business in six months.

The E-Learning Enterprise

An educational content creator transitioned from shipping workbooks to delivering courses digitally. With Boom Smart  Shop's cryptocurrency options, they eliminated shipping costs and import taxes while reaching students in 43 countries—many lacking access to traditional payment methods.


Your Path Forward: Building Tariff-Resistant Revenue

Step 1: Identify your digital edge. Every business has intellectual assets waiting to be monetized. A furniture maker might sell design files. A chef could offer cooking courses. What unique knowledge could you transform into digital products? Your most valuable asset might be that thing you think is "just common sense"—but is actually your superpower.

Step 2: Set up your crypto-powered storefront. Boom Smart Shop makes this straightforward. Our platform combines Bitcoin security (through Stacks) with tools designed for digital goods. The result? A global storefront that operates 24/7 without banking limitations—like having a shop that never closes and never asks for vacation days.

Step 3: Choose your payment options strategically. Rather than accepting every cryptocurrency (like trying to memorize every TikTok dance), select ones that match your goals:

  • Need stability? Prioritize stablecoins
  • Targeting early adopters? Focus on Bitcoin
  • Want programmable features? Leverage Stacks tokens

Step 4: Start small, learn, expand. Begin with one digital product and limited crypto payment options. It's like dipping your toe in the crypto pool before doing a cannonball—much less likely to cause a scene at the financial party.


Setting Up Your Boom Smart Shop Store

  1. Download Boom at https://boom.money 
  2. Create your account 
  3. Configure your store profile with branding elements
  4. Add your digital products with descriptions and pricing
  5. Select which cryptocurrencies to accept per product

Boom Smart Shop supports multiple currencies through a single interface.


Looking Ahead: While Others Struggle, You Can Thrive

The global economy is splitting into two lanes: the congested highway of physical goods trade—bottlenecked by tariffs and paperwork—and the open expressway of digital commerce powered by cryptocurrency.

Which lane do you want your business in? (Hint: One involves sitting in traffic listening to the same podcast episode for the third time, while the other has you cruising with the top down.)

Fun Fact: E-commerce sales are projected to reach $6.5 trillion in 2024, marking a 21% increase from previous years. This surge highlights how online shopping continues to reshape global consumer habits and creates massive opportunities for businesses to expand their reach and revenue through digital platforms.

Early adopters aren't just avoiding headaches; they're building borderless business empires that traditional competitors cannot match. The combination of tariff-exempt digital products with cryptocurrency payments renders old-world trade barriers about as relevant as a fax machine at a tech startup.

The difference between businesses that will struggle under mounting trade barriers and those expanding with unprecedented freedom comes down to one decision: Will you adapt to this new reality or ignore it?

While others are forced to raise prices, cut margins, or abandon international markets, your digital business can expand without limits—reaching customers anywhere Bitcoin travels (which is everywhere).

The tools exist. The infrastructure is ready. Boom Smart Shop will be the bridge between Bitcoin's power and your business potential.

All that's missing is you.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ready to build your tariff-proof digital business? Visit https://boom.money today and join the movement of global digital DeCommerce!

Image credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/silver-and-gold-round-coins-in-box-maJDOJSmMoo

Tuesday, 15 April 2025

Hook, Line, and Winner: The 30-Second Pitch That Makes You Unforgettable

 

Picture this: You're at a networking event, sipping lukewarm coffee while balancing a tiny plate of cheese cubes. Someone turns to you with those four dreaded words: "What do you do?" Suddenly, your brilliant business idea sounds like you're reading the terms and conditions of a software update. They nod politely, eyes darting for the exit, and—poof—opportunity gone.

Sound familiar? Thought so.

In a world where attention spans are shorter than a TikTok dance trend (and shrinking by the second), your ability to hook someone in 30 seconds isn't just nice—it's survival. 82% of potential connections are lost in the first minute of conversation (I just made that up, but we all know it's true), and most entrepreneurs are pitching themselves about as effectively as a cat explaining quantum physics.

Good news: there's a formula for this, and it doesn't involve memorizing a script that makes you sound like a malfunctioning sales robot. Let's break down the secret sauce of the 30-second hook pitch that turns awkward silence into "tell me more" faster than you can say "blockchain revolution."

The Pitch Perfect Formula: NSFAG (Yes, It Needs a Better Acronym)

The perfect pitch follows a simple structure that creates a hook shape in your delivery—starting with straightforward info, dipping into the mundane, then dramatically rising with your unique awesomeness. Here's the breakdown:

  • Name (The "Who Are You Again?" Reminder)

First shocker: People forget names. Like, immediately. That guy who introduced himself three minutes ago? Gone. Vanished from the memory banks. Even if you've met before, start with:

"I'm Sarah Chen, founder of DesignSpark..."

Lighthearted Tip: Your name isn't a state secret—say it loud enough for people without bat-level hearing to catch it.

  • Same (The Boring Bit That Sets the Stage)

This is where you deliberately go low-energy with something universally understood. Think "grandma test"—could your 80-year-old grandma understand what industry you're in?

"...we're a digital design service for online businesses..."

Keep it vanilla. If people respond with "Wow, that's amazing!" you've gone too spicy for this section. The goal is recognition, not applause.

Lighthearted Tip: If explaining your job requires interpretive dance or advanced degrees, you're doing it wrong. Save the jargon for your LinkedIn profile.

  • Fame (The "Why You're Not Just Another Face" Part)

Now the energy rises—why should they care? What makes you different? This is your highlight reel, your bragging rights, the thing that makes eyebrows go up.

"...in our first 18 months, we've helped over 50 small businesses rebrand, got featured in Design Weekly, and our clients typically see a 40% increase in engagement after working with us..."

Lighthearted Tip: If you haven't won a Nobel Prize, that's fine. "I've helped 20 small businesses increase sales by 30%" is plenty impressive without claiming you invented the internet.

  • Aim (The "What's Happening Now" Teaser)

Share your current focus or short-term goal. This gives people a hook to grab onto and makes your business feel alive and evolving.

"...right now, we're scaling up on Boom Smart Shop, which lets us offer instant design delivery to clients anywhere in the world..."

Lighthearted Tip: "World domination" is technically an aim, but maybe save that for the second meeting.

  • Game (The Big Vision That Makes Eyes Sparkle)

End with the bigger why—the purpose that gets you out of bed (besides your alarm and caffeine addiction). This is what transforms you from "someone with a job" to "someone on a mission."

"...our big goal is to help a thousand small businesses look as professional as the big corporations, giving them the visual tools to compete globally without breaking the bank."

Lighthearted Tip: Your "big game" should inspire, not terrify. "Revolutionizing healthcare through AI" works better than "replacing all doctors with robots."

The Whole Enchilada: Putting It All Together

When you stack these pieces, you get a pitch that dips and rises like a well-crafted story. Let's see the full example:

"I'm Sarah Chen, founder of DesignSpark. We're a digital design service for online businesses. In our first 18 months, we've helped over 50 small businesses rebrand, got featured in Design Weekly, and our clients typically see a 40% increase in engagement after working with us. Right now, we're scaling up on Boom Smart Shop, which lets us offer instant design delivery to clients anywhere in the world. Our big goal is to help a thousand small businesses look as professional as the big corporations, giving them the visual tools to compete globally without breaking the bank."

That took roughly 25 seconds to say at a normal pace. No speed-talking required.

Why This Works Better Than Your Cat Videos

This format works because it follows the natural rhythm of human interest. It starts with the bare minimum (who you are), gives context (what category you fit in), builds credibility (why you're not just another face), shows momentum (what's happening now), and ends with purpose (why it all matters).

The hook shape—going from high energy (name) to low energy (same) back to high energy (fame, aim, game)—creates a narrative arc that's psychologically satisfying. It's like a tiny movie for your business.

Compare this to the typical entrepreneur word salad:

"Well, um, we kind of do a lot of things, we wear many hats, but basically we help businesses with their visual stuff, and yeah, we've been doing pretty well, and hoping to grow more this year..."

Yawn. That pitch has all the excitement of watching paint dry in slow motion.

The Golden Rewards: What You'll Cash In

Master this formula and you'll enjoy returns better than your best investment:

  • Skip the Awkward Dance: No more fumbling with words like you're assembling IKEA furniture without instructions

  • Save Time: Filter for interested people faster than social media algorithms sort your feed

  • Boost Confidence: Know exactly what to say instead of internally panicking like a Windows 98 computer

  • Memorable Branding: Be the person they actually remember instead of "that person who does the thing with the stuff"

  • More Opportunities: Watch as people actually want to continue the conversation instead of suddenly remembering urgent appointments

Pitfalls to Avoid: Don't Be That Entrepreneur

Even with a great formula, there are ways to crash and burn:

  • The Marathon Runner: Turning 30 seconds into a 5-minute TED Talk. Timer. Use one.

  • The Robot: Reciting your pitch like you're reading terms and conditions. Humans like talking to other humans, not Alexa.

  • The Jargon Junkie: "We leverage blockchain-enabled AI to synergize cross-platform optimization of decentralized ecosystems." Translation: No one knows what you do, including you.

  • The Humble Mumbler: "Oh, it's nothing special, we just do a little design..." If you don't believe in yourself, why should they?

  • The Bait and Switch: Promising one thing in your pitch, delivering something completely different in reality. This isn't a dating app profile.

Your Pitch, Your Power: Taking Control of Your Story

Mastering your pitch gives you complete sovereignty over your first impressions. No more letting others define your value or getting lost in the noise.

When you control your narrative with a clear, compelling pitch, you're not at the mercy of others' assumptions or misunderstandings. You're directly connecting, person-to-person, creating meaningful relationships that could transform your business journey.

Time to Hook 'Em: Your Next Steps

  1. Write It Down: Craft your Name-Same-Fame-Aim-Game pitch on paper first

  2. Time It: Aim for 20-30 seconds (about 75-100 words)

  3. Practice: Say it out loud until it doesn't sound like you're reading a script

  4. Test It: Try it on a friend and ask for honest feedback

  5. Refine It: Adjust based on reactions until it consistently makes people lean in for more

Remember, the point isn't to close a sale in 30 seconds—it's to open a door. Your pitch is the trailer, not the whole movie.

Now go forth and hook some interest. Your next big opportunity might be just one great pitch away. Boom.

Image credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/five-person-standing-while-talking-each-other-ZDN-G1xBWHY


From Floor-Sleeping Hacker to Accidental CEO: How One Question Built What Governments and Yuga Labs Trust

Here's a fun thought experiment: You probably agonize over whether to accept cookies on every website, but you'll happily answer ...

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