Background
I’ve spent my career in Enterprise Sales and Business Development. First selling on-premise software and SaaS. Prior to moving my career into Web3 I was the Country Manager for Uber for Business in Australia and New Zealand, leading a team of 50 people across mostly go-to-market functions (Sales, Marketing, Implementation Services, Support). My first role in Web3 was leading the largest BD team at Parity Technologies which included a broad remit to drive growth across the Infrastructure, Chain and dApp layer, across multiple verticals, and working with our ecosystem teams the best we could at that time. Since leaving Parity when all go-to-market functions were let go, in Polkadot I have been a Curator on two BD Bounties including the Brasil BD Bounty (which has now transitioned to DF funding and is called Sunset Labs) and most recently I co-founded Web3DealDesk in an effort to make it easier for teams looking to grow in Polkadot to access non-dilutive milestone based grant capital.
Area of Expertise
Sales, Business Development, Partnerships, and Ecosystem Growth.
Governance Philosophy
Pragmatist - I would evaluate each proposal on its merits but my north star is whether this brings value to Polkadot with a specific view on whether it is likely to support price appreciation of the Dot token, directly or indirectly.
Conflicts of Interest
Web3 Deal Desk may occasionally be in the position where a team has applied for funding both to Web3 Deal Desk and to OpenGov. I would ensure transparency here but would think that this would be a value add rather than a negative in these situations. It may be that the best path forward is for a project to tap into both sources of funding.