Interview with Aikin- Long-Form Content Publishers

We interviewed Aikin, the geniuses behind Nuance that aim to be the most trusted publisher of long-form content in the industry. Their advice is to grow the pie, not only your own piece.

1. What attracted you initially to Blockchain?

One day in 2011, I was complaining to a friend that it seemed ridiculous that in 2011 we still had little pieces of metal with kings and queens stamped into them to represent money. My friend replied that we have credit cards. But I said credit cards were just another form of the same money. My friend is an economist. Two weeks later, he came back and said, “dude, you should check out this bitcoin thing.” That's how it started.

2. Of all the platforms you could have chosen, why did you decide to build on the Internet Computer?

In June 2020, this same friend suggested that we should build something on the Internet Computer. I looked into it and realized that if what the DFINITY marketing stated was true, this is indeed the time for mainstream adoption of web3 and the next major iteration of software.

3. How long has your company been established, and what is your business model based on?

My co-founder and I started working on this in August 2020, and we incorporated our Dutch company on June 16, 2021. Our business model is still being worked out, and it's early days.

4. What makes your company marketable, and what will ensure its long-term success?

I think this comes down to who we hire and what company culture we establish and nurture. We believe in quality over quantity.

5. What challenges have you faced while building your company?

Hiring. Compromising on ways of working can be difficult when everyone has their own way of doing things.

6. What overall vision do you have? Do you have a roadmap? If so, what does it involve?

We want to be the world’s most trusted publisher of long-form content. We have a roadmap for Nuance, and it starts with standard blogging features, not different from web2 blogging. Then we move into the stuff that can't be done on web2, such as community governance, fair monetization, clear ownership, and censorship resistance. Beyond that, Aikin will build other products - we don't know what.

7. What challenges have you faced while building your company? What advantages do you believe you have over other competitors?

The tech is new and immature. Aligning the team with ways of working has proven to be a challenge.
Our advantages are that we have a great team, great (and patient) investors, and we have the timing right. We are riding the DeSo (Decentralized Social) wave on the Internet Computer.

8. Tell us about the team

We are currently composed of 5 team members; myself, cofounder Paul, two engineers Megha and Pranil, and a designer, Eelco. We have all worked together before with at least one other member of the team. It takes a long time to build a team that works in harmony, and let's just say its early days ;)

9. What advice do you have for anyone working in the same space as you?

The Internet Computer community is very collaborative. Grow the pie, not your share of the pie.

10. What other projects building on the Internet Computer are you most excited about?

DSCVR, Distrikt, and OpenChat - the other DeSo pillars.

11. Do you have any plans to collaborate with other projects building on the Internet Computer?

Absolutely. We are all ready and want to step this up.

12. Do you have any token sale planned for the future? If so, when? Can you give details?

We will. But nothing is planned yet.