Like any other industry, women have set their foot in the blockchain industry as well. Though the percentage of their involvement in the crypto sector is low, they are playing a significant role in shaping the industry’s path forward, ensuring sustainable growth, and strengthening its global influence. One such woman who has made her mark in the blockchain industry is Elena Sinelnikova, the Co-founder and CEO of Metis.
With an extensive background in developing enterprise software solutions for government and law enforcement industries, Elena is now significantly contributing to the enhancement of the blockchain industry.
We at Insights Success got into conversation with Elena to learn more about her journey and how she is changing the landscape of the industry.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at the company. What challenges you had to overcome to reach where you are today?
By profession, I am a software developer with 20 plus years of experience in developing enterprise solutions for the Canadian government and law enforcement. In 2016, with my close friend’s help, I came across blockchain technology that changed my life. I left my well-paid and stable corporate job and became an entrepreneur. First, I founded CryptoChicks, a non-profit organization that is now helping women get educated and find jobs in blockchain space in 56 countries. While working on the CryptoChicks project, I met my future co-founders of Metis.io, and we built an amazing new startup that is now among the most prominent scalability solutions in blockchain space.
Tell us something more about the company and its mission and vision.
Metis.io has a goal to help startups and mature organizations to move their business to blockchain with just a click of a button. Many would like to do so, but very few can afford expensive blockchain developers, so Metis.io is helping those by providing a decentralized platform where pretty much anyone can create a company on blockchain, invite people to join, hire new employees or freelancers, and pay them salaries via blockchain. Also, you are able to create different types of organizations. For example, membership with members paying their dues via blockchain and receiving services from you for that. Anything is possible.
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that drives your organization.
Our policy is very simple – full transparency, trust, and holding each other accountable. We don’t have titles or bosses – any team member can approach and help anyone in a team if he or she thinks they need help. It works really great, and I am very proud of the team that we have.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful?
We are building strong tech, but we also reused open-source code that was developed by other blockchain companies and enhanced and improved it to the extent that allowed us to solve the problem that we aimed to solve. For example, we took the Optimistic Rollup code developed by the Optimism team and made it more scalable by adding a new chain and new virtual machine for every organization dynamically with the ability to set unique permissions for each team – and with that, we are able to create various types of decentralized organizations.
If given a chance, what change would you like to bring in the industry?
The regulatory landscape and supporting laws are very much behind in the blockchain space. Instead of penalizing them, we help regulators get educated so they have all the knowledge they need to support blockchain companies in their business. I wish this process had moved a bit faster.
What, according to you, could be the next big change in the industry? How is your company preparing to be a part of that change?
Mass adoption for Blockchain and Crypto is upon us, and this is exactly where Metis.io comes into play by providing an affordable and simple way to drive this adoption.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run, and what are your future goals for the company?
Our vision is to build a decentralized Web3 economy platform, so after our team creates it, it will live a life of its own without any of our involvement. This is the gift we want to make to the world
What would be your advice to budding women entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the industry?
Quitting my job and starting a business was the best decision I made. It is not like this for everyone. But if you are thinking of doing that, I would be happy to help and mentor.
