In this series we will introduce the team behind Unipilot.
In this addition, we chatted with David, Head of Growth.
Why did you join Unipilot?
It was definitely fate! I’d known Taha a little bit since early 2021 when we both worked at Blockzero Labs. Taha was working as a Technical Team Lead and I was doing a variety of things from support to marketing.
Our paths crossed again later in 2021 when I wanted to share an idea with Taha to see if it was feasible as a project. After these discussions, Taha mentioned that there could be synergies for me at Unipilot, so I quickly signed up on a part-time basis while still working my 9 to 5 job.
This allowed both myself and Unipilot to check we were a good fit. After a while, we both agreed that I would go full time at Unipilot and I quit my 9 to 5! Before I made this decision, I grilled Taha about the sustainability of and future plans for Unipilot, and his ambitions and dedication reassured me.
What is your role at Unipilot?
My role covers growth, marketing and communications, which includes everything from running social media, writing and editing articles, project managing certain activities such as recent creation of the new website and explainer video, as well as ideating and creating various campaigns and partnerships.
In a way, i’m the bridge between the dev-focused team and the community.
What do you like about working at Unipilot?
I like the fact that the team is very ambitious and has lots of skills. I’ve followed other projects which move extremely slowly due a lack of internal skills, especially development, which leads to inaction or using unreliable/costly external resources. Additionally, the fact that Unipilot is backed by VoirStudio and Xord is a game changer. They have a team for everything: need to redesign the website? There’s a team who can do that. Need a graphic? There’s a guy who can do that.
I also like the fact that I can get involved all across the project without being pigeon-holed to one specific task.
When did you first get into crypto?
I had discussed Bitcoin with a friend in 2017 and I just didnt understand why a “currency” was valued at $1,000. Most currencies are worth close to $1, right? It must be over-valued, I thought.
Then in January 2018 I ended up buying a little Ethereum and a few other alts after it was recommended to me by an ex-colleague. That’s when the bear market hit, but luckily I spent 2018 looking more into the movement and I gained conviction and therefore bought Ethereum and Bitcoin throughout the bear market in 2018 and 2019. My thesis for Bitcoin changed in 2019 and I started to view it as “digital gold”.
In 2019, a project called Xio Network (now Blockzero Labs) launched and I followed it closely and eventually joined the team, initially as community support but then getting more involved in marketing and running a few campaigns.
Tell us a little about yourself. What is your favorite food(s), movie(s) and any other hobbies you have?
I think i’m the only Europe-based member of the team. I’m based near London and have a 7-year-old son. I previously worked as an editor in my 9 to 5 job which also involved some marketing and analysis. Further back, I have a degree in economics and worked briefly as an economist.
Being in London, I have a huge range of food options at my doorstep. My favorites are probably Turkish, Indian, Japanese and then ofcourse a good quality burger or steak. I don’t tend to watch movies often as i find most end up being disappointing, so I prefer to watch documentaries or podcasts.
Crypto takes up a lot of my time though, i’m constantly following projects and finding new ones, and chatting about opportunities with my group of degens on telegram.
What’s your favorite project in crypto other than Unipilot?
I’m a bit of an Eth “maxi” and it is the top holding in my portfolio, and I believe supposed “Eth killers” are sacrificing decentralization in order to achieve faster and cheaper transactions.
However, I think they kind of miss the point, as the blockchain was not created in order to fix a speed problem in the world, it was designed to fix a centralization problem. Ofcourse you can build a less decentralised version of Ethereum that is faster, but is it suitably decentralized?
I think all the adoption we are starting to see of Ethereum speaks for itself, and the merge later this year could be a driver of strong price action for Ether and remove concerns over energy usage.
I have to say, I also quite like Rubic Exchange, it’s a cross chain exchange with a lovely UI. Its my go-to when making a trade. Blockswap Network also seems promising for Eth staking.
