Antony Lee, Communications Master (李欣岳 / 媒體公關總監)

負責媒體與社群溝通相關輔導。加入 AppWorks 前有 18 年媒體經驗，是台灣第一批主跑網路產業的記者，先後任職《數位時代》副總編輯、《Cheers 快樂工作人》資深主編、SmartM 網站總編輯。畢業於交大管科系，長期關注媒體產業變化，熱愛閱讀商業與科技趨勢、企業與人物故事，樂於與人交流分享，期許自己當個「Internet 傳教士」。

2019 年成立的 Blocto，是台灣這一波區塊鏈創業風潮中，最具代表性的新創之一。以智能合約錢包作為創業起點，致力打造成為人們「進入區塊鏈世界的入口」，Blocto 除了是明星公鏈 Flow 上最多用戶使用的錢包，超過 80% Flow 鏈上的用戶，都使用 Blocto 進行 FLOW Token 質押外，在跨鏈應用上，也已支援包括 Ethereum、BSC、Solana、Avalanche (c-chain)、Polygon 等其他一線公鏈，以持續優化用戶體驗為目標，期待能提供用戶在跨鏈資產轉移、交易時，有更趨一致的體驗，得以更順暢地在不同鏈上切換。

隨著在加密貨幣錢包上累積的基礎，Blocto 也將產品觸角延伸至 DEX (去中心化交易所) 以及 NFT Marketplace 等應用，並在今年發行生態系的功能和治理通證代幣  Blocto token ($BLT)，在位居全球前三大的加密貨幣現貨交易所 FTX 上架。優異的技術實力以及商業佈局，更在近期獲得 NBA 達拉斯獨行俠隊老闆 Mark Cuban 的青睞，成為策略投資人。

Blocto 是 AppWorks Accelerator #19 的校友，也在找到 Product-Market Fit、進入加速成長期的 2021 年，進一步獲得 AppWorks 的注資。Blocto 創業兩年能快速展現戰果，兩位共同創辦人：擔任 CEO 的 Hsuan 李玄 (圖左)、擔任 COO 的 Edwin 顏維佐 (圖右) 是關鍵人物。兩人從前區塊鏈新創 COBINHOOD 的同事，到成為攜手創業的夥伴，這一路上，他們是如何分工、商討發展方向、擬定策略，以及在變化快速的區塊鏈產業中，彼此互相成就、互相扶持，進而殺出一條成長之路，在創業維艱、合夥不易，總是有人默唱「可惜不是你，陪我到最後」的新創世界中，都很值得創業者參考。AppWorks 特別訪問到兩位，並且幫大家整理出重點：

Q: 區塊鏈這個領域，最吸引你們投入其中創業的原因是什麼？ 

Hsuan: 當我們決定創業時，很明確就是要做區塊鏈的題目。這其中，有很大的原因是我們創業前就已經是同事了，當初會加入的原因，就是因為這個產業很吸引我們。

我是 Computer Science 的背景，在區塊鏈領域，另外要將 Computer Science 結合密碼學、分散式系統等技術，整合出一整套有實際用途的系統，可以具體去解決金融、商業、娛樂面向上，或是某些應用過度中心化這些問題，對我來說，將各種理論整合進入實際的商品化、產業化，這個過程非常迷人，我也非常堅信區塊鏈是可以改變世界的，再過幾年，就可以更大幅度走入人們的日常生活，這當中還有很多關鍵問題需要解決，但也因此會有很多新創的機會。

Edwin: Blocto 已經是我個人第三次創業了。前兩次都是比較傳統的做生意、貿易這類，我也待過 Fortune 500 這種規模的大企業。相較過去的經驗，區塊鏈最大的特色，就是整個產業技術、應用疊代的速度非常快，可能幾個月、甚至幾週就發生一次，我過去比較少有這種感覺，這非常激勵人心。

優化使用者體驗，是區塊鏈創業最大的機會之一

Q: 為什麼 Blocto 一開始就選擇切入錢包？創業前有討論過其他選項嗎？

Hsuan: 在 2019 年準備創業的那個時間點，我們放眼望去，覺得這個產業若要對更多人產生影響力，使用者體驗是最大的問題，也是最大的機會之一，而錢包是所有人進入區塊鏈、使用加密貨幣的主要入口。

區塊鏈應用的使用者體驗一直是產業的一大痛點。從下載錢包、創建錢包、私鑰管理，到理解應用並成功與其互動，用戶需要花費大量的時間與成本去完成，這也是目前區塊鏈應用還無法被大規模採用的原因之一。

事實上，我們還有更大方向的討論，就是我們要選擇 To B (面對企業用戶的服務) 或 To C (面對個人用戶的服務) 的商業模式。我們覺得 To B 的模式比較不容易 Scale up，一次做一個案子，也許可以賺到一些錢，初期現金流可能比較穩，但如果要做兩倍大的案子，可能團隊規模也需要等比放大到兩倍。另一方面，To B 要配合客戶的需求，對我們來說，也比較不自由、不那麼有趣。

若是走 To C 的模式，如果我們可以做出一個夠好、我們自己也喜歡的產品或服務，用戶數的成長空間將非常寬闊，真的可以看到因此為人們帶來更大的影響力。當時，已經有不少高效能的公鏈出來，各種交易所更是比比皆是，反而比較大的問題在使用者體驗，因此選擇 To C 模式、切入錢包這個題目，這倒是有很高的共識。

Q: 實際做 To C 以及錢包後，有嚐到什麼苦頭嗎？

Hsuan: 一開始確實比較辛苦，不過應該說這是在預期內。2019 年相對是區塊鏈的寒冬 (編按：比特幣從 2018 年每顆約 2 萬美元，一路跌到 4,000 美元以下)，幣圈內想賺錢、想炒幣的人那時比較失去興趣，遊戲或是其他應用，當時也都還很陽春，其實並不好玩、不容易吸引人，都還是比較小眾的市場，在當時要做錢包，吸引一般大眾來使用，推廣上的確比較辛苦。

Edwin: 從另外一個面向來說，To B 比較像是企業客戶出考題，跟對方聊完，就會知道他要與不要什麼，我們需要解決哪些問題。To C 則完全相反，就是要從市場反應中快速調整，逐漸做出現在的樣子，我們在過程中也做過一些市場調查，但做出來的成果，就是會有一些人喜歡、一些人不喜歡，比較像是我們自己要去發掘問題，出考題給自己去解決。

但也正因為這樣，我自己覺得做 To C 有一種比較浪漫的感覺，尤其是在區塊鏈產業。就有一種眾志成城的感覺，看著用戶數量慢慢累積起來的過程，很有趣也很有成就感。

Q: 現在整個區塊鏈產業的氛圍，和你們創業當時非常不同，整體上樂觀許多。不少稍具知名度、規模的項目，都能更快地拿到更多的資源與支持，創業的選項也很多。在這樣截然不同的大環境中，你們在堆疊或累積競爭優勢，去發展未來產品與服務時，背後的思考脈絡為何？

Hsuan: 其實我們的目標一直沒變，希望可以成為人們進入區塊鏈世界的入口。錢包要滿足用戶身份識別以及存放、交易資產的需求，不管是加密貨幣、NFT，或是最近很受關注的 Metaverse、區塊鏈遊戲等，我們希望能持續累積競爭優勢，成為用戶進入區塊鏈，或是未來進入 Metaverse 的入口。

這是我們一直專注在做的事情。其中，最重要的考量，就是要讓用戶的技術感降低。因為對用戶來說，他就是想來玩遊戲、收藏 NFT，並不在意底層技術怎麼運作，到底在哪一條公鏈上來運行，用戶在乎的，是能否在這當中獲得一致的體驗。我相信未來幾年內，整個產業都會處於多鏈並行的狀態，這也是我們正在解決，下一個成長的契機，我們跟比較多這類的跨鏈應用合作，讓我們可以建構起一個跨鏈的生態系，進而使我們可以成為各種區塊鏈應用的入口。

Edwin: 這應該也算是我們創業初期至今的特色。因為我們一開始就決定要切入錢包，所以我們不要和既有的 Player 競爭，因為這個產業先行者優勢還滿明顯的，在 2019 年那時，可能只有千分之一、萬分之五的人用過區塊鏈，如果和其他對手競爭這樣規模的市場，將會非常辛苦，我們要做這些人以外的市場，能夠帶來可能是從千分之一成長為百分之一這樣的新用戶，我們今年也確實在幾個合作案例上，看到成功帶入大量新用戶，算是有實現創業的目標。

在跨鏈應用上體驗一致、資產互通

Q: 如何帶來這些從沒使用過區塊鏈的新用戶？

Hsuan: 這應該跟我們在這個產業滿久了有關，對各種技術都還算熟悉，反而讓我們不會單純從技術角度去思考問題。我們一直努力讓用戶在不同公鏈的應用上，能夠體驗一致、資產互通。例如，解決 Ethereum、Solana、Polygon、Flow 這些不同 Layer 1、Layer 2 公鏈之間資訊互通的問題，需要做哪些事情，才能讓用戶可以很無感地在不同公鏈之間切換，這比較是我們思考問題的方式。

Edwin: 這某種程度來說，這也是我們堆疊起的護城河。在產品陸續改版時，我們會刻意把鏈跟鏈之間的距離感消除，從我們創業第一天就是這樣。但確實有一些產業基礎發展上，是我們當下無法解決的關卡，所以有些部分快，有些部分慢，但只要能從我們這邊解決的問題，我們會儘量讓使用者在我們的產品上，使用不同公鏈的體驗是一致的。

Q: 你們曾一起當過同事，然後一起創業，在創業的過程中，身為 Co-founder，兩位如何分工？決策如何產生？如何化解意見分歧？

Hsuan: 我們第一次見面時，是在前公司一起出差到柏林時認識的，應該對彼此的第一印象都不錯。當時我負責技術，Edwin 負責 BD，其實相距還滿遠的，但就覺得有一些共通點，Edwin 其實也是技術背景出身的，所以在溝通時，其實還滿容易互相理解。

創業後的分工，我主要負責技術與產品，他負責 Marketing 與 Operation，其他像 BD、募資或是公司方向策略，則是一起討論、一起負責。在各部門的執行上，就依據這樣的分工各自運作。印象中，我們創業至今，好像還沒有吵過架吧，我們都還滿⋯⋯

Edwin: 激烈地溝通。

Hsuan: 或是到講話比較大聲。

Edwin: 真的都還好、都還好⋯⋯

Hsuan: 對！甚至連激烈地溝通都沒有很激烈。我們 EQ 還算高，也都滿理性的，遇到意見或想法不同時，就是努力說服對方，或是說有一些喬事情的方式，在各自負責的部門策略或戰術上，就互相尊重、相信對方。

例如，在經營社群上，我覺得既然我們希望打造注重用戶體驗的錢包或生態系，用戶有任何疑難雜症，我們都應該要盡量協助。但 Edwin 並不認同，他認為這樣會花費太多時間與人力，去照顧所有人的需求，可能會造成極少數的用戶，不先自己動手找答案，只要有問題就想要問，會讓我們要花很多資源去照顧極少數用戶，他認為應該把資源花在優先解決用戶的重要問題上。因為這是 Marketing 的範圍，我也就尊重他的決定。 

營收成長還是用戶成長優先？

Q: 這樣的分工可以理解。但在更關乎公司長遠發展的方向上，你們如何化解意見分歧？

Edwin: 公司剛成立時，其實沒什麼錢，我們有看到一個眼前立刻就可以 Catch 的機會。也不是說要賺什麼快錢，而是我覺得既然我們要提供服務，就應該做營收，能賺的錢就要賺。但 Hsuan 的想法不同，他認為還是應該要繼續把用戶做起來，把用戶做好，營收自然會跟著來，我們比較常在溝通這類的事情。

很多時候，我覺得比較像是兩人在鬥智。我們都知道對方會怎麼想、會怎麼說，然後想能不能提出更好的說法說服對方。這某種程度也有一些樂趣，感覺很好玩。但在創業前，我們也有討論到，萬一真的無法說服對方時怎麼辦？我們的 Agreement 是就聽 Hsuan 的，創業至今，也就只用過兩次。

Q: 等於平均一年用不到一次！聽起來，你們在創業之前的 Smart Contract 寫得不錯，各種溝通上可能發生的情況，都有對應的自動執行機制？

Hsuan: 這是最後不得已的手段，我真的非常謹慎保守在使用它，不會動不動就覺得「我們當初不是就決定我說了算嗎？」總的來說，我比較偏夢想一點，例如想做 Ecosystem Building，去帶動更大的用戶成長；Edwin 比較偏實際一點，例如在不同階段，公司現在有多少現金、該賺多少錢。

Q: 創業至今，有沒有發生錢不夠用的時候？你們通常會怎麼解決？

Hsuan: 我們之前的確遇到過，創業資金快燒光了。當然我們還是儘量維持原本在做的事情，希望以比較小幅度的調整，能夠產生更多營收，或是先募一筆資金。我們當時其實有把各套劇本準備好，例如，資金還剩六個月時，要做哪些事情，萬一只剩兩個月，資金水位還是沒有起色，又要做哪些事情。比如說，是不是要接一些案子，先賺一點錢進來，讓大家多撐三個月，雖然對長遠發展來說比較不理想，但至少可以讓我們撐過去。

差不多就是 Flow 準備上線時。成為支援 Flow 的錢包，是我們很相信的路線，也相信這個合作會很有收穫、會很成功。但問題在於這需要比較長的時間去等待，而我們投入了很多 Effort 在這上面，但 Flow 整體生態系的發展，終究無法只取決於我們自己，我們也有想好，如果 Flow 成功或不成功，或是沒有那麼快成功，我們要怎麼樣才可以繼續支撐下去。

Edwin: 更早一次發生在我們剛創業時。剛創業時，我們都有去當過講師，Hsuan 教區塊鏈的技術，我教區塊鏈的 BD，努力先賺點零用錢養公司。後來真正更吃緊的時候，我們也想過是否能跟誰先借錢，或是我們兩人暫時不要拿薪水，各種選項都討論過。

當然，還算幸運，這些挑戰我們都順利度過了。儘管再怎麼缺錢，我們自始至終都沒想過要賺一點快錢 (編按：割韭菜)，始終都還是想著，怎麼把這個系統建立起來，也許當下變慢一些，但不要背離我們的方向。

各種創業會遇到的挑戰，除了理性溝通外，我覺得我們兩人都滿重感情的，會支持彼此，也許這次你辛苦一點，下次就換我辛苦一點，我們都會覺得說「OK，彼此彼此」。

Q: 這真的有一種工程師才懂的志氣與浪漫！在你們的心中，希望 Blocto 成為怎樣的公司？

Hsuan: 希望公司能繼續維持新創思維，並成為全體目標一致的團隊。這類似 OKR 的精神，就是所有人對代表目標的 O (Objectives) 都能看得更清楚。我們知道，當團隊正在成長，規模正在變大，所有溝通與訊息傳遞會變得更困難，但我們還是希望大家都能知道公司目前的方向是什麼。

我們每週會有一個一小時，所有人都必須參與的會議。在會議上，我們會分享觀察到的市場狀況，公司之前做了哪些嘗試與調整，從中學習到什麼，接下來要往哪個方向發展。希望讓所有同事都能清楚知道，公司未來大約三個月的整體目標是什麼，我們最在意的事情是什麼，讓每位同事都能從自己的工作與角色中，去思考一些可以做到、符合公司整體目標的事情。

在這過程中，我們會有試錯的新創思維。也許會錯，然後可能會放棄或是修正，在這過程中，一起找出更好的方向一起前進。希望能熱愛自己做的產品，大家互相 Cover，而不只是把自己份內的事情做好，比較像是除了自己負責的部分外，盡可能在其他任何可以貢獻、Cover 的地方，把每個小縫都能補得很滿。

我還滿驕傲的，現在我們有二十多位同事，還能維持住這樣的文化。有個小故事讓我很有感觸。今年初，我們有一個被併購的機會，對方開得條件不錯，因為我們所有員工也都是公司股東，如果接受這個併購，所有人應該都能獲得不錯的報酬，等於提早出場，然後幫別人打工。我們有在會議上跟大家分析這當中利弊得失，能賺到一筆錢，但未來公司技術、產品與發展方向，未必能全部由自己控制。後來我請大家閉起眼睛投票，想或不想被併購的舉手，結果所有人都舉手不想被併購，沒有任何一個人舉手想要被併購，大家都想要繼續打拼下去，那個畫面真的很感動我。

Q: 要讓所有節點都產生共識，這真的是很難得的經驗。其實 Blocto 與 AppWorks 也很有緣，你們在 2019 年創業那一年就加入 AppWorks Acclerator 成為校友，畢業後又成為 AppWorks 的投資案。你們覺得加入 AppWorks 為創業者校友所打造的社群，對你們往後的創業有哪些幫助？

Edwin: 我覺得有兩個面向。第一個，就是 Networking，比如說，我們跟 Flow 團隊第一次正式的會議，就是 AppWorks 介紹的 (編按：AppWorks 是 FLOW token 在 IEO 時，全球第二大的機構投資人)，隨後以此開展出深度的策略合作。AppWorks 有 Accelerator、VC，還有培養軟體人才的 School，這一整套體系很不錯，等於方方面面的人都會碰到，創業者不管要找創業與商業合作夥伴，甚至是找人才，在 AppWorks 的體系中都有機會遇到。

第二個，是在各自的創業旅程中，彼此一起交流與學習的創業者同儕。當然，我們一直很努力做出一些東西出來，但其實也會很害怕做錯方向，而自己並不知道，把資源和心力消耗在一些無法產出成果的地方。在 AppWorks，有非常多和其他創業者交流的機會，不論是私下或是 AppWorks 主辦的活動，因為區塊鏈還是非常新的產業，許多事物都正在發生，需要不斷去探索，我們不會期待別人告訴我們該怎麼做，但至少會有其他創業者跟我說「欸！你不要浪費時間在這裡了，你應該去做其他事情，我試過了，在這裡是不會成功的。」我覺得對我們來說，這非常受用。

Hsuan: 作為一位創業者，要經營一家新創事業，有非常多知識需要學習。AppWorks 的 Master Team，會提供一些課程與輔導，比如說人才招募、法務、財務上的知識架構，當然創業者本身要努力做功課，但 AppWorks 可以幫助我們更快入門，知道要先從哪邊著手，再從此延伸更深入的學習。另一個收穫，是我在 AppWorks 認識了不同國家在區塊鏈產業的創業者、或是其他領域的學長姐，這是非常有幫助的 Connection。

Q: 很高興聽到加入 AppWorks 的創業者社群，真的對你們的創業有幫助。展望未來半年到一年，Blocto 有哪些新計畫？

Hsuan: 我們會繼續發展跨鏈的應用，希望能吸引更多現在還在幣圈、鏈圈以外的用戶加入。例如，我們現在發展最成熟的公鏈合作，就是 Flow，希望在這個基礎上，開啟更多的跨鏈應用的合作，把我們的優勢擴展到例如 Solana、Polygon、BSC 上，這已經慢慢在發生。

在應用上，會從純 NFT 和 Gaming 再往外擴一點，例如 GameFi，或是稍微結合一些 Finance、交易或是買賣加密貨幣等服務。如果大家對於 Metaverse 的想像更明確、更清楚，或是整個產業體系更加成熟，我們也會在此佈局。

Edwin: 除了產品與技術層面外，我們一開始就是想做幣圈、鏈圈外的市場。這其實滿好玩的，我們一直在進攻這個市場，比如說，未來一段時間內，區塊鏈的使用人數，從總人口的千分之一增加到百分之一，別人可能會覺得不過就是百分之一的小市場，但對我們來說，就是水漲船高、十倍成長紅利的可能，其實我們一直關心那些準備但尚未進入區塊鏈世界的潛在用戶，一直在思考，是否有做出真的滿足這群人需求的產品或服務。

Blocto 經驗給創業者的 Takeaways：

1. 找到明確的北極星 (創業的長期目標)：創業是一趟充滿各種未知變數和挑戰的旅程，找到明確的北極星，才能持續朝同一個目標打磨產品、服務與商業模式。

2. Co-Founders 間不可能總是會產生共識：感情、默契再好的朋友或同事一起創業，都有可能發生想法不同、溝通不順的時候，創業前，對於各種可能阻礙「凝聚共識」的情況，以及如何解決的討論越清楚越好。

3. 信任是點點滴滴累積而來：不論對創業夥伴、員工來說，建立信任或向心力都不是容易的事情，透明與開放的溝通，則是逐步累積信任的重要過程。

【歡迎所有NFT、Blockchain / DeFi、AI / IoT 以及目標 Southeast Asia 的創業者，加入專為你們服務的 AppWorks Accelerator】

David Wu, Associate (吳戴文 / 投資經理)

David is an Associate mainly focused on investments. He previously lived in the US, but was drawn to the Greater Southeast Asia region by the growth opportunities and the wonderful people here. He spent the first five years of his career as a consultant at IBM, where he became intimately familiar with the enterprise software and services needs of Fortune 500 companies. Later, he focused on building predictive models and solving optimization problems for large companies, and gained an appreciation for the role of data and algorithms in our lives. He joined AppWorks in 2020 after receiving his MBA from Columbia Business School, and also has a B.S. in Mathematics from the Ohio State University. In his free time, he tries to stay active and is always looking for opportunities to hike or trek, often seeking the trail less traveled.

In “The Market for Lemons,” George Akerlof described frustrated sellers of high-quality used cars not fetching a fair price because the prospective buyers were unable to distinguish between high-quality used cars and low-quality ones (known as “lemons”), that on the surface looked identical. Sellers could only find takers at a discounted price taking into account the possibility they were buying a lemon. Those who have experienced swift price depreciation upon driving a new car off the lot know this well intuitively. Eventually, sellers of high-quality used cars leave the market, as they cannot be fairly compensated due to the market’s inability to appraise their vehicles fairly.

A new study suggests that the same applies broadly to entrepreneurs. It is impossible for companies to 100% accurately appraise the capability of job applicants and current employees. Hiring managers tend to assess talent based on traditional credentials, such as educational background and work experience at prestigious schools and companies. And managers tend to assess current employees through a combination of perceived signals, personal bias, and company politics. Those who may be highly capable but lack traditional credentials or particular signals sought by senior management (akin to the frustrated sellers of high-quality used cars) withdraw from the labor market and ultimately choose entrepreneurship instead, a path to earnings not constrained by uninformed buyers of labor on the market.

Going from unhireable to startup founder may sound fanciful, but there are some high profile examples. Brian Acton’s capabilities were not accurately assessed by Facebook and Twitter, where he failed to pass the interviews in the summer of 2009. By November, he joined San Jose State University dropout Jan Koum in starting WhatsApp, which the duo later sold to Facebook for US$19 billion. 

Many immigrant entrepreneurs face the same choice when they arrive in a new country that does not recognize their foreign degrees or accomplishments. They can either work low-level jobs not requiring any credentials, or they can start small businesses and capture more of the value of their talents. 

More precisely, the study finds that entrepreneurs tend to be those whose talents are better than the credentials and abilities readily observed by outsiders. When we choose to go work for someone, the company retains our productivity minus our wage, which is based on the company’s assessment of our “market value”, or the cost of replacing us with another worker who shares similar backgrounds and experiences. Those who feel that the gap between their productivity and their market wage is too wide can take the entrepreneurial plunge and, if everything works out, capture the entire value of their productivity.

A separate but related finding was that “entrepreneurs have higher cognitive ability than employees with comparable education.” If those with comparable educations exhibit comparable signals and end up at similar jobs and companies, it suggests that many entrepreneurs decide they’re out of place, “cognitively” speaking, even when surrounded by similarly credentialed peers at their job. Their boss might see them as just another employee, but the would-be entrepreneur believes this is wrong, and that they should be several titles up, running entire departments or even the whole company. They can’t fathom how the ship is being run, and since the company can’t evaluate their true value and compensate accordingly with much higher responsibilities and pay, they decide to run their own ship.

On the flip side, those underperforming yet well-credentialed workers that exhibit positive observable signals can’t believe they’re getting paid so much to add so little value. They would thrive in a large corporation that is blind or apathetic to the fact that the worker is capturing the gap between their high wage and their scant contributions. These lucky workers would find no incentive to pursue entrepreneurship, where the market would discover their true value. 

Intuitively, I think this makes sense and matches what I have observed at AppWorks. A lot of great founders have elite degrees and prestigious work experience, but they look around at their workplace and think: “This is a great gig but I’m capable of so much more in this life.” Other great founders went to average schools or were late bloomers stuck at middling companies and didn’t have any luck applying to elite companies and jobs, perhaps due to their lack of pedigree. They couldn’t bear delaying greatness any longer and took matters into their own hands.

I asked a couple of our portfolio companies’ founders for their take, including Wayne Huang, co-founder and CEO of Taiwan-based XREX (AW#17), a neo-fintech that solves dollar shortage issues for cross-border merchants in emerging economies that recently announced a US$17 million financing.

“I can quite relate to this,” the second-time founder said. “It was just obvious to me that I wouldn’t be happy with the employment opportunities that I had when I graduated. I was just not going to be happy. That part I understood very well.” 

Indah Maryani, co-founder of InfraDigital, a company digitizing Indonesian schools’ data and billing, had frustrations as an employee at a previous startup. “You’re not an owner or an investor. You don’t own the vision; others are driving it. We said it should be done another way, but it was hard to convince the others. So my co-founder and I said, let’s create another company and build it ourselves,” she says. So they did.

Of course, this is an academic study. It would be presumptuous to suggest that an entrepreneur’s or employee’s motivations are purely financial (though the study did control for several correlates of entrepreneurial choice, such as worker wealth, risk-taking, locus of control, and other demographic features). I would also argue that the capability to add economic value is not the same as the capability to add entrepreneurial value. 

But it does shed light on some of the common thoughts and fundamental drivers of entrepreneurs. “I’m more capable than this.” “I feel out of place among my coworkers.” “Is this all the impact I’m going to make in this life?” “My work is useless or misguided, and I can’t believe my boss can’t see it.” “Why am I working so hard for these wages?” “I’m not getting the respect I deserve—let me prove that I’m way more capable than this.”

After simmering in these types of thoughts, entrepreneurs of all colors make the jump, despite how scary, lonely, and risky the journey is. They move toward the entrepreneurial abyss, despite skepticism by their peers, doubts by observers, and mockery by salaried workers, all things that exist in today’s society which values so much name brands, stability, and validation by others. Despite risking being viewed as overconfident, egotistical, or doing it because they can’t find a good job, they set out on the journey anyway. They have a special drive that enables them to do this, and perhaps part of that drive for some entrepreneurs is the information asymmetry between actual talent and perceived talent.

I suppose you could say we’re lucky that this information asymmetry exists. Without it, some founders would instead find high-level jobs, having his or her hands on the wheel while adding great value at great companies, getting richly compensated, and perhaps even being able to spin their divisions off while having significant equity ownership. Instead, they embark on the difficult road of entrepreneurship, and in the process create massive value that only a startup founder could possibly create — more value than they ever could have imagined. Making lemonade out of lemons.

【If you are a founder working on a startup in SEA, or working with AI, Blockchain, and NFT, apply to AppWorks Accelerator to join the largest founder community in Greater Southeast Asia.】

Jack An, Analyst (安良方 / 分析師)

Jack is an Analyst covering AppWorks Accelerator. Before joining the team, he was a co-founder and early team member at two InsurTech startups, where he developed a passion in user experience and product development. Previous to his startup journey he worked as a commercial property underwriter at Chubb Insurance in New Zealand. Jack graduated with a Bachelor of Music from Waikato University where he studied classical piano. He loves to cook, read and is a practicing stoic.

During the first half of 2021, public interest in blockchain reached an all-time high. Towards the end of last year, we saw an upswing in the number of organizations and enterprises buying and holding cryptocurrencies, causing the price of Bitcoin to cross US$60,000 for the very first time in March. Talk of crypto quickly made its way into dinner table conversations, and it seemed as if everybody on the block was eager to dive into the world of blockchain.

For those that have been in crypto for a while, this bull run finally let them exit many of their alt-coin investments from the 2017 ICO wave, as the wider market price sentiment rallied alongside the mainstream coins to reach an all time high. The other worthwhile trend over the past six months has been the mainstream adoption of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), a technology that provides true ownership capabilities and authenticity over digital assets. We saw hoards of multinational brands, intellectual property owners, celebrities, and individual creators quickly embrace this new technology and flock to various platforms to either buy NFTs or mint some of their own. 

It’s certainly been an exciting ride since AppWorks Accelerator started publishing Taiwan’s Blockchain Ecosystem Map two years ago. In line with previous editions, we’ve observed several notable trends that have defined the blockchain industry this past half year. 

1. Branded drops accelerated end-user adoption of NFTs

The NFT standard was formulated in 2017, so why did it only catch on this past year? It really came down to two key driving forces. First, mainstream brands and IPs started employing NFTs as a vehicle to interact with their fans, such as the NBA through NBA Topshot, Taco Bell, and even the band Kings of Leon. By creating a virtual experience through NFTs, brands were able to engage and create a unique bond with their loyal fans despite physical restrictions under COVID-19, allowing them to also generate alternative revenue streams from the sales of NFTs.

Second, NFTs are becoming an alternative asset class for yield-driven crypto holders and investors. During the ICO era in 2017, most developers and investors were either busy issuing coins or trying to find the next cryptocurrency with hundred-fold growth potential; it wasn’t long until this model became monotonous and out of fashion. Fast forward to 2021, decentralized finance (DeFi) hit a US$100B market cap and drove crypto prices to all-time highs. As NFTs started emerging, crypto holders were naturally drawn to their consumer appeal and accretive potential, propelling NFTs into the limelight for mass adoption. Much of this adoption is supported by advancements in the underlying infrastructure, including a growing ecosystem of protocols, marketplaces, games, developers, creators, and of course, buyers. 

Evidently, a lot of moving parts have come together in the last few years to catapult NFTs into stardom. In Taiwan, the NFT landscape has also evolved significantly compared to the second half of 2020. For example, Lootex, an alumnus of AW#20, and Oursong, a subsidiary of KKBox, both established NFT products long before the recent bull run. All the effort they put in during previous cycles are now bearing fruit, with both companies receiving an influx of new partnerships and commercial opportunities. During this time, we also saw a proliferation of new NFT players, such as JCard and Fansi, effectively creating a diverse selection of platforms for creators to choose from.

With Beeple’s First 5000 Days selling for US$69 million, celebrity engagement, and primetime media including even SNL releasing NFT coverage, all the major signs of a bubble were there. And surely enough, monthly transaction volume experienced a significant decline of 90% shortly after its record high in May. Nevertheless, as witnessed with previous blockchain hype cycles, where there is money, there will be talent, and where there is talent, there will be development. Ultimately, NFTs are still in the early innings, and while collectibles have served as the primary use case so far, this new technology will eventually extend across any product, service, or application that needs to use a digital ID. 

2. Taiwan’s regulation catching up to the world 

Up to recently in Taiwan, the laws and regulations related to cryptocurrency have been very vague. And for those trying to stay compliant, they could only follow the existing but outdated mandate, or hope for the best by following foreign regulations. This was changed in April this year, as the Executive Yuan aligned their stance with the rest of the world by implementing strict AML/KYC requirements when dealing with cryptocurrencies. 

Existing players like MaiCoin—the primary fiat-to-crypto exchange in Taiwan—faced minimal impact as stern KYC controls were already in place. However, teams working on DeFi, lending, and investing may face greater obstacles, as it is challenging to design a user experience in a decentralized manner that complies with regulations while still adhering to the spirit of decentralization—a faux pas that many blockchain founders and evangelists are becoming increasingly critical of. Going forward, we expect decision makers to implement more comprehensive and tailored regulations for DeFi to prevent bad actors from gaming the system and taking advantage of everyday consumers; this will ultimately encourage more users and wider adoption, benefitting the ecosystem as a whole. 

3. Influx of funding and talent set to accelerate development

With the price of bitcoin hitting an all-time high in H1 2021, investors around the world are taking note of the industry’s activities. For example, in May this year, DApp Pocket (AW#19) announced that they had been acquired by Turn Capital, a family office run by 17LIVE co-founder Joseph Phua. It also merged its two products, DApp Pocket & Cappuu, into Coinomo, with the aim of bringing crypto to mainstream users in Southeast Asia. 

At the same time, another blockchain wallet developer in Taiwan Portto (AW#19, AppWorks is an investor), whose product Blocto serves as one of the earliest wallets supporting Flow and the largest delegated node by user count to stake Flow tokens, recently announced the completion of a US$8.8 million fundraising round. Primary investors include top blockchain VCs from Silicon Valley and Taiwan, as well as participation from a notable crypto exchange, public chain foundations, NBA players, and well-known American entrepreneurs, among others. 

Despite a significant price correction in cryptocurrencies since May, the momentum that has been brewing over the past six months will likely pay off in the second half of the year, whether through DeFi, NFT, or blockchain applications at both the consumer and enterprise level. We’ve also started to observe more international companies such as Animoca Brands (AppWorks is an investor) enter Taiwan to recruit top-tier blockchain talent, which is expected to further accelerate the development of the country’s blockchain ecosystem. 

Taiwan’s Blockchain Ecosystem Map First Half 2021 is created by AppWorks, Co-produced by Blockchain Media – Blockcast (AW#14), BlockTempo (AW#16), Zombit (AW#21). This map is updated every six months, if you have any comments or suggestions don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

【If you are a founder working on a startup in SEA, or working with AI, Blockchain, and NFT, apply to AppWorks Accelerator to join the largest founder community in Greater Southeast Asia.】

Natalie Lin, Analyst (林楓 / 分析師)

Natalie is an Analyst covering AppWorks Accelerator and Greater Southeast Asia. Before joining the team, she worked in the search engine marketing and email marketing teams at Zappos, America’s leading shoes and fashion online retailer, where she primarily focused on KPI management, campaign optimization, and project management. Born in Canada and raised in the Middle East, Natalie returned to Taiwan for high school before moving to the US for college and work. She received her Bachelors of Marketing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Outside of work she likes to read, travel, and play video games.

The world has been living with the pandemic for over a year now. Although vaccinations are already underway worldwide, many dramatic changes that businesses have adopted during Covid-19 are irreversible. Both startups and corporates have increasingly turned to AI, cloud, and digital transformation to streamline operations and survive under the new normal, permanently altering the way we do business.

During the first half of 2021, the Taiwanese AI ecosystem reached a significant milestone with Appier’s public listing in Japan, becoming the first Taiwanese startup to officially achieve unicorn status. Additionally, AI chip startup Kneron received funding and resources from major electronics manufacturers Hon Hai and Winbond at the beginning of the year, signaling a continuing demand for increasingly higher-efficiency computing capabilities from major technology companies. 

AppWorks Accelerator has updated Taiwan’s AI Ecosystem Map First Half 2021 with our learnings over the past six months. With the breakneck pace of digital adoption, some applications are no longer limited to a specific industry and have thus been reclassified as cross-industry solutions or technologies, which we believe is more reflective of the AI ecosystem in Taiwan. In reviewing the changes in the overall ecosystem, we have observed several notable trends for the first half of 2021:

New perspectives and opportunities in AI

According to Hive Ventures’ AI report for Taiwanese enterprises released in the first quarter of 2021, 25% of companies have deployed relatively mature AI applications in their organizations. In addition, 53% of interviewed companies believed that there was a need to introduce AI to their organizations, with learning how to deploy and apply AI more effectively becoming a top priority for many leaders. We noticed that companies have gone from directly seeking external solutions to building an internal team to sort integrated data, define application fields, develop and deploy AI models, and finally realize the assimilation of AI in their organizations.

It is precisely because of this trend that we see a number of AI enablers gaining significant momentum in the market.  ProfetAI, an automated machine learning engine aimed at assisting companies to introduce AI with the best efficiency, received pre-A funding from AU Optronics, Hive Ventures, and other investors in early 2021. In addition, Infuse AI received a US$ 4.3M Series A round of fundraising led by Wistron in the first quarter of 2021 to continue to develop their MLOps (Machine Learning Operations) platform. Model development, management, and monitoring are optimized this year to assist more companies in deploying and managing AI models.

The next step in MarTech

As the penetration rate of e-commerce in Taiwan continues to rise, the concept of online-merge-offline (OMO) fusing virtual and physical sales and marketing is demonstrating powerful potential. The effect of Google’s announcement of phasing out third-party cookies continues to ferment, forcing companies to reassess how they manage their scattered online and offline data pockets. Specifically, companies are now left to contend with the challenge of effectively accumulating, integrating, and drawing insights from fragmented customer data, and using that to make agile marketing decisions.  Such issues have created new development opportunities for AI innovation within MarTech.

In the face of making increasingly complex marketing decisions, the data required is more difficult than ever to integrate by yourself. We noticed MarTech startups have begun to actively seek alliance opportunities with other companies, jointly form teams to share data, improve product content together, or even derive new service models. Whether it’s teaming up between new ventures or seeking cooperation in different industries, you can find clues of these synergies happening throughout the first half of 2021. For example, two conversational AI startups, GoSky and Crescendo Labs, cooperated with iKALA’s KOL Radar to collect the data they needed to launch social commerce solutions.

Another MarTech startup, Accuhit, collaborated with key media players in early 2021 to establish a joint venture in AI and big data called DaEX. Through cross-industry alliances, the media’s advertising data will be integrated with CDP (Customer Data Platform) to create a comprehensive marketing ecosystem. In addition to its aforementioned fundraising news, Appier also acquired BotBonnie, an omnichannel social commerce platform to enrich their services and data analysis. With this wave of MarTech teams building strong networks, more AI applications will be born through such synergies.

Roles for large companies in the AI ecosystem

In the development of the overall AI ecosystem, whether in Taiwan or internationally, the participation rate of integrating AI in organizations and processes is increasing. In terms of startup accelerators, AppWorks Accelerator, established in 2010 and focusing on founders working in AI and Blockchain since August 2018 (AW#17), has graduated over 100 AI teams so far and continues to build up Taiwan’s AI ecosystem. In April 2021, AppWorks also announced a partnership with Wistron, an active player in the AI ecosystem, to launch the first batch of the new Wistron Accelerator powered by AppWorks to focus on startups in the fields of AI, IoT, cloud computing, and information security. Various business units of Wistron Group will collaborate with these startups to propose solutions for their departments and seek more growth opportunities within the overall AI/IoT ecosystem.

Leading AI chip maker NVIDIA also announced that it will establish Asia’s first NVIDIA Inception AI startup base in Linkou’s innovation park, supplemented by the NVIDIA Inception AI accelerator program to inject talent and innovative technology into Taiwan. In addition, startup accelerators that support AI startup teams, including SparkLabs Taipei, Taiwan AI x Robotics Accelerator, and the CIAT Accelerator, are all recruiting AI startups to join them.

Taiwan AI Academy Foundation and Taiwan AI Labs are Taiwan’s representative institutions in AI education and research, respectively. The former, a consortium, combines industry and academia to promote the implementation of AI in various industries. It promotes services for AI project evaluation and transformation strategies. Taiwan’s smart driving test lab and Taoyuan’s innovation park connect government and corporate resources to provide an R&D environment for self-driving cars to test. With organizations now banding together to push the AI agenda forward, we will continue to see the demand for integrating AI rise.

Taiwan’s AI Ecosystem Map First Half 2021 is jointly produced by AppWorks and Taiwan’s Artificial Intelligence Foundation (AIF), and is updated every six months. If you have any questions or suggestions, you may reach out to AppWorks at [email protected].

【If you are a founder working on a startup in SEA, or working with AI, Blockchain, and NFT, apply to AppWorks Accelerator to join the largest founder community in Greater Southeast Asia.】

Norman Chi, Analyst (紀泳瑜 / 分析師)

負責投資與基金管理。在加入 AppWorks 之前，曾於勤業眾信審計部門服務近兩年，參與過的財務報表查核案件橫跨多個產業。畢業於台大會計系，學生時期曾擔任台大學生會活動部部長與會計系系學會公關長。喜愛品嚐美食、棒球與推理懸疑類影集。期許自己成為理性，但不失熱血與溫度的創投分析師。

新冠肺炎疫情肆虐全球超過一年，即便疫苗已在不少國家大規模施打，讓解封逐漸展開，然而，疫情帶來的商業、工作模式劇變，卻是不可逆的。在疫情的逼迫下，AI、雲端化、數位轉型，已成企業與新創這段時間以來共同克服的挑戰。

站在這樣的大趨勢之下，2021 上半年對所有台灣 AI 新創來說，最令人振奮的消息，莫過於 Appier 赴日上市並達成獨角獸 (10 億美元) 市值里程碑，為有志於國際市場的台灣新創，起到了很大的激勵作用。此外，當各科技大廠不斷追求更高效能的運算能力，半導體產業持續將重本投入晶片研發與製程的情況下，AI 晶片新創 Kneron 也於年初獲得來自鴻海、華邦電等電子大廠的策略投資，並支援鴻海領導的 MIH 電動車開放平台。

AppWorks Accelerator 每半年更新一次的「2021 H1 台灣 AI 生態系地圖」(Taiwan’s AI Ecosystem Map First Half 2021) ，和以往有所不同的是，在這次發佈的版本中，隨著部分 AI 新創開發的服務或應用，不再限縮於某一特定產業，而是跨產業的解決方案或技術，所以這次 AppWorks 將新創區域拆分成兩部分：特定產業應用、跨產業技術。希望讓這份地圖，更真實反映台灣最新的 AI 產業樣貌。檢視整體生態系變化的過程中，我們觀察到 2021 上半年幾個值得注意的趨勢如下：

新創機會：企業急需更有效率導入 AI

依據 Hive Ventures 2021 年第一季發布的台灣企業 AI 趨勢報告中指出，25% 的企業已於組織內部署相對成熟的 AI 落地應用。另外也有 53% 的受訪企業，認為導入 AI 是有急迫需求的，如何在企業內部更快速地部署並應用 AI 實現數位轉型，成了不少企業急需解決的難題。在這過程中，也可以發現企業從直接尋求外部購入解決方案，到開始自建團隊梳理整合資料、定義應用場域並開發部署 AI 模型，最終實現導入 AI。這中間企業的心態，猶如從直接購買解答，逐漸轉向尋求一個服務或幫手，讓企業可以自行找到答案。

也正因為這樣的趨勢，新創的機會應運而生。在企業導入 AI 需求提升之下，可以看到在這領域深耕的新創逐漸崛起。其中，打造自動化機器學習引擎，旨在協助企業以最佳效率導入 AI 的杰倫智能 (ProfetAI)，就在 2021 年初獲得友達光電、Hive Ventures 等投資人的 Pre-A 輪資金挹注。此外，由 g0v 零時政府發起人高嘉良參與共同創辦的 Infuse AI，也在 2021 年第一季獲得由緯創領投的 430 萬美元 A 輪募資，持續開發 MLOps (Machine Learning Operations) 平台，力求模型開發、管理與監控的最佳化，以協助更多企業導入 AI 模型的部署管理。

MarTech 下一步：從單打獨鬥走向報隊組團？

隨著電商在台灣的滲透率持續攀升，OMO (Online Merge Offline) 虛實融合行銷觀念當道，以及科技巨頭 Google 宣布逐步淘汰第三方 cookie 的效應持續發酵之下，面對四散各處的線上、線下通路的數據，企業要如何從線上消費者碎裂的數位足跡中，更快速、有效地累積並整合第一手數據，進而洞察顧客輪廓與足跡，做到真正的行銷決策敏捷化，成了各大電商、零售品牌必須面對的課題，也為 MarTech 領域的 AI 新創，帶來許多發展的機會。

面對日趨複雜的精準行銷，企業所需的數據更為龐雜、也更難整合。因此，我們也可以發現， MarTech 新創開始積極尋求結盟機會，共同組隊分享數據、完善產品內容或衍生新的服務模式。不管是新創間彼此組隊，或是向外尋求異業合作，在 2021 上半年皆可發現端倪。例如兩間對話式商務 AI 新創 GoSky 與漸強實驗室，就與 iKala 旗下 KOL Radar 累積的數據資料合作，推出社群電商導流解決方案，進入社群電商戰場。 

另一間 MarTech 新創 Accuhit，則在 2021 年初協同關鍵評論網媒體集團，合資成立 AI 與大數據事業 DaEX 達思智能。透過異業結盟，將媒體自有廣告數據與 CDP (Customer Data Platform) 進行整合，打造更完整的行銷生態系。Appier 2021 上半年另一件重要的新聞，則是購併全通路對話行銷平台 BotBonnie，充實對話式行銷服務與數據分析的產品線。在可預期的未來，MarTech 新創組隊擴張的風潮，應會更加興盛，也期待透過彼此的結盟，產生更多 AI 應用的火花。

大企業持續共築 AI 生態系發展

在整個 AI 生態系發展過程中，可以發現不論是台灣還是國際大企業，在整個 AI 生態系參與的份量日益增加。在創業加速器方面，2010 年成立、自 2018 年 8 月 (AW#17) 起限定招募 AI  與 Blockchain 新創的 AppWorks Accelerator，目前為止已經累積畢業超過 100 家 AI 新創，持續為台灣 AI 生態系挹注新能量。AppWorks 也在 2021 年 4 月宣布與同樣於 AI 新創生態系活躍的緯創資通，合作啟動 Wistron Accelerator 垂直加速器，集中招募 AI、物聯網、雲端與資安領域的新創，並得以直接和緯創集團各個事業單位合作，提出解決方案，尋求更多成長機會。

此外，AI 晶片龍頭 NVIDIA 也宣佈，將在林口新創園區成立全亞洲首座「NVIDIA Inception AI 新創基地」，輔以本身推動的 NVIDIA Inception 加速器計畫，爲台灣挹注 AI 人才與創新技術的能量。此外，包括 Sparklabs Taipei、Taiwan AI x Robotics Accelerator、台灣雲谷雲豹育成計畫等以 AI 新創團隊為主要招募對象的創業加速器，仍在持續招募新創團隊。

台灣人工智慧學校、台灣人工智慧實驗室，則分別仍是台灣在 AI 教育與研究領域的代表性機構。財團法人人工智慧科技基金會則結合產學能量，持續推動 AI 在各產業落地，藉由提供企業訓練課程、導入 AI 專案評估與轉型策略的顧問諮詢服務，促進台灣產業升級。台灣智駕測試實驗室與桃園虎頭山創新園區，則是串連政府與企業資源，提供智慧駕駛及自駕車研發環境及測試場域，注入自駕開發技術所需的能量。

Taiwan’s AI Ecosystem Map First Half 2021 由 AppWorks 與財團法人人工智慧科技基金會 (AIF)  聯合製作，每半年更新一次，有任何指教與建議，請 email 至 [email protected]。

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