Personal Information
Discourse ID: @ZastrowBradley
Twitter: https://twitter.com/zastrowbradley
Name: Bradley Zastrow
Country of Residence: Australia
Educational Background: Arizona State University - Bachelors of Science - Finance
Professional Background: Extensive - please see LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradley-zastrow/
Nomination Statement
I am running for a position on the Special Counsel because we need members who are experienced in working for, improving and advancing the DAO’s mission of advancing the APE ecosystem. I believe Special Counsel members are in a unique position to be leaders within the APE community by more clearly articulating, and actively participating, in APE’s growth by improving current DAO functionality.
Motivation
My motivation is to help the APE ecosystem grow and I do not believe the status quo will maximise those opportunities. I’ll be publishing my plan on how to grow APE in an upcoming Twitter thread (@zastrowbradley).
I’ve been a supporter of APE since the beginning - working with my project to be the first NFT marketplace (x.xyz) to adopt APE as a form of payment, conduct the first NFT sale in APE on my project’s platform and build the first APE and Yuga Labs focused NFT marketplace for the community. This was done without any promise or expectation of payment because of the strong belief in what APE can become.
However, I do not believe we are optimised to achieve this growth and as council member I want to play a more active role in helping see that growth be achieved.
Rationale
My experience is directly applicable to a position on the Special Counsel in three areas:
TradFi experience: Multinational career in payments industry, majority being American Express and with a focus on building partnerships & governance. Past board of director experience with 3 Amex JVs in SE Asia - PT American Express Indonesia, Mayflower American Express and American Express Transnational. Previous Member level with Australian Institute of Company Directors. Partnerships included both M&A activity along with brand partnerships to build and support the Centurion and Platinum charge card value propositions.
Crypto experience: First professional experience in Crypto was 2017 as global head of business development for Dash Core Group. DCG was an official contractor to the Dash DAO and worked to expand its use as a form of payment. Key highlights:
Represented Dash as a speaker at Money 20/20 Asia & Token 2049 HK along with various media outlets
Launched key partnership with Kriptomobile - over 55k mobile phones sold in LATAM (VZN) to advance Dash adoption.
Additionally I’m the co-founder of X Marketplace, a NFT marketplace with a B2C and B2B focus
B2C: Focused on Yuga Labs and Otherside metaverse partner NFT collections only. Supporting APE ecosystem through low MP fees that are also burnt in APE. Always supported creator royalties.
B2B: Marketplace-as-a-Service (MaaS). Focused on building out marketplaces for creators, enabling low fees, closer relationships with their collectors, security and preservation of creator royalties
ApeCoin DAO proposal owner: I’ve led two AIP proposals as co-founder of X Marketplace. This has given me direct insight into the friction points that currently exist within the DAO and how to improve for the benefit of the entire ecosystem.
Specifications
My governance experience has spanned both TradFi and Crypto with the biggest examples being:
TradFi: Led M&A for American Express business travel legal entities in Asia Pacific. Including being on the board of directors for 3 joint venture companies: PT American Express Indonesia, Mayflower American Express (MY) and American Express Transnational (PH). Previously “Member” level with the Australian Institute of Corporate Directors.
Crypto: Dash Core Group was a contractor to the Dash DAO. While it advanced the Dash ecosystem, it was required to engage with and work with the community to ensure on-going funding. If results were not up to community expectation, as a contractor, the DCG group could be “fired” by the network by voting against future budget requests.
Concluding Statement
I believe the APE community would be best served with a Special Counsel member having long & direct experience in Partnerships and Governance that cuts across both TradFi and Crypto.
My direct experience cuts across TradFi and Crypto does that with an additional focus on the payments industry. Important if a goal of APE is to be adopted as a form of payment. Being a two-time AIP proposal owner also provides me with a unique insight into what it’s like to currently work with the DAO and how we can improve.
I also believe the Special Counsel should be more proactive and not just be paid generals governing soldiers who volunteer. This can take many forms but lowest hanging fruit is by advancing APE interests through partnership building, DAO improvements and participating in the proposal process…