Expanding on the ground in KoreaFrom pilot projects to new hires, RootProject’s commitment to expansion in Korea has never been stronger.
Following RootProject’s successful token generation event, we are excited to be expanding our operations in Korea. RootProject’s token was distributed on April 20, and with this milestone behind us, we are excited to be moving forward with increasing our boots-on-the-ground in Korea and eventually worldwide. Korea has been integral to the success of RootProject thus far and we cannot wait to see what is in store for our future operations here. As we seek to hire for the international office, only three cities are on our watch-list: New York, Seoul and Seattle.
Since RootProject began developing our cryptocurrency and model, Korea has been in the forefront of our work. RootProject’s CEO has spent more time in Korea than in the international headquarters in New York. Anton and Nick started the ICO there with their first joint international trip, and that level of focus will remain. Jaeho has been promoted to Country Manager, and prominent Korean blockchain leaders have been helpful in beginning the job search for more Seoul-based employees.
Seoul is a pilot city for a number of reasons. First, pilot cities must be very large, for reasons having to do with social scientific inference and economies of scale. Seoul is approximately the population of New York plus Chicago plus Boston. Next, while many Western cities appear to be on the decline, Seoul’s pace of development has been breathtaking. It is the deepest crypto market, and its philanthropic organizational framework is large yet still growing rapidly and evolving. All of this makes Seoul the ideal place for RootProject to prove out, iterate and test its model.
The previous Country Director and the CEO did not, unfortunately, see eye-to-eye on how RootProject will be managed after the final sale. As a result of this, her and one other employee parted ways amicably with RootProject. RootProject is thankful for their work, and we look forward to supporting their future work, as they continue to support RootProject. Local governance is a value we all share in an industry focused on decentralization. However, the central pledge of RootProject was that of an expert-led organization. This can be seen in the first three post-sale hires, all of whom have PhDs in economics.
As we build our pilot city program, we will likewise be drawing from academic and policy-maker circles, so that the life-and-death work that is the point of RootProject can be maximized. But for local pilot cities, we will hire exclusively from local institutions — not to play favorites, but because local knowledge is key to success.
In terms of timing, the pilot city build process must by necessity follow the international office’s build. Pilot city hiring will begin in Q2 of operations, both in Seoul and New York.
Not only has Korea been an important space in piloting projects for social good, but it is also critical as a leader in the cryptocurrency space. Anyone who doesn’t understand this knows little to nothing about crypto. As RootProject continues to grow, we are actively looking to hire some of the best in the crypto world, as well as charitable and start-up scaling experts. We are now hiring in Seoul as a part of our commitment to expansion in Korea. Watch for upcoming announcements about available positions and new hires in the coming weeks and months.
https://medium.com/@nickadamsjudge/expanding-on-the-ground-in-korea-73963dd6e14e
