An interview series spotlighting global tech influencers, disruptors, visionaries, and of course, innovators.
Permission.io Chairman and CEO Charles Silver has been building companies and creating liquidity events for shareholders for 30 years. Silver founded and built the Oil Dispatch franchise in Michigan and grew it to become the largest independent quick-oil-change operator in the state, later selling to Jiffy Lube. An early dot come visionary, Silver founded and served as the CEO of RealAge.com, a startup which used Big Data to connect individuals to advertisers on a permission basis. In addition to founding Permission, serial entrepreneur Silver also co-founded LoveStoriesTV, a leading wedding-video platform; Reality Shares, an SEC-registered investment adviser with five publicly traded ETFs; and Blockforce Capital, a multi-strategy cryptocurrency hedge fund.
An early Permission.io investor, Silver recognized the significance of Data Algebra to software and realized important use cases for the applied math. With the growth of the blockchain and digital ID industries, a powerful application for data algebra emerged. ASK was born, enabling individuals all over the world to own and monetize their data.
By utilizing Permission.io, an ecommerce platform where instead of merchants paying centralized third-party platforms to engage consumers, merchants compensate consumers for their time and data directly with ASK cryptocurrency. According to the platform, ASK transacts on the Permission Blockchain; ASK is not an ERC-20 token. The Permission Blockchain is a “fork of Ethereum, so it's Ethereum-like,” but is an entirely independent chain, verified by Messari. The platform seeks to enable businesses to connect with individuals on a permission basis, ultimately building trusted, transparent and interruption-free relationships. Over the past 12 months, the startup has raised $5 million through a token pre-sale, and recently closed another round of funding that put the company at $47 million raised through equity financing.
A thought leader in all things finance, digital advertising, big data and blockchain, Silver has participated as a keynote speaker at numerous global events, including South by Southwest, Global Blockchain Expo, North American Bitcoin Conference and Inbound. I had the pleasure to connect with him via email to learn more about his views on several topics, including cryptocurrency ecommerce, technology and ebusiness; leadership in the Zoom era; and building diverse and effective teams. Our interview follows.
EKMH: When did you first notice positive movement toward cryptocurrency ecommerce? How do you envision the sector growing in the next 2 years? 5 years?
Charles Silver: I see it growing just like the growth of ecommerce starting in the late 90s. It will go through the same cycle. Early adopters first, then it will seem part of everyone’s life. I have no doubt cryptocurrency is going mainstream and ecommerce will be the first sector to adopt it. We are already seeing it with PayPal, Visa, Square and all the infrastructure guys supporting it. Infrastructure needs to come first to nail the user experience down, then consumers will follow.
EKMH: What post-pandemic opportunities do you see for crypto-technology and emerging ebusiness models?
Silver: I think the next big event for crypto adoption will be the clarity around regulation. I am optimistic that in the US, with the Coinbase IPO and Gary Gensler as SEC chairman, will see that clarity. Once that happens, the dam will break and we will see crypto in every aspect of commerce.
EKMH: What past failures and/or risks have helped you grow as a global leader, board member and Chairman?
Silver: There are way too many to count. The key is to keep learning, adapting and moving forward. There is no formula for success other than grit and determination.
EKMH: How do you address dissension in teams and/or disruptive team members? What are the keys to not only communicating well, but also effectively troubleshooting and problem solving...while Zooming?
Silver: As a leader, the number one priority is to have everybody on your team understand the goals, the strategy and the “why.” This has to be communicated repeatedly. If someone is not on board, then they have to leave. I don't see a distributed workforce as a problem in this context. A distributed team’s problems come from lack of being able to engage in the creative process, which is all about bouncing ideas off each other and feeding off of one another’s passion.
EKMH: What recommendations do you have for not only building talented, outcome-oriented teams but also keeping them engaged long term? What steps can be taken to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion practices?
Silver: It comes back to the mission and how we get there. Everyone needs to be committed 100%. People self select out if they are either burned out or have other priorities. People also have to have skin in the game. No matter how lofty the vision people still want a path to grow their wealth and income. Incentives matter and they constantly need to be adjusted. We look at everyone as an individual. Diversity is a function of thinking. We want a diverse set of people who approach issues with a different way of thinking.
EKMH: And finally, which books, films and/or podcasts top your recommended list?
Silver: Books: Permission Marketing, Seth Godin; Crossing the Chasm, Jeffery Moore; Good to Great, Jim Collins; Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand. Films: Gattaca, Ex Machina, and I love the X Men series.
*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this series are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
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