What if the users that make Snapchat worth anything at all had been given ownership in it from the beginning?
In this episode I talk to Frank E. Banks, co-founder of ZEN for iOS, a video sharing and communications app for the video editor community and ZENCoin – the cryptocurrency that is the front door to a powerful business model innovation.
There are literally millions of mobile app developers worldwide. And who knows how many video content creators there could be over time.
Find out how ZENCoins will be the currency to knit them all together into a single, infinitely dynamic, market.
1:11 - Introducing Frank E. Banks, cofounder and CEO of Zen; some background on his career and on Zen.
3:02 - Comparing the current landscape of fanart distribution to how Zen will change that; finding this market through working with a video editing app for vine.
3:47 - The scope of this market and some of the specific benefits.
4:45 - How Zen specifically fits into the fanart distribution market.
5:21 - The monetization structure for Zen and how Frank plans to evolve it over time; comparing that structure to Youtube.
9:02 - The shadow market of influencer marketing.
11:13 - Applying this shadow market to how brands use social media marketing.
12:48 - Building a following quickly using these influencer techniques that stay more or less an industry secret.
14:17 - What results could come from turning this into an efficient, structured market through Zen; reposting as the primary attention commodity and how Zen streamlines that.
16:43 - Applying Zen’s functions to how advertisers and influencers can benefit.
17:32 - The global scope of Zen’s market and how they’re solving the currency problem by utilizing their own cryptocurrency, Zen Coin; additional benefits of using a cryptocurrency for this marketplace.
20:21 - What Zen’s decentralization means for users and providing incentives for using Zen Coins more widely.
24:18 - The potential for appreciating value of the Zen Coins and how they want to foster that through creating a strong ecosystem with other complementary businesses.
29:28 - Comparing this value proposition for content creators to using other platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
30:23 - Looking at Zen’s potential for growth, geographically and demographically, and how using a cryptocurrency facilitates that.
32:49 - Zen Coin as an incentive to be an early adopter for the platform and why it’s an added benefit over platforms like Instagram.
33:36 - Why cryptocurrencies can grow in value and looking at trajectories of previous iterations.
34:32 - What Frank is most excited about with the business right now.
35:50 - Frank’s experience at Zynga, having seen the network effects in action, and how something like cryptocurrency could have affected Zynga’s early sustainability.
37:34 - Comparing cryptocurrencies to other huge technology changes.
39:05 - The questionnaire, borrowed from James Lipton.
45:28 - Contacting Frank and learning about Zen - www.zenvideo.co.
Resources and Links Mentioned:
Zynga
Mafia Wars
Cryptocurrency
Farmville
Download Zen
Contact Frank at frank@autozen.tv
