Getting into an industry leading Unicorn
Answering some FAQs I get on career and money
Up to Feb this year, I worked with Dune, the global leader in blockchain analytics. For about 5 to 6 months.
I saved up some money.
And since then I have been traveling.
And now I am experimenting with writing,
While living in Bali.
Yeah!
But,
How on Earth do I do this?
What about my resume?
These are some questions my friends ask me. And I am going to answer them in this piece.
In these answers, there is also an undertone of a story, a story of a new world, where it is possible to transcend the resume, and transcend geographies.
Let me first give some context on why the contract with Dune, that I just mentioned, was so special.
A note about Dune
Dune raised a round of a whooping 69 million dollars while they had 16 employees. Yes! At a valuation of, ___ a__ billion___ dollars.
That is right, they became a unicorn with 16 employees.
Dune has established itself as an impeccable brand in this industry. All the leading chains, protocols and apps are Dune’s customers.
They have attracted the best in the world to work for them.
In fact, the confidence to dream bigger has turned out to be my biggest win from getting into Dune.
In their fully remote and globally distributed team, I was the first face from India.
How?
Let us dive into the story!
And before we do, here is a teaser of a picture from a team retreat. While working with them, I had the chance to fly to Bali with some teammates. My first time outside the Indian subcontinent.
The Story
The cutting edge of knowledge is online and free
This story starts in Mid 2021.
Like everyone else, I had huge Fomo when Crypto prices went through the roof.
Which made me go,
This is it!
I am going to learn this thing.
And I went on to have a fascinating journey of diving through rabbit holes and aha moments. This space is layered, and it takes a while to figure it out.
But the silver lining is, for an industry as new and as fast as this, there are no masters degrees. No institutions can catch up at this pace.
So the best in the world learn the same way I did. Online and free.
While I dived in because of Fomo, I fell in love with this knowledge. And the process of attaining it.
However, it doesn’t take long to realise that knowledge alone does nothing.
I started looking for people to connect with. And I started finding ways to leverage my existing background.
Niche Online Communities
I had a career in data and AI up to this point. I was a Senior Product Engineer working on some cutting edge AI with an incredible team at a Bangalore startup.
So I had to find a way to use my existing skills with this new thing, with blockchains. I had to play to my strengths. I began diving into the intersection of data and blockchains.
And stumbled upon this group called Web3 Data Degens started by Andrew Hong. Who is The thought leader for blockchain analytics. You could not enter this space without coming across at least one article from him.
Which meant his group attracted some of the best talent and rising talent in this space.
And I got in, got into the web3 data degens group. This was the foundation for what would happen next.
This and the Build community where I found peers to build side projects with.
Side Projects
Side Projects is how I got my foot into the door.
I have been working in AI since 2016, since I graduated. Which meant I was also following Sam Altman and Open AI since that time.
Surprisingly, the world still hadn’t taken notice. (May 2022)
This was my opportunity.
I used OpenAI’s Codex API (now deprecated) with Blockchain data and built a side project.
When I shared it with the Data degens group. They couldn’t believe that it was even possible to do what I had done. They wanted me to tweet it out immediately.
And I did.
I tweeted.
Members of Data degens retweeted.
And within this niche of blockchain data, I became micro famous overnight.
I had heard about it,
and I had read about it.
But nothing beats the feeling of this experience.
The feeling when something of your creation goes viral on the Internet.
My launch tweet went on to garner over 60,000 impressions.
Amongst other wins, this project also succeeded in attracting attention from Dune co-founder Mats Olsen.
A personal brand
I did not stop here, I pulled off a crazier feat.
I went on to launch seven projects in seven days.
Some in collaboration with my amazing peers from the Build community.
My solo projects were the ones that went on to receive appreciation from some of the best in the industry.
By this point, my work had established a personal brand for me within this space.
And offers for work were pouring in!
Including an offer for a contract with the leader in this niche.
An offer I couldn’t refuse.
After a rigorous evaluation process, I cracked this contract with Dune.
Very Specific knowledge
Let us break this down a little more.
I did developer relations for Dune’s API. Highly interdisciplinary work.
This role played at the intersections of
Blockchains
Data
Data from blockchains
API for data from blockchains
Applications built using an API for data from blockchains
And this is just the developer part of Developer relations.
I demonstrated aptitude for the relations part with my already active participation in online communities in this space and the small but very high quality audience I had nurtured on my Twitter. I also had some experience in public speaking etc from my college days.
In a way, every nonlinear turn I took in life, got me closer to this role.
There were perhaps very few people anywhere in the world that could play at such niche intersections.
Being one of them, I went on to work with the brilliant team at Dune.
End of Story
But what’s next?
While that completes the story of landing work that has given me some freedom, and more importantly, a lot of confidence.
And I since then have taken the liberty to not work but travel across 10 countries.
Don’t I have this gap in my resume?
Yes, it does make me worry.
What comforts me is that my personal brand somehow still keeps working for me.
Most of my side projects were launched a year ago. Even so, just a few weeks back, I got approached on twitter by one of the co-founders of Mercor.
Yeah, even in this market!
I loved chatting with them on Zoom, but I did not take this offer.
I might regret this later.
But that is how I live.
Why?
I wish I had a simple answer.
But the best I can do is share this other piece with you where I try to make sense of my nonlinear life.
I also go into a side story of cracking my contract with Dune. And explain how writing feels valuable to me in yet another piece.
There is one more instance that can help answer this why. Immediately after I published my first piece of writing, out of all places, an acquaintance connected with me on facebook. A platform I hadn’t used in years. And reached out with this dreamy role that combines tech and writing.
This conversation hasn’t moved forward as of yet.
But there is hope for me!
At this point, I want my work to be aligned with me. I want to work with a team, on a mission, that I can immerse into. I want it all to be harmonious, like a symphony.
And I dare to believe, that something will happen.
Or I will make something happen.
That is all for this post.
If you made it this far. Thank you for reading.
Did I leave you wanting to know something more?
Drop in a comment!
Thank youPerzen Patel, Abhilasha Krishnan, Treeckster,Chris Wong,Paudanand Mohammad Khan for reading early drafts of this essay, during Write of Passage cohort 11.
Hi Susmeet, it's great to read about your journey so far! I don't think you will regret taking time off and traveling. I took a two year break, and have not noticed the gap having an impact on my work. In fact, writing online has attracted new opportunities. Keep up the writing and good luck with your journey!
Always rooting for you!! ❤