Interviewed By Kevin Huang

Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with our founder Chris Wang to talk about what it takes to run a successful business as well as his journey as an entrepreneur. From initially forming the idea to later executing his plans, Chris’s insight highlights why he was able to nurture and guide ThunderCore to success. Let’s look at who Chris is and pick at his brain and thoughts.

Background

Before we jump right into the Q&A, let’s first talk about Chris’s background. 

Chris graduated from UC Berkeley at just 19 years old and received a Ph.D. in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University roughly three years later (Check out his student page from back then). Following his goal of starting his own businesses, Chris went on to build his first company, Playdom, which was later sold to Disney (Yes, that Disney) for 563 million dollars. He served as VP of Tech at Disney for a couple of years before building a second company, ThunderCore. His journey was one marked by many trials and errors, but ultimately, Chris was able to start not one but two successful companies from the ground up.

So, what exactly goes on in the brains of someone like this?

Let’s Get Down to Business

The following is our Q&A session with our founder Chris. Some answers will be paraphrased or translated and will not be direct quotes!

1. Let’s talk business. What was your motivation for building your businesses?

It’s not anything grand or full of purpose, I just wanted to make money for retirement. That was my core motivation for my first company. Then with ThunderCore, I believed that the technology was worth looking into. I believed and believe that blockchain technology is the next big thing (Chris talks more about this later).

2. Starting a business. What are the stages from the beginning to execution to beyond?

I think there are three main stages. Initial stage, scaling/expansion stage, and the endgame stage.

Initial Stage- Growing Ideas into a Money Tree

The initial stage is where I brainstorm ideas, test them, evaluate for product-market fit, and get funding. When I first start thinking about building a business, I look at a few different things: Timing and trends, available skill sets, and scalability. Is this business something that could’ve been done before? Why is it possible or better to create this business now? A business that could’ve been done at any other time probably has already been done by others. You have to ask yourself why you are doing this now.

Once you have the idea and the timing, you look further. Do you have the available skill sets or sources for funding? Things like money and your team will determine whether you can start working on your idea. The last thing to consider is scalability. Is the business scalable? Scalability determines the size and potential of your business.

After the brainstorming phase, you have to test your ideas. Most ideas will turn out to be bad ideas. You have to test through them and see if you have the product-market fit. Is there a demand? Can you satisfy those demands? You can experiment with these ideas and find one that sticks. Often, it’s not necessarily important to see one idea all the way to the end, it’s more important to test, test, test. This is how I approached my businesses as well. When Facebook opened up its platform, we initially started with an e-commerce idea, then a news-sharing application idea, then a dating app idea, and eventually settled on gaming, which became Playdom. We found an idea that matched the timing and demands, and grew it.

Once you have the foundational idea in place, you look into funding. Money is a reality, and many companies fail because they run out of money before they even start making money. Fundraising is the key to whether you can even get your idea running (Unless you’re already rich). For us, we were able to reach amazing investors like Pantera, Hased, Kinetics, etc. 

One thing to remember is that you might fail quite a bit in this stage as you test your ideas. As long as you are okay with it, just keep rinsing and repeating until you can get things going. Failure is just a stage where you see whether you need to pivot or whether there’s something to improve on.

Scaling/Expansion Stage- Aim Big and Go Even Bigger

Your company has to scale. Scalability will determine how fast you can establish your place in the market. Without scalability, either you won’t be able to fully do the things that you want to do or you won’t make as much money. When we started Playdom, we went from having 20 employees to over 500 in just half a year. The market doesn’t wait for you, so you have to go fast. 

Once your core company is established, then you can think about expansion. This means using your core company to establish any side brands or businesses you have. But this isn’t something a new business owner or entrepreneur needs to worry about. Just getting the business running will be challenging enough.

The Endgame- IPO, Exits, and More

If you’re successful, eventually your company will get to a point where you can think about IPO, exits, and long-term sustainability. Do you have a plan for exiting the market or selling the company? Any thoughts on pivoting to something else? Do you have any roadmap or thoughts on how to keep your business running indefinitely?

3. So, what would you say are the three key factors to creating and establishing your business?

Idea, team, and money. The idea has to have a product-market fit. The team has to be trustworthy and with an assortment of different skills. And you need money. Without money, you can’t do anything.

4. Why did you choose to create ThunderCore?

I believe that blockchain technology can solve a lot of issues and that it can help the world for the better. I was originally very interested in Cryptokitty and DeFi, and that really got me to look further into blockchain and DeFi. 

Blockchain technology offers the ability to collaborate without “trust” and I found it intriguing. Smart contracts made it so we can have rules that help with trust issues when working with others. A lot of collaborations don’t happen because we don’t trust each other, and blockchain technology solves that problem. When I first started, this technology was very slow and expensive, so I wanted to build something to better that, which is why I created ThunderCore.

5. What are some interesting stories or memories that you have from creating your businesses?

I remembered that we barely ate anything. We were so focused on working that we would buy frozen fruits and protein powder and just juice everything to drink while we were in meetings. One of the other founders even started eating MREs and fell in love with it. Showers were optional, and we slept in the office a lot, particularly Scott (Current CEO of ThunderCore).

6. What do you think are the best qualities that a new or growing entrepreneur can have?

People skills. Knowing how to look at and judge people for what they can provide. Finding skilled people to work with you. Knowing how to utilize the members and teams that you have. Also, money. Having a lot of money will help with anything.

7. To wrap up, can you give us a short one or two-sentence advice for new businesses in this space?

Think about the demand and need, then find the technology or solution. Not everything NEEDS to be mixed with blockchain or use blockchain technology, there has to be a fit!

About ThunderCore

​​ThunderCore is an EVM-compatible blockchain featuring a breakthrough consensus protocol, PaLa, allowing lightning-fast efficiency. With users in more than 100 countries, this blockchain emphasizes a growing global reach. ThunderCore offers a native currency, TT, and nurtures an innovative ecosystem within the TT Wallet mobile app.

What’s Next?

As we continue on our journey through this space, it’s vital to continue learning and gather more experience. We will continue with Thunder Academy and Thunder Buzz to provide users with as much relevant information as possible! We might even have more Q&A sessions with Chris, so watch out for those!

This article is should not be treated as financial advice!