The last few years had been tumultuous, to say the least; losing my mum, moving to and from Dubai like a yo-yo, multiple intense startup work contracts—you get the idea.
In February, I joined my partner Megan in Brazil on the back of Rio Carnaval. In fact, I got there just as it ended, which suited me because the street squash looked very real!
I hadn’t planned to go on the trip until the last moment, as I was already feeling the beginnings of an internal transition. But I wanted to join Megan and show her that I was willing to chase her across the world ❤️🌎
The trip ended up being amazing. Jungle treks in the Amazon, steaks in Buenos Aires, climbing mountains in Patagonia. Literally, a trip of a lifetime.
So why had I been grumpy for a large part of it? What was causing my unrest?
When we got back from travelling, things started getting worse. I've never had a problem getting stuff done. In fact, I mentor others to help them get stuff done, so I'm usually pretty good at taking action! But for whatever reason, when I arrived back, I was absolutely stumped with what to do.
After a few weeks of soul-searching, and some coaching with the guide from a previous deep nature immersion, I decided to create 3 lists with the following heading and description:
Life Change
I have reached a point in my life where my living and working situation is no longer fulfilling me. It may have been like this all along, but it's now at a point where I can no longer pretend to care about things I don't find important, fun, or interesting. I am giving myself six (6) months to make the necessary changes I feel will support a transition. Below are my commitments, and the related tasks I must complete to achieve them.
List 1 - Objective: A livelihood that truly matters to me
List 2 - Objective: Being part of a community with shared intentions
List 3 - Objective: Living closer to nature
On each list, I set myself a number of weekly tasks that would help me make progress, such as:
- Attend one inspiring event or meetup each week
- Reach out to one person each week who inspires me
- Walk first thing every morning in the wood
The plan started on April 14th, with the 6-month mark a few days away. All I can say is that life has weird and wonderful ways of giving you what you want.
One of those events I attended was a Blockchain Scotland meetup. Speaking at one of those events was a now good friend of mine, Jacob, who started BitcoinWalk a few years ago.
I'd known about Bitcoin for years, but I hadn't taken the time to truly understand it, so when Jacob invited me on a BitcoinWalk the following week, I jumped at the chance and ended up spending that day chatting to some extremely interesting, and similarly intentioned people.
During the very first BitcoinWalk, I was recommended the book The Bitcoin Standard—which spawned this post—and caused a realisation which I honestly can't separate from accounts I've read of divine intervention.
Humans need stories. We tell ourselves a story about how the world works, and why it works that way, but we very rarely question the deep fundamentals of the systems we live in.
The most well-known speech about this exact lack of perspective is David Foster Wallace's graduation address at Kenyon College in 2005, widely known as: This is Water - watch this version animated by After Skool if you aren't familiar with it.
What I realised in that moment was that:
- The prevailing systems and ideas of the world are driven by finance.
- Finance is the way the world allocates attention to certain ideas.
- The system of finance has been utterly corrupted.
- Bitcoin fixes this.
And in that moment, I realised what I needed to do.
I've been working in the 'startup' sphere for a while now, and just before I entered my early-year funk, I had been planning to launch a new startup studio—in short, a business that builds businesses.
Almost overnight, I launched Bitcoin Studios and started to attend events in Prague and Riga to meet founders and investors who were aligned with the same vision.
A chance meeting while waiting for a taxi in Prague led me to meet a fellow Scot, Allen, who I then connected with shortly after to propose Bitcoin Studios as an investment opportunity.
In our few meetings, Allen suggested that it would be advantageous to have a workspace to invite not only Bitcoin Studios cohorts, but other Bitcoin businesses (like his own, Axiom) and enthusiasts who would benefit both directly and indirectly from sharing the same workspace. It was a fantastic idea and I loved it.
What happened next
That day in mid-July, I set up a Meetup group to invite local Bitcoiners to gather every Thursday at Levels Cafe and Lounge 10am - 4pm (we're still meeting here, and will be until and unless the space opens in Jan 2025) where I could do more research into what people wanted from the space, what would make it as useful as possible to them, and ultimately whether they would actually pay for it.
Like all new companies, there comes a moment where you get enough signal from the initial data that you need to take a little more risk to answer the question, "Does this idea have legs?"
And that's what we're doing over the next month or so, validating (or invalidating) whether this idea really does have legs. Whether there is enough appetite from Bitcoin businesses and enough enthusiasm from enthusiasts to make this space viable.
The current shape of the idea is laid out at Bitcoin Works. It includes all the features and additions I learned about through many, many hours of chatting and meeting with Bitcoiners in person.
While the images are only 3D renders at this stage, I've been working with a UK-based architect and interior designer to make sure what we are presenting is what we can actually build—within budget!
The location is also set and we are in the process of pre-agreeing lease terms with the landlord, so if we are successful and generate enough demand to make the space viable, then we can initiate the contract without delay and get the fit-out started.
So far, Allen has committed to renting one office (maybe two) from next year onwards, and we have a bunch of Bitcoin businesses and enthusiasts in the pipeline. My job, alongside my FT contract work (!), will be to get the space to a level of occupancy (pre-launch) that would make it viable. As soon as we hit that milestone, I'll be in the market for a community manager and part-time receptionist!
That said, I've been around long enough to know when to move on when someone doesn't want to commit to a new product or service. As a good mentor of mine once said, "It's better to motivate the committed than to attempt to persuade the uncommitted."
I short, if you're an Edinburgh-based Bitcoiner or Bitcoin-native business looking for a regional hub to base yourself and benefit from all the positive network effects of sharing a co-₿randed workspace with your peers, Bitcoin Works will be the place to be.
Actions for those interested:
- Hop over to Bitcoin Works and check out the membership plans.
- Click Join Waitlist then select the plan you're interested in.
- Join the Telegram group and meet some Bitcoin Works early adopters!
P.S.
If you're heading to Lugano 24- 26th Oct '24 for Plan ₿ Forum, give me a shout on telegram 🤙 so we can connect.