Hey! I'm Brianna HD :)
I'm currently Chief of Staff at NOAH, where we're building an all-in-one money app powered by Bitcoin. I'm also running TABConf for the second time with my three amazing co-organizers (Tidwell, Brandon, and Stephen!)
Ask me anything! I'm an open book.
Some inspo for your questions if you're shy:
- Bitcoin
- Lightning Network
- Life things?
- Startups
- Scaling Companies
- Building Processes
- Running TABConf
- Bitcoin community
- Marketing in Bitcoin
- NOAH!
- The future of money
- my dog milou!
I will be answering questions at 11 AM ET.
No questions are stupid questions XD
What is NOAH's goal? I mean, how big do you think the project could be? Or the primary goal may be so big that they don't know it yet?
Great question.
We're just trying to make basic financial services available to everyone in the world. That means - easy + quick + cheap access to transferring value globally, the ability to grow savings over time, and access to financial education so folks can make smart financial decisions.
We're using bitcoin because it's the best money around.
this has been said by more than 100+ startups.. What is different with your company and why will it succeed?
What is the planning process like for big events like TABConf?
Ok well I don't wanna write a novel. But i'll try to break it down in bullet points.
This is awesome! I started hosting my own bitcoin meetups so I was really curious about what it's like to plan a conference. Thank you so much for sharing.
that's awesome! I think if you just have fun organizing, don't take everything tooooo seriously, and focus on delivering interesting content - you'll definitely see more folks come through :)
This is great advice! Thank you so much! You're the best 🧡
wow 👏👏👏 mucho respect on doing this
What are some of the main challenges designing the onboarding user flows for new users, accounts timed to traditional banking/money, but unclear (or scared) about Bitcoin? Any interesting observations?
There are so many challenges in designing an app that introduces completely new concepts to people.
I'd say the biggest challenge is getting folks to understand that banking with bitcoin is just fundamentally different than traditional banking - while still trying to make the app as familiar as possible.
For folks used to using traditional banks, they're used to concepts like waiting 3-5 business days to see your deposit in the bank, having to WIRE money if they want to make international payments, waiting a long time for anything to be done, paying a lot to move their money around. The challenge is that we're trying to explain to people that they no longer have to deal with any of that anymore... while also demonstrating that the app is safe to use and that they WON'T lose their money.
What are some of your best marketing tips for the bitcoin space? I feel like marketing in bitcoin has some interesting peculiarities and it's not always like the way it is with marketing conventional products..
This is a good one!
So I've learned a lot by just trying a million different things out at NOAH over the past year.
With NOAH, we're not trying to market to an already-bitcoin-literate audience. We're trying to market to folks who have maybe heard of "crypto" (most people fall into this category). With that being said, it's so important to take a step back and remember what it felt like to be a newb in the space. To be totally clueless about all the memes, the differences between different coins, the susceptibility to falling for scams, the shinyness of all the fun "crypto" projects... and to remember not to alienate folks that aren't maxis. So if you can relate to your audience, you're already a step ahead of the game.
Then it's about making sure all of your copy and visuals aren't alienating either. Make bitcoin feel safe and familiar to people. Try to make analogies to concepts and ideas they are familiar with rather than overcomplicate.
I am one of those and I am grateful to have met NOAH. I frequently read his blog and I highly recommend it.
This is really helpful. Thank you so much! 🧡
What is most exciting to you about running the most signal-to-noise Bitcoin conference out there? Any specific highlights?
Oof!! I just love that we can facilitate so many incredible conversations over the course of a week. There are hundreds of brilliant brains in one space - the possibilities are endless.
I hope that new dope projects come out of TABConf every year - just because people get a chance to ideate and create together.
If you could share one piece of marketing advice for Bitcoin companies, what would it be?
If you want to reach more than just a bitcoiner audience, try to be more relatable to normal people.
What is the most difficult part of running a conference?
Dealing with disasters during the actual conference/speakers not showing up/speakers running late/staying up super late and waking up super early for a week straight lol
Hi Brianna! How do you balance the time commitments of organizing a world-class conference and growing a startup?
Excellent first question.
I guess I don't really think about it much - I spend my time doing the things I love and I prioritize really only a few things right now:
But I also feel so lucky to be working with amazing teams. Both the NOAH and TABConf teams are really on top of everything, so it doesn't feel overwhelming to be doing both. If anything, I'm just having a lot of fun!
Favorite SciFi novel?
I recently listened to Daemon by Daniel Suarez and it blew my mind. Highly recommend.
Is it your favorite though?
I recently started getting into sci-fi. I'm more into magical realism... so if you ask me what my favorite magical realism book is...
the complete cosmicomics by italo calvino
it's very sci-fiesque, but wouldn't classify as sci-fi
Thank you for the suggestion. I'll put it on the list.
Daemon series is outstanding, one of the rare books i actually reread
it's soooo good. Kinda wanna reread too? But there are too many books I need to read first.
F, Marry, Kill
Vodka, Gin, Mezcal?
lol marry - mezcal f - vodka kill - gin
Having built the Ops departments of Bitcoin startups before/now, what is one advice you'd give to newcomers into the space, interested not only in the technology, but from a company/ops perspective?
brush up on your crypto/bitcoin compliance knowledge in whatever region(s) you want to operate in
I thought Noah's goal is to provide non-custodial services – did I misunderstand?
Would you rather fight 100 chicken sized T-Rexs or 1 T-Rex sized chicken?
wtf
obviously 100 chicken-sized T-rexs
Most exciting Lightning development in your view right now?
lightning address
it's just made it so much easier to onboard normies onto bitcoin
like, sooooo much easier
What is Milou's favorite treat?
he loooooves bacon and it's not my fault
What's something you believe about bitcoin that few bitcoiners agree with you on?
spiccyyyyy
tbh I love talking to NFT and ETH heads and bitcoin-haters to try to understand their points of view. I wanna make bitcoin accessible to everyone - and the best way to do that is to listen to as many points of view as possible.
I think a lot of bitcoiners definitely disagree and that's totally fine
Which talks are you most excited about this year at TABConf?
ok without revealing toooo much
I'm super excited about this one talk on how to run the biggest lightning node on the network ;)
Brianna, we need proper text book for Bitcoin. Will NOAH make one someday? Something that I can hold and keep and write on it. So much better when you have physical books instead of through smartphones or tablets.
This is a really cool idea... never say never ;)
Why do you think that the big exchages having the possibility to do it quickly have not yet adopted lighting network on their platforms?
The bigger you are the slower you move generally
Also generally, the bigger you are, the more hesitant you are to adopt disruptive technology.
Did Brianna honkaway for Canadian truckers?
nice one
Oh oh Brianna, I want some keychains or fridge magnets by NOAH... will make some?
please keep it simple and stupid, would you?
Saylor have this educational platform where you can get certificates and grades for education. i asked earlier about having proper text books by NOAH, maybe creating an institution that can cater to those who are new to Bitcoin and wanting to learn it easily where the use case is already exist, the NOAH wallet - is ready for those who wants to use/experiment Bitcoin even closer to what they are learning. Would that be great? steps to bitcoinization before hyperbitcoinization.
It's about NOAH again. Birthday gifts - Birth-Sats-day gift. How bout dat? Instead of points. I know people had to reveal dem birth dates, that's gonna be KYC-ish... dont you think? Gotta celebrate some birthdays in the ark while sailing in the sea of inflation.
Do you think cavemen had nightmares about cavewomen?
All I know is I had a nightmare last night and it was terrible
What is up with this milou thing I heard about?
you'll find out at TABConf ;)
https://twitter.com/Miloulabs