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Sidney Zhang
Co-founder & CTO at Magic Eden
Sidney Zhang is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Magic Eden, a leading NFT marketplace built on the Solana blockchain.34 His career in the crypto industry began in 2013 when he started his first crypto company working on Bitcoin Developer API.14 However, this initial venture failed during the 2015 crypto bear market, leaving him broke and living on a friend's sailboat.2
After his first crypto startup, Zhang joined Uber in 2015 as one of the founding engineers of Uber Eats, where he worked from its inception to its significant growth.14 He then spent time at Uber Advanced Technologies Group, focusing on self-driving production modeling and research, particularly in computer vision and prediction.45
Before co-founding Magic Eden, Zhang briefly worked at Facebook (now Meta) in the AI team.14 His educational background includes a Master's degree in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.5
At Magic Eden, Zhang has been instrumental in the company's rapid growth. The platform reached its first $100 million in trading within 30 days of launch and was the fastest to reach $1 billion in trading volume.1 Magic Eden has since raised significant funding, including a $27 million Series A round.16
Zhang's passion for building in Web3 stems from his belief in digital asset ownership and the fascinating technological challenges in the crypto space.1 His experience spans across crypto, big tech, and now back to the Web3 industry, bringing valuable insights to Magic Eden's development and growth.15
Highlights
Seven years ago, my first crypto start-up failed during the 2015 crypto bear market. I was broke, living on a friend’s sailboat. Yesterday, my second crypto startup, Magic Eden closed its $130 million Series B funding at a valuation of $1.6 billion in partnership with Electric Capital, Greylock, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Paradigm.
https://lnkd.in/gzV_tgmZ
As a bear market veteran, I can tell you that there is no time like now to build.
We started at zero nine months ago, hitting up every possible creator who’d be willing to take a chance on us. Today, we hit 20 million SOL (~$1.8 billion) in total trading volume because we make creators and collectors our MVPs. We listen to community feedback, test new capabilities, and ship feature enhancements at a crazy speed.
The secret? A team of 100 individuals that puts heart over headcount and is community-obsessed. At Magic Eden, we are motivated by our collective vision to transform the future of Web3. The owner of the boat is now a part of the ME team (thanks Nathaniel W. for putting a roof above my head in 2015).
I am truly humbled by what Magic Eden has achieved. And we keep growing – last month we achieved all-time highs for trading volumes, net profit, and user traffic.
We’re just beginning, come build with us. https://lnkd.in/e8iZFMjn
p.s. Thank you Starbucks for letting me charge my batteries for free during my boat days :)
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
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Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
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