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Sean Sanders is the young mastermind behind Revix – a platform that enables everyday people to grow their wealth by investing in emerging themes, sectors and asset classes in an automated and effortless way. Sean and his business partner Louis Buys launched Revix in 2018, and today the business has offices in both Cape Town and the London – and will soon be adding Frankfurt, Germany, to their list. Just recently, Sean and his team also secured R58.5m in offshore capital funding – the crypto enthusiast has definitely come a long way from selling skateboard stickers as a teen entrepreneur back in the day.
In the latest Business Unusual podcast, Ralf Fletcher, CEO of Topco Media engages in conversation with Sean Sanders to discuss the inspiration behind all his profitable endeavours, and how ‘the world of crypto’ has opened doors to opportunities he could never have imagined. Sean goes into detail on topics such as investment diversification, being comfortable with taking risks, and the pain involved in achieving scalability.
Key takeaways to listen out for in this podcast:
- Crypto offers one hell of a ride for entrepreneurs. Bitcoin investment is gaining so much momentum that organisations and regulators will all soon want a piece of the crypto pie.
- Crypto can be your gateway to other transitions and financial opportunities – you don’t need to fully understand how Blockchain works, for example, but it can be so beneficial to know what Blockchain and crypto is capable of, especially for the future.
- Some like risk and are comfortable with taking them, whilst others are not. If you’re going to start your own crypto business, you need to have a real love for entrepreneurship and learn to accept that risk is part of the package.
- This field comes with many thrills and ‘aha!’ moments – it’s all about embracing the journey, the wins, learning curves AND the failures.
- Trust, hard work and a keen work ethic will stand you in good stead – be the type of businessman people would love to have on their team.
- People will tell you that you’re making a mistake. However, you’ve got to believe in yourself, in your timing, be clear about your objectives and almost become ‘obsessed’ with what you’re trying to achieve.
- Do not be overconfident when it comes to scaling your business. Scaling is not just hiring more staff. You need to strike a balance between putting the necessary controls in place, onboarding, and keeping existing customers happy.
- Try and find team members who can work a system manually, then upskill, and keep them on board for when new processes arrive for automation and optimisation of your business. This will save time (in terms of hiring and training staff) and money.
- We might very well be witnessing currency, as we know it, becoming extinct. Crypto could be the currency of the future. Therefore, we need to work on new capabilities that will prompt more value moving forward.
- Young entrepreneurs should get some international experience and absorb all the information they can from well-established business owners and mentors. See the rest of Africa, as well, and try to understand what drives each regions’ growth – there within lies plenty of opportunities.
Sean Sanders has a background in investment banking, previously working at Venture Capital firm Knife Capital, at Sabvest as a tech analyst, and at General Pacific Management Services as a portfolio manager. Sean has founded 3 start-ups thus far, including Sataya (an event-driven proprietary trading firm), Blocktree Capital (a cryptoasset advisory firm), and Application Portal – a multi-purpose online university application system.
Sean graduated Magna Cum Laude when completing his Bachelor of Business Science (Honours) in Finance at the University of Cape Town. Following an introduction to the world of modelling and travel opportunities, Sean quickly learned about effective ways to invest and move large sums of money, through assisting fellow models with their investments. Hence, his journey to discovering Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.