LTI Pilot Program Position Application Thread

DAO Programs & Initiatives
18

Name: Ali Husain
Position I am applying for: Council Member
TG: thechaingamer
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thechaingamer
Affiliations (Currently I am working with, invested in, etc.):

  • I am the founder of Forgotten Machine, an indie games studio

  • I am the co-founder of Navigate, an AI (Artificial Intelligence) data platform powered by crowd sourced data. Navigate is a Web 3 company that raised 7.625 MM USD from investors such as Distributed Global, Alan Howard, Kraken Ventures, Outlier Ventures, and more

  • Web 3 Communities/DAOs I am a part of/invested in:

    • Treasure DAO Arbitrum Representative Council Member
    • 333 Club & Zen Academy – Brand Ambassador for Zen Academy
    • Treasure DAO
    • Pixel Vault Founders DAO
    • Treeverse
    • Pluid
    • Axie Infinity
    • RON
    • Arbitrum
    • Ape Coin
    • Bored Ape Yacht Club
    • Forgotten Runes Wizards Cult
    • Parallel
    • Paragons DAO
    • Treasure Ecosystem Games – Beacon, Kuroro, BattleFly, KoTE, Zeeverse, SMOLBrains, etc.
    • Real Agency
    • And lots more…

My Background

After my B.A. in Economics and my BSc in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin, I began my career at Microsoft where I drove the development for Dynamics AX mobile applications and later transitioned to SparkCognition, an award-winning industrial AI company. I joined SparkCognition during its initial startup days when there were a handful of people and left at the end of December 2023 when the company had grown to 400+ people and was valued over 1.4B USD.

During my tenure at SparkCognition, I made significant contributions to the company’s growth, prototyping the first version of its Natural Language Processing platform and many other innovative applications for the enterprise market. A lot of work I did was in the Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality space, designing and building applications for Enterprise customers deployed on a wide array of devices.

I served as Chief Software Architect and Chief Product Officer at SkyGrid, a joint venture between SparkCognition and The Boeing Company. As a founding member of SkyGrid, I led the company’s product strategies, developing AI and blockchain technology to address complex challenges in the urban aerial mobility market. SkyGrid was named as one of the top 50 companies using blockchain in 2021.

Utilizing blockchain as a core part of the SkyGrid stack is something that I was extremely passionate about and did a lot of talks on the applications of blockchain in aviation and enterprise in general. One of my speaking sessions was at one of the largest Airshows – Farnborough International – on Blockchain in Aviation.

I transitioned back to SparkCognition in mid 2023 when The Boeing Company acquired a majority stake in SkyGrid.

I am a Co-Founder at Navigate, a Web 3 AI data platform powered by crowdsourced data and was part of the core team that raised the seed round of 7.625MM from numerous investors.

I have been very actively involved in Crypto and Web 3 since 2015. I have been part of the Treasure DAO since its inception during the Loot Derivative phase.

For 2+ years, I have been working on Ruffion Reborn, a self-funded project that is built to enable other developers to create their own games on Arbitrum and in the Treasure ecosystem. All the art assets are CC0, and all the code is open source. The alpha went live earlier this year.

I have also been building other projects that will be going live on Arbitrum this year.

Why would You be the best candidate for this position?

I believe I would a great fit for a council position for the following reasons:

  1. I have traditional industry experience in Enterprise across large companies as well as nimble startups and have drafted and evaluated multiple grants/proposals during my leadership roles within these companies

  2. I am a builder through and through. Having worked on enterprise software and consumer applications as well as games, I have a wide array of experience in being able to assess strengths and weaknesses in product plans and proposals.

  3. I am also part of several Web 3 DAOs. Being an early and active member in the Treasure community as well as the Arbitrum community, I have evangelized the Arbitrum ecosystem, made introductions and brought several builders over to the Arbitrum ecosystem.

  4. I was elected and I am currently serving as a council member of the inaugural Treasure Arbitrum Representative Council and have been involved in evaluating and voting on various proposals as well as working on proposals to further the growth of Arbitrum.

  5. One of my biggest strengths is being able to assess a situation and make decisions quickly while minimizing the risk of failure. A critical requirement for any startup/nimble organization.

What do you think a good incentive application looks like?

  1. A well-defined product/program that highlights needs being addressed and clear goals to be accomplished

  2. Very explicitly state how the Arbitrum ecosystem benefits via growth and sustainability

  3. A timeline, preferably with clear milestones and “demo days” where the team can highlight the progress that has been made

  4. Long term roadmap that highlights what kind of enhancements and updates are being thought of based on the product’s success

  5. Team’s background

What are your goals for this program?

  1. Onboard great builders and enable them to build great products

  2. Do 1. in a way that grows the Arbitrum ecosystem in a sustainable manner by bringing in more users (who keep coming back) and increasing on-chain activity

  3. The products/programs funded by this LTIP become a very real and positive marketing tool for Arbitrum as well, encouraging others to come and develop on Arbitrum

Links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-husain1/
Forgotten Machine: https://www.forgottenmachine.com

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