Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Anchor
TAXMAP founder Elusio shares how he applied blockchain technology to his field of tax compliance to eventually start his own company.
Prior to Taxmap, Elusio worked as a lawyer in the UK working in property and tax law and in 2012 he started working with Bitcoin and blockchain technology.
We cover how Elusio first discovered blockchain technology, the various iterations he went through with his company – particularly dealing with an emerging technology, and the necessity for belief in oneself as a founder.
Episode Highlights
How Elusio first came across blockchain technology
After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, Elusio realized the importance of having a diverse skillset. He started to learn more about technology.
One day, he heard about blockchain from a friend and began looking into it – studying the fundamentals such as how it addresses the double spend problem.
All the while, he analyzed these systems from a compliance standpoint.
Getting the idea for Taxmap
Taxmap was originally structured to be a tax database that Elusio thought about creating as part of a work assignment; however, he noticed broader problems, ones that could be solved with blockchain.
Thus, he began working on the company, starting it as a blockchain bookkeeping system.
As time progressed, the company went through many iterations with Elusio continuing to build expertise in his field.
He discovered that very few people were looking at the intersection of blockchain and compliance, and he validated his ideas with each new meeting, educating others.
Elusio’s advice to Founders
- Believe in yourself. You are your biggest cheerleader, especially early-on when you have a vision but others don’t see it
- Develop a mindset of perseverance. Entrepreneurship is a daily battle, and you have to get up to fight each day. Successful or not, you’ll still be surviving
- Entrepreneurship is a journey of growth. You’ll be living life to the fullest each day in running your company (and doing all sorts of functions as CEO, including sales, PR, marketing)