Polkadot Head Ambassador Application: Mario Altenburger

Hi have known Mario for 10 years, and had the opportunity to work with him for over 3 years now. In my opinion, there are few people better suited to bridge the gap between TradFi and Web3. His experience of working in Origination and Debt Syndicate for over 14 years is an highly relevant background when talking to traditional investors about Web3. He holds a deep conviction on Polkadot, believes in the technology, and is able to convey it in a language that people new to the industry understand. When it comes to getting traditional corporates adopt Polkadot technology, and institutional investors invest in the ecosystem, I could think of few people who would make a better ambassador than Mario.

I have not known Mario for as long as Max has, however everything I have seen of him and his work indicates that he'll be great for this. He has great experience, enthusiam for Polkadot and in my view his moral compass is appropriately aligned.

@crazy_horse Thanks for your comment.
I can confirm that I do not have a conflict with any other blockchain/crypto as at HIC we are 100% focused on the Polkadot ecosystem and have supported over 20 projects already.
Happy to send you my full CV or provide any further supporting material on request. My TG: elmarius852

Thanks @saxemberg for your comment. I have in the meantime verified my identity, thanks for highlighting this point.

As mentioned in the write up, my current position is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Harbour Industrial Capital, a private fund focused 100% on Polkadot.

Regarding your question on FTE and HIC:

• we have a team to support us for our HIC activities. For Fund I, amongst others, these are Peter Alphart and the Campbells team for legal as well as Stanley Hui and the Citylinkers team for bookkeeping, account, auditing;
• ⁠HIC Fund I is a closed end fund and is not accepting any new capital, we have around 75% deployed and will strategically deploy until around the end of 2024. Our main strategy is parachain auctions, as well as selective VC investments and secondary market token purchases. Hence we are not a trading fund but have only limited transaction volume based on the teams we support;
• ⁠similarly for HIC Fund II we would hire experts both internally and externally to help us operate and manage the fund, with Max and me focussing on the key work, which is talking with project teams for due diligence and to support our portfolio companies, as well as fundraising. There are a lot of synergies in this work at HIC and the role as HA;
• for our treasury proposal on family office summits and traditional investment conferences, we would also hire a full time employee to organise and coordinate on the event sponsorships, panels etc. while Max and I would focus on delivering the message to the audience, working the room and follow ups to convert interest into actual tickets for projects, DOT or Polkadot funds. As you can see all these activities are closely aligned;
• regarding FTE, yes I will be working full time for Polkadot, and I'm looking forward to be judged by output and achievements. I'm passionate about Polkadot, believe in its technology and have plenty of skin in the game to push hard for the ecosystem and its success.

So what I am proposing with my HA application, apart from the support for teams and fundraising for the ecosystem, is to push also the adoption side in my network of multinationals at senior/C-level that I've built throughout my career.

Thanks @saxemberg for your follow up comment. I've been based in HK for 14 years and had many corporate clients in Asia (mainly China, HK, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam). For HIC Fund I, half of our investors were from Asia (mainly HK, Japan, Singapore). So I have a strong geographical focus in Asia, yet also good relationships to multinationals and family office/HNWI in EMEA, so naturally will also to continue to leverage on those and work with local HAs and teams for intros, follow ups to maximise the penetration and conversion rates.

Max and I will be together at many of the planned conferences and events, but also attend countless meetings separately to maximise the outreach and focus on each of our strengths depending on the target investor or corporate. This strategy has worked well for us in the past. The key synergy of us both being HAs is that we can convince a summit audience or target jointly where it is most effective for best impact and results. Doing so as an official Polkadot Head Ambassador would help a lot in the process and allow us to convince multinationals and solochains to move to Polkadot as well as steering investments directly into Polkadot projects and the ecosystem.

This is not Polkadot Ambassador Program it's the Whale Ambassador Program

I vote NAY for all candidates who applied , here are the reasons and explanations:

https://forum.polkadot.network/t/feedback-needed-new-head-ambassador-application-requirement/8549/44?u=alexpromoteam

@ChaosDAO In response to your comment I would like to say (at risk of sounding like a broken record), that our Family Offices Sponsorship proposal does NOT include any salary for myself or Mario.

Thanks @ChaosDAO for your feedback. I can just echo Max's comment above and emphasize that we do not draw any salary from the sponsorship. As for HIC, through prudent management we have achieved positive returns in the downward market of the last 2-3 years, but have not paid out any management fees or realized gains as we consider ourselves long term supporters of the Polkadot Ecosystem.

We are fully focused on raising funds for the ecosystem on one hand, while we also leverage our relationships and network to bring large users and corporates to Polkadot to push for adoption.

Thanks @Mork for your comment. We have been running HIC since 2021, supported over 20 parachains teams by helping to secure the slot, direct investment, lining up other VCs for investment, putting teams in front of investors and partners etc. Prior to HIC, both Max and I have been investing in the Polkadot space already, so we are definitely not newcomers.

While I agree with you that we are looking to support the Polkadot ecosystem in the long term and our incentives are aligned via HIC in the long run, we have in the past ~3 years engaged in countless activities to help promote the Polkadot ecosystem, that are not directly related to HIC, for which we have not charged any salary, to the contrary have spent out of pocket to keep pushing initiatives, meetups, meetings etc. All the while not paying out any management fees or carry to ourselves during this period to maximize the resources available to support the teams.

Instead of focusing on percentages, I believe we should focus on outcomes and who would be best equipped to deliver results. The value proposition of this HA application is to bring fundraising and BD which I believe complements well other initiatives.