From Comedy Writer to Leading Blockchain Expert “Blockchain For Everyone” Sir John Hargrave’s New Book

With Sir John Hargrave, CEO of Media Shower

What is your background briefly?

I started out as a comedy writer. My first job was as a technology journalist, so I was a funny tech writer who explained complicated technology with jokes. Eventually, I built up my own technology media company, and now we focus on blockchain, making it fun and easy to understand.

Does it seem like a logical background to what you do now?

It’s an unusual background, but nothing about the blockchain is usual. It’s such a new field that it attracts people with extremely diverse backgrounds, a medley of colourful characters straight out of central casting.

1 min pitch for what you are doing now?

99% of the world has never heard of blockchain. We’re explaining it in plain English, with interesting stories, to make it accessible to everyone. Blockchain is remaking the world economy, moving money to the 7.5 billion people on planet Earth — not just the one percent. That’s our mission: Blockchain for everyone!

We enjoyed the book, was it a labour of love to write? & where is Media Shower now at, in terms of trying to build that blockchain plane while flying the other business service you were offering?

I’ll tell you a story. I wrote the first draft of BLOCKCHAIN FOR EVERYONE and gave it to my editor, the great Jeremie Ruby-Strauss at Simon & Schuster. He said, “Well, the first section is pretty good, the second section needs some work, the third section needs a complete rewrite, and get rid of the fourth section altogether.

” So I let it sit for a month or two, and read it again. I said, “He’s right. Every blockchain book tries to explain the technology, and that gets really dense and boring.” So I completely rewrote the book. This time I wrote it as a story, a hero’s journey of our adventures through the great blockchain boom and bust, and the great prize that was won. When I sent the new manuscript to my editor, he said, “Well, this is not what I was expecting. But I read the entire thing in one sitting. Nine hours.” It’s really a terrific book.

You describe well how many hokey ICOs there were out there, are things any better with a new wave of STOs, IEOs etc? Are we seeing more credible concepts now?

The book includes a “Blockchain Investor Scorecard,” which is an easy “report card” that investors can use to analyze new blockchain tokens. We started working on this scorecard in 2017, and it felt like we were a voice in the wilderness — but we saw that investors needed better tools to identify good blockchain projects. You always need to do your homework before investing, but BLOCKCHAIN FOR EVERYONE gives you step-by-step instructions on how to do that homework.

While you wrote the book we were in a crypto winter, these last few weeks BTC and even ether has perked up, where do you think we are heading in Q3 & 4 of 2019 and beyond?

I often say, “It’s the greatest time to be alive.” While I can’t predict the price of bitcoin (it’s too new), I am “all in” on blockchain. To me, it is the transformation of the world economy. It’s the most exciting place to be working in technology.

Who do you think your book will resonate with? / who is it aimed at?

You can enjoy the book on two levels. One one level, it’s a great introduction to blockchain and the money-making secrets of the first blockchain billionaires. On another level, it’s a story about personal transformation. I believe that the world moves so fast that we are all called to constantly reinvent ourselves.

We no longer have one career: we have many mini-careers. BLOCKCHAIN FOR EVERYONE is my personal story of transforming from a comedy writer to a leading blockchain expert: the laughter, the tears, the excitement. It’s a story that will resonate with anyone in today’s job market.

How can people find out more about you & your work?

Subscribe to our newsletter at www.bitcoinmarketjournal.com, where you can get my weekly column delivered to your inbox.

Anything else you’d like to add / we should have asked?

You can pre-order the book here:
https://www.amazon.com/Blockchain-Everyone-Unlock-Secrets-Millionaire/dp/1982113545
And the back cover has a tremendous quote from one Simon Cocking!

Sir John Hargrave is the CEO of Media Shower (www.mediashower.com), the
leading blockchain media company. His company publishes the blockchain investor
website, Bitcoin Market Journal (www.bitcoinmarketjournal.com) which reaches
100,000 blockchain investors monthly. He is the author of the forthcoming
bestseller BLOCKCHAIN FOR EVERYONE (Simon & Schuster, 2019), and is a frequent
speaker, lecturer, and leader of the blockchain revolution.

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie or on Twitter: @SimonCocking