Success leaves clues. Finance Strategists sat down with Vladimir Kardapoltsev, CEO of PointPay.io. He shared his thoughts on the past, present, and future of the company, as well as the insights he has gained from running the business. Q: Who are you, and what’s your background? I've always been fascinated with IT and Finance. That is why I got my Bachelor's in Economics at UCL and then my Master's in Finance to expand my knowledge in both fields. Meanwhile, I was studying everything about emerging IT innovations in my spare time. After graduating, I decided to pursue a career in the crypto industry. In May 2021, I was appointed as the Chief Project Officer of PointPay. My role was to oversee the redesign of the exchange, the release of the Launchboard project, and the creation of a new corporate structure. I was responsible for managing 12 project managers. In October, the Board of Directors asked me to take over management of the company. When I joined, the team consisted of 15 employees; I knew each member personally, which helped our professional relationship develop very well. As our company began to grow, I interviewed over 2,000 employees. Within nine months, we increased our staff to 150 employees. We plan to continue growing and hiring even more people in the near future. Q: Who has been your biggest influence, and why did they have such a significant effect on you? Margaret Thatcher was the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th century. I admire her determination, perseverance, and success in overcoming the odds. She had the greatest influence on me for three reasons. First, Margaret Thatcher had to fight harder than her male counterparts at every stage of her career. She had to work twice as hard to be taken half as seriously, and that determination is something I admire greatly. Second, Margaret Thatcher's ability to retain power for so long was remarkable. She led her party for more than 15 years, and her political instincts were, in my opinion, unrivaled by any other politician of her generation. Finally, she transformed the British economy in a way that no other post-war British Prime Minister managed to do. The privatization program introduced under Margaret Thatcher was adopted by Tony Blair when he came to power a decade later. Many of these companies are still thriving today and continue to provide vital services, such as gas and electricity. I recall a moment during the 2010 general election when I was very inspired and moved by David Cameron's fiscal and social policies. I later campaigned with him in the 2014 general election in several London constituencies. I joined the party when I moved to London at the age of 18. For more than five years, I volunteered for them, first as a campaigner, then I held various positions in the party's youth wing, eventually becoming Chairman of the Young Conservatives in Northern Scotland. After I left university, unfortunately, I no longer had time to be involved in such activities. However, I still believe strongly in conservative values and would like to hold political office one day. I have always admired Thatcher's ability to make tough and unpopular decisions and prevail against the odds. I was very sad when she passed away in 2013 and even stood in the crowd at her state funeral at Saint Paul's Church. I don’t think we will ever see such a level of statesmanship in our lifetime. Q: Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to your younger self? My advice to my younger self would be, “Have confidence in yourself.” That's something that I think has been really hard for me. When I was younger, I was afraid to try new things and fail. It's important not to be afraid to try something new, plan, persevere, and aim very high. Looking back at our lives, we can see those small decisions often impact how we live today. The suit you bought this morning might have triggered a conversation that led to a job offer. But it's hard to know what will be important when you are in the midst of making seemingly insignificant decisions. So, it's crucial not to stop when you hit bumps along the way, keeping the bigger picture in mind. Life is full of surprises; we are just lucky enough to be able to adapt to any situation life throws at us. Another thing I would tell my younger self is to never stop learning and experiencing new things. It's also important not to be afraid to make mistakes. You learn about yourself by making mistakes and trying new things. So be brave and always try your best to do interesting things in your life. Q: What is PointPay? PointPay is an innovative and rapidly growing platform that provides comprehensive services in the cryptocurrency market. Our ecosystem includes a blockchain-based bank, an exchange platform, a crypto wallet, and a payment system. PointPay was launched in 2018 and already has more than one million active users worldwide. We have recently launched the PointPay Launchboard, which offers early adopters the opportunity to invest in promising cryptocurrency projects. PointPay's goal is to support the crypto economy by providing our customers with priority access to quality emerging projects. Q: How does PointPay differ from its competitors? The PointPay team wants to bridge the gap between traditional banking and the world of crypto in order to provide our members with the best of both. We want to make crypto safer, more accessible, and even more profitable for everyone. The main advantage of PointPay is its comprehensive ecosystem that covers all your needs. It includes a crypto bank, a cryptocurrency exchange, an investment platform, and a crypto wallet. All of these services are available to users through a single account that they can use to transfer money between each service easily. The ecosystem allows people with no extensive knowledge of cryptocurrencies to trade different coins efficiently and safely while at the same time offering them opportunities to grow their portfolios in various ways. One of the most important parts of our ecosystem is the PointPay Crypto Bank, which offers our clients the opportunity to earn an annual return on assets by simply stacking funds and getting instant crypto loans. However, we offer more than just crypto banking services. We provide crypto-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat payment options, a liquid exchange with a wide range of trading instruments, and much more. Q: What led you to start PointPay? I’m not the founder. I saw great opportunities for this project. In May 2021, I was appointed Chief Project Officer of PointPay. In October, the Board of Directors asked me to take over management. Working in an international company is an excellent opportunity to improve my skills and contribute to various tasks that require different views and inspiration to pursue bigger things. I already had contact with the crypto world, but now I have the chance to work on its implementation on an international level. Q: What has the experience of building the business taught you? First and foremost, I learned that it is critically important to invest in building a strong team. You can always teach people new skills, but you cannot teach them core traits like passion, commitment, and integrity. Another lesson I have learned is that it is crucial to keep the big picture in mind and always remember what your end goal is. Having a clear vision of what you want to achieve and where you want to go often helps when making tough calls and makes it easier to stay focused on the ultimate goal. I also learned that you have to learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward. In entrepreneurship, there will be many moments when things don’t go according to plan, and you need to be able to adapt quickly and move on. Q: Where do you see things headed for you and the company in the next five years? We have ambitious plans for the next five years. Our main goal is to be one of the top 3 crypto ecosystems in the world in terms of volume and profitability. To achieve this, we will focus on growing our community and user base, expanding into new markets, improving our products, enabling new use cases for cryptocurrencies, and offering more innovative solutions to our customers. We strive to transform the global financial system by promoting cryptocurrencies and making them more accessible to people worldwide. Thanks to our strong international community of traders, customers, and enthusiasts from all over the world, we have a good head start on achieving this goal. However, we plan to serve seven billion people around the globe, regardless of income or location. Over the next five years, we're aiming to promote financial freedom by offering banking services globally and contributing to the development of the crypto industry. Furthermore, as the company grows and expands, we will continue to provide the broadest range of cryptocurrency banking services. We aim to remain innovative and creative and set high standards for our platform. We would also like to explore partnership opportunities with other companies in related industries. Learn more at PointPay.io.
Introduction
Who is Vladimir Kardapoltsev?
Business
True Tamplin is a published author, public speaker, CEO of UpDigital, and founder of Finance Strategists.
True is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF®), author of The Handy Financial Ratios Guide, a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, contributes to his financial education site, Finance Strategists, and has spoken to various financial communities such as the CFA Institute, as well as university students like his Alma mater, Biola University, where he received a bachelor of science in business and data analytics.
To learn more about True, visit his personal website or view his author profiles on Amazon, Nasdaq and Forbes.
