Web3 Leader Spotlight: Lefteris Karapetsas
This week, we caught up with Lefteris Karapetsas, Founder at Rotki, a portfolio tracking and management tool that lets you own your data and protect your privacy. For years now the industry has struggled with many disparate parts. A user's money is often held across different centralised and decentralised exchanges, on DeFi Protocols and across blockchains - this is a lot to manage and we're excited to hear about how Rotki uses open-source to help.
What are you building in the Web3 space? Why is it valuable?
We are building rotki, the portfolio tracking and management tool that lets you own your data and protect your privacy.
It is valuable since the space misses a good tool that can both give you a "bird's eye" view of your portfolio across all chains, CEXes and protocols and also let you actively manage them.
What's more the space needs true "dapps". Apps that you fully control, can see what they do and how they treat your data. Something that we achieve by using open source + local first principles.
Privacy of financial data sounds like a leading selling point at rotki, why was this a problem you wanted to solve?
Privacy and data ownership I would say. They go hand in hand.
I first built rotki since I wanted a way to calculate PnL for my own taxes back in 2017. I tried to use existing tools. Not much existed. I remember http://bitcoin.tax. And like today that was and still is a SaaS. Just like every other single solution out there.
To me, it sounded idiotic as an idea. Even outside of crypto sharing financial data with random companies is scary. But in our field, where data sovereignty, anonymity and privacy are paramount, using SaaS for tracking, management or accounting is insane.
What's more a SaaS app will live only as long as the company behind it exists. Companies die every other week. Imagine you spend weeks or months of your time painstakingly arranging all your data so that they reconcile perfectly. And then the SaaS dies and takes all your data with it.
That's why I started building rotki. Privacy and data ownership.
What has been the most challenging & and rewarding part of building a Web3 startup?
Most challenging: Pretty much everything as I am a dev and not an enterpeneur. Wearing many hats is hard and learning to delegate to achieve tasks is not easy to get used to. Generally hiring and growing a team while keeping the company afloat and making sure everyone gets paid at the end of the month is well ... hard.
Most rewarding: Seeing our users happy with the app. This is a priceless feeling. To know that you are making a difference.
What would be your advice for other aspiring web3 founders?
Heh ... don't do it!
But if you do ... don't even think of attempting it unless financially stable. It will take a toll on your finances and may cost you a lot of money before it either fails or stabilises.
Also surround yourself with good people who would be interested in your project and could provide advice when you need it. Believe me ... you will need it.
