Today we’d like to introduce you to Rashad Collins.
Hi Rashad, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey here started in 2012 when I purchased my first bitcoin after hearing about the cryptic whisper from friends in high school, and being the technophile I am, I thought It was neat that there was a currency that existed solely on the internet. Fast-forward to my senior year of college at East Carolina, I decided to drop out and help my roommate start a bitcoin trading company(mostly because I knew more about the currency than my co-founders).
This solidified my calling in blockchain technology. Since then I’ve dealt with just about every aspect of blockchain and the implementations it has to offer. I utilized those skills to find myself in consulting; however, after realizing clients sought more of a technical foundation of understanding of the technology and having no technical blockchain experience I enrolled in DigitalCrafts’ Immersive coding BootCamp. While learning full-stack software development during this 16-week, full-time course, I simultaneously taught myself blockchain development to prepare for my Architecture certification. Once becoming a certified Blockchain Architect I continued my journey into blockchain consultation, advocating, and investing. One day I ran into Jim Voyles of Ed Voyles Automotive, and while we initially bonded over how tall we both are (I’m 6’9″ and he’s 6’8″) we soon realized that we shared the same passion for blockchain as one another. As we began speaking out about the tech and its many inevitable applications, we realized that the industry his family has been a proud member of for generations is one driven by VERY antiquated technology. We quickly thought of the many applications blockchain had in the automotive industry and thus AutoDex was born!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all. Advocating for one of the most unforgiving industries has created challenges. When I was younger, I was foolish with the amount of blind trust I put into a very volatile asset and ended up becoming a victim of the tremendous swings of the cryptocurrency market often finding myself in dire financial straits due to the massive downswings. Ive been permanently banned from major banks due to their distaste for the technology back in 2014-2016. One of the worst events, and a true testament to the unforgiving nature of this technology, took place on January 1, 2018. I was scammed of 7.14 bitcoin. The exit scammer leveraged their account credibility in order to take exactly 50% of my bitcoin at that time. I was devasted. And unfortunately, there is no phone number, support line, or someone waiting to refund you your lost money in blockchain; once it’s gone, it’s irreversible. Ouch. Needless to say, being in this unforgiving industry definitely has its challenges, and everyone will struggle at some point.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I’m the Co-founder and CEO of AutoDex, an automotive software ecosystem that is committed to establishing precedence for innovation.
Our software ecosystem is a blockchain-backed, A-Z solution for dealers and shoppers is the first of its kind. With CRM/IMS solutions for dealerships that are intimately tethered to our consumer vehicle shopping and ownership mobile application, we create a seamless sales funnel catered for each dealership while simultaneously putting the shopping power back customer’s hand, literally. With our mobile application, you’ll be able to purchase a vehicle from any of our nearby partner dealerships without leaving your couch. With our blockchain reporting every single transaction on the vehicles we are establishing a decentralized vehicle history reporting system.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
For dealerships interested in our CRM solutions please feel free to contact us via our site: https://autodex.io/
For individuals interested in blockchain, crypto, nfts, or have about my journey here and what it takes to find a job in web3 please add and message me on Instagram!: @RashadCollinss
Pricing:
- Questions about web3? FREE
Contact Info:
- Website: https://autodex.io/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rashadcollinss/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/6stretch_/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashad-codes
- Other: https://rcollins22.github.io/
Image Credits
1st-2nd images (casual shoot) Sydney Roberts The rest (professional/team shoot) Fulani G. Jabri
