After BlockFi had raised their Series D in 2021, the state of New Jersey issued a cease and desist order to shut down their interest bearing product. The management team had to navigate regulatory uncertainty in the crypto world and also manage a team through a time of great uncertainty in their business. Today - Flori Marquez, the co-founder and SVP of Operations at BlockFi, will tell us about this and many more aspects of her scaling up journey. BlockFi has a current valuation in the range of $4-5BN, more than 600,000 retail clients, 350 institutional clients and 850 employees, Specifically, in this episode you will hear more from Flori about: 1) How to manage a company through regulatory uncertainty What does it feel like to scale from 0 to 850 people? How do you manage through uncertainty and keep a motivated team? What is the difference between leading in times of uncertainty versus leading in a hypergrowth phase? How should founders in regulated spaces engage with regulators? What does the SEC resolution mean for the broader crypto/bitcoin/web3/ethereum/solana landscape? 2) Key Leadership Decisions as you scale your startup How do you ensure people understand your vision as you scale quickly and remotely? Why did you choose not to give yourself the COO title when you could have? How do you take on new tasks but stay aware of where you need to develop? 3) Diversity within the startup, tech and crypto space As one of the few females who have scaled a unicorn in the crypto space, how do you think about your representation as a role model? How do you get other diverse founders inspired to go on their own startup founding journey? How did being from a family of immigrants and speaking multiple languages affect you as a startup leader? 4) Fundraising for a crypto startup in crypto winter? What were those early days of fundraising like? What does it feel like to get so many no’s? Did fintech and crypto venture capital investors understand what you were trying to do in those early fundraising days? 5) How do you stay sane as a founder of a startup? Do you ever get to take a break as a founder and how do you sustain your energy? What do you give up by being a founder? How is being a founder different from working for a startup? Follow more of Flori’s founder journey on twitter or instagram athttps://twitter.com/FounderFlori?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor ( @FounderFlori) And sign up to earn money on your crypto currencies withhttps://app.blockfi.com/signup ( BlockFi) Find out more athttps://kindredcapital.vc/FoundersUncut ( KindredCapital.VC/FoundersUncut) This podcast was produced byhttps://fascinateproductions.co.uk/ ( Fascinate Productions)