The

Founder’s
Handbook
Your guide to getting started
with blockchain Edition 2.0

1
The Founder’s Handbook

Introduction 3

A: Identifying the business problem 6

B: Building your ecosystem 12

C: Business model design 19

D: Governance 28

E: Legal Considerations 34

What will we solve together? 39

Acknowledgments 41

2
 Introduction

Welcome and congratulations. The fact that you’re reading this

means you’re ready to think about applying one of the most
transformative technologies available for business today…
blockchain.

With so many new and exciting advances in with one another, and retain privacy and
blockchain, there has never been a better security for their data. As authors, we’re
time to leverage this emerging technology. assuming you understand the basics of
This second edition of The Founder’s blockchain technology and know that a
Handbook is meant to provide you with permissioned blockchain for business
insights and best practices on all of the network is far different than bitcoin.
topics you’ll need to address when founding Throughout this handbook, when we talk
a network, including brand new content on about “blockchain” we are referring
smart contracts, tokens, and legal exclusively to “permissioned blockchain”
considerations. unless stated otherwise. And if you’re brand
new to blockchain, don’t worry. There are
While Bitcoin has unleashed interest in using excellent resources to help bring you up to
distributed technology, the real long-term speed here.
potential of blockchain lies in its ability to help
organizations exploit the immutability and Blockchain for business is poised to transform
provenance of shared data, transact broadly many of the world’s most fundamental

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 The Founder’s Handbook Introduction

business processes, opening the door to new only by engaging across an ecosystem of
styles of digital interactions that vastly reduce multiple parties — all of whom derive some
the cost and complexity of getting things done. benefit. So if blockchain for business is really
At IBM, we’ve worked with the Linux about more than one party, the first question
Foundation’s open-source Hyperledger you may be asking is this: why call this The
Organization to reimagine blockchain from the Founder’s Handbook? The answer is simple.
ground up — to create a new breed of Somebody has to get the group started —
blockchain suitable for business use across namely, its founders.
industries and the regulatory environments
Enterprise blockchain emerged from they operate in. From engagements with over A founder is the organization and person (or
the legacy of cryptocurrency 400 clients around the world and over 40 people within that organization) driving the
networks that have graduated to active states, creation and ongoing maintenance of a
we’ve helped our clients learn what it takes to blockchain network. While all members derive
go from a good idea on paper to a value- value from the network, the founder has the
producing blockchain network. unique opportunity to lead the definition of how
that value is provided and how all participants
We’ve chronicled some of these initial best receive their share. If that sounds like
practices in The Founder’s Handbook to make something you’re interested in, then this
your journey in joining the blockchain revolution handbook is for you.
easier. The world has only seen the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to blockchain for Founder’s Tip > There are three
business; there’s untold opportunity for more fundamental pieces of advice from our
value and more use cases that could change blockchain experience to consider as
the face of every industry, including yours. We’ll you go forward:
continue to bring you new learnings from these
emerging networks in future versions of this 1. Dream big — and act incrementally.
handbook. Know what “North Star” will guide you as
you leverage the transformative power of
Before we begin, there’s one thought that blockchain, but start with the minimum
should guide everything you do moving forward: viable product (MVP) and minimum viable
blockchain for business is a team sport. Each ecosystem (MVE) that will serve as your
individual organization can reap its benefits first steps along the way.
4
The Founder’s Handbook Introduction

2. M
 otivation drives momentum. We’ve built the IBM Blockchain Platform to
Specifically understand how to incentivize serve as the catalyst for creating your
members of the network so that they’re blockchain solution. We’ve also brought
willing to balance their obligations and together IBM Blockchain and IBM Cloud experts
rewards. to help you apply best practices as you design,
develop and deploy a blockchain solution. And
3. The total of blockchain participation is our worldwide IBM Blockchain Services team
greater than the sum of its parts. has specific blockchain skills to assist you in
Some of the best founders have the ability driving transformative business outcomes by
to bring together the group. Remember… applying the right expertise and proven
blockchain for business is a team sport. methodologies wherever you are on your
blockchain journey.
The next chapters of The Founder’s Handbook
will help you identify your blockchain use case Quite simply, we believe that blockchain will
in response to a business problem, how to build do for business what the internet did for
your ecosystem and how to navigate the group communication.
governance surrounding it. We’ve also added
new content on smart contracts and What will we solve together? Let’s find out.
tokenization, as well as including a new chapter
on important legal considerations that you and
other members should address as you build
your ecosystem.

Taken together, they’re just the first of many

insights IBM is excited to share with you. After
you’ve finished reading the handbook, we’d love
to hear your feedback through this short survey.

5
Identifying the business problem A.
 Identifying the business problem A.

If a business problem is yours — and yours alone — blockchain may

not be the remedy you’re looking for. Blockchain is best applied
where there’s friction across multiple parties, and those parties can
each benefit from addressing it.

The business problem may reside as part of a do you identify potential business problems,
private ecosystem you lead — your own supply prioritize which one or ones to solve, and
chain, for instance. It could also extend across calculate the benefits of solving them?
your industry, or even span multiple industries.
The business problem may cause friction from Founder’s Tip > Make sure you start with
inefficiencies that increase the time and/or cost deep industry or subject matter expertise.
it takes to transact between parties. Or there Once you’ve defined the problem you’re trying
may be lack of trust in the accuracy and to solve, assemble the right set of subject
availability of information needed to verify data matter and industry experts to lend their
authenticity, resolve disputes and more. If intricate knowledge of the industry, users, the
you’ve found a process with these types of regulatory environment and existing technology
friction or others, then you have the beginnings landscape.
of a blockchain use case.
Given the current maturity of the blockchain
Identifying the right problem to solve is the first space, it’s easy to fixate on the technical
step in achieving blockchain success. So how components of a solution. While technology is

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 The Founder’s Handbook A: Identifying the business problem

important, only industry expertise will help as Scenario mapping is an IBM Design Thinking
you try to understand pain points, business tool that consists of mapping out the current
drivers and motivations of different parties in process of a specified stakeholder to
your ecosystem. understand where improvements can be made.
An As-Is Scenario Map is done from the
Founder’s Tip > What, who, why? Three perspective of one user, mapping a timeline of
simple questions — asked repeatedly as you go actions, feelings and thoughts as that user
deeper into the potential problem space — can moves through a process. It identifies specific
surface how pervasive or limited the business phases of interest and helps articulate areas
Scenario mapping
problem is throughout a company, industry and/ where users feel pain most.
or ecosystem; how expensive it is to fix, and
whether it requires regulatory review and Let’s say you want to scenario map an insurance
“We found a use-case that was a real
compliance: remittance application. As a founder, you could
problem. It wasn’t a ‘hey I could use
choose to interview an accounts receivable
blockchain for this’ — it was a real
1. What is the problem with the way we do representative who routinely experiences friction
problem that had to get solved — where
things today? in reconciling payment data. Or perhaps you
the best technology for the problem was
2. W
 ho is this a problem for? want to better understand pain points in a
blockchain.”
3. Why is this a problem? cross-border supply chain application; you may
– Greg Wolfond, Founder, CEO & wish to interview customs officials and bankers
Chairman, SecureKey Technologies Identifying pain points to better understand their experiences.

Based on your professional experience within We recommend focusing on a use case with the
your industry, can you identify a specific greatest amount of friction. Doing so can ensure
process currently creating friction among you’ll have a reasonably-scoped initial solution
multiple parties? If so, we recommend and increase the likelihood of solving real pain
conducting interviews with key stakeholders to points. This then allows you to define areas of
understand their pain points and needs through interest and focus moving forward.
a technique we call scenario mapping.

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 The Founder’s Handbook A: Identifying the business problem

Creating a value proposition and ecosystem; without asset transactions, you’re

solution is an iterative process likely better served by a traditional database.

Founder’s Tip > Determine blockchain fit. 3. I s there a need for privacy among
There are four key questions in evaluating the participants in the current business
need for blockchain; they can uncover how network?
closely your use case aligns with the purpose One thing that separates permissioned
and value proposition of blockchain itself. blockchain from traditional distributed
databases and some cryptocurrency-based
1. Does the solution require trusted data to be blockchains, such as Bitcoin, is its ability to
shared across multiple parties without a permission the data. Participants can
central authority? transact privately across the network to
A distributed ledger is a type of
The fundamental value of blockchain lies in ensure that confidential information is not
database that’s shared, replicated and
its shared ledger, an append-only distributed broadcast. Their identities won’t be linked
synchronized among the members of
system of record across a business network. to the transaction either, further ensuring
a decentralized network. It records
If a use case doesn’t require a shared ledger their confidentiality.
transactions, such as the exchange of
and a network of participants, blockchain
assets or data, among participants in
technology probably shouldn’t be used. Think 4. Is there the need for greater trust inside
the network.
of it like the Apple app store. You need both the current business network?
the technology platform (app store) as well Heavy regulation and frequent audits are
as the applications to make it truly work. typically a strong indicator of distrust within
an industry. Because blockchain assets have
2. A
 re assets being transferred between parties? a verifiable audit trail and cannot be
At its core, a blockchain solution should modified, inserted or deleted, the network’s
manage the transfer of anything with tangible shared ledger becomes the trusted source
or intangible value. Assets can be physical of information for all parties. Transactions
ones like a piece of fruit; digital like an are also electronically endorsed on a
electronic file or data, or intangible like a case-by-case basis by mutually-selected
letter of credit or contract. Blockchain is used members of the business network, fortifying
to record the transaction of these assets trust even further.
between multiple parties in a business

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 The Founder’s Handbook A: Identifying the business problem

Blockchain characteristics reference data — such as bank routing

codes, employment records, title insurance
Much has been written about blockchain’s and others — will benefit from this property
ability to increase privacy, enhance trust and of blockchain.
remove friction within a business network. But
blockchain’s core value proposition rests on two 2. P
 rovenance: All transactions on a
key elements: blockchain are tied to one another through
an append-only process called hash
Blockchain characteristics • Verified origin of data: While Blockchain chaining. Each transaction is tied to ones
does NOT guarantee data veracity, it does that came before it, resulting in a tamper-
make it clear who put what data onto the proof audit trail that allows participants to
Verified
origin of ledger and when. know where an asset was first logged on
data the blockchain and how its ownership has
• Trusted processes (or workflows): changed throughout its lifecycle. Industries
Trusted Blockchain creates the ability to track each like manufacturing, transportation and
processes step in a workflow, so that permissioned supply chain that need to track how often
parties can understand and track how data and through how many parties an asset
flows through the process. changes hands, as well as ones that incur
significant costs due to recalls, can benefit
Blockchain’s value proposition also hinges on from blockchain’s provenance capability.
the fact that it delivers consensus, provenance,
immutability and finality to participants in a 3. Immutability: As described above, each
business network. A good blockchain use case block is linked to the previous one. This
will deliver one or more of these benefits. means that no participant can credibly
claim that an earlier transaction changed
1. Consensus: Frequently within a business or did not occur. Any industry with audits
network, it’s advantageous for a set of and regulatory compliance will derive its
organizations to have the same view of a principal benefit from blockchain’s
set of data that may be updated or changed immutability since it creates an indelible
by individual parties. For example, any use record of all transactions, including seek
case or industry that relies on shared and find access for auditors and regulators.

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The Founder’s Handbook A: Business opportunity identification

4. Finality: Transactions and asset ownership There are two phases that are critical to shaping
on a blockchain are executed immediately your solution. First, you need to prove the
upon the fulfillment of specified technology fit to ensure that blockchain can
contractual conditions. In the global trade provide the benefit you envision. For this first
industry, for example, banks and phase, we suggest starting with a small number
corporations benefit from blockchain’s of assets and a select group of participants —
finality to make transactions nearly for instance, a ledger with real-time view of
instantaneous, compared to the time and compliance, audit and risk data for auditors
the cost associated with physically signing and regulators.
documents, currency fluctuations and
more. Organizations can also leverage IoT Once you’ve proven the technology fit for
devices in this scenario to help sellers draw blockchain, you’ll want to do a broader pilot to
down a buyer’s letter of credit at specified prove out the business case and the business
points during shipment. If an erroneous model for the solution. During this second phase,
transaction is sent, reversing it would it’s important to begin with the end state in
require an equal transaction in the mind — think through what types of participants
opposite direction, with both transactions will likely join your future network, as well as
being visible. When assessing the need what geographies and other characteristics you
for finality, consider whether parties must design for. While you should also start with
would benefit from the ability to create a smaller subset of participants, understanding
instantaneous and tamper-proof what it will take for the whole network to benefit
transactions. from the solution will be critical in designing
one that can scale to the opportunity
Key phases and next steps you envision.

Assuming your use case aligns with the

value proposition of blockchain, you can now
consider the scope of your first project. Our
recommendation is to start small but to keep
your future vision in mind as you design your
first project.

11
Building your ecosystem B.
 Building your ecosystem B.

By design, Blockchain makes it easy for diverse parties to transact

with one another without requiring a central authority — especially
when there are varying levels of trust between them. That’s why
it’s vital to create a vibrant ecosystem where participants work
together to solve the same business problem.

In this section, we’ll share our thoughts on what your solution and evaluate the new blockchain
it takes to build the right ecosystem, how to ecosystem. Some of the most disruptive use
grow it and some special considerations on cases may cross traditional industry lines, and
getting started. there are likely other players that should also
be included. It’s also critical to keep in mind
When forming a blockchain network, one of the key geographies, regulatory environments and
first questions that comes up is “who should more in order to ensure future scalability.
participate?” Depending on your use case, the
easiest place to begin is with participants from Therefore, a more appropriate question to ask at
your existing business networks. Generally, you this stage is, “what types of participants would
have existing relationships with them and there best fit into the ecosystem in order for it to
are already processes in place for coordination. succeed?” That is, do you need one (or more)
While this can be a great starting point, it’s anchor organizations to provide capabilities like
important to thoroughly scope the potential for industry credibility, financial resources, human

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 The Founder’s Handbook B: Building your ecosystem

Founders need to bring organizations resources, physical resources, intellectual Founder’s Tip > Design Thinking
together that will make their blockchain resources or others? Workshops help MVE collaboration. Sharing
network work. inspiration and collecting feedback are the
Anchor participants can be an important hallmarks of an IBM Design Thinking Workshop.
springboard to encourage participation by other Here’s how one could work for you in building
key ecosystem members. An example of this is your blockchain ecosystem:
IBM Food TrustTM . In its earliest stages,
Walmart was the initial anchor to prove the • G
 et key stakeholders in the same room.
technology, adding invaluable industry-specific For some prospective ecosystem partners,
knowledge, applying resources and thought the allure of going to a design thinking
leadership to help build the solution and session to learn about blockchain’s
providing an active supply chain for testing. potential for their business and industry is
Our initial joint success led to participation from enough of a carrot to bring them to the
key industry players including Dole, Driscoll’s, table. However, the real value comes
Golden State Foods, Kroger, McCormick and through bringing divergent points of view
Company, McLane Company, Nestlé, Tyson together, talking through expectations and
Foods and Unilever in proving the second half requirements, and setting up processes for
of the requirement: that the ecosystem could how parties will coordinate over time. An
work with direct competitors and collaborators early face-to-face meeting often helps
sharing information on a single trusted system. establish credibility and trust across
participants.
Founders need to bring organizations together
that will make their blockchain network work. • C
 reate As-Is and To-Be business models.
Certainly, there are many different forums and The second key activity for the ecosystem
approaches for doing this; it may be easiest to is to envision the future business model.
start in the context of an industry association or Many networks are choosing to opt-out of
working group. We’ve seen the strongest rehashing As-Is Business models as they
results when doing this within the framework of don’t want to saddle the group with
a Design Thinking Workshop. old-school thinking, jumping directly into
the To-Be Model instead. Therefore, it’s
crucial to address which network members

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The Founder’s Handbook B: Building your ecosystem

have access to which data sources, These incentives are crucial as you begin
providing important new value not available crafting the value proposition for each
before. In order to get to the To-Be Model, participant. And while it’s essential to create an
first review the four key blockchain benefits incentive model early on, keep in mind that
discussed in Section A: consensus, incentives are likely to change over time,
provenance, immutability and finality. meaning incentive structures should be built
Then consider how those benefits will dynamically. Let’s also not forget one of the
impact the business network while most important sources of input: the opinions
identifying areas of tangible cost savings of your ecosystem participants. What they hope
or process improvement for each to get out of the experience might be the most
ecosystem member. insightful input of all. We’ll talk about this in
more detail in the next section on creating your
• D
 etermine incentives and shared value. business model.
When building a blockchain solution,
success hinges on the ability to create Founder’s Tip > Establishing your minimum
value that resonates with all ecosystem viable ecosystem (MVE). Once you’ve
participants. While the exact value will determined that blockchain technology is a
likely differ for each, there are five key good fit for your use case, the next question
incentives for organizations to join an we’re often asked is “how many organizations
ecosystem: should participate in a pilot network?” The
answer can fluctuate depending on the use
1. Cost reduction from increased case, industry, production stage and level
operational efficiency of trust.
2. Improved customer experience
3. New revenue opportunities to help Our recommendation is to determine the key
reach new customers segments that will make up the ecosystem in
4. Avoiding potential costs through production. A segment refers to the role that an
operational risk reduction organization provides in the network. In IBM
5. Increased industry influence/thought Food Trust, sample segments include retailers,
leadership farmers, truckers and others.

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 The Founder’s Handbook B: Building your ecosystem

Some additional advice on establishing your MVE: In the first phase — as you’re trying to
understand the value of blockchain for your
• The exact number of participants in the business in your first project — it’s possible to
MVE is actually less important than ensuring begin with just two participants, the simplest
that a few represent the most critical configuration. This will help you evaluate the
segments of the network. With IBM Food use case and technology fit. During the
Trust, nine participant segments were formative stages of your network, our rule of
identified; however, to minimize complexity, thumb is to have at least three participants
we did the initial pilot with just three (including key segments as we did in IBM Food
segments: retailers, suppliers and trucking Trust). Less than three participants beyond your
companies. This allowed a smaller group first project is not enough to get much-needed
that understood the core concerns across input and feedback to build a solution with
the solution space to move quickly. shared value. You should also be wary of a low,
even number of participants; this can result in
• One challenge to blockchain is that direct split votes when making decisions, leaving your
To prove that competitors can work competitors are often involved in the same ecosystem in gridlock.
together in your initial ecosystem pilot — network. This is a new and challenging
and eventually, your ecosystem — it’s vital reality for most organizations. To prove that Three to five participants will ensure significant
to have multiple participants of a given competitors can work together in your initial feedback when building the solution and can
segment in the initial pilot. ecosystem pilot — and eventually, in your encourage others to join. Once you build out a
ecosystem — it’s vital to have multiple solution with operational stability among this
participants of a given segment in the initial core group of participants, you may want to
pilot. IBM Food Trust has multiple retailers open the ecosystem to the next set of
in the first stages, creating credibility for participants.
other competitors to join the ecosystem.
Growing the ecosystem
As you progress from first project to pilot,
you’ll be testing assumptions around the As the network moves from pilot to production,
technology and the ecosystem. As you extend recruiting participants should accelerate.
into production, your MVE size and number of Onboarding should be fully digital, contracts
anchor clients may start to grow. should be a click-through standardized legal

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 The Founder’s Handbook B: Building your ecosystem

document and all billing systems should be 3. Standards — It’s critical that a founder
automated. If you’ve successfully developed leverage existing standards and ensure
the solution and business model, each long-term interoperability. This avoids
additional participant should yield additional reinventing existing capabilities and
value; network growth should be a top priority. bespoke technology that can be difficult
In most instances, organizations will care less to maintain in the long term. It’s also
about the technology being used as long as it important to plan for interoperability to
solves their business problem in a secure, ensure that other solutions in this domain
efficient and cost-effective manner. can operate with your network. This will
help accelerate the pace of innovation for
Founder’s Tip > Five keys to drive additional your solution.
network adoption. IBM has identified five key
areas that can drive additional network adoption: 4. Usability — The solution needs to be
value proposition, enterprise-class, standards, user-friendly for the IT department of a
usability and future vision: Fortune 50 company, a small business
owner with only a smartphone and
1. Value proposition — In order to reach everyone in-between. It’s critical to have a
maximum adoption, the value proposition variety of tools and access points so that
must resonate with all members of each the solution works for all groups.
How you pitch the future direction of the segment that founders want to attract.
solution will likely sway adoption of it. Companies will only join the network and 5. F
 uture vision — How you pitch the future
participate if they see a tangible return on direction of the solution will likely sway
their investment of time and resources. adoption of it. When we talk about
extended value, we are very concrete: once
2. E
 nterprise-class — Organizations must feel you have data and transaction partners on
like they can trust the solution with their a single, distributed system, consider how
business-critical systems. These to use that data and connectivity to unlock
organizations will place special emphasis more value for participants. Examples
on data security, auditability, resilience, include extending geographic reach,
reliability and scalability. functionality (e.g., new analytic tools),
participants and others.

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 The Founder’s Handbook B: Building your ecosystem

Founder’s Tip > Incentivize early MVE Next steps

participants. One of the unique characteristics
of blockchain is the iterative work environment The creation of shared value and participation
“It [blockchain] allows you to iteratively that participants can enjoy. It’s an advantage by ecosystem members is arguably the most
work toward a partnership. Using that can greatly benefit many organizations, important factor when building a blockchain
blockchain to establish an ecosystem including startups, due to the legal complexity solution. As such, devoting time and energy into
allows you to ease into that without inherent in traditional commercial partnerships. understanding what motivates and drives each
having to predefine the nature of the Using blockchain to establish an ecosystem network participant is crucial. In the team sport
relationship before you even experiment allows participants to ease into relationships of blockchain for business, the value of a
or begin to add business value.” instead, iterating on ways to add value without solution can only be fully realized through
having to predefine the exact nature of the participation by all in the ecosystem; creating a
– Jesse Lund, Vice President,
engagement. compelling incentive model is the key to
Head of IBM Solutions,
Financial Services success.
In the earliest stages, the objective is not
limited to monetizing the solution; rather, it’s
about experimenting and testing the solution
and business model hypotheses on potential
participants. Getting it right in this environment
means that success is more likely to follow.

18
Business model design C.

19
 Business model design C.

Now that you’ve brought your minimal viable ecosystem together,

you’re ready to design the business model for your solution. While
you may be comfortable building the investment case to justify
costs and demonstrate benefits to your company, you’re not doing
this alone — you’re now working with others in your ecosystem.

What will the economic model be that supports In this section, we’ll provide insights on these
value not just for the founder(s), but also for questions and others as you design the
anyone else who joins? Designing that business business model for your network based on the
model is your next area of focus, and it comes type of ecosystem you’ve decided to form.
with a number of questions to answer:
Founder’s Tip > Evaluate the level of
• Is there a membership fee? permissioning needed for your ecosystem.
Use cases and the ecosystems that accompany
• If so, how often do participants pay? them have certain characteristics that lend
themselves to particular business models,
• Is there a fee for each transaction? incentivizing founders and additional
participants as the network grows. In the
• Do select members get more or less of
broader blockchain market, people often
the value created?
describe a dichotomy in how blockchain
networks are permissioned as either public
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The Founder’s Handbook C: Business model design

(fully open and anonymized) or private These three examples (which we’ll refer to later
(completely closed and private). Unfortunately, in this section) equate to the key levels of
this characterization is misleading; a spectrum permissioning possible in your network. And as
of permissions — from fully open to tightly you’ll read, they’ll help you determine how to
controlled — characterizes most blockchains. answer the key questions asked at the
beginning of this section.
To better understand this range, let’s think
about analogies from life: Smart contracts

• Public park: anyone can walk into a public Smart contracts are the bread and butter of
park, but behavior matters — good is blockchain technology. Essentially, smart
rewarded, bad can have you kicked out. The contracts are the digitized business logic used
park may not require ID to gain entrance, to help you exchange any asset of value
but adherence to the rules is expected. (money, real estate, retail products, etc)
without the need for third-party services. In
• Nightclub: Who hasn’t been carded at a practice, smart contracts are coded onto the
nightclub? Showing valid ID means you can blockchain as “if-then” statements that
stay — your identity is valid and known by automatically execute transactions and record
the owners, and others in the bar can trust information onto the ledger. Because the
that they’re among peers who have a legal conditions of smart contracts are mutually
permission to be there. agreed upon by all (or a subset of) members
and because they’re executed automatically
• Members-only club: This ultimate velvet without intervention, smart contracts are one of
rope of admittance means that only people the key components responsible for
approved for admission by the club’s establishing trust and efficiency within your
owners or group of owners will be admitted. network.
Membership can also come with a series
of privileges, including anonymity and the Smart contracts can be as simple as a data
ability to connect with other members update or as complex as a self-executing
privately. contract with conditions attached. For example,
a smart contract can update a bank account

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The Founder’s Handbook C: Business model design

balance and ensure that enough money is in an around how the smart contracts function and
account before executing a debit. A similar but how they’re implemented.
more complex example might include an
international shipment where the smart The value of tokens
contract verifies that a buyer possesses the
required funds before releasing a shipment, One asset type to consider utilizing within your
and then automatically releases the shipment, smart contracts is tokens. Tokens are digital
transferring funds to the seller at incremental representations of ownership of currency,
points along the delivery. equity, and other tangible or intangible assets.
Some benefits of tokenizing assets include
Founder’s Tip > Identifying opportunities increased speed of transaction settlement,
for smart contracts. When working on your increased liquidity of assets and mitigation of
business model design, identifying investment risk. Moving to a Token-Driven
opportunities for smart contracts often Economy, an IBM Institute for Business Value
happens naturally. As you decide whether to report, provides a great overview of how
implement a smart contract for a specific tokenization works and the value it provides.
business rule, it can be helpful to think of it
from the context of: How it works: Tokenization can be explained by
comparing it to securitization, a process used in
1. D oes the business rule need to be agreed the financial services sector through which
upon by multiple members? receivables — like mortgages, car loans and
2. Does each transaction need to be signed by student loans — are pooled and their cash flows
either all, or a subset of, members? are sold in standard units to investors who then
3. W ill a smart contract help establish trust and receive both the principal and interest
transparency among members? payments. Tokenization creates similar
segmented units, or tokens, but goes a step
If the answer is yes to one or more of these further than simply restructuring cash flows by
questions, it may make sense to implement a monetizing the “right to use” the asset.
smart contract for the business rule. Once Tokenization and digitization work hand-in-
you’ve identified some initial opportunities, hand, as blockchain technology allows tokens
work with your MVE to hash out the details to be traded on a digital platform.

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The Founder’s Handbook C: Business model design

Tokens can be utilized in several ways including Tokens, unlike currency, can be digitally traded
digital currency for payments, a representation directly without needing to go through a third
of equity, or a claim to tangible or intangible party, leading to a faster transaction settlement.
assets. Digital currencies such as Bitcoin or Additionally, tokenization permits assets like
state-sponsored currencies are one example of stocks or mortgages — traditionally complicated
tokenization. Initial coin offerings (ICOs) and time-consuming to purchase due to added
represent another use of tokenization and steps of waiting for documents or settlement in
involve the creation and sale of tokens to order to transfer ownership — to be traded in
crowdfund projects. These tokens represent a real-time.
stake in the project or company. Tokens can
also represent ownership rights to assets like Tokenization allows for fractional ownership of
real estate or tradeable permits. assets; if an asset is too large of an investment
for one investor or offers too much risk, then
For example, Veridium is a company working the cost and risk can be distributed among
with IBM to tokenize carbon credits — tradable multiple token holders. Large-scale, illiquid
permits that allow the holders to emit a assets are much more liquid when broken up
specified amount of carbon dioxide or other into smaller units than when they are whole.
greenhouse gases. With a public, permissioned
blockchain network, permit holders can more Any asset that’s currently securitized —
easily monetize their unused carbon credits, mortgages, auto loans or credit card obligations
incentivizing the move toward environmentally — is ripe for tokenization. Tokenizing these assets
conscious practices.1 on public networks opens investment
opportunities to more than just the private,
Why do it: When deciding how to best transact accredited investors with current access.
on a blockchain and whether digital tokens
present an opportunity, start by considering the One current downside of token usage is that
problems that currently exist with how assets tokens are transacted on a public permission-
are exchanged. If your solution stands to gain less network, potentially exposing an
from a faster transaction settlement, reduced organization’s proprietary business logic,
counterparty risk or increased liquidity of the transaction history and customer information.
assets, tokens may be a viable option.

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 The Founder’s Handbook C: Business model design

As a founder, there are now two key The key to mitigating this risk is the differentiated service, the founder or founders
economic decisions to make: your interoperability of ledgers, allowing participants should think about whether they can bear all
investment case and the business model to exchange tokens across protocols and create upfront costs. If the network is successful, these
for the network. public permissioned networks. When creating costs are later recouped through business
your project, consider what information you can revenue or from new process efficiencies.
place on a public ledger and how it might be If the upfront cost is too large for a single
tokenized, with the goal of maximizing the value founder, it may be necessary to reach out to
of decentralization while minimizing your risk of close partners upstream or downstream to help
exposure. Tokenization is still in its early stages build the solution; those partners would then
and we expect to see many exciting share in value generated by the network. Token
advancements in this space as the technology issuance may be an option for some businesses
matures and adoption increases. but should be approached with caution and the
appropriate legal counsel due to the current
Founder’s Tip > Link the investment case regulatory risk.
and business model. You may have a sense of
the type of network you’re forming — at least to For networks where value is predominantly
start. As a founder, there are now two key derived from the network effect of increased
economic decisions to make: your investment membership and participation, it’s important to
case and the business model for the network. think about what MVP attributes will attract early
While these exercises are linked, they’re entrants — and how they can then attract others.
separate activities. Let’s examine each. In addition, founders will need to determine
whether it’s necessary to charge a small fee to
Investment case kick-start the network, and whether that fee is
reimbursed to early entrants once the network
As a founder, you need to determine if the reaches a certain size.
investment it takes to create and launch the
network will yield the return you’re looking In some use cases, founders may create a
for — an exercise tied to your individual goals, solution that significantly increases the overall
financial assumptions and appetite for risk. value of each transaction. In this case, a
For networks where value is predominantly one-time membership fee, annual membership
derived by one or a few participants providing a fee or per-transaction fee may be options.

24
 The Founder’s Handbook C: Business model design

In addition to top-line considerations, Crafting the value proposition

distribution of profits is also important. One
option includes distributing profits based on the Crafting the value proposition should be a
number of referrals to the network. For quantitative exercise done for each type or
example, if company A refers X members, they segment of participants who will contribute
receive Y% back (which may cover part of their data to the network. We’ve seen that founders
own membership fee). Another option may often need to demonstrate the value of the
include reinvesting profits back into the solution to their potential partners to entice
network to build further capabilities, maintain them to join. Calculate how much value is being
the solution or lower the price-per-transaction. spent given the current process, then how
much value can be transferred back to
Business model participants. Identify specific metrics such as
Ensure that each member of the business dispute resolution time or transaction costs and
has a positive return on investment (ROI), Once you have justified the investment within attempt to calculate the solution’s value for
so they have an incentive to join and your own organization, you are ready to begin each type of participant; a business value
transact on the network. crafting the business model. This includes assessment is a useful tool for discovering and
creating the plan for shared value, deciding documenting these values.
how value is going to be returned to founders
and members of the network and devising a Founder’s Tip > Make sure everyone has a
plan for sustaining and maintaining the positive return on investment. Keep in mind
network. that the value proposition will not be the same
for everyone in your network. At the very least,
Founder’s Tip > Calculate value together it’s likely that different segments of participants
early. Elicit input from stakeholders as early as will have different value propositions. Even
possible — these individuals and the within a segment, differentiators like size,
organizations they represent will become your current level of technology, geography and more
blockchain network participants, and their will lead to different value propositions for
collective input helps ensure the value individual participants. The most important
proposition resonates with each and every thing, however, is to ensure that each member of
member. Without this collaborative approach, the business has a positive return on investment
it’s unlikely participants will be adequately (ROI) so they have an incentive to join and
incentivized to drive value in your solution. transact on the network.
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The Founder’s Handbook C: Business model design

Ultimately, the business model will be unique to that use the service or want to join.
the specific use case you’re pursuing. However, Combining these different mechanisms of
here are a few recommendations based on core monetization allows for the greatest value
business models and types of permissioning potential while mitigating downside network
we’ve seen: risk.

• Many business networks will realize The value of the solution may also ultimately
economies of scale through the use of dictate the business model. If the value is
blockchain. If the network is like that of the relatively fixed on a per-transaction basis, you’ll
public park we referenced earlier, the value likely be able to recoup a portion of the cost,
of the network will grow as the size of the and some of that may also go towards network
network and collective participation maintenance. If the value is variable instead, it
increases. New entrants will likely lower the may be wise to have rules around variable
overall cost for others in the network. transaction fees to account for seasonality or
Sustaining the network through peak usage — like when a nightclub charges a
maintenance, fixes and new functionality cover fee at peak hours to exclude certain
also then becomes a shared effort. customers or lowers their prices at happy hour
to attract others.
• The same can be true for the ecosystem
similar to our nightclub reference; there are Finally, don’t forget to consider the potential new
barriers to entry and possible capacity revenue opportunities and cost savings that may
limits may result in a higher floor for be possible once this level of shared data is
transaction costs versus a completely open available. There are likely to be other parties in
and public network. adjacent industries that will express interest in
the data which may create new opportunities to
• In networks where a few core members monetize the network and the data within it.
dominate, a “members only” fee may be
useful for participants who establish the Founder’s Tip > Remember the intangibles.
network and are keen to profit from the As stated throughout, founders must offer
activity on it. Transaction fees then may be sufficient benefit to ensure positive ROI,
the best way to attract masses of members convince others to convene a network and bring

26
The Founder’s Handbook C: Business model design

the ecosystem along — but intangible benefits Next steps

also provide a tremendous opportunity to
motivate participants. The true value of a solution can only be fully
realized through the participation of all players in
One example is the intersection of local energy the ecosystem. Creating a compelling incentive
providers, consumers and retailers. Allowing model that includes key cost reductions as well
consumers to pay for products and services at as greater value for all involved is crucial to
retailers with energy tokens may actually drive success and will accelerate the time to scale
additional local shopping that wouldn’t have your solution. Lastly, your network has the
existed otherwise. Over time, this behavior may potential to scale over time by connecting with
even influence additional members and/or other networks, leveraging other solutions and
retailers to join. providing additional benefits which haven’t yet
been considered. As with any offering, it’s
Intangible benefits like these may drive up the important to always be reinventing as new
network’s overall value proposition, helping it technologies emerge and new opportunities
collect even greater revenues. At the same present themselves.
time, this revenue may be distributed to groups
outside the direct network as a means to
uphold its overall value proposition.

27
Governance D.

28
 Governance D.

Blockchain introduces foundational capabilities with entirely new

ways for organizations to interact. Decentralized by nature, it
incents multiple parties to have a stake in how a solution is built,
run and operated. Governance is one of the key elements that
distinguishes one network from another, making it essential that
the governance model reflects the ongoing needs of participants.
Governance models are still evolving in 1. Incentives: Each participant must have an
blockchain. In this section, we’ll cover some key incentive to participate in a blockchain
considerations and components that both solution; individual incentives are not
blockchain founders and users should review necessarily the same or even aligned to
when evaluating the design, development and those of others, but there should be some
implementation of a governance model. level of common incentive across
participants.
Governance overview
2. Mechanism for coordination: When
There are two critical components that shape a participant incentives do not align, there
governance model, incentives and a mechanism must be a process to come to a resolution
for coordination2: around common incentives.

29
 The Founder’s Handbook D: Governance

Six key solution governance In the pre-blockchain economy, companies that and the path to achieve it, we’ve identified six
considerations wanted to collaborate on a large scale would solution governance considerations to review:
come together to form market utilities like Data, Marketplace, Participation, Technology,
SWIFT or CLS. This central authority would Transactions and Smart Contracts.
Data then set the direction and execution standards
for participants to follow. In many of these 1. Data refers to data ownership and data
examples, each member held an ownership security. Some initial questions to be
stake and final decisions were made by the addressed include: who owns the data
Marketplace utility ensuring fairness in the system. submitted to the network? Who owns the
insights made from that data? What are the
Blockchain, however, introduces both data security needs of the network?
incentives and mechanisms for coordination Clearly-defined ownership and security
Participation Technology Transactions
into the technology itself. Therefore, two critical strategies are necessary before inviting
areas of governance must be considered when participants to join the network.
building a blockchain solution (although there
Smart are others that may also be important 2. Marketplace refers to rules around bringing
Contracts
depending on your use case): the solution to market. If you’re building a
revenue-generating solution, what’s the
1. Solution Governance refers to the set of model and how will revenue be shared? Will
rules that determine how different participants be incentivized to bring others
organizations using a solution interact with into the network? Are they allowed to build
each other. revenue-generating applications on top of
it? Much of the marketplace factor hinges
2. Blockchain Governance refers to the on the future state of the network, so
structure and process determining how developing a decision-making process on
blockchain technology itself is maintained this subject is warranted as opposed to
and evolves over time. defining specific rules from the outset.

Founder’s Tip > Six key considerations for 3. Participation refers to topics around
solution governance. As you consider the type network access and onboarding, the types
of governance model you want for your network of roles there are and network participant

30
The Founder’s Handbook D: Governance

revocation. Is manual or digital onboarding participants as they evaluate solutions to

appropriate for your network? What’s the be run on the network.
actual process? What types of roles will
participants play? What’s the process of 6. Smart Contracts refers to how the business
revocation if a participant wants to leave logic for transactions is approved, coded
the network? How will that participant’s and maintained. Smart contracts help to
data be treated once they’ve left? establish trust within the network through
the rules that govern them; therefore you
4. Technology refers to the technology stack should seek to include your MVE in these
utilized, ownership of IP and infrastructure conversations. Additionally, during the
costs. What level of privacy is required for process of writing smart contracts, you’ll
the blockchain? Will the network contribute need to work closely with your engineering
to the underlying open source protocol? team to ensure the business logic is
Will it require a blockchain-as-a-service accurately captured and that your
platform? Are participants entitled to the ecosystem members have a way of
solution’s source-code ownership? How is understanding the business logic and
the cost of technology shared? Many of verifying its accuracy within the smart
these discussions will be resolved early on, contract. Key questions to consider
but you should have a strategy for evolving include: which members are responsible
the solution as it grows, as well as the for reviewing and approving the smart
underlying technology. contracts? Do other members trust these
parties? How can ecosystem members
5. Transactions refers to the exchange of verify that the code accurately represents
value on the blockchain network, with a agreed-upon conditions? What’s the
number of questions to be addressed. approval process for implementing
What types of assets can be transacted? changes and new smart contracts?
What types of participants can submit a
transaction, and which participants can Founder’s Tip > Addressing blockchain
validate them? How many are required to governance. The governance considerations
do so? Do different types of transactions just outlined all deal with your solution’s
have different requirements? These business model. It’s critical to nail these down
questions are typically answered with MVE to ensure your governance model will be
31
The Founder’s Handbook D: Governance

appealing to new organizations looking to join Founder’s Tip > Pick blockchain technology
the network; yet designing them in a flexible with an open, established set of governance
way also means that governance can evolve mechanisms. Given the nascent stage of
over time as the network grows and matures. blockchain, governance must assure that the right
Additionally, you should consider the possibility mechanisms are in place so that innovations can
of system failures. Having a plan and evolve to meet market dynamics. This is
governance rules in place to address potential particularly critical in open source projects where
issues will be beneficial when unexpected there is no single owner of the technology.
issues arise.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and other public blockchain
Selecting blockchain technology that makes networks rely on informal governance led by a
sense for your business case and addressing core group of developers. This creates
blockchain governance now follows. If you’re significant challenges around how governance
new to this space, we’ve published a blog as a will scale as those platforms evolve.
helpful resource to help you choose your
blockchain platform. Your choice of technology In contrast, Hyperledger provides an open
is critical to the governance model because the governance framework, along with the Linux
majority of available blockchain protocols are Foundation’s 20-year track record of managing
owned and maintained by a distributed group of open source projects. For more detail, you can
developers. They may (or may not) belong to read about Hyperledger’s Governance model
the same organization, have similar incentives here.
or even objectives for creating and updating the
technology. The project is governed by an Executive
Committee and a Technical Steering
Because blockchain creates a system of record Committee. Only an Open Source, collaborative
that tracks all critical data, it’s essential that software development approach can ensure the
mechanisms are in place to protect against transparency, longevity, interoperability and
problems in the technology itself, as well as support required to bring blockchain technologies
allowing for technology to evolve as new forward to mainstream commercial adoption by
innovations become available. communities of software developers building
blockchain frameworks and platforms.

32
The Founder’s Handbook D: Governance

Next steps

Governance is a crucial factor in the success of

your solution, your ecosystem and your business
model. Once you have had time to think through
the key concerns and drivers for your
governance model, it can be beneficial for
founders to seek the advice of legal counsel.
Legal considerations can have a significant
impact on the business decisions you make.
And in the spirit of blockchain for business as a
team sport, it’s always important to seek
frequent input on governance from your network
participants as well; they will likely have different
regulatory requirements depending on their
industries, geographies and roles. Keep in mind
that best practices in governance for blockchain
will continue to evolve, so this will be an ongoing
effort.

33
Legal Considerations E.

34
 Legal Considerations E.

Throughout the course of building your blockchain solution, you will

encounter a number of unique legal matters due to its distributed
nature. Local and international law, industry-specific regulations, data
sharing regulations, intellectual property, liability and general
commercial agreements — such as service level and performance
assurances — are just a few areas that can create complexity and
require a careful approach.

While the material in this section is intended to Jurisdiction

provide readers with issues for consideration,
it is in no way meant to replace the assistance A blockchain network may span numerous
of a qualified lawyer. As soon as you and other jurisdictional boundaries, making determining
founders begin working on a blockchain legal jurisdiction tricky. In a typical commercial
application, it’s imperative to seek proper legal contract, the parties choose which jurisdiction
counsel to address these and any other issues will govern, assuming they have a reasonable
specific to your use case. nexus with that jurisdiction. When making this
decision, you will need to consider where the
work is being done, where the resources are

35
The Founder’s Handbook E: Legal Considerations

located and where the companies are based. From a legal perspective, it’s important for you
A full evaluation of the jurisdiction of all parties to consider the node locations and the type of
involved should be performed to identify the data stored on the blockchain as these factors
location which most benefits all parties. can trigger additional laws and regulations that
must be followed including HIPAA, FERPA and
Data protection and privacy GDPR. From both a compliance and
performance perspective, you should seek to
Due to several unique characteristics of understand what data is necessary to store
blockchain technology, data on a blockchain is on-chain and what data can be stored off-chain.
inherently more secure than data stored on a Questions you should ask yourself when making
traditional database. Some of the features this decision include: is the data necessary to
which contribute to this added security include the use case; do network participants require
the use of cryptography to secure records and access to the data; is there a need for
the use of private keys, functioning as digital consensus and endorsement of that data, and
signatures, associated with each transaction. can I store a hash of larger data on-chain while
storing the actual data off-chain.
Furthermore, because blockchains are
decentralized and distributed across peer-to- Antitrust law
peer networks, it’s extremely difficult for a “bad
actor” to access and then alter the data across Antitrust law is another legal consideration that
the network. Even with these protections, may impact your network’s blockchain solution.
however, it’s incumbent that you manage who Antitrust law, also known as competition law,
has the ability to generate encryption keys; the seeks to promote competition and protect
frequency with which they’re replaced; how consumers from anticompetitive business
they’re accessed, and how keys are turned off practices such as price-fixing. Generally
when an employee leaves a company. Limiting speaking, any action that can potentially limit
the number of entities that can generate competition can be considered a violation.
encryption keys, limiting access to those keys Anytime two or more entities in the same
and setting up an audit process are all security industry begin sharing information, a variety of
measures you can adopt to better protect the competition laws can be triggered, depending
data on your blockchain. on jurisdiction, and special care needs to be

36
The Founder’s Handbook E: Legal Considerations

taken to establish measures to avoid creating also common for other parties — including the
the potential for a violation. In some situations, technology provider — to receive some type of
even something as simple as preventing rights to use the copyright via an explicit license
network access to certain entities can be a with ecosystem participants who don’t have
violation of antitrust laws. explicit ownership rights being granted use
rights. While it’s not always cut and dry, these
As a means of simplifying disparate antitrust guidelines can be used as a basis to start
laws and decreasing the risk of noncompliance, addressing IP.
some network founders have opted to include
an antitrust policy within their governance Liability
model. This policy is developed by legal experts
and serves as a set of rules which all ecosystem Anytime multiple entities collaborate on a
participants must abide by in order to project of any kind, the question of liability is
participate in the network as well as related bound to arise; this is the same with
discussions or meetings. Regardless of strategy, blockchains. While it’s not possible to
it’s important to discuss potential completely remove all risk associated with
anticompetitive considerations with legal liability, it is possible to mitigate risk. Typically,
counsel. the two keys to mitigating risk are:

Ownership of 1. waivers or limitations of liability and

intellectual property 2. a
 greements to indemnify other parties for
certain claims.
One major area of discussion for corporations
working on a joint blockchain solution is the A waiver of liability is commonly used to
ownership of intellectual property (IP). Under eliminate the likelihood that another party will
United States common law, the inventor file a lawsuit against a company. The contract
maintains the sole right of ownership; if there states that the parties understand that they
are multiple inventors, all inventors have joint participate at their own risk and agree that
rights of ownership. If a third-party is neither party has any liability to the other.
contracted to build the blockchain solution, the Alternatively, a limitation of liability provision is
outcome is typically open to negotiation. It’s often included in contracts to provide a cap on

37
The Founder’s Handbook E: Legal Considerations

the potential financial exposure for the parties, Next steps

specifying which damages are subject to the
limitation and which damages are excluded and It’s never too early to seek legal counsel.
therefore waived in totality. This becomes increasingly more important as
you begin interacting with network co-founders
An indemnification provision is another way to and anchor clients, especially when creating
secure protection against certain third-party the network governance model. When
claims. To be clear, these are not intended to searching for counsel with blockchain
cover claims between the parties to the expertise, be sure to investigate what
agreement. Typically, the scope of covered blockchain work they’ve done. Do they primarily
claims are set forth, such as claims of copyright work on initial coin offerings? Or do they
infringement, and a process for notification and specialize in permissioned, private blockchain
resolution of claims. networks for enterprise use? The laws
governing each of these are vastly different
Smart contracts from each other, therefore it’s important to
understand their true areas of expertise.
A smart contract is a self-executing computer
protocol intended to facilitate an agreement
between ecosystem participants. Smart
contracts are governed by a set of agreed-upon
rules (as with a typical contract), then executed
automatically on behalf of ecosystem
participants using electronic signatures. The
legal enforceability of smart contracts depends
entirely upon a jurisdiction’s recognition and
acceptance of electronic and digital signatures.
Again, this is an area where legal counsel is
critical for determining whether a smart
contract will be deemed valid and binding.

38
What will we solve together?

39
The Founder’s Handbook

A few parting thoughts At IBM, we believe passionately in the

transformative potential of blockchain, and
We’ve interviewed dozens of startup founders, we’re here to broaden your understanding of
corporate innovation leads, blockchain solution how to get started in building a blockchain
pioneers — as well as our own who have already solution. But this is really only the beginning.
delivered over 400 blockchain engagements
around the world. Like any good innovation, this is just the second
release of The Founder’s Handbook. We invite
Each has had their own series of wins and you to join future iterations by sharing your
recommendations — along with pitfalls and stories and lessons learned as you become not
cautions. Our goal has been to bring their just a blockchain network founder, but also an
common experiences and best practices author of the next great chapter in business
together to help accelerate the blockchain innovation.
journey for others.
What will we solve together? Let’s find out.
The bottom line is this: in order to make
blockchain real for business, it’s necessary to Start building your own network:
bring together your ecosystem and find the console.bluemix.net/catalog/services/
shared value for participants in your network. blockchain

Throughout The Founder’s Handbook, we’ve Join the IBM Blockchain ecosystem:
started answering some big questions, but ibm.com/blockchain/partners
there remain many more that founders are still
figuring out. We’ve grouped these big issues Provide feedback on The Founder’s Handbook:
into a few categories to make it easier to digest ibm.biz/FoundersHandbook_Survey
in the context of this handbook. In reality, most
founders are tasked with answering all of them,
all at the same time.

40
The Founder’s Handbook would like to acknowledge:

Authors: Marketing:
Kathryn Harrison, Director of Global Offering Management, Laura Jaeger, Content Marketing Manager, IBM Blockchain
IBM Blockchain Platform
Eileen Lowry, Global Program Director, IBM Blockchain Garage Interviews:
John Widdifield, Offering Manager, IBM Blockchain Jerry Cuomo, Vice President, IBM Blockchain Technology
Matthew Hamilton, Offering Manager, IBM Blockchain Brigid McDermott, Vice President, IBM Food Trust
Stephen Rogers, Vice President, IBM Blockchain Initiatives for Supply Chain
Reviewers: Jesse Lund, Vice President, Head of IBM Blockchain Solutions,
Jerry Cuomo, Vice President, IBM Blockchain Technology Financial Services
Brigid McDermott, Vice President, IBM Food Trust Jo Lang, Offering Manager, IBM Universal Payments & Markets
Don Thibeau, Offering Manager, IBM Blockchain Sharon LaDay, IBM Blockchain Ecosystem Leader
Kalie Dove-Maguire, MD, DocChain LLC Adrienne Valencia Garcia, Senior Lead Counsel, IBM Blockchain Solutions
Jessica Lesage, Senior Attorney, IBM Benelux Law Department
Editors: Andrew Speirs, IBM Consulting Contracts and Negotiations Specialist
Hal Williams, Creative Content Director, IBM Blockchain Greg Wolfond, Founder, CEO and Chairman, SecureKey Technologies
Peter Reith, Program Director, Blockchain Technologies Dan Gallancy, Founder and CEO, Vida Identity
Adrienne Valencia Garcia, Senior Lead Counsel, IBM Blockchain Solutions Steve Ehrlich, Associate Lead Analyst for Emerging Technologies,
Phaedra Boinodiris, Blockchain/Senior Cognitive Design Lead/Developer Spitzberg Partners
Advocate, IBM Industry Platform Ron Quaranta, Chairman, Wall Street Blockchain Alliance
Lewis Cohen, Partner, Hogan Lovells US LLP
Design: Joshua Klayman, Of Counsel, Finance & Projects, Morrison & Foerster LLP;
Jose Fernandez, Creative Content Director, IBM Blockchain Chair, Legal Working Group, Wall Street Blockchain Alliance

41
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2018
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Produced in the United States of America April 2018

IBM, the IBM logo and ibm.com are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide.
Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the
Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml

This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may be changed by IBM at any time. Not all offerings are available in
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THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
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This report is intended for general guidance only. It is not intended to be a substitute for detailed research or the exercise of
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The data used in this report may be derived from third-party sources and IBM does not independently verify, validate or audit such
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Note and sources

1. IBM press release. “Veridium, IBM and Stellar To Digitize Carbon Credit Trading on the Blockchain Using Digital Tokens.”
May 15, 2018. http://newsroom.ibm.com/2018-05-15-Veridium-to-Use-IBM-Blockchain-Technology-to-Create-Social-and-
Environmental-Impact-Tokens
2. Ehram, Fred. “Blockchain Governance: Our Programming Future” Medium.
https://medium.com/@FEhrsam/blockchain-governance-programming-our-future-c3bfe30f2d74

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