Adam Trexler: The Shades of Entrepreneurship

Adam Trexler's entrepreneurial journey @ 0:00

Adam Trexler shares his early entrepreneurial experiences, starting with selling water balloon slingshots as a child. He then discusses his background working in startups and venture capital through his father's connections, before pursuing an academic career studying the history and culture of money. This academic work eventually led him to discover a nanotechnology for depositing gold onto thin films, which inspired him to found his company Valaurum in 2012.

Valaurum's innovative gold product @ 1:18

Adam explains how Valaurum's patented nanotechnology allows them to create a gold-based product called the "Aurum" - a thin gold film that can contain anywhere from $2 to $500 worth of gold. This makes gold more affordable, easy to authenticate, and usable as currency in a way it hasn't been for centuries.

Overcoming challenges in product development @ 12:36

Developing the Aurum product was a significant technical challenge, as the gold film wanted to fall apart. Adam discusses the 12 years of research and innovation required to make the product durable enough to withstand everyday use and handling, including being able to survive going through the washing machine.

Valaurum's go-to-market strategy @ 14:43

Rather than trying to sell directly to consumers, Valaurum primarily works with precious metal retailers and marketers to co-develop products tailored to different cultural preferences around gold. This allows them to leverage the expertise and distribution channels of established players in the gold market.

Valaurum's vision for the future of money @ 40:27

Adam shares some of Valaurum's upcoming innovations, including work on physical monetary instruments that can bear interest (like a modern-day bearer bond) as well as physical representations of cryptocurrencies. He sees Valaurum as a "monetary technologist" exploring new frontiers in how money and value can be represented.