Vandex

Kevin Hobbs entered the blockchain space early, launching Vandex in 2013 right as cryptocurrency was beginning to gain mainstream attention. He and his business partner Lisa Chang recognized a massive gap: while speculators were trading tokens, real technologists and enterprises needed help building actual blockchain infrastructure and understanding the technology. They started as a pure consulting play, helping companies conduct token sales—beginning with Mastercoin and then scaling to dozens of clients.

As consulting revenue grew, Hobbs and Chang noticed a disconnect: many people wanted to use blockchain technology but didn't know how to code. In response, they built Ether Party, a SaaS product designed to democratize smart contract creation. The platform allows users without technical skills to deploy utility tokens, security tokens, tokenized assets, and voting mechanisms—initially charging a one-time fee of approximately $10,000 per token setup. The founding team remained lean on equity, with Hobbs and Chang controlling 90% of the company after raising just $500,000 in 2016.

Vandex's customer acquisition came primarily through enterprise relationships. By the time of this interview, they'd worked with dozens of clients—over 100 to date that year—including Fortune 500 companies, government institutions, and banks. Their consulting business proved sticky: proof-of-concept projects ranged from $50,000 to six figures, with the company scaling to 20 in-house developers. For Ether Party's SaaS product, they strategically leveraged existing relationships: "Our first 100 products are going to probably come from our proof of concepts that we're doing with some of the companies right now. And then they're going to onboard their clients to the platforms."

The token sale in 2017 raised approximately $30 million worth of Ether—a huge validation of the team's vision in the blockchain space. However, Hobbs was pragmatic: "Our business model, obviously we're very positive on the crypto space, but we have to pay the bills." They liquidated approximately 60% of the raised ether (roughly $15 million in fiat) right around the time of the raise and throughout the following period. This turned out to be prescient, as crypto markets softened significantly afterward. The larger lesson: they built a consulting business that didn't depend on crypto prices. Even as market volatility impacted token values and client spending, Vandex's service revenue model remained resilient.

With $3.2 million in trailing twelve-month revenue, Vandex is pivoting toward building recurring SaaS revenue and preparing to make history. Hobbs revealed they're working with regulators worldwide to launch what he calls "the first company in the world to actually offer a securitized token through our rocket platform"—essentially a digital share certificate that combines token technology with regulated equity. Ether Party has 4,000 people on the waitlist, positioning the SaaS business as their next major growth lever. At 38, Hobbs remains focused on scaling, though he admits he only sleeps four or five hours per night.