There’s nothing more valuable than a network.
That’s according to Gav Blaxberg, the CEO at WOLF Financial, one of the premiere Twitter Inc (NYSE:WTR) Spaces hosts in the finance community.
As part of Wolf’s launch of the “March Madness” finance version of the well-known sports tournament, Blaxberg spoke with Benzinga.
Context: WOLF is a social media marketing platform based on Twitter Spaces. It stems from the idea that people are more so audio learners in today’s day and age.
“I focus and hone in on Twitter Spaces as a way to educate and communicate with tens of thousands of people a day on all things finance,” Blaxberg said. “We talk stocks, crypto, options, ETFs, NFTs, Web3 and we bring some of the smartest, most educated people in the space as speakers.”
Blaxberg is heading WOLF after years in traditional finance at institutions such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) and Versa Capital Management.
“When COVID hit, I did not know how long the pandemic was going to last and, at some point, I got reached out to by two friends who said: ‘Hey, we’re starting a financial startup. We want to build out a social investing app and we want you to come on as our COO.’”
After working at that company for about two years, the original founders pivoted and Blaxberg bought the rights to WOLF.
“Now, I’m really at this full-time spending about 30 to 40 hours a week on Spaces. When I’m not in Spaces, I’m prepping,” he explained in a conversation on his dedication to Twitter which has invested in him.
This latest March Madness initiative is a way for Blaxberg to give back to the community that’s helped make him a respected voice in finance.
“I’ve been working closely with 60-plus different creators that kind of make up the core of finance Twitter and have been engaging with them to build out this tournament.”
How It Works: Unlike the typical March Madness-style football tournament, sports teams are replaced with tradeable assets like stocks, crypto, ETFs, futures, and the like.
“Then, instead of having matchups be based on asset return, it’s all pure social sentiment where everything is put on Twitter and the winning asset on Twitter moves on to the next round.”
For instance, if Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) is in a matchup against Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB), the asset most voted for on social media wins the bracket.
Last year, there were more than 1,000 brackets filled with 30-plus creators backing it. WOLF even secured a $10,000 grand prize which it was able to give out alongside premium plans to TrendSpider and exclusive swag.
The Next Steps: Over the past two months, Blaxberg has been hard at work connecting with creators and personalities on finance Twitter and Instagram.
“We have fully secured everything and built out an entire website,” the CEO said. “We have gotten a personality to back every single asset that’s in it. We have stocks, crypto, ETFs, and NFTs this year.”
The waitlist for the event starts Monday. When signing up for emails, individuals will be automatically entered into a $1,000 raffle.
The following Monday, March 21, 2022, brackets open. On March 28, 2022, the polls are run.
“We have a $10,000 grand prize and multiple other prizes in-store,” Blaxberg said. “This is a great opportunity for followers to connect with creators.”
