Building a Scalable, High-Trust Network

Head of Product

2024 – 2025

Scaling Trust Without Breaking Exclusivity

The Medici Network acts as a bridge between traditional finance and the evolving blockchain ecosystem by hosting off-the-record, invite-only events that convene vetted founders, CEOs, general partners, policy makers, senior operating executives, and capital allocators.

Medici faced an issue with scaling their high-touch offerings. Event access was managed in spreadsheets. Introductions were handled manually through a concierge model. Every successful connection required human effort, which meant growth directly increased operational load. There was no persistent product layer—events created value in the moment, then disappeared.

That model breaks the second you try to grow.

Membership directory — User Journey At-A-Glance: Membership Directory → Member Profiles → Token-Based Connection Requests → QR Code Access Badges.

The Product Decision

If Medici wanted to scale without diluting trust or exclusivity, the product had to become the gatekeeper. I made the app the single source of truth.

No app, no event access
No spreadsheets—credentials, schedules, and entry lived in the product
Concierge introductions were replaced with a token-based, self-service connection system that enforced intent and scarcity
The app had to turn one-off events into the starting point of an always available community.

What I Built

I designed and shipped a full-stack web platform that unified event access and institutional networking:

QR-code badges tied to authenticated identities, with real-time check-ins
A point-based connection system allowing a configurable limit of outbound attempts per member
A multi-event architecture supporting nested events and badge hierarchies
Real-time CRM synchronization using Airtable as the operational backbone
A CMS-powered event scheduler with links to speaker profiles
Analytics instrumentation to track connection attempts, success rates, and follow-on engagement

What Happened

The product worked because the constraints were intentional.

~50% of connection attempts converted, validating the token-based model
Connections doubled between VCs and institutional investors
Manual concierge and support workload dropped by 80%
Medici doubled its protocol-level membership without increasing ops headcount

More importantly, Medici stopped being an events business. It became an always-on institutional network that used events as activation moments, not endpoints.

Takeaway

This project was about turning trust, access, and relationships into a scalable system—without breaking the social contract that made the network valuable in the first place.