Episode page and notes: https://buildersinfintech.ai/podcast/episode-55
In this episode, I sit down with Andrej Benčić, co-founder and CEO of Tenderly.
Tenderly is a blockchain development and operations platform built around the Ethereum ecosystem. Founded in 2018 in Belgrade, it started as a debugger that explained why a transaction failed and now provides simulation infrastructure, monitoring and developer tooling for teams building on-chain, from protocols to financial institutions managing capital. Tenderly has raised $58.6M, most recently a $40M Series B led by Spark Capital in 2022, with Accel and Point Nine Capital backing its earlier rounds.
Andrej, a software engineer by background, founded Tenderly with Bogdan Habić, Miljan Tekić and Nebojša Urošević after years of building projects together at hackathons.
We talk about how simulation helps developers, products and institutions manage on-chain risk, why the space needs adoption more than new innovation right now, raising in 2021, navigating bear markets, Ethereum as the "JavaScript of blockchain", a multi-chain future, stablecoins and the digital euro, and hiring talent globally.
00:00 Intro
00:23 Andrej and Tenderly
01:38 Starting Tenderly at hackathons
03:02 From transaction debugger to simulation infrastructure
06:39 Selling to developers, then to institutions
09:17 Building the simulation product
11:33 How companies use simulation
14:48 Fintech use cases: managing on-chain risk
17:22 Adoption vs innovation in blockchain
24:01 The highest high and the lowest low
26:29 Raising in 2021 and working with investors
30:43 Trends worth watching
32:25 Privacy and digital identity
33:59 Ethereum, Canton and Solana
36:27 Bank-built chains and a multi-chain future
38:48 Where stablecoins fit
40:35 The digital euro
42:35 Customers across the US and Europe
44:15 Hiring talent globally
45:12 Advice for new founders
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