robinschmidt

My name is Robin Schmidt and for two and a half years I was Head of Video and Multimedia at the Defiant, a DeFi focused news organization founded by Camila Russo. During that time I wrote, directed and presented hundreds of videos covering DeFi protocols across all the major chains. The job forced me to use these protocols, to understand them and to communicate what could at times be very complex financial concepts in simple, easy-to-grasp videos. I took the channel to 118k subscribers in around two years and was there in the trenches when UST collapsed. It was a wild time. 

I was responsible for editorial, sourcing stories, identifying emerging trends but also working my way through innumerable Gitbooks and whitepapers. I led a small team that worked with me to plan livestreams and deliver well-edited content to a punishing schedule. I was also the face of the content, a non-shill, balanced voice with an opinion but the arguments to back it up. All videos start with a script so writing is at the heart of every piece of work.

My journey to the Defiant began at Harmony where I was Creative Director, initially contributing articles to the chain’s Gitbook rounding out technical documentation and fast becoming the front man of the protocol creating videos to shed light on what we were doing. It was then that I discovered DeFi, recognised we had no meaningful footprint and created a partnership with the Defiant to ensure we had a voice in the emerging sector. 

In the first year at the Defiant we struck up content partnerships with Ledger, creating 50 episodes of School of Block and RealVision where Camila and I were a weekly fixture on the channel lifting the lid on the latest goings on in DeFi. 

I’ve been a filmmaker, content creator and all-round creative for over two decades, across documentaries, music videos, tv shows and even winning awards as a feature film director. I gained a 2:1 in English Language and Literature from Oxford University where my father was also a renowned lecturer so writing in its very best form is in my blood. 

I left the Defiant in 2022 to pursue ambitions in the emerging Metaverse and raised money from VC’s to found BasedAF, a next generation content studio. Our focus was building a system to create video content in 3D leveraging a cocktail of real-time software and custom hard-ware solutions which we called TVMatics. Day to day was a combination of solving technical challenges, constant improvement and iteration, leading a team of 15 and arriving at product/market fit. I’m incredibly proud of the work I’ve done developing this young team and setting them up for future success. 

So what I bring to the table is genuine leadership experience, a brain that can parse high-level technical problems and render them in simple terms, deep and proven experience in DeFi from when it began and respect from the OG community allied to the rigor to deliver content on schedule, to the highest standard, 52 weeks a year.