Since Cere’s private investment round in September 2019, the 35-person strong Cere team has working heads-down on the release of the new Cere narrative ‘Pioneering Enterprise Adoption of Decentralized Data Clouds and SaaS-DeFi’, and the accompanying technology to deliver upon fulfilling this ambitious and promising narrative.

All of this wouldn’t be possible without the trust and early investments from Cere’s top-tier investors that provided the resources for the Cere team to build towards the finalization of the Cere mainnet, which is expected in the coming months.

Today, we’re touching base with three Cere investors to learn about their experiences with the Cere team and their expectations for the future of the company.

1. Why did your team decide to invest in Cere Network?

Danish: The number one reason for investing in CERE was the team. My initial chat with both Fred and Kenzi left me highly impressed. They had a clear vision for the product/company and a history of execution which I thought was a great combo. Many have wandered into the realm of bringing enterprise adoption and interoperability to blockchain, but few have succeeded. By the time we spoke to the team, they already had large multinationals onboarded and that was very early on.

Roger: We love the team, a bunch of smart people with a vision to solve a traditional industry problem with blockchain tech and working very hard to realize that dream.

Boris: Republic Labs invested in Cere Network because the team was able to provide a clear vision and execution strategy for leveraging a decentralized network within a massive industry. Cere is solving a big, real problem.

2. What excites you and your team about Cere’s vision of “Decentralized Data and Finance Clouds”?

Danish: Bringing a Defi cloud as a SaaS service is highly innovative and something that I can see enterprises adopting rapidly. Defi is in a state where you either evolve with it or you get left behind. And that’s the opportunity CERE is bringing to the table for these companies.

Roger: Data Privacy and ownership are two problems of today’s big tech landscape. Cere tries to solve this problem by onboarding data onto decentralized private data clouds so privacy is returned. It then provides bridges to the realm of decentralized finance services creating a platform that have many possibilities.

Boris: We believe the team is executing on a vision that is unmatched in the ecosystem, and the prize for winning in this sector is gigantic.

3. Finance departments play a critical role in enterprise operations. Do you think DeFi will eventually become a significant part of these departments’ operations?

Danish: Many of the services that are available to retial with DeFi apps & protocols are far more efficient and easily accessible. Traditional finance has already been disrupted by fintechand DeFi is the next iteration. So i definitely see some defi services being used by enterprise finance departments

Roger: My view is that Enterprise adoption of DeFi is inevitable. However, we have to solve problems like data privacy and ownership, security etc. Cere addresses some of these key issues facilitating an Enterprise adoption take off.

Boris: We think it already is, in many of the leading companies around the world. DeFi teams in the R&D department will eventually be the training team for finance teams more broadly

4. What do you think is the most important ingredient to succeed as a DeFi project?

Danish: Of course having a strong team and vision is absolutely necessary — I believe execution is equally as important. Obviously that comes with experience, which the CERE team have in droves. Execution can make or break a project — as you can see there are defi projects popping up left and right, but few succeed becaue of lack of experience and execution.

Roger: I love DeFI projects that have a strong team with a well thought out vision and ability to execute bringing together a community of fanatical fans who love their products.

Boris: Execution. It’s critical to have a clear vision, but it’s even more important to have a milestoned pathway to success.

5. What do you look for in terms of team experience and background in the companies you invest in?

Danish: I definitely appreciate hustle — those who want to build, deploy, execute. Someone who’s an excellent communicator and operator. I also appreciate those who have learnt from their past experiences be it success or failure and build opon them. I’m an enterpreneur and hence i support those taking this path themselves who also demonstrate the aforementioned qualities.

Boris: Grit, transparency and unique skill-sets. We believe the Cere team combines these talents and attributes, and has proven this in the past months of working together.

This wraps up our first ecosystem interview blog with Cere ecosystem participants. A big thanks to our three fantastic advisors to take the time to have a chat!

Next up; the interview with Cere’s enterprise advisors. See you all next time!