Humans of Blockchain: Dimitris Neocleous

Humans of Blockchain is our initiative to highlight the human side of the industry and showcase blockchain professionals around the world. The goal is to get to know the people pushing blockchain forward better and understand them at a personal level. Our previous post in the series was on Sarah Nabaa, and can be read here.

Dimitris Neocleous, VeChain Ecosystem Manager

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This time around, we had the pleasure to talk to Dimitris Neocleous, VeChain Ecosystem Manager.

With a background in legal consulting, Dimitris works closely with DNV GL to facilitate the adoption of VeChain solutions in Europe. He played a key role in VeChain’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cyprus and currently supports the development of the E-NewHealthLife and E-HCert Apps. As of writing, his VeChain BootCamp webinar is the most viewed episode of the series on YouTube.

In this edition, Dimitris gives us a glimpse into his life and what it means to work for VeChain.

Tell us about yourself and how you got into blockchain

Everything started in 2014 when I bought my first Bitcoins and Dogecoins. Yes, I bought Dogecoins because it was a fun token and full of positivity. In 2017 (it was my senior year in University), during the last lecture of Trusts and Equity in the Spring Semester, my good friend Harry asked the professor what he thought is the industry that will be the next big thing. The response was blockchain so I started reading again about blockchain, but from the perspective of business, and fell in love with Ethereum and the concept of smart contracts.

I never had the chance to attend my class graduation ceremony along with my friends the following summer because I spent all the money my family gave me for tuition fees for buying different crypto. I guess every great love story starts with a weird beginning.

After a year working with my father in his law firm in Limassol, I decided that I wanted to become a solicitor in London. Having a good portfolio in cryptocurrencies and a law degree gave me the chance to get a good training contract with a big firm in London; taking care of the tuition fees for the Legal Practice Course and working part-time in their office.

In November 2018, Sunny gave me a call: “man we are expanding, would you like to join our Global Team?”. I knew Sunny from before (MoU between Cyprus and VeChain). I dropped my training contract without a second thought.

At that time my father felt a bit betrayed and didn’t talk to me for a month. Everything though changed afterwards, because every parent wants to see his child happy.

What do you consider are your three strongest attributes? How have they helped you in your career?

Well, I am curious, persistent and an underdog. The combination of the three really helps my personal development and career. Being the curious, persistent underdog means I never consider myself good or the best at what I am doing. That leads me to question myself, judge what can make me better and what can make a project I am working on better. I think this is important when you are working in a tech company. There is no perfect product, tech, society or requirement on product. User experiences and expectations evolve therefore the offering should evolve in the same geometric sequence.

Dimitris (far left) with some other familiar faces in China

Can you tell us about your current projects and what excites you the most about them?

The pandemic of COVID-19 forced me to leave London and repatriate in Cyprus in early March 2020. During this period I’ve had the opportunity to work closer with I-DANTE about the delivery of two solutions: the E-NewHealthLife and the E-HCert for the Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus.

The details about the two projects have been well covered by your article guys, but I would like to express my excitement about these two solutions. The reason is that for the first time a public blockchain is used for the management of medical records in the most secure and GDPR compliant way. I am not going to share how we achieved that with I-DANTE but just to give you one of the ingredients: zero knowledge protocol.

What are you most proud of about VeChain and why?

“In this team we fight together, we fight for each other, we are there for each other at any time; not just for work but also for casual talk.”

I talk daily with my colleagues, the current success of the healthcare projects in Cyprus is a team success.

Photo of the VeChain community meet up in Paris

Sunny, Kevin and Flora, supporting me from day one with these two projects, trusting me and advising me. Gu and the rest of the technical team had some long conversations providing their intel and suggestions even during weekends. I got great support from the central team to support on PR work for such complicated solutions. I also got some tutoring about ToolChain and how to become a better Product Manager. Jason and Sarah… I love to hear these guys, the most positive people I know in my life and very resourceful on how to approach and sell. And lastly, I left my Yoda, Jerome. Being almost everyday on a call with him is like studying an MBA at Harvard University. The knowledge and guidance that he shares with me, I couldn’t ask for a better mentor.

What tips would you give to people looking to start a career in blockchain?

Well, I think these apply everywhere:

Follow your gut and trust your brain
Audentes Fortuna iuvat – Fortune favours the bold
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards” – as Steve Jobs suggested

This is the trinity mantra I follow everywhere.

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

Well, I have 3.

My dad. I think almost every son has as a model example his father. My father has been challenging and inspiring me since forever. Great husband, great father, great businessman. Whatever I do in life, I am asking myself what Christos (my father) would have done in the same situation and would he have been proud of me for my actions.

Dimitris pictured with his father

Another person that really inspires me is Steve Jobs. The way that he cares about the product not to be only powerful but also beautiful, the way he magnetized the audience with the proximity and simplicity in his speech. Steve managed to find the balance between computing power and user experience. He made people want it before they even thought about it.

And Sunny Lu, the CEO of VeChain, my mentor and friend. Sunny talks about blockchain not the complicated way, but the “love” way; making it understandable in a very beautiful, inspiring way. He reminds me a lot of Steve Jobs but in the blockchain industry. He also has the father figure in the company, I want to make him proud. Whatever I do, I send it to Sunny and the “ Good job man” coming from him is very important to me.

What are your hobbies?

I love reading books, especially the ones written by John Grisham. I love writing, even though I haven’t written for a while. Golfing with my father, even though I don’t really have the time to do so anymore. But what I keep doing is meditation “à la Dim” – I take my car, put on music and drive for 30-40 mins on the coastal road of Limassol. It’s only me, the music and the road.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Well I love food. Any kind of food. Sometimes I feel like a trash bin. I eat anything (that I am not allergic to) but my weakness is McDonalds. “I’m lovin’ it” 😜

Double cheeseburger – double up, which means 4 patties- only available in Cyprus, and then strawberry pie. Yes my metabolism is good, I should have much more weight.

A fun fact about you?

In Summer of 2008, my family and I were in New York for holidays. During our excursion with the hop-on-hop-off buses, I felt a bit hungry and saw a hot dog station close to Central Park. I got down of the bus by myself for that hot dog station, the best hot dog of my life. My parents literally freaked out…

What would be your superpower?

I would like to be The Flash because being the fastest man alive means you can do everything on time and have extra time for anything else. You can go back and forth in time and you can say you got hit and survived by a lighting strike.

If your life were a movie or TV show, which one would it be?

Something between:

Suits – because of law
Bing Bang Theory – because I am too Sheldon when I choose where to sit
Good Will Hunting – because I had to go to see about VeChain (in the movie it’s a girl) and dropping out traditional job
Inside Bill Gates Brain – because I am a technophile.

Before you go… Do you have a favourite quote or meme?

“Those who were seen dancing , were thought to be insane by those who couldn’t hear the music.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

For those wishing to learn more about Dimitris and his projects, check out this webinar. With already over 14K views, it’s clear there has been a lot of interest in his decentralized health applications in Cyprus.