top of page

Founder's Story - How I Ended Up in Blockchain and Decentralized Marketing Research

Updated: Oct 12

Teramy Academy

I remember the exact moment everything changed for me. It was 2017, and I was sitting in yet another marketing conference listening to marketing professors and researchers debate the latest trends in consumer behavior and branding. I had built my career studying why people choose one brand over another, publishing papers on emotional brand connections between customers and companies. I was comfortable, respected in my field, following a predictable academic path.


Then someone mentioned Bitcoin in passing, dismissing it as "just speculation and criminals." Something inside me rebelled against that oversimplification. That night, I went down the blockchain rabbit hole and didn't emerge for weeks. What I discovered wasn't just new technology - it was a complete reimagining of trust, ownership, and community that made everything I'd studied about branding and relationships suddenly feel outdated.


I faced a choice that would define my career in the early of 2018: stay safe in traditional marketing research, or risk everything by diving into a field my colleagues viewed with suspicion and disdain. When I told fellow professors I was pivoting to blockchain marketing research, the reactions ranged from confusion to outright concern for my career. "Why would you associate yourself with crypto criminals, why not just digital marketing?" they asked. "You're throwing away your reputation," others warned.


But I couldn't unsee what I had seen. Every day I spent in the crypto and blockchain community, I met builders (via research interviews), dreamers, and revolutionaries who were creating the future while traditional business schools refused to even acknowledge it existed. These weren't criminals - they were pioneers building transparent, decentralized systems that could solve real problems. They deserved marketing education from someone who truly believed in their mission, not someone treating blockchain as a curiosity or passing trend.


The next few years nearly broke me. From 2019 to 2022, I applied for research visit programs at business schools around the world, hoping to find academic allies who shared my vision. Rejection after rejection landed in my inbox. No explanations, no feedback - just silence. I began questioning everything. Maybe my colleagues were right. Maybe I had destroyed my career chasing a fantasy. There were nights I seriously considered abandoning blockchain research entirely and returning to safe, traditional marketing topics.


Then, in 2023, something unexpected happened. Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs - not from their business school, but from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences - accepted my research visit application. During those transformative months from August to December 2023, I discovered something remarkable: Harvard researchers and professors weren't just positive about blockchain technology, they were visionary about it. They spoke passionately about self-sovereignty, autonomy, and decentralized control philosophy. They understood what I had been trying to articulate for years.


Harvard University Weatherhead Center for International Affair
Harvard University Weatherhead Center for International Affair

For the first time since 2018, I felt validated. My research mattered. My insights had value. Someone finally understood that this technology represented more than speculation - it was a fundamental shift in how humans could organize and trust each other. Now, as I prepare for another research visit to Cambridge University in 2026, I see the landscape clearly.


However, the current trend is that most business schools are pouring resources into AI - hiring AI professors, developing AI courses, chasing the latest trend. Meanwhile, blockchain and decentralized marketing remains outside the mainstream, still viewed with skepticism in 2025. But this only strengthens my resolve.


Starting TERAMY Academy isn't just about education - it's about validation for everyone who believes in this technology's transformative potential and its deeper philosophical implications. Every course we create, every article we publish, comes from someone who nearly gave up but found the strength to continue because this community and this technology deserve nothing less than complete dedication.


Dr. Teck Ming (Terence) Tan

Associate Professor in Marketing, University of Oulu, Finland (University Profile Link)

Co-founder, TERAMY Academy


Follow us

ree

Comments

bottom of page