Vlad Panchenko, a lifelong gamer and technologist, is on course to one day build a massive metaverse community and exchange by connecting video gamers on mega gaming platforms. Vlad started his career in Ukraine at the age of 16, where he was paid by the kilobyte to translate pirated video games from English into Russian and Ukrainian. Byte by byte, Panchenko gained the experience that would lead him to create powerful gaming platforms. In this episode, Vlad talks about his latest creation, DMarket, a giant social gaming marketplace where all manner of virtual goods are traded. Join us as we take a step into the brave new world of the future where virtual worlds are a reality.

Before any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life.

JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:

(02:44) - Translating pirated video games after school in Ukraine - “They needed somebody to translate from English to Ukrainian and Russian and that was me, and that was my first job.”

(07:35) - How Vlad’s entrepreneurial journey began - “I knew from the very beginning that I'm pretty much ambitious and that I'm going to build, one-by-one, bigger and bigger companies.”

(16:35) - Gamers and unlocking the real metaverse - “I am a hundred percent sure that the people and the community who will actually unlock the real metaverse will be the video game developers.”

(23:17) - DMarket and the technology behind it - “The marketplace that we provide, it's the best in the world. It's like the blood of all the Web 3.0 and Metaverse, but still, it couldn't fly without the creativity. So the game and the creative part comes first.”

(28:53) - Vlad’s advice to future game developers - “Keep in mind this is the technology. First comes the story, then the narrative and then the actual entertainment.”

(34:22) - What we can learn from the gaming community and how the invasion of Ukraine affected him - “On February 24th, I was at a conference in Las Vegas, and I couldn't believe that it happened. Because in my humble opinion, this is such a stupid thing to do in 2022. You build Web 3.0, you build AI, you build like ‘The Calling of Mars’, you can do so many things, and you still come back to doing something people have been doing hundred years ago. Why? It makes no sense for me.”

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Connect with Vlad Panchenko on LinkedIn and Instagram

Learn more about DMarket

Watch CNN’s Tech CEO raises millions in crypto and evacuates employees from Ukraine

Read USA Today’s: 'Hits on many facets of our activities': How the tech industry is impacted by the war in Ukraine

Read Axios’s: Tech CEO flies workers out of Ukraine as fear of invasion looms

Thank you for listening! Follow Before IT Happened on Instagram and Twitter, and don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts!

Before IT Happened is produced by Donna Loughlin and StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab. All episodes are written and developed by Susanna Camp. The Show Coordinator is Nicole Genova and the Executive Producer is Katie Sunku Wood.