How we Saved A Learned Cat: Interview with Sasha Ivanova, CEO and Founder of SharpShark

A Learned Cat by 9-year-old Sasha Ch.

Hey Hackers! I’m Sasha Ivanova and I’m the CEO & Founder of SHARPSHARK http://sharpshark.io/

First of all, I’d like to say a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community for recognizing SharpShark team as the winner of: HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - COPYRIGHT for 2021

HackerNoon Reporter: What does it mean for you to win this title?

First of all, it was absolutely unexpected! We are really delighted that we were able to contribute something useful to the community. In SharpShark, we believe that Copyright protection is the second most important use case in Blockchain after cryptocurrency.

How do you or your company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2022?

In 2022 we offered ourselves a very important mission - to help the youngest creators to learn about their authorship and intellectual property rights. And I want to share with you a short story behind it.

Please have a look at the picture on the cover - from the one side, it’s a painting made by a 9-year-old girl, but from another side, it’s the unique digital asset existing only in Blockchain because the original painting was probably lost or destroyed in the art school.

I met Sasha Ch., a 9-year-old daughter of my best friend, and she was upset because the art school where she studied took her artwork “A Learned cat” and never returned it back.

“I would like to get a Learned Cat back, but the art school doesn't return it to me for too long time”, - says an author, 9-year-old Sasha Ch. from Russia. - “looks like it has been lost, or, if it was recognized like lack of artistic value, it will be reused by other students as a pallet to mix colors. It’s a pity, I liked this piece and my family too. My idea was to interpret a female scientific cat. Cool to have a photo though, even if it's not the same”.

I was completely shocked. For example, in Latin America, from where Sharp Shark is, in every school my daughter got back ALL her creations, with or without artistic value. Every last scribble was returned to her! The concept behind that is that only the creator can decide what to do with her or his works.

How is it possible that in some art schools happen things like that when any work can be:

• lost;

• thrown away;

• recycled for pallets for other students;

• destroyed;

• disappeared;

• whatever else.

  And everybody thinks it’s normal just because it’s always been like that!

  
  

I mean, how can young creators be inspired and motivated when they can't see the progress they made during the years of studying? Why would anyone else make decisions about something that is not of their own making?

SharpShark helped Sasha Ch. to store her artwork in Blockchain and now it’s on Opensea: https://opensea.io/assets/matic/0x2953399124f0cbb46d2cbacd8a89cf0599974963/68525107274345107752855537343012204322148226335097009177862791850918892535809

Looking at her happy eyes, I was rewarded for all the years I dedicated to Blockchain and copyright protection. We have saved The Learned Cat!

What are some of the goals you’re looking forward to accomplishing in 2022 (whether it be through company initiatives or your personal journey)?

That is all why at SharpShark, we decided to make an educative course for the youngest creators teaching them about their author’s rights and showing them how to store their works on the Blockchain!

As you look at the variety of concerning trends in the world around you, what solutions can you think of? Name three trends and three solutions. Be as brief or as detailed as you like.

1. WEB 3.0 - users possess their own data
2. IPFS - immutability of the content
3. Metaverse - creating safe spaces to train skills

After participating in this journey, is there anything that you would like the HackerNoon team to know?

With Metaverse tendency a lot of people think that TEXTS will die!

In SharpShark, we believe that text will never vanish. 'Scripts never get burnt’ as one writer said once. Every creation first of all is a thought, and the thought is a text. Besides, there are still billions of people who just LOVE TO READ.

What is something special about you or your company that you’ve rarely had the chance to properly share but really wanted to? (Give this one a proper think, I’ll know if you didn’t!)

Well… I have never said this to anybody. My personal battle for copyright protection started from a very traumatic event in my life. A very personal family video of my recently born daughter was sneaked and used for a documentary without any permission. The producers didn’t even tell me. I discovered it a year later and couldn’t do anything. Years later, I started to run SharpShark and can now help people deal with situations like this.

What song or music album are you currently enjoying?

I really enjoy silence. This is my favorite music album.

What are some concepts you wish people knew more about?

In SharpShark, we wish people know more about their rights, especially authorship rights.

It’s so common in the world that artistic, musical, cinematographic works get stolen or plagiarized, and I’m sure every person can recall cases like this, so it’s become like a blind spot for people. It’s Just as common as drinking a cup of tea.

We should teach kids from a very young age about their personal frontiers.

For more information:

Read about the Noonies here. To see all of the winners you may visit this site, pick any award, and view the name that appears at the top. Or follow this account for posts with the list of names released over the course of the week of February 14, 2022.

Read the FAQs about Startups here or here. To see all of the winners you may visit this site, pick any city and view the name that appears at the top. Or follow this account for posts with the list of names released over the course of the week of February 14, 2022.

Thank you to all of our sponsors! We truly appreciate your contribution to the tech world and thus the future!

Startups:

Blockster, Brex, FreeCodeCamp, LaunchDarkly, Coil, Udacity, Udemy, Vercel, Asia Pacific Transgender Network, Bybit, Everscale Network

Noonies:

The Noonies Awards are sponsored by: Bybit, Avast, TECH Domains and hosted by: HackerNoon