From Side Hustle Bots to a $100M Crypto Startup

Sam Battenally is trying to fix the two things everyone hates about trading:it’s slow, and it’s full of hidden costs. Sam is the co-founder and CEO of RISE, a new blockchain built to feel like modern web apps: instant, smooth, and (on their new exchange RiseX) zero gas fees. He’s also just acquired perp DEX team BSX to help turn that vision into a pro-grade, on-chain trading platform. In this episode of DealFlow Founder Stories, we break it down in plain English no crypto jargon required. We talk about: - What RISE actually is in web2 terms (think: ultra-fast backend for trading apps) - RiseX, the new zero-gas trading app built on RISE - How RISE plans to be the “one great app first, ecosystem later” chain - Why Sam thinks future apps should feel like grandma-friendly fintech, not clunky wallets - How he raised over $10M from VCs and the community - What he learned shutting down his previous DeFi product – and why that pain led to RISE - The trade-offs: speed vs decentralization, and why he’s okay with “geo-centralization”- Using AI at work (and why it probably boosted their productivity by 30%+) - How he’s juggling being a new dad, constant travel, and building a massive infra company If you’re curious about where trading, crypto, and “Wall Street on-chain” might actually go next, this convo will make it click without needing to be crypto-native. Subscribe for more raw, founder-first conversations from DealFlow. Guest: Sam - https://x.com/sam_battenally RISE - https://risechain.com/ Host: Keira - https://x.com/RealMissAI DealFlow - https://x.com/dealflowpodcast MH Ventures - https://www.mhventures.io/