Adam Mastrelli: How a Stage Virtuoso Became Tech's Next Thought Leader

When the spotlight is turned off and the curtain closes, some performers find a new stage on which to shine. Take Adam Mastrelli. Who could have guessed that a top-tier professional in the realm of Blockchain and finance was once a professional actor, a lead in musicals, and a star soccer player? But Adam’s narrative is a lot more than just a series of achievements; it’s about the road traveled, the highs, the lows, and the in-betweens.

“Growing up on Long Island, I was a promising amateur soccer player,” Adam recalls. In his teenage years, he played in Germany, a remarkable experience, side by side with the German national team and other professional squads. The trajectory seemed clear. However, as college wrapped up, a change of focus led him in an unexpected direction.

“I got recruited to play college soccer and did that for 3 and a half years until I was cut my senior year,” he candidly admits, citing distractions like partying as part of the reason. Then came a pivot. He switched gears, “I'd always been a good singer," he says, and soon found himself auditioning for musicals. “They thought I was pranking them,” he chuckles, reflecting on the shock his peers displayed, as the jock auditioned for the theater. 

But it wasn’t a prank, and Adam went from college theater to the professional stage and screen. 

His post-college years were an eclectic blend of the arts, encompassing acting, singing, dancing, and even documentary filmmaking. As he puts it, he “never made a lot of money,” but those years were rich in experience. “The lessons within that year of failure, travel, and people and cultures stayed with me,” he shares.

Speaking about his transition into the finance and tech world, Adam's words exude a contagious enthusiasm: “I started coming in touch with Crypto. I was like, I don't get it. What's a ripple? What's an augur? I don't understand it. And that made me angry, so I just kept asking dumb questions.” This thirst for understanding, of channeling anger into a desire to learn, and of being unafraid of asking the simplest of questions, these are the key characteristics that make Adam the force he is today, from his work at IBM to his hedge fund investments.

However, even as he delved into the world of tech and finance, Adam never strayed too far from his roots. And one day, he chanced upon a curious club, started by two sisters, born out of friendly competition with each other. Dubbed the 'Failure Club,' this eclectic group had a singular goal: to encourage its members to chase one of their wildest dreams over the span of a year, fully knowing that the journey may end in failure. The club's tenets were built not around the guarantee of success but the experience of pursuing an audacious goal. Every member embarked on their personal journey of vulnerability and risk, and what was Adam’s? To become a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. 

When his Failure Club year was up, Adam had not succeeded in becoming a NatGeo Explorer—but he had formed many contacts and learned plenty, something he continued to nurture. It was this choice and dedication that put him, as he puts it, "in the right place, at the right time" and one day, a producer happened to glance over at a screen where a friend was playing one of Adam’s videos. 

And that was how Adam ended up hosting 30 episodes of Secrets Unlocked on the Smithsonian Channel.

As he speaks of his journey, it's hard not to admire the way Adam has interwoven his diverse interests to create a tapestry that's uniquely his. He has been on soccer fields in Germany, Broadway stages in New York, boardrooms with IBM, and the fascinating locales of Secrets Unlocked. (He’s also held George Washington’s teeth, below.)

Yet, amid all these achievements, it's Adam’s reflections on life that leave the most profound impact. “Seeing what's going on in the world today, being alive is not even given. So I feel fortunate to be doing what I'm doing.”

The pattern of Adam’s journey, if there is one, manifests not in a linear progression but more like the reflections one catches in a rear view mirror: distinct memories, experiences, and lessons that piece together only when you're looking back.

"I really want to do a book on my life explained in maxims," Adam mused in a moment of introspection. Echoing the famous words of Steve Jobs, he reflected, “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."

Drawing parallels between the world of performing arts and the cut-throat universe of startups might seem far-fetched. But not to Adam. For him, the training as a performer isn't just about taking center stage or holding a tune; it's about active listening, sustaining energy, and building connections—skills that, according to him, can be game-changers in any setting.

"You're always around very creative people in performance," he observed. It's not just about the spotlight or the applause; it's about the nuances, the teamwork, the interplay between people. "There's something to also being quiet," he explains, emphasizing the essence of owning a space. "You have to keep the energy on stage going, and it can’t if the energy stops with you." 

But it’s a quote from Michael Keaton that has influenced Adam’s approach to life—and now mine. "Michael Keaton famously says, ‘your job as an actor is not to get the role...your job is to audition.’ And once you treat the audition like your job, it's very different." The art of auditioning is about putting oneself out there, accepting rejection, and moving forward—and it’s about training to master that act of auditioning. It’s a sentiment that resonates strongly in the world of startups and tech.

Adam’s passions aren't limited to the fields of technology and performance. He's also an endurance athlete, having taken on the daunting challenge of ultra-marathons. But, as always, his experiences transcend the mere physical and seep into the philosophical, revealing deep parallels with his professional life.

I couldn’t help but ask Adam about the link between his career in business and the grueling challenge of running ultra-marathons. Adam didn’t disappoint. "It's kind of like polarity," he mused, explaining that for those who grew up in individualistic sports, the challenge might be learning to work within a team. But for him, having been a part of team sports like soccer and ensemble-focused theater communities, the true test was mastering individualism.

"I had to learn what it was like to either give up on myself or not," Adam reflected on his ultra-marathon experience, adding that, while he might've given up one year, he undoubtedly learned more from that failure than his success. "I guarantee you I learned more the year I gave up on myself," he said, tying it back to his earlier conversation about the value of failure.

And it is this emphasis on failure, resilience, and learning that has made Adam an expert commentator on blockchain. Blockchain is something that baffles the layperson, with its vast and yet seemingly abstract potential. Adam simplifies the complex maze of blockchain and cryptocurrency into a single lucid thought: the ability to transfer value instantly across space and time. 

Drawing an analogy with the world of email communication, this is Adam’s vision: "Whether I'm on a Gmail server, Hotmail, or IBM... nobody thinks, 'Will my email from Gmail get to Melissa at Machinelab?'” For Adam, blockchain holds the same promise, but for financial services and value transfer. He stresses the importance of borderless payments and the power of a currency that's universal and free from governmental control. 

But in the hands of state actors that may not be benevolent, Adam warns of the dangers of this same technology. It is a reminder that once a technology is out there, in the world, it is a matter of using it in a way that creates value for us all. 

In a world where traditional systems often run headfirst into new-age technologies, Adam has an uncanny ability to draw parallels between the two. Think of the battle between mainframe and the cloud. Many heralded the death of mainframes with the advent of cloud technology, treating the shift almost religiously. However, Adam's pragmatism shines through: "what would end up happening is, there's stuff that is just going to work there, and you're going to leave it there. You'll have a separate on-premises system." 

In fact, he takes this analogy a step further by comparing the juxtaposition of traditional finance with decentralized finance, or DeFi, highlighting that they will coexist, much like on-premises systems and the cloud. "They will get along, probably in the same way that on-premise and the cloud gets along."

A discussion on the future of technology is incomplete without addressing the gargantuan elephant in the room: AI. According to Adam, the real threat isn't necessarily job losses or even the profound technological advancements. Instead, it's how AI might erode the very essence of truth. "It's very scary. Authenticity and truth," he comments. 

The hyper-polarized society we live in today, combined with the potential of AI-generated disinformation, amplifies these concerns. The nuances get lost as people increasingly prefer binary, simplified answers. "Humans aren't prepared for this," Adam muses. For him, AI isn't merely a tech conversation—it's a societal one. It’s about how systems can possibly bring societies together instead of driving them further apart.

This is where the concept of "Janusian thinking" becomes vital for Adam—deriving from the Roman god Janus, depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. Think of a hammer. The hammer was initially, simply, a tool with which to hammer nails. Until one day, its opposite function was added to the other side: a claw, for extracting nails. This is Janusian thinking: the ability to hold two opposing ideas to reach a more innovative, synergistic, and ultimate more whole conclusion.

Applying Janusian thinking to broader societal issues, Adam highlights the importance of reconciling contrasting viewpoints. "Imagine if you can get people to do that with their thinking," he remarks. It is a vision of a world in which people can see each other’s viewpoints, hold it all, and reach commonality. And as Adam poignantly concludes, "What's the point of living longer if we're hurting each other?"

While we are ensnared by the rapid cadence of technological progress, Adam's theatrical background reminds us of the timeless essence of human storytelling and connection. Every new gadget, app, or platform, at its heart, is just another stage—a place for humanity to play out its hopes, fears, dramas, and dreams. 

I can’t help but feel that the juxtaposition between Adam's past in the arts and his present in the tech world is a mirror of our broader societal journey. As we march forward, fueled by innovation and the promise of a digital utopia, the lessons of the theatre linger—reminding us of the enduring power of human emotion, the importance of genuine connection, and the timeless stories that bind us. 

Even in a world racing towards AI and algorithmic existence, the most profound stories—the ones that truly resonate—are those that remain deeply, irrevocably human. How do we keep the spotlight on our shared humanity, ensuring that in our pursuit of technological mastery, it is in service to us all?

Photos courtesy of: Adam Mastrelli