Binocular

2022-23 · Co-Founder & COO

Context

Binocular is a search engine and data intelligence tool for the blockchain. We created a UI-based filter-first search engine that allowed anyone interacting with the blockchain to query, aggregate, and extract data instantly.


The genesis of Binocular traces back to my profound fascination with the visual "building blocks" that form the backbone of the Internet, fueled by my obsession with productivity and development tools like Notion and Figma. Drawing inspiration from this passion, the design ethos of Binocular was conceived with the vision of equipping users with a "query language" of blockchain "building blocks," enabling them to effortlessly query complex blockchain data at lightning speed. We developed Binocular's query language from scratch.

Raised $5M Seed Round

We closed a $5M Seed Round led by Kleiner Perkins, Polychain Capital, Abstract Ventures, Robot Ventures, Stanford University, ConsenSys (MetaMask), and Circle (USDC).


We had incredible angels, to name a few: Balaji Srinivasan (ex-CTO @ Coinbase), Stani Kulechov (CEO @ Aave), Aalap Parikh (Head of Crypto @ Meta), Sachin Patel (former partner @ YCombinator), and Jason Yanowitz (CEO @ Blockworks).

Led Design, Engineering & Operations

I led the design effort, working closely with one of the industry's most gifted designers to co-craft Binocular's user interface. Additionally, I designed Binocular's website (onbinocular.com), and created the typography of the logo and word mark.


In addition to leading design, I created the data and front-end team for Binocular, working closely with engineering to create the initial version of the product.


In my role as a co-founder, I ran the company's operations (product ops, eng ops, design ops, legal ops), finances, and human capital.

Demo Video

I created the storyboard, visuals, and directed the development of our demo video with the help of a talented motion designer. Binocular's UI is highlighted in the video.

Pivot (Axel -> Binocular)

Prior to building Binocular, we built Axel, which was API product that enabled any developer to integrate DeFi (lend, stake, yield, or swap) into their applications with a few lines of code. Similar to Binocular, I managed the operations, legal, finances, and human capital. As the sole product designer, I designed & built Axel's website, though, focused the majority of my time creating a seamless developer experience through designing our developer documentation, code examples, and interactive videos.