Nik McFly
Nik McFly
Nik McFly (born Nikolay Bezhko; January 8, 1985) is an independent researcher, writer, startup advisor and investor, blockchain enthusiast, community manager, and digital artist based in Moscow, Russia. Nik worked with various tech companies and digital agencies, such as Digital October[1], AltSpace[2], Yandex[3], MING Labs[4], Yota Devices[5], and led design and community work at McFly.Aero[6], an international alliance for eVTOL infrastructure. Nik gave presentations and talks at British Higher School of Art and Design[7] and Moscow City Museum[8]. He is a founder of Bitcoined[9], the first-ever Facebook group about Bitcoin, a founder of DigitalResearch[10], a research agency, and a co-founder of CreativeRussia[11], the largest online community for Russian-speaking creative professionals.
Education
High School
Nik attended Moscow High School №20 for 8 years where he played at basketball team and graduated last 2 classes at External School №199.
University
Other
Nik prefers lifelong education.
Participated in workshops on information technology in digital art[14] at Polytechnic Museum and on high-tech architecture[16] and speculative architecture[15] at Strelka Institute.
Was invited as a community builder and studied at Vector online course about community organizing[17].
Attended Silicon Valley insiders[18], 1st batch of startup acceleration program at Yellow Door, as a co-founder of a startup.
Career
Entrepreneur
Art, Design & Culture
From 2010 Nik acts as a digital artist at d3m.ru[21].
As a freelance producer he managed design and development of many online projects.
Helped to launch the Moscow Design Biennale[45] at The Central House of Artists as a curator.
Assisted to organize a press conference about AlphaGo with Go and Strategy club[22] in Moscow as a creative director and managed the art project[23] to visualize Go games.
Together with Eugene Kudashev created a Russia404.net[24] — website dedicated to the "Internet Isolation Law" by which the Russian authorities may oblige Internet providers to block all foreign web traffic.
Researcher
From 2012 to 2014 Nik worked at the multidisciplinary design studio AltSpace as a researcher; the main client was NPTV[36], a cloud-based TV tech company, in 3 years he made tons of business / design / tech research as a groundwork for the projects of his colleagues — architects, art directors, copywriters, developers, software and hardware engineers.
In 2014 Nik made a private research bureau; at DigitalResear.ch he helped clients to understand their audience, product, marketing channels, competitors and related concepts.
Investor
Nik supports different technological startups as an angel investor.
One of the 1st investments was SellanApp[25], the Netherlands-based crowdfunding and crowdsourcing startup for mobile app.
Another one was PitchMe[26], US-based ideation management platform, tool for startups, incubators, and enterprises.
Also he backed 78 projects[27] at Kickstarter to understand their traction in delivering products.
Now Nik is one of the shareholders of Bartini[28], the startup for design and manufacture of eVTOL aerial vehicle.
Advisor
Nik deals with a number of startups as an advisor.
Some of them are:
Baselance[29] is a personal talent storage for studios, agencies and producers.
Crypto BrainTrust Syndicate[30] is a group of cryptospace professionals and founders.
Ergius is an intellectual platform for the legal support of companies.
Keré is a hardware startup of digital Jewellery and content distribution platform.
McFly.aero[6] is the Air Mobility Alliance for the air taxi technologies.
Virtual Metropolis[32] is an interdisciplinary community for discussing the opportunities and risks new technologies bring.
Community builder
Nik created and managed few online communities around different topics of interest.
Bitcoined[9] is the first-ever Facebook group about bitcoin with 5000 members.
CreativeRussia.co[11] is 4000+ members online community for Russian-speaking creative professionals; it is best known for their AMA with designers, technologists and entrepreneurs.
McFly.aero Chapters[33] is 10k+ members community-driven marketplace to make air taxi an everyday thing.
Nik is an admin from Russia at Startup.Chat[34] — the global startup community in Slack.
McFly.Aero
As a creative advisor, Nik helped the McFly.aero Alliance member, Bartini eVTOL designer, to create their brand and online presence, as well as participated in the same kind of advise to the other members to McFly.aero Alliance.
Organized blockchain airdrops at Waves[47] and Ethereum networks to grow the community.
Written series of articles to describe the project at McFly.aero blog[35].
Public speaking & interviews
Held a workshop about making token-based communities[39] at British Higher School of Art and Design.
Was one of organizers of McFly.aero events at Moscow City Museum[40] and High School of Economics, and was a speaker there on the future of flying cars and the emerging city infrastructure to house them.
“Daily use of flying vehicles: from fiction to reality” interview[41] for National Research University Higher School of Economics.
“In 2020, there will be flying cars: who and why creates air taxi in Russia”[42] by Hi-Tech.Mail.ru.
"Will we fly to work and out of town in 2020?"[48] by Strelka Magazine.
Podcasts
In the beginning of 2019 Nik started to make podcasts, but it's done in stealth mode.
Some of them are, in fact, paid consulting gigs that made on demand as podcasts for the private listening of other entrepreneurs.
Personal life
In his spare time Nik likes to read books[38], play Go[37] and write texts. His first text published among a dozen of others during High-School, where he won the "Children about Grandfathers" writing contest for the essay about his ancestors and their life in the difficult military and post-war period of the mid-twentieth century. In 2019 Nik wrote his first Everipedia and Wikipedia articles, and does not intend to stop there.
In childhood Nik was a member of Counter-Strike clan which won the second prize at the local tournament. He also loves to play ping-pong and tennis in which he also earned the 2nd place at the local tournament during schooltime. He tried sambo, kyokushin, qigong and yoga, but never practised more than few months. His favorite sport and leisure is swimming. Nik also likes floating and thinks that such technology should be the required item in every home.
He's a native Muscovite, and happened to become one of the faces on the "People of Moscow"[59] photo-book's cover by Igor Pankov. In 2018 he changed his name from Nikolay Bezhko to Nik McFly. Fun fact is that the meaning of his name stayed the same. That's not only because Nik is the shortened form of Nikolay, but also because one of the most popular etymology theory about "Bezhko" surname with Ukrainian roots is that it's derived from the "bezhat'" verb which means "run" in Russian. The McFly surname was first found in Scotland and means "son of Fly", and one of the meanings of "fly" is "run".
In few years after Nik mined 80 bitcoins and the price is gone to the moon, he discovered that the password to the encrypted disk is incorrect. They are lost forever, but he got a nice story to tell in exchange. Nevertheless, Nik is still a true believer in decentralized future of digital assets.
Nik also likes to travel and visited 25 countries[58], including Sweden and Bulgaria where he was with his High School basketball team, Italy where he proved his education by getting his Stendhal syndrome in front of the "The Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli, Playa del Carmen village in Mexico where he danced techno at The BPM Festival, Montenegro where he got a sea captain's License for a sailing boat, Amazon rainforest in Peru where he tried ayahuasca for 10 times, Jerusalem where he became a Godfather of a friend's daughter in the Christian tradition and many others.
The favorite Nik's hobby is music.
He plays guitar a little bit, but wants to learn a piano.
Meanwhile, he listen to others, just to name a few: 6ix9ine, Burial, Clint Mansell, Devendra Banhart, Everlast, Grimes, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ken Nordine, Little Dragon, Massive Attack, Maya Jane Coles, Moby, Moderat, Radiohead, The Acid, The xx, Unkle, XXXTentacion, Yann Tiersen.
====THE CONTENT BELOW WAS MERGED IN FROM [/lang_en/nik-mcfly-2]====
Nik McFly (born Nikolay Bezhko; January 8, 1985) is an independent researcher, writer, startup advisor and investor, blockchain enthusiast, community manager, and digital artist based in Moscow, Russia. Nik worked with various tech companies and digital agencies, such as Digital October[1], AltSpace[2], Yandex[3], MING Labs[4], Yota Devices[5], and led design and community work at McFly.Aero[6], an international alliance for eVTOL infrastructure. Nik gave presentations and talks at British Higher School of Art and Design[7] and Moscow City Museum[8]. He is a founder of Bitcoined[9], the first-ever Facebook group about Bitcoin, a founder of DigitalResearch[10], a research agency, and a co-founder of CreativeRussia[11], the largest online community for Russian-speaking creative professionals.
Education
High School
Nik attended Moscow High School №20 for 8 years where he played at basketball team and graduated last 2 classes at External School №199.
University
Other
Nik prefers lifelong education.
Participated in workshops on information technology in digital art[14] at Polytechnic Museum and on high-tech architecture[16] and speculative architecture[15] at Strelka Institute.
Was invited as a community builder and studied at Vector online course about community organizing[17].
Attended Silicon Valley insiders[18], 1st batch of startup acceleration program at Yellow Door, as a co-founder of a startup.
Career
Entrepreneur
Art, Design & Culture
From 2010 Nik acts as a digital artist at d3m.ru[21].
As a freelance producer he managed design and development of many online projects.
Helped to launch the Moscow Design Biennale[45] at The Central House of Artists as a curator.
Assisted to organize a press conference about AlphaGo with Go and Strategy club[22] in Moscow as a creative director and managed the art project[23] to visualize Go games.
Together with Eugene Kudashev created a Russia404.net[24] — website dedicated to the "Internet Isolation Law" by which the Russian authorities may oblige Internet providers to block all foreign web traffic.
Researcher
From 2012 to 2014 Nik worked at the multidisciplinary design studio AltSpace as a researcher; the main client was NPTV[36], a cloud-based TV tech company, in 3 years he made tons of business / design / tech research as a groundwork for the projects of his colleagues — architects, art directors, copywriters, developers, software and hardware engineers.
In 2014 Nik made a private research bureau; at DigitalResear.ch he helped clients to understand their audience, product, marketing channels, competitors and related concepts.
Investor
Nik supports different technological startups as an angel investor.
One of the 1st investments was SellanApp[25], the Netherlands-based crowdfunding and crowdsourcing startup for mobile app.
Another one was PitchMe[26], US-based ideation management platform, tool for startups, incubators, and enterprises.
Also he backed 78 projects[27] at Kickstarter to understand their traction in delivering products.
Now Nik is one of the shareholders of Bartini[28], the startup for design and manufacture of eVTOL aerial vehicle.
Advisor
Nik deals with a number of startups as an advisor.
Some of them are:
Baselance[29] is a personal talent storage for studios, agencies and producers.
Crypto BrainTrust Syndicate[30] is a group of cryptospace professionals and founders.
Ergius is an intellectual platform for the legal support of companies.
Keré is a hardware startup of digital Jewellery and content distribution platform.
McFly.aero[6] is the Air Mobility Alliance for the air taxi technologies.
Virtual Metropolis[32] is an interdisciplinary community for discussing the opportunities and risks new technologies bring.
Community builder
Nik created and managed few online communities around different topics of interest.
Bitcoined[9] is the first-ever Facebook group about bitcoin with 5000 members.
CreativeRussia.co[11] is 4000+ members online community for Russian-speaking creative professionals; it is best known for their AMA with designers, technologists and entrepreneurs.
McFly.aero Chapters[33] is 10k+ members community-driven marketplace to make air taxi an everyday thing.
Nik is an admin from Russia at Startup.Chat[34] — the global startup community in Slack.
McFly.Aero
As a creative advisor, Nik helped the McFly.aero Alliance member, Bartini eVTOL designer, to create their brand and online presence, as well as participated in the same kind of advise to the other members to McFly.aero Alliance.
Organized blockchain airdrops at Waves[47] and Ethereum networks to grow the community.
Written series of articles to describe the project at McFly.aero blog[35].
Public speaking & interviews
Held a workshop about making token-based communities[39] at British Higher School of Art and Design.
Was one of organizers of McFly.aero events at Moscow City Museum[40] and High School of Economics, and was a speaker there on the future of flying cars and the emerging city infrastructure to house them.
“Daily use of flying vehicles: from fiction to reality” interview[41] for National Research University Higher School of Economics.
“In 2020, there will be flying cars: who and why creates air taxi in Russia”[42] by Hi-Tech.Mail.ru.
"Will we fly to work and out of town in 2020?"[48] by Strelka Magazine.
Podcasts
In the beginning of 2019 Nik started to make podcasts, but it's done in stealth mode.
Some of them are, in fact, paid consulting gigs that made on demand as podcasts for the private listening of other entrepreneurs.
Personal life
In his spare time Nik likes to read books[38], play Go[37] and write texts. His first text published among a dozen of others during High-School, where he won the "Children about Grandfathers" writing contest for the essay about his ancestors and their life in the difficult military and post-war period of the mid-twentieth century. In 2019 Nik wrote his first Everipedia and Wikipedia articles, and does not intend to stop there.
In childhood Nik was a member of Counter-Strike clan which won the second prize at the local tournament. He also loves to play ping-pong and tennis in which he also earned the 2nd place at the local tournament during schooltime. He tried sambo, kyokushin, qigong and yoga, but never practised more than few months. His favorite sport and leisure is swimming. Nik also likes floating and thinks that such technology should be the required item in every home.
He's a native Muscovite, and happened to become one of the faces on the "People of Moscow"[59] photo-book's cover by Igor Pankov. In 2018 he changed his name from Nikolay Bezhko to Nik McFly. Fun fact is that the meaning of his name stayed the same. That's not only because Nik is the shortened form of Nikolay, but also because one of the most popular etymology theory about "Bezhko" surname with Ukrainian roots is that it's derived from the "bezhat'" verb which means "run" in Russian. The McFly surname was first found in Scotland and means "son of Fly", and one of the meanings of "fly" is "run".
In few years after Nik mined 80 bitcoins and the price is gone to the moon, he discovered that the password to the encrypted disk is incorrect. They are lost forever, but he got a nice story to tell in exchange. Nevertheless, Nik is still a true believer in decentralized future of digital assets.
Nik also likes to travel and visited 25 countries[58], including Sweden and Bulgaria where he was with his High School basketball team, Italy where he proved his education by getting his Stendhal syndrome in front of the "The Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli, Playa del Carmen village in Mexico where he danced techno at The BPM Festival, Montenegro where he got a sea captain's License for a sailing boat, Amazon rainforest in Peru where he tried ayahuasca for 10 times, Jerusalem where he became a Godfather of a friend's daughter in the Christian tradition and many others.
The favorite Nik's hobby is music.
He plays guitar a little bit, but wants to learn a piano.
Meanwhile, he listen to others, just to name a few: 6ix9ine, Burial, Clint Mansell, Devendra Banhart, Everlast, Grimes, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ken Nordine, Little Dragon, Massive Attack, Maya Jane Coles, Moby, Moderat, Radiohead, The Acid, The xx, Unkle, XXXTentacion, Yann Tiersen.