An Interview with Christian Smeltzer, Swade Inc. CEO: ‘We Give the Opportunity to Recycle the Items you no Longer Use’

“We just put your item in a category, so others can find it smoothly when they search our site.”

If you’re one of the many people who barter goods or services without spending a single cent, then the answer to that question is a no-brainer.

In fact, the practice—whose origins date to 9000 B.C., when people traded cattle, sheep or a favorite camel for other necessities in life—has been on the upswing over the past few years.

In light of the above-mentioned scenario, we’re thrilled to present Swade Inc.

Swade is a mobile trading platform where users can swap items for other items. Simply put, it gives your belongings a value and creates a market where that value can be leveraged. It’s free: You can open a world of trading possibilities with this mobile app.

The company was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.

Christian Smeltzer, Swade Inc. CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Why was the company set up?

After years of bartering in person, I recognized that the age-old value and longevity of point to point trading hadn’t been brought to a modern platform. Wanting to bring that service to the Technological Era of information; I focused on growing my business management and financial expertise in order to facilitate such an application. After years of concept fine tuning, me and my team are ready to bring it to fruition.

How successful was your first prototype?

Designing an app that allows users to trade items for items on a virtual stock market takes time; you can’t develop just another fintech application. After numerous studies on the human interaction/interpretation of colors, fonts, system flow and overall efficiency, we settled on designing our own brand genesis. Laterally collaborating with leading UX/UI designers, we developed a look and feel that should please both day traders and homemakers.

What kind of responses have you received from your consumers over the inception of your company? How have they motivated you to shape your offerings/grow the company?

Swade is quite literally the very first company of its kind, so the uptake is a bit slow. Deterrents are lack of advertising cash flow as investors for the service’s full execution are still needed. Regardless, the overall response has been overwhelmingly positive. Genius, user-friendly, original and disruptive are all words we hear on a daily basis. Listening intentionally to the pros and the cons is a foundational building block to why Swade Inc. stands at a competitive advantage – in addition to constructing the soon to be rival of the online retail market. We pride ourselves in being real and listening to the concerns of our customers.

Fostering a culture of feedback is crucial to the success of every organization. How is this true with your company?

Swade is hyperdynamic and relevant. Due to it being a bartering app with blockchain integration, actual market trends on items listed will directly influence a user’s trading strength, if Swade can harness the supply and demand flow correctly. Because users are trading their items like a stock, the real market value on said items will fluctuate – just like a stock. Learning those trends and utilizing their software to translate such metrics to the user will be crucial for Swade to equip participants to grow their net value while learning about investment concepts.

If you have to list five factors that have been/are the biggest asset to your organization, what would they be and why?

Swade Inc. is built on creativity, brand leadership, perspective, humility and intrigue. Without creativity, or leadership – we wouldn’t persist, without perspective or humility, we wouldn’t learn, and without intrigue –we wouldn’t work.

How do you stay relevant to the consumer interests and needs in this highly volatile market?

By catering to a user’s curiosity and desire to make money, Swade and its team harness the very essence of what it takes to remain relevant. We don’t tell people what they want; we find them what they ask for.

Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

Leading the market and like always; learning, adapting and growing.

Christian Smeltzer: A Brief Background

Christian Smeltzer: Smeltzer’s extensive background in the finance and risk management sectors give him poise in business leading decisions and team leadership. His performance and willingness to pursue excellence in business place him at the forefront of the Swade proposition and in the center of 21st Century entrepreneurship.

"Swade is strictly for bartering, there are no sales involved and that means zero transaction costs. Our system allows you to harness the solid-state value of the items you don’t use for a thing you’d love to have. So skip the checkout and simply trade.”