Marc A. Carignan is the Founder of The Bitcoin Tutor and author of the book, The Bitcoin Tutor: Unlocking the Secrets of Bitcoin. Carignan is a past Silicon Valley entrepreneur living in Reno, Nevada. He has participated in several early stage startups, serving as a company executive and later as an executive coach for several companies. Carignan has traveled extensively and done business in 35 countries. His passion for education and his interest in Bitcoin come together perfectly in his new venture, The Bitcoin Tutor.
Carignan participated as an early startup member in several Silicon Valley software, internet and mobile companies. He has built worldwide organizations encompassing engineering, consulting, training, sales and support functions, at companies that include Oracle, Verity, and most notably, Interwoven. Carignan served as an software company executive and as an executive coach to leaders at engineering and technology companies.
Of all the roles that he plays, Carignan considers himself primarily a teacher and a motivator. He takes the hard-to-understand, the technical and the challenging and makes the information easy to comprehend. He then helps people to take the actions that will help them achieve their goals. “I help people make the discoveries in their learning and in their thinking that help them accomplish their goals,” says Carignan.
Back in February 2014, Carignan first started learning about Bitcoin. At that time, it was still quite difficult to get started with bitcoins. He spent many hours trying out different software applications needed to buy bitcoins at that time. He read lots of articles online, most of them very technical and rarely written for anyone except programmers and developers. Simply put, Carignan tried to invest in bitcoins and he did not succeed, at least not at first.
Just sixty days later, Carignan felt compelled to try again after hearing about its increase in value. Bitcoins were now trading for $100, nearly 300% of the price two months earlier. His interest in bitcoins was increasing based on the growing number of articles being published, online sites and local businesses accepting bitcoins and the buzz that was growing worldwide with new exchanges opening in the United States, Russia, China, Japan and throughout Europe. It also got a little easier to buy bitcoins with US Dollars so he gave it another try. This time he succeeded.
Carignan hit many bumps along the road to learning Bitcoin including losing some money when trying to buy bitcoins with cash. He even called the CEO’s of two Bitcoin companies that were involved in his bitcoin transaction to try to solve the problem. It was a bit of a nightmare, though as they say, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
Since that time and with hundreds of hours of effort, Marc Carignan has been able to distill the steps required to help friends get started. He has used his first-hand experience and his efforts helping others to write his first Bitcoin book, The Bitcoin Tutor, and a corresponding website, at thebitcointutor.com.
Carignan provides information, online and in print, in a way that is clear, concise and uniquely geared to non-technical readers. He believes that this information can help people get started and be successful with Bitcoin in the same way that his one-on-one assistance with friends has helped them.
(If you’re wondering how to say his name, it is pronounced in English like “Kerrigan”. French-speaking folks may already know how to say it.)