Web3 w/ Me

Creating Frictionless Experiences with Ryan Jones of Consensys

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

This week's guest is Ryan Jones, Director of Product Management at ConsenSys. Ryan got the web3 bug in November 2021 when he joined ConsenSys the iconic enterprise blockchain company operating Metamask and many other notable web3 brands. In this episode, Ryan talks to Zach about what it takes to scale product teams and how web3 is finally hitting a technological inflection point where mass adoption is inevitable.

Get more from Ryan via his LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanjjones10/

Chapters

00:00 Ryan's Journey and Growing a Product Team: Ryan talks about his background and the experience of growing a product team from 0 to over 200 in multiple countries.

09:41 Working at ConsenSys: Ryan discusses his current work at ConsenSys, a blockchain technology company and parent of MetaMask.

19:21 Decentralized Identity and Digital Wallets: The importance of decentralized identity and the influence of digital wallets on our everyday lives are discussed.

29:21 The Impact of NFTs: Ryan and Zach delve into the potential impact of NFTs when adopted by the masses, including in the realm of consumer interaction.

39:41 Navigating through Chaos: Ryan describes his experience of providing direction and creating order in the dynamic and rapidly-evolving environment of ConsenSys.

49:11 Looking Towards the Future: In the closing stages of the interview, Ryan talks about his vision for the future of Web 3.0, digital wallets, and the crypto space.

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

The Future of Social Connection with Jeff Kauffman Jr.

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Jeff Kauffman Jr., founder of Jump News and Parachute, two brands leading the way in marketing for web3. Jeff has a storied history in the marketing agency world, having worked on many massive brands including Chick-fil-a’s famous cow ads. He has used that experience to build Jump as the premium web3 marketing community for brand marketers, agency professionals, and entrepreneurs who are passionate about the space. We talk about the evolution of web3 and the Jump community, and most excitingly we discuss Jump News 2.0 and the future of content creation in web3.

We Discuss...

Web 3.0 and Connections: Jeff Kauffman suggests that the core of Web 3.0 is about creating deeper connections between people and decentralizing the internet.

The Role of Social Tokens: Social tokens provide a novel way for communities to interact and form connections, offering more significant value representation than traditional likes or follows.

Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Social Graphs: NFTs can create unique social graphs, offering valuable insights to brands and product builders, and fostering personalized experiences for users.

Future of Tech Interaction: The future of how people interact with technology isn't necessarily a replication of existing platforms (like a Twitter clone) but might be a completely new approach leveraging the benefits of blockchain and Web 3.0.

Accelerating the Industry with Jump News: Jeff envisions Jump News as a platform that will push the blockchain and crypto industry forward by attracting thought leaders and contributors who can provide high-level insights.

Impact of AI on Web 3.0: AI technology is accelerating the need for Web 3.0, highlighting the importance of decentralization and personal ownership on the web.

Distinction between AI and Web 3.0: Although often grouped together, AI and Web 3.0 are different. AI can exist without decentralization and user ownership, characteristics that are central to Web 3.0.

Creation of Global Brands: The combination of AI and Web 3.0 technologies could lead to the creation of global brands, some of which might surpass current Fortune 500 companies in size and influence.

Fast-paced Evolution of Brands: In the future, the scale and influence of brands could grow at an unprecedented rate, with top brands being created in a short period, thanks to the advancements in Web 3.0 and AI.

Role of Community in Web 3.0: The future of Web 3.0 lies in the power of the community, with user-centric experiences becoming more important than ever.

The Importance of Thought Leadership in Web 3.0: Jeff emphasizes the need for thought leaders in the blockchain space to accelerate innovation and push the industry forward.

Web 3.0 and Real-World Change: The advancement of Web 3.0 is not just a digital phenomenon, but it also has the potential to create real-world changes, impacting products, services, and global brands.

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Leading the Digital Renaissance

Wed, 24 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Adrian Pocobelli (https://twitter.com/pocobelli ), who has an amazing show on YouTube called Artist Journal where he dives deep into digital art and artists (https://www.youtube.com/@pocobelli ). He also hosts his show as spaces for Rug Radio, the iconic Web3-native media brand. His journey as an artist began on an iPhone 6s on apps he still uses today. In this episode, we dive into the differences between art culture in North America and Berlin, and go on many other tangents inside and outside of web3. Adrian is just the type of person we need in Web3 for it to truly thrive.

We Discuss:

The power of digital tools in expanding artistic capabilities, allowing creators to blend traditional art elements with digital features, resulting in a unique artistic expression.

The challenges of digital art, especially its ephemeral nature and vulnerability to replication.

Adrian's creative process demonstrates a fusion of traditional techniques and digital tools, highlighting the importance of adaptability in a rapidly changing artistic landscape.

Adrian discusses the transformative power of blockchain and NFTs in democratizing art distribution, breaking down barriers for artists and providing new platforms for showcasing their work.

Inspiration, according to Adrian, can come from any corner of life, reinforcing the idea that creativity is not a confined concept but a holistic experience that integrates various life aspects.

The emergence of Web3 has resulted in a more accessible and democratic art scene, changing the way we experience and interact with art, says Adrian.

Adrian's optimistic outlook for the future of digital art underscores his belief in the long-term potential of the digital economy, emphasizing its role in enhancing art's visibility and sustainability.

Adrian describes Web 3 as "youthful and optimistic," emphasizing the positive drive and innovative mindset of those engaged in this new digital landscape.

Chapters

0:00 Adrian’s Background

10:49 Berlin vs North American Art Culture

19:48 Adrian’s Web3 Inflection Point - Finance not Art

26:01 Adrian's Experience with Community and Selling Art

33:00 Art without Borders or Barriers to Entry

41:30 Accessibility and UX in Web3 vs TradFi

46:10 Adrian’s Show, Self-Awareness and Psychedelics

59:55 The Future of Digital Art and Adrian's Role in It

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Charting a New Digital Frontier

Tue, 09 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest this week is Adam Sternbach (https://twitter.com/adamsternbach ), General Counsel of Tessera (https://twitter.com/tessera ). Adam has been on the frontlines of the legal side of web3 since 2021, but has been on a lifelong journey to make things better. After a brief career on the public side, he turned his sites to private practice and the startup world to make a bigger impact. He has one of the most comprehensive understandings of the current state of US regulation, and provides countless examples of how we as a community in web3 can educate lawmakers and others to help provide legitimacy to the space.

We Discuss:

The difference of making an impact on society through the public and private sector

Tessera’s latest release - Escher - providing a single pane of glass for collectors and artists

The future of State vs Federal regulation of digital assets, and why it is important to educate as to the nuances between different uses of the technology

How web3 provides the individual with so much empowerment to make the world a better place and have upside in outcomes of the technology

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Adam and How to Make Things Happen

09:51 Adam’s Web3 Background 2013-Now

17:01 What is Tessera and Escher?

21:40 Education: How to Make an Impact on Policy Makers

32:22 Consumer Protection Outside Regulation

37:00 Tribalism and the Moral High Ground

48:25 Closing Questions - What is Web3? What is the future?

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

The Future of Trust

Tue, 02 May 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest this week is Jacob Robinson (https://twitter.com/JacobRobinsonJD ), host of the Law of Code Podcast (https://www.lawofcode.io/ ) where he talks to the top legal leaders in web3. Additionally, Jacob is an associate attorney at McCarthy Tétrault one of the most prominent law firms in Canada where he helps clients like crypto exchanges navigate the complex regulatory landscape. In these two roles, Jacob hopes to be a leader in stewarding policy forward and helping to legitimize the industry by enabling more effective formations of capital and business structures. If you want an update on how to build a sustainable business in Web3, this is a great episode. DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed by Jacob Robinson in this episode are solely his own and do not constitute legal advice nor the opinion of McCarthy Tetrault.

Key takeaways:

Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) have the potential to change the way businesses are governed and organized, leading to more efficient formations of capital.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency regulations can help legitimize the industry and provide a more secure environment for businesses and users.

Web3 can improve trust, transparency, and efficiency in systems of record and public services, such as property transactions and divorce filings.

Governments and regulators must balance fostering innovation and protecting consumers in the rapidly evolving Web3 landscape.

The adoption of Web3 could lead to a more equitable and customer-centric internet, in which users have more control over their data and experience.

How open conversations and collaborations help overcome regulatory challenges and promote the widespread adoption

Chapters

00:00 Jacob’s Take on Legal Landscape for Blockchain and Crypto

12:31 DAOs and the future of business

21:59 Navigating Regulatory Landscape to Foster Innovation

32:26 Importance of Transparency, Trust, and Efficiency

42:41 Regulation’s Impact on Adoption

52:41 Closing Questions

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Cooperative Economies and Web3

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Simon Yi (https://twitter.com/da0uch ), founder of Myosin.xyz (https://twitter.com/Myosin_xyz ), a global network of marketers building marketing tools that accelerate the direct to community movement. Simon is what we would call an OG. He started as Head of Growth at Consensys Mesh in 2020 where helped grow staple brands like Chainlink and Filecoin. He is the most experienced growth marketer we’ve had on the show. While numbers are a massive part of Simon’s expertise, he doesn’t hesitate to do some deeper philosophical thinking about the unique value offered by blockchain.

We Discuss...

From the very start of the episode, we are talking numbers. Dunbar’s number. What is a healthy percentage of retention and activity in Discord.

Myosin aims to create a reputation system for Web3, offering a new model for creators, brands, and communities to engage with their audiences and stakeholders.

Reputation scores in Myosin are designed to be a combination of on-chain and off-chain factors, rewarding positive behavior and encouraging collaboration within communities.

Tokenized online communities, such as Friend with Benefits (“FWB”) and DAOs, demonstrate the potential of Web3 to change the way people interact, collaborate, and generate value together.

The adoption and growth of Web3 technology will depend on its ability to address real-world problems, such as copyright and attribution for artists and creators.

FWB's partnership with a liquor brand showcases how blockchain and smart contracts can automate revenue sharing, providing a new way for brands to partner to provide unique experiences for communities and automate the terms.

Localized Web3 communities, similar to Facebook groups or neighborhood-based groups, present a significant opportunity for innovation and growth in the space.

Simon, the founder of Myosin, envisions Web3 succeeding through the formation of "network states," which are interest-based communities that transcend geographic borders.

In the next six to twelve months, Myosin aims to mint its first on-chain reputation score, potentially unlocking a new phase of growth for the platform.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Background

03:24 The Idea Behind Myosin

08:42 Web3's Impact on Creators

13:51 Relevance of Reputation Scores

19:03 Onboarding Artists and Creators

25:26 Tokenizing Online Communities

31:07 Web3's Adoption and Growth

37:03 Social Tokens and the Future of Communities

49:51 Brands Leveraging Blockchain Technologies

53:20 Opportunities in Localized Web3 Communities

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Brand Strategy for Collective Networks

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Alexa Lombardo (https://twitter.com/alexa_lombardo ), a seasoned brand strategist who truly embodies the web3-native idea of a contributor. She has her own agency called Atomic No. 8. She is a primary strategy contributor at Gitcoin, one of the oldest brands in Web3, that creates tools to fund what matters. Alexa started her career in corporate strategy at major health and beauty brands including Estee Lauder and Unilever before moving to the brand strategy side. Curious about the difference? Don’t worry we will cover that in the show. After discovering web3 and the ability to bring people together to effectuate a purpose, Alexa has gone deep into what it takes to build a sustainable future for this space. We get a masterclass on building thriving communities and the history of collectives.

We Discuss:

Alexa’s forced inflection point into web3 when iOS changed the default to disable tracking across apps

Community owned brands - everyone is empowered to be a marketer, developer and more

Follow your passions

What is strategy? Brand vs Business Strategy

Either solving problems or building solutions
Don’t build solutions for problems that don’t exist
Don’t continuously looks for problems
Find then balance

Tools trying to bridge the gap NOTE TO SELF TO FIND WEBSITES

Cocreate
Unlock
Playground

What is community management?

Everyone in a community is a community manager
Shilling is WOM marketing but requires deeper meaning than price go up

Collectives have had many names - Unions, Coops, and DAOs - they are all based on basic human psychology

Organic Community Building

Start with a vision
Figure out how to cocreate
Facilitate communication
Set specific steps to build end product/service
Set incentive structures and evolve them over time

Chapters

0:00 Alexa’s Founding Story

6:37 Corporate vs Brand Strategy

21:47 Building thriving communities Pt. 1

31:01 Collective Networks - DAOs, Ecosystem and Humans

45:18 What is Gitcoin? Funding what matters

52:09 Building thriving communities Pt. 2

1:07:16 Closing Questions

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

The Power of Art x Technology

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Mark Soares, CMO and Founder of Blokhaus, marketing agency and product lab built for whats next. Prior to blokhaus, Mark spent 8 years at Nikon. His entire professional career has been an exploration of art and technology through the lens of both engineers and consumers. We discuss the commonalities between cameras and blockchain, the unique way Mark built blokhaus to align incentives with brands, and how to avoid an engagement ponzi. Most exciting about this episode is today Mark is launching a brand new gaming studio Gojira Labs. It will use a unique technology called animatronic NFTs or aNFTs to bring a whole new level of community powered entertainment.

We Discuss...

Engineers have a unique view of the world, inherent;y understand technology

Onboarding and Owning digital assets

Term changes Crypto-Blockchain-Web3

Managing legal rights for images on chain

Commonalities between Cameras and Blockchain - both are keepers of truth, capturing a single moment in time

How Blokhaus is Aligning Agency Incentives with Brands Needs

Skip the fluff

Ignore the marketer’s dilemma

Empower people

Avoiding Engagement Ponzis - link to article

Launch of Gojira Labs to bring utility and entertainment to the most popular PFP collections using a proprietary technology called the Animatronic NFT or aNFT. This results is community-powered entertainment

Why art and corporate adoption are BOTH essential to success of a blockchain, through Tezos $XTZ

Chapters

0:00 Mark’s Founding Story

3:37 Engineers vs Consumer Mindset

6:54 Cameras + Blockchain = Truth

18:52 Blokhaus Founding Story and Core Principles

29:59 Guide to Web3 inside Brands

39:11 LAUNCH of Gojira Labs

51:13 Tezos (XTZ) Blockchain’s Unique Position

57:44 Closing Questions

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Loyalty: A Long Term Game

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 04:00:00 -0400

My guest this week is Chris Miller (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-miller-b105b848/ ), CRO and CoFounder of Flaunt.xyz (https://www.linkedin.com/company/flaunt-nft/ ). Chris started from humble beginnings in small-town Indiana, and was inspired by Mad Men and a best friend to move to New York. After 7 years in media and partnerships, Chris and that best friend Connor started what would eventually become Flaunt.xyz, an enterprise loyalty management platform that serves as a single entry point into web3 for brands. We get a behind-the-scenes look at the formation of Flaunt, and the ever-evolving pain points Flaunt solves for its customers using web3 technology. Most of all we hone in on the fact that web3 is not a one-and-done, it is a long term play and can create long term value if executed correctly.

We discuss...

Chris’ big realization that brands were not taking a longterm approach to Web3, not even ROI

The power of collectives to make decisions with real money, and how LinksDAO was Chris’ first introduction to the power of community activation

The biggest problems facing companies trying to enter Web3:

Limited knowledge of Web3 terminology and technology
Embracing unique characteristics like tradeability
How to build and foster a community

How web3 is really the convergence of digital and physical worlds, and that is not limited to blockchain

Why web3’s success may lead to changing the name of the show

Chapters

Chapters

0:00 Chris’ Founding Story

4:17 ROI - Building Block for Flaunt.xyz

9:51 Chris’ Web3 Inflection Point

17:51 JUMP Community’s Impact

20:36 What is Flaunt.xyz and what problems are they solving?

30:06- Infrastructure for Web3 Strategies

40:55 Biggest problems for proliferating Web3

50:41 Closing Questions

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Freedom to Choose = Better World

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 08:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Dan Romero (https://twitter.com/dwr ), CEO and Cofounder of Farcaster (https://twitter.com/farcaster_xyz ), a decentralized social media protocol. Dan was an early employee in 2014 at Coinbase where he lead business development that laid the groundwork for Coinbases fiat rails. He started Farcaster after becoming obsessed with the idea that RSS, the protocol upon which this show and all other podcasts are broadcasted, could be used to compete with twitter. We go deep on how better thinking can result from creating a permissionless protocol that is optimizing feed algorithms for quality of conversation. Also we discuss Dan’s contrarian take on why filter bubbles are actually a good thing. One of the core beliefs for myself and this show is that if we facilitate open and honest discourse it will lead to better decisions and therefore better outcomes for the entire world. After speaking with Dan, I can see how the success of Farcaster could contribute directly to this.

We Discuss:

Read the Bitcoin Whitepaper (https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf ) and you will begin to wonder what could be possible

A journey at Coinbase that started with banks - direct access to payment rails requires the customer of the bank to sell the bank

Taking 1.5 year sabbatical to learn and landing on RSS with now cofounder Varun

What can you do with RSS to make it competitive with Twitter?

Startup vs Scaled Company - selling your product versus selling yourself

The most underrated thing in Silicon Valley - SALES

Taking Paul Graham’s advice on doing things that won’t scale by onboarding the first 400 users himself over zoom then DM to get invite

Stated vs Revealed Preferences as a tactic to build new technology

Twitter’s time algorithm vs Farcaster’s conversation algorithm

Filter Bubbles are OK if done in public

https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service

Empowering editorial freedom of choice - nightly news versus newspapers

Chapters

0:00 Dan Romero’s Founding Story

8:17 Startup vs Scaled Companies

16:24 Farcaster 0 to 10,000 to 100,000 Users

27:03 Encouraging High Quality Conversations

40:04 Moderating Extremes

51:52 Subcultures: Choice as an Identity

59:31 Closing Questions

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Pursuit of Justice: On & Off Chain

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Mike Kanovitz (https://twitter.com/mikekanovitz ), Founder of Jurat (https://twitter.com/JuratNetwork ) a startup with an ambitious goal of bringing legal rights to web3 by connecting courts to the blockchain. Mike is a founding partner at Loevy & Loevy (https://twitter.com/LoevyAndLoevy ), one of the most prominent civil rights litigation firms in the US. After practicing civil rights for 20+ years he had his first crypto consumer protection case, which soon led to the discovery that the world of web3 aligned with the values he was already seeking to enforce. Now he is building a solution to make it possible.

We discuss:

The way courts can provide protection and preserve decentralization, cryptographic security and anonymity

What will it take for Jurat to help web3 become the backbone of commerce?

Adoption turns into regular use - settling tx with Jurat
Make smart contracts enforceable by connecting ot court system

Suit filed by Jurat to enforce OFAC sanctions on BTC

The use cases for a better global commerce system if law can be enforced on chain

Jurat’s Business Model (https://jurat.io/whitepaper/ ):

Bespoke blockchains with their own tokens - P2P trading through Zabbo (a Jurat app)
Licensing to other blockchains
Commercially viable, legally enforceable smart contracts with arbitration support (Arbit3)

Chapters

2:05 Mike’s Founding Story

4:16 Jurat’s Founding Story

6:46 Legal Protections w/o Sacrificing Blockchain Value

16:24 How to Help Web3 become the Backbone of Commerce

37:07 A world where blockchain and laws coexist

50:36 Jurat’s Business Model

54:06 Closing Questions

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Finding Balance: Growth, Autonomy & Security

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Justin Daniels (https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinsdaniels/ ), Head of the Digital Assets Group at Baker Donelson Law Firm. Justin has made a name for himself by spending 20+ years in cybersecurity. He has written a New York Times Best Seller with his wife, Jodi, called Data Reimagined (https://www.amazon.com/Data-Reimagined-Building-Trust-Byte-ebook/dp/B0BDVQ97YQ ) and hosts a podcast called She Said Privacy, He Said Security (https://open.spotify.com/show/5q8B2oYUPajIvmvZiLa4K4 ). We get a comprehensive overview of the current regulatory landscape for blockchain, cybersecurity and privacy. We discuss the competing interests and values of companies, individuals and the state when it comes to security and privacy.

We Discuss:

Cybersecurity as the BIGGEST impediment to mass adoption

Web3’s security problems are no bigger than anywhere else

SEC says hold my beer Web3, everything is a security

Why Justin thinks we need to press the pain to find the use cases

Should brand messaging include safety?

Role of AI and how it affects safety - https://stanforddaily.com/2023/01/22/scores-of-stanford-students-used-chatgpt-on-final-exams-survey-suggests/

Lessons from Axie Infinity Hack

Worshiping convenience and growth can come back to bite you
Security as a design feature

Autonomy’s role in different regulatory regimes, and how much is too much?

Chapters

00:21 Justin’s Cybersecurity and Blockchain Background

4:21 Cybersecurity’s Importance to Our Digital Future

14:29 SEC: Everything’s a Security

18:34 Web3 Use Cases that Work

23:34 Companies Putting Safety First (0)

27:36 Autonomy & AI

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Always Surprise & Delight

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Liz Morrison (https://twitter.com/thelizmorrison ), co-founder of Your Web3 Besties (https://twitter.com/YourWeb3Besties ) media brand. Liz has built amazing expertise in marketing and partnerships over 7+ years. She provides an amazing platform for women and everyone in Web3 on her weekly spaces with Becky Wowo called Girls Night in Web3. We get a masterclass in navigating the various parts of Twitter, how to build the best partnerships and a reminder on why Web3 is so powerful for building lifetime connections.

We discuss:

Twitter’s Subcultures

- Marketing Twitter

- FinTwit/MoneyTwit

- Web3 Twitter

Web3 vs. Web2 Marketing

- Things that have NOT changed - you must understand your customer completely

- Things that HAVE changed - community is in direct communication, you must listen

Ingredients for an Amazing Partnership

- Be strategic about how you spend your time, tiering your partners

- Empathize with your partner

- Be intentional about a go-to-market strategy

- Partnerships are forever, not transactional

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Web3 Kittens NOT Cats

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Gary Coover (https://twitter.com/c00v ), COO of Superlayer (https://twitter.com/superlayerio ). Gary started his career as a consultant before going to get his MBA and cofounding a D2C startup. Eventually he ended up in Korea at Samsung, tasked with building out Samsung’s innovation arm called Samsung X. After helping scale that for 8 years, he was bitten by the Web3 bug when he noticed the momentum it was gaining. He joined Kevin Chu and Mahesh Vellanki as COO at Superlayer, a venture studio dedicated to Web3 startups. We discuss many of Gary’s learnings from Fortune 100 to startup venture studio, including the difference between cats and kittens and the importance of having a strong shit umbrella.

We discuss:

How do you build out a venture/innovation arm at a tech behemoth?

Spoiler Alert: mostly takes thick skin and good relationships

Venture Studio vs Incubator/Accelerator vs Venture Capital

2x2 of Funds Deployed and Value Provided
Tradeoffs is ownership as you move between models

Web3 as 2 different businesses

1. Product

2. Tokenomics

What does a healthy community look like?

- Aligning incentives in a way that benefits the collective over the individual

- Creating lasting partnerships

The future of Web3 as an industry. Is it more of a building block?

Chapters:

0:00 Gary’s Founding Story

7:52 Creating Samsung X, An Innovation Arm

13:09 Venture Studio vs Accelerator vs Venture Capital

16:49 Why Superlayer? Business + Tokenomics

34:41 Future of Community and NFTs

46:36 Is Web3 a building block or an industry?

56:34 Closing Questions

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Red Pill for Web3 w/ Diego Borgo

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Diego Borgo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/diegoborgo/ ), Strategic Advisor to F500 brands on how to enter the Metaverse and Web3. Diego’s lifetime personal brand is clear: one, he is an outsider, having moved 35 times in 33 years; two he is always looking at things differently, and challenging the status quo; and three he aspires to build personal freedom, which goes beyond money, as it is about the freedom to do what he wants when he wants. His career in marketing started at 16 in 2007, where he helped brands like Samsung, Warner Bros and Microsoft understand the world of eSports. He then took those learnings to the client side at Adidas which is where he was introduced to web3. Most recently he has advised brands like Porsche, Salesforce and Shell on web3 strategies. He has a masterclass on bringing brands into the space, and it shows because his thinking is so clear on how to approach legacy brands and introduce web3.

We Discuss:

Why NFTs were the first unlock because he saw the technology as Brand plus Culture.

Why he always advises to follow your natural inclinations, do what feels natural, what feels almost like a magnet - if things are boring then switch it up.

Why echo chambers and group-think always need added perspective. In web3 we only talk about web3 so it can seem like a lot of the same thoughts, but if you go outside to random people they have no idea

How to bring web3 to F500 brands - reverse engineer the WHY by asking 2 questions:

(1)How do you think this will impact your business?

(2)How should we go about doing that?

The answer to these questions comes down to who is your target audience?

Is it a current customer base (non-Web3) or new audience (Web3)?

Porsche and Adidas wanted the Web3 natives, the degens

Shell wants to use NFTs for energy provenance or energy sharing

How do you know where to start with the audience?

-What is your brand strategy? Where do you want to be in 5-10 years?

-Where are you coming in as a consultant? Do they already have a team or are they in the education phase?

Reverse engineering your WHY, is your brand strategy, it is where you want to be in 5-10 years

-This is the ultimate question to determine what web3 strategy to use because if it is not consistent with brand strategy then it is bullshit

-If it does align with brand strategy then we look at the business side, the feasibility, what are some realistic impacts on the business - SPOILER ALERT - it is not always generating more revenue, there are other impacts it could have like loyalty, or CX

When should you not work with a company on web3 strategy?

-When the brand strategy does not align with the business case in a way that is realistic and consistent with web3 values

Current trends are look to current strategies like loyalty and membership, and using web3 as a way to make them stronger in the long run

Building belief inside an org

(1) Learn as a collective: (a) Create a way for the team to interact - POAP for a meeting; (b) Create a way for the team to see their customers interact - POAP for an event

(2) Look at the data: (a) what does their intent data (wallet data) say, how can we adjust strategy based on that data

What happens to the experience for a person as a consumer and as an employee when all of their interactions across websites and IRL are connected by a digital wallet?

Why brand is culture and culture is brand, and what happens when technology intersects that is when there will be a revolution

Three Levels of Partnerships

(1)Project-based - PFPs, Communities or Artists - align values

(2)Technology - how web3 partner is solving a problem that is relevant to F500, that they can’t solve themselves

(3)People - who are the people that real in Web3?

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

W3 Studio Launch w/ Founder Brian Zwerner

Fri, 27 Jan 2023 10:00:00 -0400

Welcome to a special episode with previous guest, Brian Zwerner (https://twitter.com/BrianZwerner ), and relevant to this episode is his nonprofit venture studio aimed at help diverse founders called W3 Studiio (https://twitter.com/w3studioatl ). For more on Brian’s work outside of W3 Studio check out Episode 18: Web3 COnsumer and Entertainment Investing (https://youtu.be/NOL_Gn6RQyI ).

We go deep on the personal and professional motivations driving the founding of W3 Studio, for both Brian and myself as a strategic advisor. One of those reasons is the amazing environment for diverse tech talent here in Atlanta. Hope you enjoy the episode and please reach out if you have any questions.

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Investing in Mega Trends

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Sean Judge (https://twitter.com/seanjudgeciv ), general partner at Castle Island Ventures (https://twitter.com/CastleIslandVC ). Sean has been investing since he started working in 2011. He was fortunate to take a wide lens approach early on in his career and narrowed over time until he ultimately landed in the Web3 early stage venture space. He is partnered with some amazing minds as Castle Island, and aspires to build a generational VC firm. He takes us through the mega trends they invest in and why the future for this space is bright.

First receiving ICO offers at Highland Capital Partners from companies started by major talent but no revenue and a white paper to meeting Matt Walsh while he was at Fidelity and putting a personal check in Castle Island

We Discuss...

2023 Outlook

-Proof of Reserves with Exchanges

-Stablecoins

-From 555 Seed and Series A deals in 2019-20 to 1400 in 2022

-People are still leaving comfortable full-time jobs because of the promise of Web3

How to Survive a Bear

-Seed or Series A check to last closer to 36 month rather than 18

-Plan for the best (rebound mid-2023), Prepare for the worst (2-2.5 yr bear)

-Big consumer brands are still moving forward so lean into Sales and Marketing

-If your audience are crypto-native then focus on making your product as sticky as possible

Pick and Shovels Business following 3 megatrends:

Monetary Networks - custodians, data analytics, compliance software
DeFi - decentralized focus on all aspects of traditional finance
Consumer/Web3 - sovereignty over data

Chapters:

00:00-10:50 Founding Story

10:50-14:19 Outlook for the Space in 2023

14:20-19:37 VC advice to Survive a Bear Market

19:38-24:30 Role of Decentralization in Web3 Startups and Investing

24:31-29:36 Crypto-Native Portfolio Breakdown and Outlook

29:37-44:20 What is the Future of DeFi and Enterprise Blockchain?

44:21-51:40 Consumer Side of Web3 in 2023

51:41-57:26 Closing Questions

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

A Web3 Reality Check w/ Ian Andrews, CMO Chainalysis

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Ian Andrews (https://twitter.com/IanAndrewsDC), Chief Marketing Officer at Chainalysis (https://twitter.com/chainalysis). As CMO of Chainalysis he is helping scale the company to enable governments and financial organizations to safely adopt cryptocurrency. He is also the host of the Public Key podcast, where he sits down with thought leaders in the space to discuss:

▪Emerging risks and opportunities in blockchain technology

▪How policymakers around the world are approaching cryptoregulations

▪Data-driven insights into the latest trends in crypto economics and crime.

▪Breaking news in the crypto market

Previous to Chainalysis, he ran marketing at Tanzu, the modern apps portfolio at VMware. Before that he was CMO at Pivotal from launch in 2013 to IPO in 2018 to acquisition by VMware in 2019 for $2.7 Billion. Ian is one of my most accomplished guests, and more importantly communicates so clearly the current state of the Web3 ecosystem and where we need to go to move it forward.

We Discuss...

Ian’s first role in tech in 2000 as the dotcom bubble burst
Why Ian thinks we are all in marketing (hint: life is about driving narratives)
Why Crypto/Web3 must evolve to be a combination of the original vision and its practical use cases
Tracers in the Dark, Andy Greenberg - https://www.amazon.com/Tracers-Dark-Global-Crime-Cryptocurrency/dp/0385548095
We are entering an era of what blockchain technology can DO, not what it IS
To get there requires dual-face (redundancy of onchain and offchain activity)
The reality of incrementalism in technology, about 50% of compute is still not run on cloud
Public Opinion of Criminal Activity in Web3 vs Reality
The Reality of Autonomy and Personal Agency - Usability and Convenience Wins
That doesn’t mean companies get to only worry about UX here
Web3 is as much about making better use of our identity as it is about ownership
The regulatory environment and why we need to embrace it, not fight it

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Bridging the Marketing Gap between Web2 and Web3

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Diana Richter (https://twitter.com/dianarichterh), Head of Marketing and Brand at ConsenSys Mesh (https://twitter.com/consensysmesh), the original organization created to proliferate ETH and the broader blockchain ecosystem. Diana takes us through her 15 year career as a marketer, and the experiences building partnerships and communities that landed her in Web3. We get a masterclass on the current state of Web3 marketing, and the importance of the balance between maxi’s and mass adoption.

We Discuss...

The building blocks that lead Diana to be a successful head of marketing in Web3

Understanding use cases for countries outside US
partnerships, partnerships, partnerships starting at William Morris
Understanding consumers through venture backed D2C brands

3 Goals for Partnerships

Credibility and Trust
Adoption and Customer Acquisition
Revenue

Diana’s Favorite NFT Brands

Artblocks
Doodles

From art history major to consulting on an NFT project for Mesh

Why ConsensysMesh and why Web3?

No more physical product
Exhausted by VC expectations diluting brands because of emphasis on top line growth
Wanted to promote awareness and education, without geographic borders
Intellectual stimulation and expansion required
Extending beyond Weekly or Daily Revenue Metrics
Consulting gig as dating, to get to know each other
Mesh was a place surrounded by buildooors

Current State Web3 Marketing

Overarching theme is immaturity
From a complete lack of knowledge on how to work with marketing team to how to set a marketing budget to team structure
Time + Resources + Effort = Goals of Company?
Performance Marketing (Growth) vs. Brand Marketing (Partnerships + Community)
Tunnel vision creating too much brand similarity
Events+Content OVER Partnerships

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Crypto-native Investing w/ Ash Egan of Archetype

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Ash Egan (https://twitter.com/AshAEgan), founder of Archetype (https://twitter.com/archetypevc). He is a true crypto-native investor, having led early investments in Chainalysis, Near, and Balancer. He also led Accomplice's investments in Dapper Labs/Flow, and Bison Trails, which was acquired by Coinbase. We get a clear glimpse into the shift in investing in the space, from FOMO-fueled investing during the bull market to taking the longterm view in our current bear market. We also take a deep dive into how web3 is shaking up the music industry.

We Discuss...

A framework for Tokens vs Equity:

Highly regulated, core, infrastructure = equity
Highly decentralized, network, collective, protocols = tokens
Where does value accrue?

The difficulties of decentralizing at the outset

Hard to get anything accomplished
Hard to stick to a singular vision
Only true decentralization has occurred over years with ETH and BTC

Top-down investing vs. Grass-roots initiatives

Finding optionality for core needs
Understanding problem sets from first principles
Familiar UX

What is the Impact of Web3?

Removing gatekeepers
Self-custody assets
Lending/Borrowing
Openness, transparency, and programmability

The future of music in Web3

Streamlining of the various offerings from record labels
Curation becomes a professions to compete with added discoverability
We make our own Top 40 that we own

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

SuperWorld: Enhancing People’s Lives with Technology

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Hrish Lotlikar (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrishlotlikar/), CEO and Founder of Superworld. His career has spanned Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Hollywood all as a true digital nomad. As Co-Founder & CEO of SuperWorld (https://www.linkedin.com/company/superworldapp/), he connects communities, brands and influencers that would like to create, discover, monetize and own their virtual world. As Co-Founder of The Rogue Initiative, he connects those who are interested in VR/AR, Feature Film, TV, Gaming content creation, publishing, distribution and investment. He also does early stage venture investing globally to find new disruptive web and mobile startups.

We discuss...

Studying medicine, management consulting and investment banking in RE, VC, operator at Top tau, Production Company (Rogue Initiative)

What does the mainstream understand that will help them conceptualize a virtual world on Web3 rails?

How will Superworld grow?

Organic first - NFTs in 2018
Mainstream interest early
Web and Mobile App - be where the customers are
Partnerships

What is the metaverse?

Matthew Ball’s Book - https://www.matthewball.vc/metaversebook
Tony Parisi’s 7 Rules - https://medium.com/meta-verses/the-seven-rules-of-the-metaverse-7d4e06fa864c
Meeting of physical and digital

Power of Partnerships - Hurricane Relief to Super Yachts

aligning brand business models to achieve better outcome for customers
B2B - Brands buy virtual RE in Superworld, then they partner to build it out and use it
Abstract away technology
Make a positive impact on the world

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Launchpad for a Better World with Blockchain

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Marlon Williams (https://twitter.com/marlonwilliams), founder of Atlanta Blockchain Center (https://www.linkedin.com/company/atlantachain/). Marlon is a serial entrepreneur, starting and selling his first business at 25. He currently operates 4 different successful businesses. His company Starter Labs has helped raise over $45million for blockchain startups, and is the parent company for Atlanta Blockchain Center. We also get the tea on Immutable, the conference that will put Atlanta on the map. This episode is a powerful one because Marlon’s mission of making Atlanta a blockchain hub is near and dear to my heart and he and his team have supported the growth of this show tremendously.

We discuss...

Marlon’s humble beginnings feeding his drive

Why he became addicted to programming

Find the right mix of sales and engineering skills and anything is possible

The hustle, moonlighting his business then moonlighting bitcoin

How Marlon helped one of his early employees to pay for college through bitcoin mining

First crypto business - replacing incentive structure in call center business

Marlon’s first blockchain developed was a DAO before DAOs

100 contributors from the start
Organized into working groups
Co-chairs to set the vision
Using telegram to communicate

Starter Labs

Autonomous funding mechanism
Built on binance smart chain
EVM projects
Ranked #1 for ROI on Cryptograph

Journey to Atlanta Blockchain Center

Logical extension of launchpads already building
The city was ripe for building fintech companies
Lack of cohesive blockchain community
It’s a slow burn

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Changing the Content Game @AvaLabsOfficial

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Avery Bartlett (https://twitter.com/avedarave_), who handles short-form videos for socials at Avalanche aka AvaLabs (https://twitter.com/avalabsofficial). Avery has accumulated over 30m views across all social channels and has grown an account with over 100k followers. Avery has a unique background, working as a software engineer at The Home Depot after an illustrious running career where he was 3x State Champ in Florida, 5x All-American at Georgia Tech and a professional runner. If you want to learn how to reinvent yourself to be the best in whatever you do, you will love this episode.

We Discuss:

Avery’s first attempt at being marketable because it boosted his ability to go pro as a runner

Identifying early social media when demand exceeds supply - Tik Tok in 2019

Athlete identity crisis, what happens after sports?

Be grateful for what you had
Go back to freshman year and climb a new mountain

Mental Model from Computer Science - Randomized Hill-climbing Algo

How do you get over your fear of failure?

Spoiler Alert you have to fail a lot
Prioritizing process over result
Removing emotions from results
Experiential learning, learning how to fail

Key to Web3 Content

Be cool
Be fun
Be simplistic
Be iterative

Avalanche and the Blockchain Trilemma

Decentralization and Scalability - Subnets, the real difference maker
Scalability and Speed - gossip consensus

What is the future of the blockchain?

40% of all transactions on chain
Currently we are around 1%

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Best Way to Build for 7 Generations

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 10:00:00 -0400

Today my guest is Greg Johnson. Greg is the co-founder of Rubicon Crypto, an investment solutions focused company that focuses on taking a pragmatic approach for individual investors, RIAs and institutions that are "crossing the digital divide." Greg's background as an executive at places like American Express Ameriprise Financial, gives him a perspective from the world of high level traditional financial services that is so unique and insightful, making this a can't miss episode!

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Adoption Starts with Education: Empowerment and Inclusivity

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 10:00:00 -0400

My guests today are Chris Powell (https://twitter.com/LeftyChris13) and David Edwards (https://twitter.com/CriticalComp_D). Chris is an educator who has taught classes on topics such as Blockchain, Crypto, Nodes, and NFTs. Chris has a strong background in technology with his Bachelors in Physics, and is certified in Blockdegree as a Blockchain Advanced Expert. When he's not teaching, he's working for GoPlugin, a decentralized oracle based company, as a Community Contributor. David Edwards brings experience in coaching and consulting on blockchain and crypto for almost 3 years. David is passionate about teaching people about this technology and how people can take advantage while we are still early. In addition to Cryto Ed Courses, he is the founder of criticalcomplex.com.

We discuss:

David’s journey started with trading stocks, but his ultimate goal was seeking freedom
Chris’ journey started as a curious physics student whose curiosity sparked interest in blockchain
Both started as educators for discord communities
Leveraging social capital to grow demand for courses
Taking a concierge level approach
Blockchain empowering the next generation of creators
Inclusivity + Empowerment = Global Scale
It is about educating others how you want to be educating - the Golden Rule of Web3

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Key to Web3’s Future: Look Backwards

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Giuseppe Stuto (https://twitter.com/gstuto), who is the first repeat guest on Web3 w/ Me. He is the first US-born member of his family who was from Italy. He is a deep technical thinker who does a great job of using analogies to explain his outlook on investing in Web3. He founded his first company fresh out of college, and sold it to DraftKings a few years later. Giuseppe started angel investing while at DraftKings, and ultimately partnered up to form 186ventures. He plays on his unique technical experience as a founder to help provide a value add to his portfolio companies. We go deep on the potential for Web3 infrastructure and developer tools.

Show Notes:

🚨FIRST REPEAT GUEST🚨

Current State of Web3 Investment

- Hypothesis: slow down of crypto native capital allocators

- 6-9 months ago, capital flowing into consumer brands and creator teams

- Shifting bc of missing infrastructure needed to enable better UX

- Corporate Sponsors - still very active, but know their role

- Is there enough opps to fund?

- Founder focus - build > growth

- Funding Experimentation vs. Catalyzing Growth

- Web3 perception problem is rooted in Web3 ego:

- Too much focus on novel terminology

- Too much focus on solving problems in a novel way

- Companies are companies and they solve the same problems

- Teams and responsibilities are the same

- Meetings with investors are still about marketing, sales, operations, etc.

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Building a Community for a Billion People w/ @Zeneca_33

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 05:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Zeneca (https://mobile.twitter.com/Zeneca_33). He is a web3 and NFT investor, advisor, content creator, and project founder. He writes a Newsletter on NFTs, host two podcasts, run a YouTube channel, and has ~300k followers on twitter. Zeneca manages two NFT communities: all with a focus on creating educational content to help people learn about this wild world of web3.

We discuss:

Zeneca’s Evolution to ZenAcademy

Pre-NFTs

Professional Poker Player and Poker/Travel Blogger

Healthy Dissociation to Money (a balance between caring and not caring) - If you care too much, everytime you make a bet you think about what else you could be buying. If you don’t care enough then you blow your bankroll too quickly
Fostering a lifelong practice of writing because it requires him to think analytically (research, write, explain to others)

NFTs

Initially completely skeptical
Started simple on content - floor price updates
Response to content is that he is providing utility, moreso than trading NFTs
It gave him energy, rewarding and fulfilling

ZenAcademy 1.0

Looking at ways to monetize content in a truely Web3 way so he launched an NFT community
Currently: Zen Academy Membership through Membership Token or 333 Club which is for founders, builders and others who want advice on their project

Insights from Membership Pass and 333

there is a wide disparity in talent and knowledge between people so how do you make a community valuable to people from every level
Social Identity - PFP - community have been demanding one to show their love

ZenAcademy 2.0

Middle layer of PFP
Target Audience for PFP: people who are a little bit deeper, more risk tolerant, degens, developers, in the space
ZenAcademy (free) NFT - students who want to learn the industry and NFTs who will get a soulbound NFT as their first NFT - sole goal is to onboard to millions to NFTs

ZenAcademy 2.5

Future of Monetization if No Royalties
Content
Consulting
Incubator programs

Insight about Community:

Any two people that are part of community, have similar values and ethos
Understanding that the dynamics of virtual location, shows even more intent on where time is spent
Almost everyone is underestimating the rate of change over the coming
Zeneca’s Why: He and Zen Academy are in a unique position to achieve scaled community goals that will do good in the world
It is of primary importance to build a self sustaining community. One that can live on beyond the founder

ZenAcademy 3.0 - 1 billion+ people

How do we onboard billions of users? https://zeneca33.substack.com/p/how-we-onboard-billions-to-web3

Education - new technology interactions in a safe way, how do we make it like email?
Infrastructure - abstract away technology, make it frictionless - take us from dial up to fiber
Mentality (Perception) Shift - early adopters are tech or finance minds, which most of the world is not - marketing mainly consists ways to make money, not everyone wants to commercial

Where does Zen Academy fall?

Education and Mentality first
Infrastructure possibly in the future

Which companies embody the characteristics necessary to go mainstream?

Reddit - 3,000,000 wallets with a conservative estimate of tens of thousands of new users; educated them through content; infrastructure was easy, buy with a credit card; mentality shift was positioning was not about making money but rather about identity and avatars which reddit community is familiar with
Starbucks (future) - 25,000,000 loyalty rewards members, outcome not yet here
If a small percentage of Reddit and Starbucks users decide to dig deeper, what does that mean for the NFT community?

Flywheel of Ownership and Identity

Advice to Startup Founders

Product-Market Fit

Know your Why

Find one thing to do really well and focus on it

Role of Data

ZenAcademy not yet leveraging but will start with emails
The tools are not there yet
Customizability of experience is not yet present because of a lack of use of data

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

State of Web3 Marketing: Brand = Community

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 11:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Brennen Schlueter(https://twitter.com/brennenschlu). Brennen has spent a decade building brands at the intersection of innovation and culture including Jordan, Robinhood, Amazon Music, and most recently was Head of Marketing at web3 company RabbitHole. He co-founded web3 marketing community JUMP (https://twitter.com/jumperstweeting). After a decade of investing in crypto, he’s excited to see the expansion of the technology to bring in the next generation of crypto users via web3 brands.

Show Notes:

Brennen’s Core Philosophy and Role

2 people - Company & Audience
Between Company and Audience is:

Empathy
Curiosity
Courage

Brand definition

Not the product or company
Its relationship they are built between a community and the product or services offered

Brennen’s role as marketer

In-house audience advocate
Intersection of brand and tech and culture

What is the evolution of marketing? - How did we get here?

Shouting AT you
Becomes a conversation
Now, a complete blur of the line between brand and community, ownership of a brand by its community

What is the current state of Web3 Marketing?

Hype and financialization
Not a lot of great businesses…yet.
Great ideas, theories and experiences
UX and Comms - reminiscent of internet in early Web2
Brands starting to listen - the Web3 community is incentivized to shout (write twitter threads) about why they love a brand

What is the future of Web3 marketing?

Communication - progressive decentralization
Data - Avoid top-of-funnel, bc on-chain data is pure conversion data
Empathy - embrace the Web3 perception problem in campaigns like Brennen did here https://thedefiant.io/airdrops-data-dive and https://twitter.com/brennenschlu/status/1575605593724682240?s=20&t=Q0JCeMo8z1lv0YHjPBdCRw
MarTech - complete reboot to accommodate new community/brand dynamic
Perception - abstract away blame on the underlying technology for core societal issues
Internal - Mktg and brand face massive restructure
Diligence - stress test this technology against all of our human anxieties

What are some Web3 brands to watch?

Rainbow - beautiful design
Doodles - here to make the world smile
Bankless - full control of finances without traditional finance involvement
Others from brennen - https://twitter.com/brennenschlu/status/1584249429862731776?s=20&t=Q0JCeMo8z1lv0YHjPBdCRw

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Bridging Automotive Experiences w/ Web3

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 09:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Keith Wilson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kowilson1/). Keith is the founder and CEO of Klearcoat Labs, a Web3 company that empowers automotive brands to bring their legendary IP to life through non-fungible tokens. A veteran executive in the automotive industry, Keith is leveraging his decade of experience to build a bridge between the auto industry and the Web3 community.

Show Notes:

What lessons can you take from a f500 to a DAO to help move the needle?

Internal relationship management - speaking the language of various teams, meeting them where they are
Data - competitive benchmarking, traditional sales data, profit/loss data, and customer data
Go-to-market - marketing that only highlights the new feature, comparisons to other similar features across the market

How do you bridge the gap between traditional automotive companies and Web3?

Onboarding - giving purchasers of cars the option to go and personalize a digital version
Expansion of digital use cases - building a digital car from scratch and playing with it
Integration with traditional use cases - priority for service appointments
Using IRL touchpoints - car companies are everywhere, like stadiums, let the digital vehicle provide a unique experience
Collaboration w/ Non-Automotive Brands

Launching a Consumer Strategy in Midst of Bear Market

Utility - not just a jpeg, partnerships
Price - reasonable to macroenvironment
Blockchain Selection - consumer friendly, previous partnerships
Leveraging Concept Vehicle - they can’t build IRL, but they can build digital

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Flow Flywheel for the Mainstream

Sun, 16 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Brandon Martinez (https://mobile.twitter.com/proudlywashed). He is a veteran entrepreneur having previously founded music startup INDMUSIC, most known for working behind the scenes of the 2013 viral meme, “Harlem Shake.” Martinez sold that business to Live Nation in 2016 and went on to run their YouTube business for the next three years. Martinez participated in Snapchat's Yellow accelerator, Transparent Collective, First Round Fast Track, On Deck Founder Fellowship, and is a member of Friends with Benefits.

He is currently building SNKRHUD (https://mobile.twitter.com/snkrhud), an NFT-based playground for sneakerheads and their kicks, and FlowScore (https://mobile.twitter.com/flowscorenft), a Ranking & Token-Based Rewards Platform for the best projects on the Flow Blockchain.

Show Notes & Topics:

Scientific approach for building your personal brand or business
Do your own research - you need to find the opportunity you want to spend your time on Create a hypothesis - find a person or company who has achieved the result you want then breakdown the path it took for someone to get there
Experiment with the right audience - be simplistic and clear in your presentation; think of it as a series of 1 act plays because reactions will vary
Iterate - be open-minded; no two paths are exactly the same so be flexible and dynamic in your narrative and thinking to account for context
How do you bring your brand into Web3?
Understand the community, and all of the different ways they interact with their common interest - for sneakerheads this was understanding the whales ability to buy a collection on Sotheby’s for millions all the way to the individual who only buys fractional interests in top end pairs of sneakers
Look for shifts in the culture and identity of a community - collectors in NFT world reflect same behavior of new sneakerheads
Grassroots, authentic WOM marketing based on your own identity - Brandon was everywhere, AMA, pods, sharing collection
Education - bridging the gap between Web3 and the current landscape - starting with Telegram before Discord to avoid the scammers
Embrace the early adopters to help you build the best product
Leaning into your blockchain - Flow (and Snap in Web2) provided tools that helped them grow early
Tourists vs. Purists - why is your community here?
The tremendous opportunity for curating Web3 data
Compile the known data, what is on-chain
Create archetypes of the on-chain data
Understand how IRL data impacts the community
Where does the data live?
Aggregate in a manner valuable to everyone, from individual collector to entire blockchains

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Owning the Moment

Fri, 07 Oct 2022 05:00:00 -0400

TJ Laessig is the co-founder and CEO of Own the Moment. OTM is a leading Web3 sports community with a focus on education via content & analytics and gamification via NFT fantasy sports. Prior to OTM, TJ worked 10 years in a variety of corporate digital marketing & tech roles, coached college hockey for 6 years, and was a semi-professional daily fantasy sports player. TJ and OTM are on a mission to bring Web3 to the masses, with sports serving as the gateway.

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Reimagining the Sports Fan Experience

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 09:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Marcia Caporn, Chief Revenue Officer of Credenza3, a Web3 company that facilitates "direct to fan" relationships while creating new revenue opportunities in the areas of advertising/sponsorship, content, ticketing, merchandise and game day executions. Marcia is laser focused on the importance of fan engagement and optimizing your professional athlete window. As a former professional golfer and soccer player, she knows the importance of maintaining a strong relationship with your fans. She is a former business and employment law litigator turned sports executive which helped her specialize in strategy and development in emerging revenue sectors for sports partners in both Australia and the US. As CRO of Credenza, she is working to revolutionize how fans interact with their favorite athletes and teams.

Show Notes & Topics Covered:

Being a pre-title IX women athlete who went pro
Theresia Gouw, Founder of Acrew Capital, pointing Marcia to the Web3 rabbit hole
First iteration of the relationship between pro sports and Web3
Finding a founder who had experience building and exiting a blockchain ticketing application by acquisition to Ticketmaster
Coping with insecurity as a female athlete
Rabbit hole research strategy
Ticketing, merchandise, content, concessions and sponsorship as fiefdoms in the sports world
Shortening the feedback loop with digital wallets
Credenza as a solution for fans, teams, leagues and stadiums
Importance of frictionless onboarding without a self-custody wallet and fiat
Does sports want a frontend or backend solution?
Floating digital wallets
Understanding fans from their interests outside sports
Dynamic collaborations voted on by fans
What owning the fan experience means for an athlete beyond their playing years

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Contrarian Conviction in Web3 w/ Shahar Abrams

Sat, 24 Sep 2022 09:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Shahar Abrams (https://twitter.com/ShaharAbrams). Shahar was one of the earliest Web3 educators in the Atlanta area, which is how we had the pleasure of meeting. A couple years into his consulting career with IBM, he read a book that would send him deep down the Web3 rabbit hole. He worked his way over to the enterprise blockchain team there and became a very active investor in BTC. Ultimately liquidating all of his funds from his first 5 years of working to put it in BTC. He is one of my first guests with extensive DeFi experience, and provides an amazing framework to think about it. Currently he is Head of Product for Rodo, a company putting car titles on the blockchain, he is still conducting research to start a DeFi fund and producing a Web3 film. His consistent, yet critical conviction in this space is fascinating.

Show Notes & Topics:

Shahar’s career journey from actor to consultant before finding a home in Web3
The Business Blockchain as the book that sent Shahar down the rabbit hole
Shahar’s first bear market in 2017/18
Shahar’s article in The Defiant, Buying Real World Assets By Leveraging Crypto
The importance of psychology in investing, and when conviction overtakes conventional wisdom
The role of attending conferences in building Shahar’s conviction
Shahar’s Web3 Use Case Matrix
Web3 as the internet of value
What is DeFi? It starts with understanding Finance from first principles, then making them more accessible and more permissionless. Democratizing market making. How competitiveness drives down fees.
Web3 ATL coming up in November 2023
Shahar’s Head of Product Role at Rodo helping put car titles on the blockchain
Future goals with a DeFi Fund
Coming full circle with a Web3 film

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

A Wedge in Web3

Sun, 18 Sep 2022 09:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Jeremiah Long. He is a builder in Web3, and NFT Archaeologist, He organized one of Atlanta’s first Web3 conferences, NFT ATL. He is executive direct of Wedge, a nonprofit Web3 education organization with a focus on diversity, inclusion, and representation in the tech space. Jeremiah has worked in Product Management, Television, Marketing, Production, and Branding for over 20 years.

We discuss:

Starting from section 8 housing and a single mother, Jeremiah created opportunities by leveraging the information made available by the internet and now Web3.

Jeremiah’s tireless curiosity across multiple disciplines coming together in Web3

Surprising number of people who created on FLOW, but ease-of-use on ETH ultimately won out

Jeremiah’s emphasis on narrative as an NFT creator

Gary Vee’s How to Make 100 Pieces of Content per Day

Start as an NFT Architect with a piece of late night discord alpha to becoming obsessed with historical NFTs

Bitcoin NFTs

Chronicles of a Degen

NFT ATL Conference

Wedge, Jeremiah’s Nonprofit

Jeremiah’s Flow-based NFT archives

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Grassroots Community Artist

Fri, 09 Sep 2022 05:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Daniel Koeth or DK. DK was one of the first photographers to the We Accept Ash movement, one that is very personal to me as ASH is the cryptocurrency of destruction created by our favorite artist, Pak. That bond along with the fact that I totally connect with his work, has turned into one of the most energizing relationships in recent memory.

We start the conversation off in an untraditional way, exploring anonymity and pseudonymity. Starting with how I recently changed my Twitter to Zach French and no longer OffEdge, which prompted a deeper discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of being pseudonymous/anonymous in Web3.

Show Notes:

Siblings “why you should buy one cube” lead DK down the Pak rabbit hole

DK’s career start getting dominated by LA film world to opening a successful small business studio for photography, video, and digital design

You can feel DK’s strong desire to unleash his creative genius on the world and become a full-time artist

Starting off as an investor in NFTs and not thinking they were for photography and how his mindset changed after Del’s first ASH only drop

What it felt like to impulsively list a few photos on opensea and waking up to a sold out collection

How #WeAcceptAsh was his community before DK created anything but also lead demand for his work

Being a part of a community vs. building a community as a creator

Community engagement beyond building a Discord

Friends make the best communities

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Web3 Consumer and Entertainment Investing w/ Brian Zwerner

Fri, 02 Sep 2022 09:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Brian Zwerner (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-zwerner/). He is an investor and advisor in sports, media, web3, and fitness. He is a founder at Beyond The Game Network, a venture group of athletes and business execs in Atlanta. Zwerner also leads the Crypto Executive Guide, an advisory business in the web3 sector and the publisher of a market leading newsletter.

Zwerner was previously the founder of Sportal, a startup in the sports industry. He managed the growth of Aquina Health through a Series A capital raise. He has invested in or held senior roles with several companies and funds. Previously Zwerner spent 20 years in investment banking roles in the US and overseas.

Show Notes & Topics Discussed:

First guest with a TRILLION dollars in trading experience

From Intrapreneur to entrepreneur

The early fintech landscape in Atlanta

The shift from B2B to B2C

VC investing with professional athletes in esports, gaming, and entertainment

Missing out on an early round with Dapper Labs, pre-Top Shots

Gronk and Maholmes drops helped bring Brian into Web3

Being patient and finding consistent revenue generating business in Web3

NFT Fantasy Gaming

The similarity in problems facing Web3 to those faced in Web2 and Web1 and beyond

Will the Big 4 consulting firms hop into Web3?

Wallet Wars - Visa and Mastercard vs Apple and Google

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Web3’s Just Cause w/ Robbie Heeger, Founder of EnDAOment

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Robbie Heeger the president and CEO of Endaoment.org, the first on-chain 501(c)(3) public charity, established with the mission of managing and encouraging the charitable contributions of digital assets. Endaoment is built to facilitate tax-deductible donations of more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies to any nonprofit in the United States, providing philanthropic financial services to the blockchain community and introducing nonprofit organizations to the benefits of blockchain technology. Donors can give through Endaoment using its Donor-Advised Funds, Community Funds, and Direct Donations, all of which charge industry-low fees to maximize throughput to recipient organizations. For more information on how to give and receive donations via Endaoment, as well as details on its ongoing efforts to become a DAO, visit https://endaoment.org/.

Show Notes:

How EnDAOment is built to last

EnDAOment’s crucial role in Constitution DAO

$275k in 2020 to $28 million is 2021

Carrying the Flag for Giving in Crypto

Ben Thompson (https://twitter.com/benthompson) and Stratechery’s (https://stratechery.com/) influence on Robbie and the entire tech space - embracing the New Epoch

Building a company for 50+ years of success

Why EnDAOment (and other protocols) is built as two entities

Jesse Walden’s (https://twitter.com/jessewldn) impact on Web3 values, especially Progressive Decentralization https://a16z.com/2020/01/09/progressive-decentralization-crypto-product-management/

Nature of the Firm - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0335.1937.tb00002.x

DAO Entity Architecture

from Paradigm - https://daos.paradigm.xyz/
From a16z - https://a16z.com/2022/05/23/dao-legal-frameworks-entity-features-selection/

Putting the donor’s needs first as a multivariable equation

The future of EnDAOment, its stakeholders/supply chain and the broader tax-advantaged financial primitives

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

NFTs are about the Artists

Sat, 20 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Chris Harper (https://twitter.com/harper__chris). We met purely by happenstance at NFT NYC, but immediately hit it off and after this show you’ll understand why. Chris is a general contractor by day, to fund his passion for NFTs. He has an amazing show called the Ledge, where he interviews NFT artists James Lipton style. He has big ambitions to create a wikipedia/database of profiles on NFT artists.

This one was one of the most true episodes to my slogan, we vibed hard in the verse about our eerily similar personalties and journey in NFTs.

Show Notes:

Chris’ beginnings as a BTC maxi, going to see Max Keiser (https://twitter.com/maxkeiser) and Stacy Herbert (https://twitter.com/stacyherbert) rally

Chris’ bear market strategy - Pak, Xcopy, Ness Graphics, and Mycurio cards

The parallels between our journeys, starting with only NiftyGateway and no Opensea or Metamask, how much we spent on our collecting, from writer to podcaster

The vision to create a wikipedia for NFT artists to his new Web3 podcast, The Ledge - exploring deep, personal conversations with artists like James Lipton of Inside the Actors Studio.

His first guest is Gavin Meeler (https://twitter.com/Gavinmeeler), an Atlantan who was working at Pizza Hut and is now a big time NFT artist

Pak

Revisiting my previous guest, Ryland Aldrich’s three part venn diagram for NFT collecting - Trader, Investor, Collector - Chris considers the piece of art as part of which he considers himself

When will we see quality IRL displays for NFTs?

Personal Connection, pairing IRL and NFTs with Snuffy, one of the top tattoo artists in the US and creator on NiftyGateway - https://www.niftygateway.com/@snuffy/collections and https://snuffy.nyc/about

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Scaling Web3 for the Enterprise w/ Clive Henry Director of Strategic Partnerships for Cloud and Web3 at Adobe

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 07:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Clive Henry, Director of Strategic Partnerships for all things Web3 at Adobe

Clive made a career helping fortune 500 companies adopt new innovation. From streaming video to Web3, he’s worked with some of the largest media companies and brands in the world consulting on direct to consumer digital products.

Clive is also an active member of Krause House DAO, a DAO whose goal it is to buy an NBA team. Clive’s experience leads to a great discussion about what it will take for enterprise creators to adopt Web3, with a focus on retailers.

We Discuss:

Clive’s report on Opensea while at Harvard’s Extension School on Fintech

All of the firsts for Bored Ape Yacht Club that helped set them apart

Zach’s journey into Deadfellaz (https://twitter.com/Deadfellaz), and shilling Clive about joining his first PFP community

https://deadfellaz.medium.com/the-last-roadmap-a12a9386454

Clive’s energy and what PFP should he pick?

#WAGBAT (https://twitter.com/KrauseHouseDAO)

Alternatives to Discord

Communication must improve to onboard more enterprise participants to Web3

Role of Web3 in Retail - https://nft.tiffany.com/ and

Enterprise is in an Innovator’s Dilemma around Web3 (https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244)

Token-gated commerce (https://open.spotify.com/episode/498S1ce1KG2Qp4H9MgYyCb?si=ASZyzP6xTzWM8CXQYz8BTw)

Nike power moves with RTFKT (https://twitter.com/RTFKT) and building a metaverse

Clive and Zach Experience coming to Spatial (https://twitter.com/spatialxr) Soon and Ready Player Me characters (https://twitter.com/readyplayerme)

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Decentralizing for a Middle Class of Podcasts w/ Alexander Zwerner of Kickback

Fri, 05 Aug 2022 05:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Alexander Zwerner (https://twitter.com/Hey_Zwerner), founder of Kickback (https://twitter.com/viaKickback) a web3-native podcast monetization application. His passion for Web3 and podcasting are only matched by his drive and determination throughout his life. He started his first company in middle school, authored a book by his sophomore year of high school, and self-taught engineer. Now he has his sights set on the podcasting world and monetizing it to deliver more value back to podcasters.

Co-producing podcasts for metacartel (https://twitter.com/VENTURE_DAO) and Orange DAO
Leading monetization for the Bankless DAO (https://twitter.com/banklessDAO) Podcast Hatchery and how that lead to a pivot to what is now kickback
His process writing his book, The History of Hip-Hop.
How does the music industry have the same amount of listeners and so much more revenue?
Distributing ad revenue and ads amongst the whole community for the benefit of all communities
What does a creator grant program for podcasts look like?
Gamification of listenership
Why is there so much emphasis put towards discoverability and machine learning for new and smaller musicians but not for podcasts?
How Web3 will change the technology landscape

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Pak Background Music w/ Fomoverse Radio Host @AustinHambleton

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 09:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Austin Hambleton, host of Fomoverse Radio. Austin Hambelton is a car salesman in Colorado Springs. He enjoys buying jpegs & laying sax emojis down in the f channel. Our conversation is very Pak-heavy as Pak’s Fomoverse is what brought us together and both of our favorite artist.

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Decentralized Flavor Savior w/ Giuseppe Stuto (@gstuto)

Fri, 22 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Giuseppe Stuto (https://twitter.com/gstuto). He is the first US-born member of his family who was from Italy. He is a deep technical thinker who does a great job of using analogies to explain his outlook on investing in Web3. He founded his first company fresh out of college, and sold it to DraftKings a few years later. Giuseppe started angel investing while at DraftKings, and ultimately partnered up to form 186ventures. He plays on his unique technical experience as a founder to help provide a value add to his portfolio companies. We go deep on the potential for Web3 infrastructure and developer tools.

Show Notes:

The founding story of 186 ventures (https://www.186ventures.com)

Learning through failures as a startup founder

The limitations of a value-add VC

Strategic vs Institutional Investors

How builders fleeing and corporates not following through on blockchain/distributed ledger initiatives in 2020 initially turned Giuseppe off of Web3. Then the signals that lead him back in.

Macro problems holding back growth on a global scale, and how Web3 can help

Decentralization exists on a spectrum, and we need to respect that

4 quadrant of Web3 Companies - (1) Asset Innovation; (2) Liquidity Solutions; (3) Decentralized B2B/B2C-ownership of fractionalized data; (4) Developer Tool and Infrastructure

Current state of developer tools in Web3 and @Alchemy (https://twitter.com/AlchemyPlatform)

What is Web2.5?

Using public market sentiment and regulatory environment to gauge success

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Hypercuriosity and Being Early in Market Cycles - w/ Jameson (@FriendlyJameson)

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Jameson, known as @FriendlyJameson (https://twitter.com/friendlyjameson) and viewed as his moonbird in the verse. Jameson started in music, then became an ecommerce founder, and ultimately landed in Web3 because of an innate desire to be early in a market cycle. We discuss how Jameson learns, his models for approaching NFTs and even the origin of my pseudonym as part of a bigger discussion on reputational risk.

Show Notes:

How the My First Million Podcast introduced Jameson to NFTs

Jameson’s first piece of art on NiftyGateway - Trevor Jones - which he still owns

Early days of NG trading was not gas wars, but click wars

Early accountability tactics for avoiding feeling he was spending monopoly

https://twitter.com/jumpmanft/status/1541545221959196672

Jameson’s learning style, experiential

The role of free education in Web3 - https://www.saylor.org/

Misalignment of incentives for our political leaders vs educators

https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Kuan-Yew-Insights-international/dp/0262019124

Balaji’s new book The Network State https://open.spotify.com/episode/6eRkkusvlcrW4SjAKe1cef?si=9Ob2r-u6R3uBeS-oX0zjog

Overwhelming nature of Web3 and avoiding #burnout during max #fomo - https://twitter.com/friendlyjameson/status/1527843037405401090

UGG culture in US vs AUS

Describing Web3 to boomers, foreshadowing a future Web3 w/ Me

What matters in #Crypto and #NFT when we are not in a bubble in complete euphoria?

Reputational Risk - balancing your pseudonymous/anonymous with your IRL personality

The origin of my pseudonym OffEdge - https://hangingofftheedge.medium.com/

Jameson’s view for the future of Web3 as the technology that makes it so unique becomes more ubiquitous

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Blue Chip Collector and Educator in Web3 - w/ CrayCreigh (@CrayCreigh)

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 05:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Creigh (https://twitter.com/CrayCreigh), known as Cray Creigh or Dr. Nifty in the verse. He is a thought-leader, community builder, and top-notch trader in the NFT space. He is best known for identifying many top-tier projects early in their life cycles, including Punks, BAYC, Cyberkongz, Cool Cats, Doodles, Proof, and more. He currently leads the Block Party Labs community, and is involved with several others. His role models in the space include Kevin Rose (Proof), Tim Ferriss, and Zeneca (ZenAcademy). He has done this while being a full-time active duty service member living overseas.

He intends to build out his community and fortify his place in the NFT elite. Creigh welcomes all to join him in his quest for NFT and crypto success.

We discuss all of this and more including:

Creigh’s intro to Web3 and the role of #videogames as a precursor for understanding Web3, leveraging interest in finance and education to start participating and onboarding friends

Bitcoin white paper
Ethereum white paper

Danger of #FOMO and #aping into buys in crypto and NFTs

NFTs in early 2021 driving Creigh to become a serious market participant and started Block Party Labs in 2021. https://blockpartylabs.io/

Defining Web3 and how to onboard only serious participants

What is Block Party Labs? The importance of maintaining small discords to have better conversations.

The alpha of early in Cyberkongz (https://twitter.com/CyberKongz) and Proof currently (https://twitter.com/proof_xyz)

Creigh’s journey as a collector, Flipping way up in Bored Apes ( https://twitter.com/BoredApeYC) and ultimately holding

Opportunities in #PFPs and #GenerativeArt by listening to podcasts, reading substacks and staying disciplined

Mental model for identifying blue chips

Who is the creator? Preferably indy over famous
Does he actually like the art? This is key for longterm hold
Does the community have fervor and staying power?

Approach to the #bearmarket - psychological gut check for your portfolio allocation and patience

Following the Bankless (https://twitter.com/BanklessHQ) model of getting through the bear market and getting into #buidl mode

Tokenization of everything especially degrees and things associated with identity

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Degens to Developers - Leveraging Collective Intelligence to Build a Better World

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 09:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Brian Christensen (https://www.linkedin.com/in/iambrianchristensen/), who is the founder of Blockcities in the verse. Brian is a multidisciplinary creator working to bring about a brighter, more sustainable future using blockchain technology. Brian's background encompasses over a decade of experience investing in real estate, with additional disciplines in product development, software development, and data aggregation.

The Blockcities platform is a bridge between digital and physical worlds, where users are able to bring concepts into physical form through a process of Voting, Reservation and Investment into tokenized assets.

https://blockcities.com/

https://blockcities.com/virtualearth/

https://www.instagram.com/myblockcities/

https://www.facebook.com/Blockcities/

https://twitter.com/myblockcities

We discuss:

A revelation Brian couldn’t unsee in 2007 leading to him purchasing property with the intent to leverage collective intelligence, just as #ETH was founded.

How and why we need to completely rethink the way cities and societies are designed and formed through Blockcities and others -

https://joinseeds.earth/

https://hypha.earth/

https://www.blockchains.com/

https://flyranch.burningman.org/

https://landartgenerator.org/

#Web3 defined by practical application - recognizing identity as sovereign to regain control of our data; decentralization; and how far we have to go find the really powerful applications

Coinbase earn-to-learn and bitcoin cashapp as good ways to intro folks to crypto.

The power of #blockchain and #smartcontract enabling artists to realize more value for their creations especially in the unique way of creating a physical, #IRL objects or developments.

Who are the stakeholders in Blockcities and how can anyone participate? From buying NFTs in their virtual world to submitting proposals for developments in the physical world. Beta release coming SOON after 4+ years in development.

How leveraging construction templates with modular construction will enable people to realize their creations through Blockcities.

Combining capital stacks to fund real estate development for the first time

Using native Blockcities token $BLKCT to incentivize referrals who can participate in various aspects of the project

Current companies trying to tackle securitizing and transacting with tokens, both fungible and NFT. Propy (https://twitter.com/PropyInc) Securitize (https://twitter.com/Securitize)

The intersection between #profitability, #sustainability and #creativity

The power of a Special Purpose Vehicle or SPV to fund real change in the way we build more cities.

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Memes are Religion for Web3 - Ryland Aldrich

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 09:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Ryland Aldrich (https://twitter.com/RylandAldrich), or IAmRyland.eth in the verse. He is a filmmaker with over a decade of experience as a producer of feature films, series, and podcast projects. He is an avid collector of digital art and a web3 evangelist. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Ryland currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son.

The 3 types of NFT persons - Trader, Investor and Collector

The lack of diversity in the space and the way forward

How we tackled NFT.NYC 2022 and the impact of the Deadfellaz (https://twitter.com/Deadfellaz) party

The bear market

6529, 6529, 6529 and their infinite wisdom - https://twitter.com/punk6529

Religion as a meme - meme as a unit of societal measurement; memes provide shared culture because of shared beliefs

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

True Web3 Native Art and Ethos - Gavin Shapiro (@Shapiro500)

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Gavin Shapiro is a digital artist whose ultimate goal is to produce work that makes you smile, and these days he aims to do that by making vibrant, surrealist 3D animation that doesn’t take itself too seriously but still retains a high level of quality. He's lived in New York, Osaka and Paris, working on a large variety of projects including tv shows, commercials, outdoor displays, large-format stage visuals, and animations for casino games.

His personal work, released under the name “shapiro500,” has been used as visuals at music festivals and concerts all over the world, and has been shown on digital billboards as part of art exhibitions in New York City, Paris and Tokyo. His animations have accumulated hundreds of millions of views across Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Giphy, and have been sold as #NFTs on Nifty Gateway and SuperRare since mid-2020.

The socials for Web3, starting an Instagram before Twitter. What are the differences? Twitter as a conversation versus Instagram as a gallery.

The Social Dilemma - https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/

Beware of online filter bubbles Ted Talk (2014) - https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles

Gavin trying to buy bitcoin at $400 while in Japan, but couldn’t figure it out in 2013.

Japan’s influence on Gavin’s work, and how our mutual friend and previous guest Josh (@Awheck) lived there.

The evolution of his work form penguins to flamingos back to penguins.

Bonding over marathons, with very different experiences.

The different types of animation: 3D rendering; 2d animation (Deekay); type animation

One of Gavin’s early creations that is highly addictive, a game called Squares 2 - https://www.albinoblacksheep.com/games/squares2

Finding royalty free music on Audiojungle for NFTs - https://audiojungle.net/

How Beeple (indirectly) taught Gavin in his early years - https://www.beeple-crap.com/

Onboarding my mentor AwHeck(Josh) and JackMa https://twitter.com/jackmaschka

The PFP from him and a collection made with love. https://opensea.io/collection/cryptobeanz

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Making Frens in Web3

Fri, 10 Jun 2022 07:00:00 -0400

My guest today is TJ, or @GopherTJ in the verse. He is a NFT degen and full-time participant in Web3. We discuss:

TJ’s core principles when investing in an NFT project. Our personal founding story in The Block Party Discord https://twitter.com/CrayCreigh and https://twitter.com/blockpartylabs

Talked about Real Estate as example for describing Web3 - https://twitter.com/PropyInc

Unique Projects in Notorious Frogs https://twitter.com/Frogland_io

Shout out to ShortsHoward https://twitter.com/ShortsHoward

IRL bridge and non-profit in the NFT space - https://twitter.com/happygoatorg

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Entrepreneur at Law in the Metaverse

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 05:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Omar Abdallah, you can find him on IG:@theweb3lawyer and Twitter: https://twitter.com/omarjabdallah. Omar is a lawyer at the Rose Law Group. Rose Law Group was the first law firm to accept #BTC in 2012, and facilitated the first marriage in the #metaverse. In many ways Omar is an entrepreneur at law, and is currently building out a fully integrated #Web3 practice with a full time metaverse architect and #blockchain developer.

https://www.roselawgroup.com/areas-of-practice/web3/

We also discuss:

#DAO - https://twitter.com/CityDAO; https://twitter.com/VectorDAO

https://www.matthewball.vc/metaversebook

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Peak, Valleys and Promises of Web3

Fri, 27 May 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Chris is a web3 community artist, who co-creates with his community making work that is Open, Curious and playful.

DAO de Metaverse

Fri, 20 May 2022 07:00:00 -0400

My guest today, David is a lawyer licensed in New York who lived in China for 15 years teaching law and theater. He has recently completed a Masters degree focusing on philosophical Daoism as a framework for the #metaverse and has been accepted into a Ph.D. program to study metaverse sociology. He currently facilitates the Legal Guild and the Education & Research Guild at CityDAO(https://twitter.com/citydao).

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

NFT Domination

Fri, 13 May 2022 07:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Joshua Sobel, known as AwHeck (https://twitter.com/joshuasobel) in the verse. He is a dear friend and mentor.

We Discussed:

Fine Art to #NFT Collector

Bored Ape Yacht Club #BAYC $APE

Pak - https://twitter.com/muratpak

The Three P’s - one of Josh’s core mental modes

Layer 1s - $ETH $SOL

Tezos - $XTZ

BeansDAO - beans.wtf - #DAO #CC0

NounsDAO - nouns.wtf

Thanks for listening! Did you know you can also watch the show on YouTube? Just hit the link below and don't forget to subscribe!

Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Web3 x Brand Strategy

Fri, 06 May 2022 07:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Elan Miller, otherwise known as elan.eth in the verse. Elan is an independent brand strategist for web3 companies.Over his career, he’s founded a venture-backed company, run a design studio, & advised dozens of founders on all things product & marketing.Most recently, he started a strategy team at Twitter—helping product & design leads re-imagine key initiatives like Misinformation, DMs, & Communities.Elan is also a contributing member at Vector DAO, a decentralized collective of the best designers in crypto dedicated to make magical internet money easier to use and understand.Elan’s work has been featured in numerous publications including Forbes 30 under 30 in consumer technology. You can find him on Twitter at @elan_miller.

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Web3 w/ Me - YouTube

Welcome to Web3 w/ Me!

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 09:00:00 -0400

This is Web3 w/ Me, a discussion-style podcast about the ins and outs of Web3.0, hosted by Zach French. From crypto to NFTs, DAOs to DeFi, we cover the abstract philosophical promises and the new business models enabled in this new decentralized world. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform or watch the show on YouTube!