Next Creators: Recent Episodes
Human Guild
Welcome to Next Creators, a podcast interviewing creators forging a new path for themselves and others on the internet. This means covering NFTs, music, community platforms, and other ways creators are earning directly from their work.
This podcast is part of the Human Guild. Learn more at - https://humanguild.io
Join our discord to discuss this episode and meet other creators and see how you can support your favorite artists : https://discord.gg/bUu2hcdzxW
Alex Shalash has 25 years of software experience and has worked at previous companies like Accenture with an MSc in Physics and MBA from London Business School. In this episode Alex talks with Sasha about:
• Growing up in Ukraine
• How web3 is an enabling technology like credit cards
• Solving the chicken and egg problem in web3 adoption
• Building large-scale experiences with MetaEngine
• Why the metaverse will be more like Wikipedia than Facebook
Episode links:
Alex Shalash: https://twitter.com/alexshalash
MetaEngine: https://www.metaengine.gg
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Sergey Zasorin is founder of Realis Network, a platform for launching mobile games using blockchain for a mainstream audience. Helping bridge traditional gaming ideas with the integration of blockchain, NFTs, and DeFi. In this episode Sasha talks with Sergey about:
• Being a professional poker player in South Korea
• What is the target retention rate for a mobile game
• Creating a gaming economy that exists outside of the game
• Prioritizing action over research
• Keeping the marketing and user experience development in-house
• Working efficiently in programming pairs
Episode links:
Realis Network: https://realis.network/
Sergey Zasorin: https://twitter.com/exlead
Legends Of Listeria: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.game.moba.realis.battle.royale
Crypto Dragons: https://dragonmerge.page.link/cryptodragons
Crypto Cats: http://mergecat.page.link/cryptocats
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Andreas Kobal is CTO and Valentin Sotov is Product Owner at Ailand, a decentralized platform that allows users to create and sell games, and virtual goods, communicate and play with other users, and own their virtual property. In this episode they talk with Sasha about:
• Integrating AI chat into virtual worlds
• NEAR vs Ethereum ecosystem
• Pivoting to an AI-focused virtual world
• Finding your metric for success
• Advice for other web3 founders
Episode links:
Ailand: https://ailand.app
Andreas Kobal: https://twitter.com/AndreasKobal
Valentin Sotov: https://twitter.com/InfinityNear
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Ben Kurrekis is co-founder of Keypom, a tool to help onboard users through a simple user experience. Previously he was co-founder at Fayyr, a digital marketplace for artists to support social impact through their work. In this episode Sasha talks with Ben about:
• The first business he started in university
• The importance of hackathons
• Balancing coding with biz dev and marketing for your product
• Access keys as NFTs
• Building Keypom as a public good
• Advice for founders in web3
Episode links:
Keypom: https://keypom.xyz
Ben Kurrek: https://twitter.com/ben_kurrek
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Eugene Kitkin is founder of Bearverse, a free-to-play multiplayer competitive game. He was previously the founder of a cryptocurrency mining company, and digital producer. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• The importance of iterative shipping every month
• Extending your company's runway
• The three types of apps the Google Play features
• Using AI tools to build games
• How to get feedback from users
• Building a game with day one retention rate of 82%
• Creating your own opportunities as a founder
Episode links:
Bearverse: https://bearverse.com
Bearverse Discord: https://discord.gg/5VX2hFXmJ5
Eugene Kitkin: https://twitter.com/e_kitkin
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Jonathan Myburgh and Edward Chew are creators of Meteor Wallet. They met through Tinker Union. Edward also previously worked at one of the largest e-wallet companies in Asia. In this episode Sasha talks with Jonathon and Edward about:
• Difference in people who use a wallet for coins versus applications
• Making tasks less boring to do in a wallet
• Conveying trust to users in web3
• What is Tinker Union?
• Go-to market strategy for a wallet
• Advice for founders
Episode links:
Meteor Wallet: https://meteorwallet.app
Jonathan Myburgh: https://twitter.com/yohjono
Edward Chew: https://twitter.com/r3ktdegen
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Neil Haran returns as a guest to talk about his new project Rep, a web3 social network for gamers on NEAR Protocol. Rep allows games and apps to engage with their community through NFTs they find in AR via airdrops or scavenger hunts. He is also the CEO of Rawbots, an online sandbox game where players can build and enhance their own robots as they explore the online universe. In this episode Neil talks with Sasha about:
• Why NFTs and AR are a perfect combination
• Allowing game developers to connect with gamers and their community to engage back with them
• How Rep can increase the visibility of games in the NEAR Ecosystem
• The best web2 gaming concepts to bring to web3
• Advice for new gaming founders
Episode links:
Rep: https://rep.run
Neil Haran: https://twitter.com/realneilharan
Rawbots: https://www.rawbots.org/
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Petr Volnov is co-founder and CEO of HERE wallet, one of the most user-friendly wallets on NEAR Protocol. HERE wallet is a mobile non-custodial wallet for NEAR Protocol with non-blocking staking. Petr graduated from ITMO University, one of the top universities in Russia. In this episode Sasha talks with Petr about:
• What started him into entrepreneurship
• How to make it easy to onboard users
• The biggest challenge in creating a crypto wallet
• How he found his co-founders
• His favorite hackathons
• State of fundraising in Fall of 2022
Episode links:
HERE Wallet: https://herewallet.app/
HERE Wallet discord: https://discord.gg/8Q3gw3gsD2
HERE Wallet iOS App: https://appstore.herewallet.app/site
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Chlo is founder of Carv, a company building ID infrastructure focused on gaming allowing you to take all your moments in one place. Chlo has worked on games like PUBG Mobile, Apex Legends and has worked with streamers like PewDiePie. In this episode Chlo talks with Sasha about:
• Growing up with a family of entrepreneurs
• Who is the typical gamer in web3
• Creating a gaming identity you can bring to any game
• Building a indie game versus a large budget game
• Advice for fundraising during a down market
Episode links:
Carv: https://carv.io/home
Carv Discord: https://discord.gg/KCtjhUpXn2
Carv Twitter: https://twitter.com/carv_official
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Serge Faguet is a serial tech entrepreneur and a prominent thinker in the Web3 space. To date he has personally raised more than $100m of capital, and has co-founded numerous breakthrough tech companies including TokBox, Emerging Travel Group and more. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Building the first video chat program in the browser
• Creating a startup in the US versus Russia in early 2010s
• What identity means in web3 and why it's a big opportunity for entrepreneurs
• Solving the cold start problem in Web3
• Advice for entrepreneurs
Episode links:
Identix: https://identix.space/
Serge Faguet: https://twitter.com/sergew1
Medium articles: https://medium.com/@sergefaguet
Telegram channel (in Russian): https://t.me/Faguet
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Andy Alekhin and Danil Krivoruchko are co-creators of the dynamic NFT collection Life in Our Minds. Danil Krivoruchko is an Emmy-nominated artist who was worked on projects such as Apple TV's Foundation, See, and Intel. Andy Alekhin is co-founder of Snark Art, a technology studio exploring the limits of blockchain technology. In this episode they talk with Sasha about:
• How digital art is changing in web3
• Partnering with DAOS like Moonbirds, Flamnigo DAO, PROOF Collective
• Art communities on NEAR Protocol, Tezos, and Solana
• Advice for new NFT artists
• The difference between digital art and NFTs
Episode links:
Life in Our Minds: https://og.art/collections/liom/
Danil Krivoruchko: https://twitter.com/myshli_com
Andy Alekhin: https://twitter.com/alehin77
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Chris Gale is co-founder of Few and Far, a next-generation community-first NFT marketplace on NEAR Protocol with rewards for participating. In this episode Sasha talks with the Chris about:
• Running a venture studio
• What Magic Eden and OpenSea have done right
• What unique things Few and Far is bringing to the table
• How will the NFT space evolve
• What attracted him to build on NEAR Protocol
• Navigating a down-market
• Advice for founders
Episode links:
Few and Far: https://fewfar.com/
Metaedge Venture Studio: https://www.metaedgeventures.com/
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Fred Fournier is CEO and Michael Kelly is CPO at Open Forest Protocol, a trusted open-source Protocol based on a public blockchain platform for communal verification and reporting of forest data. In this episode Sasha talks with the OFP team about:
• How traditional reforestation is done
• Apply blockchain as a tool
• How they can make deforestation more transparent and verifiable
• Why they decided to build a protocol instead of a Dapp
• Advice for entrepreneurs
Episode links:
Open Forest Protocol: https://www.openforestprotocol.org
Fred Fournier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fournierfred/
Michael Kelly: https://twitter.com/ozymandius_
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Alex Smaga is co-founder of Arhead, a Value-Generating Metaverse Ecosystem. Alex represents the architectural side of the Metaverse spaces building in Arhead. As Arhead’s CEO he’s working with brands, companies and cultural institutions such as Museum of The Future, Hermitage Museum, Dubai Culture, Gotbit, DEIP, Benhoode Foundation, Foundry among others. He graduated with a master's degree in architecture from London Metropolitan University and has participated as a speaker at the Innovation Summit Dubai 2021, Web Summit Lisbon 2019, 2021, and Blockchain Week Summit Paris 2022.
In this episode Alex talks with Sasha about:
• Creating real-world use-cases for the metaverse
• Building on DEIP, a creator economy protocol
• How do property rights look like in a digital space?
• Removing gatekeepers for creators in the metaverse
• Finding collaborators
• Advice for other architects and creators thinking of jumping into the web3 space
Episode links:
Arhead: https://arhead.io
Metaverse Congress: https://www.metaverseglobalcongress.com
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Chloe Lewis is founder of the Marma J Foundation, a non-profit supporting social good initiatives in the Web3 space. They're also the adoption lead at the NEAR Foundation. In this episode Sasha talks with Chloe about:
• Being a student athlete, studying sports psychology, and moving into web3
• Similarities between sports teams and DAOs
• The future of community-owned sports teams
• How to avoid burnout
• Why you should build in the open
Episode links:
Chloe Lewis: https://twitter.com/chloethedev
Marma J Foundation: https://marmaj.org
Mintbase: https://www.mintbase.io
3XR: https://www.3xr.space
Pixeldapps: https://www.pixeldapps.co
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Quick update for the summer! We're recording new podcast episodes however we're switching to a two-week release schedule for the summer. Stay tuned next week for a new episode. Thank you for listening and subscribing!
Sasha will also be in Austin, TX and then NYC later this June. Reach out to him on Twitter if you'd like to meet up!
We'll see you next week!
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Zeitwarp is a semi-pseudonymous [De]Gen X 'Garage Artist' and 'Music Hacker' based in Cambridge, UK, releasing “conceptual cryptoart” exclusively on the NEAR blockchain. His work has been featured at a number of exhibitions both in the physical and virtual world, including a solo wall gallery at the NEAR NFT Lounge at Bitcoin Miami in June 2021. In this episode Sasha talks with Zeitwarp about:
• How in crypto art, there's no one saying you can't do something
• Why he chose NEAR Protocol versus other chains
• The potential utopia of community DAOs
• Small decisions that made a big difference in his career
• Getting inspired by David Bowie
Episode links:
Zeitwarp Twitter: https://twitter.com/zeitwarp
Zeitwarp: https://www.zeitwarp.com
Samtoshi artist: https://twitter.com/Samtoshi_F_Baby
Chloe the Dev: https://mobile.twitter.com/chloethedev
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Alex Shkor is co-creator of DEIP, a creator economy protocol the helps enable the discovery, evaluation, licensing, and exchange of intangible assets like art, music, patents, research, movie scripts, human capital, and more. In this episode Sasha talks with Alex about:
• What's wrong with the current world today for creators
• What artists can do with DEIP that hasn't been possible before
• How to bridge the web2 economy with web3 infrastructure
• Building a decentralized "bank" and allowing creators to use their music/art/IP for a loan
• Why distrubuted systems is the most complex topic in Computer Science
Episode links:
Alex Shkor: https://twitter.com/alexshkor
DEIP: https://deip.world
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Nabi Klover is Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at DePocket, an Integrated DeFi Platform, to better manage and invest your assets across Multichain & Multiwallet assets. In this episode Sasha talks with Nabi about:
• The NEAR Protocol community in Vietnam
• The best marketing channel for web3
• How to bring more developers to the DePocket platform
• The main mistakes people make in web3 marketing
• How marketing differs in web2 versus web3
Episode links:
Nabi Klover: https://twitter.com/Nabidepocket
DePocket: https://depocket.com
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Kim Zhao Wei is Head of Marketing for Atocha Protocol, a decentralized protocol that enables people to create or solve puzzles and riddles. In this episode Kim talks with Sasha about:
• Leveling up from community mod to Head of Marketing for Atocha Protocol
• How the current game ecosystem work in web3
• Why decentralization is important for creators
• Appchain versus decentralized app
• Expanding to different game verticals
• Rewarding creativity for puzzle builders
Episode links:
Kim Zhao Wei: https://twitter.com/zhaoweik
Atocha Protocol: https://atocha.io
Atocha Discord: https://discord.gg/UJN6EJEE4E
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Alejandro V. Betancourt (AVB) is co-creator of NEAR Misfits, a generative pfp project on NEAR Protocol launched in collaboration with TENKBay. In this episode Alejandro talks with Sasha about:
• What makes a successful successful NFT PFP project
• Studying law at university
• How NEAR Misfits has evolved
• How the value of an NFT isn't just in the "JPEG"
• One thing people don't think about with their NFT project
• Advice for creators thinking of launching their own NFT PFP
Episode links:
Alejandro (AVB): https://twitter.com/AlejandroVBeta1
NEAR Misfits: https://nearmisfits.com/
TENKBay: https://tenkbay.com/
Wild User Interviews Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/243F5C7ESNgjjf9mr6y4a4?si=O9T3YNVgSeGQ_fRMMcl38w&nd=1
Balaji's The Network State: https://balajis.com/the-network-state-book-a-crosspost/
Zeitwarp artist: https://twitter.com/zeitwarp/
Orrin Campbell is founder of QSTN, an emerging Web3 data platform looking to disrupt the advertising industry by giving individuals power and control over their data. In this episode Orrin talks with Sasha about:
• Going on Doctor Phil as a cyborg from the future
• What Neil Degrasse Tyson had to say about web3
• How he discovered and joined the NEAR Protocol ecosystem
• Why Web3 is a technological revolution in the same sense the internet was in the 90s
• Wanting to be an architect growing up
• Best entry points for people new to #web3
Episode links:
Orrin: https://twitter.com/realorrin
QSTN: https://qstn.us
Neil deGrasse Tyson interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImdmYU6ykCo
Orrin Interview with Mintbase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3YhSJZJoTQ
Coin Bureau NEAR Protocol overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r61UszUFwNY
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Eric Benz is a contributor to CannaDAO, a decentralized, member-governed platform for cannabis growing and operations. He was formerly CEO of Changelly, a non-custodial instant cryptocurrency exchange. In this episode Eric talks with Sasha about:
• What are the problem within the cannabis industry
• How people started associating negativity with cannabis
• Web3 DAO tooling
• Education within the industry
• Navigating legal issues with web3 and cannabis
Episode links:
Eric Benz: https://twitter.com/cryptobenz420
CannaDAO: https://www.cannadao.org
Pandu Sastrowardoyo is Founder of RealityChain, CEO of DeBio Network, and Initiator of Myriad Social. Reality Chain is a Metaverse-as-a-Service platform, helping you manage your metaverse and allowing you to integrate with a host of different blockchains. Pandu talks with Sasha about:
• Fighting for the legalization of crypto in Indonesia
• Making more experiments in web3 outside of defi
• Why the metaverse should focus on social immersion and shouldn't replace your real life
• Losing her land in Second Life
• How web3 social projects can cross into the mainstream
Episode links:
Pandu Sastrowardoyo: https://twitter.com/decentricity
Reality Chain: https://www.realitychain.io
Myriad Social concept doc: https://myriad-social.github.io
Software Architecture Conference Talk on Architecting Genomic Blockchain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARd8EqGfp88
Tour of PicoVista Museum of Computing @ Second Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Swa5X3jZA
Somnium Space: https://somniumspace.com
Crypto Voxels: https://www.cryptovoxels.com
Kenny Yeglinski is founder of Drawstring, an NFT launch platform and secondary marketplace built on NEAR Protocol. In this episode Kenny talks with Sasha about:
• Building his first multi-million dollar business with a trampoline park
• Working with artists Snoop Dogg and DMX
• Getting introduced to NEAR Protocol
• NFTs being a new way to create fanbases for artists and creators
• How to shift the negative sentiment around NFTs
• NFTs being your gateway into the web3 world/metaverse
Episode links:
Drawstring: https://drawstring.io
Drawstring Twitter: https://twitter.com/drawstring_nft
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Jean-Daniel (Danny) Gauthier is CEO and co-founder of Myriad Social, Myriad is a decentralized social platform, where you can browse native content or content coming from mainstream social media. Myriad bridges Web 2 and Web 3, and does it through incentives, rewards, and monetization for all creators. In this episode Danny talks with Sasha about:
• Growing up broke
• Why it's inevitable that social data and web3 will mingle together
• Having a soverign digital identity and inventory
• The future of social in web3
• Letting community decide what to show instead of an algorithm
• Will websites & the metaverse be fragmented like today's social networks?
Episode links:
Myriad Social: https://www.myriad.social
Myriad Social Github: https://github.com/myriadsocial
Product Walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwXF1p9edno
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Stipe Plejić (CEO) and Milan Mašanović (COO) are creating Endemic, a new NFT marketplace "with a soul." They want to provide exquisite art to the crypto world but also to give real world artists exposure to this newly opened market by building online and offline community while curating unique art. In they talk with Sasha about:
• Why social components are important in an NFT marketplace
• How the world's best art galleries take 60% from an artist and why Endemic isn't doing that
• Attracting more artists to NEAR Protocol who've only used Ethereum marketplaces
• How do you build for artists versus NFT and art collectors
• The importance of digital ownership for the future
• How Discord & Telegram channels are early beginnings of the metaverse
Episode links:
Stipe Plejić: https://twitter.com/stipeplejic
Milan Mašanović: https://twitter.com/miki_mali
Endemic App: https://endemic.app
Endemic blog: https://endemic-app.medium.com
Croatian Blockchain Association: https://twitter.com/stoneblock_hr
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Clarian North is a musician-producer and founder of Tamago, a decentralized music streaming platform built on NEAR Protocol. Clarian has also worked as a head engineer for major brands and indies alike from the ground up, including Universal, Redbull, FOF, along with Grammy nominated and Award winning productions over the past decade. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Being obsessed with recreating the sound of records
• What is the role of a music label
• Why the monetization model of current streaming services drives incentives away from artists
• How do musicians currently make money
• Sovereignty of finance and how communities can decide what is promoted on a platform
• How music, blockchain, and cyberpunk belong closer together than most people realize
Episode links:
Clarion North: https://twitter.com/clarianmusic
Tamago: http://tamastream.info
Tamago Twitter: https://twitter.com/tamago_stream
Tamago Telegram: https://t.me/tamago_official
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Aliaksandr “Sasha” Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Tabea and Nuno are founders of Muti Collective, a collective to support creatives by providing resources, funding, and community to help them keep making their art. They also help creatives navigate their entry into Web3 from Web2. In this episode they talk with Sasha about:
• Working directly with artists to empower the local economy in Portugal
• Streaming live music and events in the Metaverse
• How you can build a community that is more transparent and collaborative
• How you don't need to have money to get started in Web3
• Is sentiment changing around Web3 with artists
• The connection between art, creativity, and web3
Episode links:
Muti Collective: https://linktr.ee/muti.collective
Muti Collective in Cryptovoxels: https://www.cryptovoxels.com/play?coords=NE@763E,112N,12U
Bom Beijo live music event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO6gdBbZX-w
Nuno: https://linktr.ee/smokedfalmon
Muti on Mintbase: https://www.mintbase.io/store/muti.mintbase1.near
Isaac Sixtus Chizaram is a full-time desinger at Hovercast, a toolset for streamers, broadcasters, and brands creating interactive live streams. He's also worked on the Human Guild brand refresh and is involved with other open-source design communities. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Balancing time in doing both Web2 and Web3 work
• Communities he'd recommend joining
• Getting out of creative blocks
• The state of Web3 in Nigeria
• Advice on dealing with rejection
• Value of community in-person events
Episode links:
Isaac Zara: https://twitter.com/isaaczara_
Web3 Designers: https://www.web3designers.org
Human Guild: https://humanguild.io
Ed Farage is creator of Crypto Hero, a 2D blockchain game focused on PvE with a P2E raid system inspired by Diablo and World of Warcraft. It features looting, trading and forging items as well as fighting dungeon bosses with friends. It quickly became one of the most active contracts on NEAR Protocol since it launched. In this episode Ed talks with Sasha about:
• Living in Brazil and his first jobs as a kitchen chef and later a psychoanalyst
• Balancing new features and compromises when prototyping games in Web2 and Web3
• How to get valuable feedback from beta testers
• The experience of launching a game from testnet to mainnet
• What drives him through his career as an indie game dev
• What the most exciting part of Crypto Hero is
• Advice for other indie game developers
Episode links:
Ed Farage: https://twitter.com/edfarage
Crypto Hero: https://ecosystem.pixeldapps.co/?page=cryptohero
Crytpo Hero Discord: https://discord.com/invite/xFAAa8Db6f
Pixel Party: https://ecosystem.pixeldapps.co/?page=pixelparty
We'll be back next week with new episodes. In the meantime join us and other creators and founders in our Discord at https://humanguild.io
Gabby Dizon is co-founder of Yield Guild Games, a play-to-earn gaming guild. They invest in yield producing NFTs in games and virtual worlds and organize a player community from around the world to earn an income from playing these games. Yield Guild Games recently raised 4.6 million dollar round from the highly competitive Andreessen Horowitz venture fund. In this episode Gabby talks with Sasha bout:
• How Axie Infinity has an unheard of 90% 30 day retention for players
• What drove Axie Infinity and Yield Guild Games' growth to go vertical in 2021
• Raising $4.6M from VC firm Andreessen Horowitz
• What's unique about play-to-earn games
• Thinking about how to get to 5 or even 10 million Yield Guild Scholars
• Why having an open economy actually brings more value for players and the studio versus closed economies in Web2 games
• Advice and important resources for game developers
Episode links:
Gabby Dizon: https://twitter.com/gabusch
Yield Guild Games: https://yieldguild.io
[BLOG POST] YGG Raises $4.6M Led By a16z to Accelerate Play-to-Earn: https://medium.com/yield-guild-games/ygg-raises-4-6m-from-a16z-to-accelerate-play-to-earn-gaming-7f5cbccce657
Yield Guild Scholarships: https://medium.com/yield-guild-games/yield-guild-explains-play-to-earn-and-scholarships-bb1e097c2a61
Formula 1 Delta Game: https://www.f1deltatime.com
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Justin Aversano is a photographer and curator working within the New York City and Los Angeles art scene. Recently Justin had one of his NFT series selected for Sotheby's auction with total Twin Flames exceeded $1 million in total resales. His Twin Flames NFT series currently has a floor of 125 Eth. Justin is also the co-founder and creative director of SaveArtSpace, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing community art to public spaces. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Discovering NFTs
• His Twin Flames photo series, a collection of 100 Twin Portraits
• Using new technology tools to achieve his creative goals
• Save Art Space, a nonprofit pursuit to bring more art to public spaces ‣
• Books he'd recommend for creators
Episode links:
Justin Aversano: https://twitter.com/justinaversano
Twin Flames NFT Series: https://opensea.io/collection/twinflames
Twin-lens reflex camera: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin-lens_reflex_camera
Crypto Punks in #Miami: https://decrypt.co/64019/cryptopunks-nft-miami-pixelated
[BOOK] The Four Agreements: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
New episodes every week. Listen and subscribe below:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/next-creators/id1518717692
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6dmrfNGdJEYSOaIL7uxyPH?si=Iq9-zmuuSAWtWzOt7Qv1kA&dl_branch=1
Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9xRm54clo3UA
This podcast is part of the Human Guild. Learn more at: https://humanguild.io
Join the Human Guild Discord: https://discord.gg/bUu2hcdzxW
We're taking a short holiday break but will be back in the New Year with new episodes! In the meantime, join the community of other creators and founders in our discord at https://humanguild.io. Stay safe and see you soon!
Sammy Flores (Samtoshi F Baby) is a digital artist and creator of the Henry the Elf Comic as well as colorist & letterer for Bob Boom! the first monthly mini digital comic series on the NEAR Protocol blockchain. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• How the comic book industry works
• The shift in the creator economy empowering more digital artists
• Getting to know the Web3 and NEAR Protocol community
• Being a first-generation immigrant
• How to balance work while having a family
Episode links:
Sammy Flores (Samtoshi F Baby): https://twitter.com/Samtoshi_F_Baby
[Comic Book] Henry the Elf: https://twitter.com/HenryTheElfCom1
[Comic Book] Bob Boom!: https://comic.paras.id/comics/bob-boom/chapter
[Comic Book]Freedom Filled Flavorful Faithfully Fierce Fantastic Fear Facing Food Fighters Comic: https://www.indyplanet.com/?s=sammy+flores
Humans of the Open Web Sandbox: https://ows-team.medium.com/?p=9110130b6790
Jordan Gray is founder and managing director at CODAME, an organization building art & tech projects and events. Jordan also runs Astro DAO, a DAO launcher on the NEAR protocol platform. In this episode Jordan talks with Sasha about:
• Why someone would want to launch a DAO
• His own path to web3 from the Midwest to the Bay Area
• How Astro DAO can help groups and organizations
• Having the police called on a CODAME event
• Making space for play in life
Episode links:
Jordan Gray: https://twitter.com/starpause
Astro DAO: https://astrodao.com
CODAME: https://codame.com
KinDAO: https://twitter.com/thekindao
Open Web Sandbox: https://twitter.com/OpenWebSandbox
Createbase: https://createbase.community
NEAR Community Choice Awards: https://community.astrodao.com
[Book] The Tao of Pooh: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48757.The_Tao_of_Pooh
Neil Haran is CEO of Rawbots, an online sandbox game where players can build and enhance their own robots as they explore the online universe. More than that, the game will enable players to learn concepts as they create and figure how to venture out into different planets and environments as a new category of "play-to-learn". In this episode Neil talks with Sasha about:
• Originally wanting to be a pilot
• Building a game with educational value
• The most important thing to focus on when building compelling gaming experiences
• Can you build a sandbox game together with a community?
• Making education more personalized with web3 gaming
• The Unreal engine and the features and capabilities it enables
• Words of wisdom he'd give someone who's thinking of joining web3
Episode links:
Rawbots: https://www.rawbots.org/
Neil Haran: https://twitter.com/realneilharan
Rawbots Discord: https://discord.gg/KZXqDAfDbv
[Textbook] Game Programming Gems by Mark DeLoura: https://www.amazon.ca/Game-Programming-Gems-Mark-DeLoura/dp/1584500492
[Textbook] Multiplayer Game Programming by Todd Barron: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/multiplayer-game-programming-wcd-prima-techs-game-development_todd-barron/772443/
[Textbook] Black Belt C++ by Bruce Eckel: https://www.amazon.ca/Black-Belt-C-Masters-Collection/dp/1558513345
Will Robinson is the Head of Accelerator at DeFi Alliance, a Web3 accelerator working to grow Web3 to 1 billion users. He is also leading their new gaming accelerator. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Getting a Ph.D in Game Studies and then working in Web3
• Why you should be building in public - no matter your role or background
• How to think about good gameplay versus good incentives in a game
• Balancing economics in your game
• Creating a flywheel in web3 gaming
Episode links:
DeFi Alliance Gaming Accelerator: https://www.defialliance.co/games
Will Robinson: https://twitter.com/DangerWillRobin
[Book] How to Do Things With Video Games by Ian Bogost: http://bogost.com/books/how_to_do_things_with_videogam_1/
Game Design Workshop Series by Tracy Fullerton: https://www.gamedesignworkshop.com
Dark Forest: https://zkga.me/
CryptoZombies: https://cryptozombies.io
Trevor Clarke is founder of Croncat, a decentralized solution for scheduling blockchain transactions. Essentially allowing you to schedule tasks for any contract. In this episode Trevor talks with Sasha about his inspiration and the vision he sees possible for future applications that are fully automated. They also talk about:
• How crypto doesn't have good viral loops and how Croncat can help
• Enabling more growth and retention by automating tasks
• Building the "Layer Y" of Web3
• His background in e-commerce and realizing it should be redone fundamentally
• Why he chose to build on NEAR Protocol
• Advice for crypto curious people
Episode links:
Croncat: https://cron.cat
Trevor Clarke: https://github.com/TrevorJTClarke
Croncat docs: https://docs.cron.cat/docs/
Berry Club: https://berryclub.io
Louis Liu is co-founder of Octopus Network, a brand new multichain network that provides leased security and interoperability to Substrate appchains. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• How developers can benefit from their new approach
• New app use-cases for Octopus Network
• Early inspiration on multi-chain versus multi-sharding
• How Cosmos, Polkadot, and NEAR Protocol differ
• What is the Octopus Relay and how does it work on NEAR Protocol
• State of Web3 development in China
Episode links:
Louis Liu: https://twitter.com/louisliubj
Octopus Network: https://oct.network
Unique One: https://www.unique.one
Blaze (Henry Tafolla) is creator of Cheddar, a loyalty token and Yield Farm for the NEAR ecosystem of dApps. Cheddar's goal is to help develop and foster dApps on NEAR while rewarding users for their use and loyalty to the NEAR ecosystem. In this episode Blaze talks with Sasha about:
• Growing up in Kansas
• How developers can benefit from Cheddar
• The use cases for a loyalty network
• How he decides which idea to work on
• Why he decided to build on NEAR
• Best launch strategies
Episode links:
Cheddar: https://cheddar.farm
Blaze: https://twitter.com/Blaze0x1
Open Shards Alliance: https://openshards.io
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Kris Vaivods is CEO of Vorta Gaming, creators of the much talked about play-to-earn game Hash Rush. Hash Rush is an online sci-fi/fantasy RTS game set in the fictional Hermeian galaxy. In this episode Kris talks with Sasha about:
• What exactly is play-to-earn?
• Keeping the bar high in blockchain gaming
• Getting the economics right in the game marketplace
• Gaming genres that do and don't work with the play-to-earn model
• Why he decided to work with NEAR Protocol
• Advice for aspiring game developers
Episode links:
Hash Rush: https://hashrush.com
Hash Rush Discord: https://discord.com/invite/4YMBHbw
Vorto Gaming: https://vortogaming.com
[Book] Virtual Economies: Design and Analysis: https://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Economies-Design-Analysis-Information-ebook/dp/B08H1914CL
[VIDEO] Watch an early Hash Rush gameplay video: https://youtu.be/eBILikSWiVk
Mario Reder is creator of the upcoming play-to-earn web video game built with the NEAR protocol blockchain. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Making the jump from software development to game development
• How he decided on building Shroom Kingdom versus other ideas he had
• Choosing to build for the browser instead of other specific platforms
• The tokenomics of Shroom Kingdom
• Building community for a play-to-earn game
• Single biggest challenge in building a play-to-earn game
Episode links:
Shroom Kingdom: https://shroomkingdom.net
SK discord: https://discord.gg/SPZsgSe
Shroom Kingdom white paper: https://whitepaper.shroomkingdom.net/
Mario Reder: https://twitter.com/marior_dev
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Lucio Tato & Claudio Cossio are co-founders of Meta Pool, the first liquid staking solution for NEAR protocol (a climate-neutral, high-speed, and low transaction fee Layer-1 Blockchain platform). In this episode they talk with Sasha about:
• What is liquid staking?
• How to meet other co-founders or collaborators in web3
• Specific use cases for liquid staking
• Increasing the Nakamoto coefficient of the NEAR ecosystem
• Advice for newcomers in the web3 space
Episode links:
MetaPool: https://metapool.app
MetaPool Discord: https://discord.gg/tG4XJzRtdQ
Open Shards Collective: https://openshards.io
Gabby Dizon is co-founder of Yield Guild Games, a play-to-earn gaming guild. They invest in yield producing NFTs in games and virtual worlds and organize a player community from around the world to earn an income from playing these games. Yield Guild Games recently raised 4.6 million dollar round from the highly competitive Andreessen Horowitz venture fund. In this episode Gabby talks with Sasha bout:
• How Axie Infinity has an unheard of 90% 30 day retention for players
• What drove Axie Infinity and Yield Guild Games' growth to go vertical in 2021
• Raising $4.6M from VC firm Andreessen Horowitz
• What's unique about play-to-earn games
• Thinking about how to get to 5 or even 10 million Yield Guild Scholars
• Why having an open economy actually brings more value for players and the studio versus closed economies in Web2 games
• Advice and important resources for game developers
Episode links:
Gabby Dizon: https://twitter.com/gabusch
Yield Guild Games: https://yieldguild.io
[BLOG POST] YGG Raises $4.6M Led By a16z to Accelerate Play-to-Earn: https://medium.com/yield-guild-games/ygg-raises-4-6m-from-a16z-to-accelerate-play-to-earn-gaming-7f5cbccce657
Yield Guild Scholarships: https://medium.com/yield-guild-games/yield-guild-explains-play-to-earn-and-scholarships-bb1e097c2a61
Formula 1 Delta Game: https://www.f1deltatime.com
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Joel Lin is founding member of Citadao, a decentralized real estate platform creating an ecosystem of new DeFi primitives. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• What he learned working in real estate
• How he first encountered crypto
• The user problems that lead him to focus on Citadao
• The metrics he's looking at to grow
• Putting new assets on-chain
Episode links:
Citadao: https://citadao.io
Citadao Discord: https://discord.gg/JjmDe2QdbJ
[BLOG POST] How Citadao Works: A User’s Perspective: https://citadao.medium.com/how-citadao-works-a-users-perspective-a20458cdda0d
Miguel Piedrafita recently made the switch to web3 as a developer at Showtime, an NFT social network. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Why he made his first project open-source
• How NFTs are a new primitive for the internet
• Finding a community to grow with
• New ways to monetize projects on the web
• Advice for others who are thinking of making the switch to web3
Episode links:
Miguel Piedrafita: https://twitter.com/m1guelpf
Showtime: https://tryshowtime.com
[Miguel's Blog Post] How to Learn (Crypto): https://m1guelpf.blog/p_PQRfysu4i1RWoIoqGxAiqYXLxnahr3YzV8KPQIzR0
OrgManager: https://miguelpiedrafita.com/orgmanager
Auralite: https://auralite.vercel.app
Dm.link: https://dm.link
Connie Digital is a content creator in the Web3 space. He's written for Cointelegraph, was one of the first to experiment with social tokens with his own token $HUE, and is a musician and artist. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Being a writer and a musician in the web3 space
• What caused the explosion of NFTs
• Being one of the first to experiment with social tokens
• Why Cryptovoxels and Decentraland are like the evolutions of personal websites
• His three ideas on what's missing in the space
Episode links:
Connie Digital: https://twitter.com/ConnieDigital
Connie Digital's Website: https://danky.art
Seed Club social token incubator: https://seedclub.xyz
Sotheby’s Virtual Gallery in Decentraland: https://www.coindesk.com/sothebys-opens-virtual-replica-london-galleries-decentraland
Catalog Works, a music NFT platform: https://beta.catalog.works
Conlan Rios is founder and CEO of Async Art - a company that allows anyone to create and collect programmable media enabling you to split digital paintings and music into "layers" which let you affect the overall work. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Why web3 is the most exciting technology opportunity creators and founders have had in 20 years
• His transition from game development to starting Async Art
• Leaving school at 17 and cold calling startups
• What was behind the explosion of NFTs
• Why the Neuromancer and Ready Player One worlds are only possible with blockchain
Episode links:
Conlan Rios: https://twitter.com/conlan
Async Art: https://async.art
Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda on Async Art: https://async.art/music/master/0xb6dae651468e9593e4581705a09c10a76ac1e0c8-1745
Unchained Podcast: https://unchainedpodcast.com
[BOOK] The Internet of Money by Andreas M. Antonopoulos: https://aantonop.com/books/
Justin Aversano is a photographer and curator working within the New York City and Los Angeles art scene. Recently Justin had one of his NFT series selected for Sotheby's auction with total Twin Flames exceeded $1 million in total resales. Justin is the co-founder and creative director of SaveArtSpace, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing community art to public spaces. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Discovering NFTs
• His Twin Flames photo series, a collection of 100 Twin Portraits
• Using new technology tools to achieve his creative goals
• Save Art Space, a nonprofit pursuit to bring more art to public spaces ‣
• Books he'd recommend for creators
Episode links:
Justin Aversano: https://twitter.com/justinaversano
Twin Flames NFT Series: https://opensea.io/collection/twinflames
Twin-lens reflex camera: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin-lens_reflex_camera
Crypto Punks in #Miami: https://decrypt.co/64019/cryptopunks-nft-miami-pixelated
[BOOK] The Four Agreements: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
New episodes every Tuesday. Listen and subscribe below:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/next-creators/id1518717692
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6dmrfNGdJEYSOaIL7uxyPH?si=Iq9-zmuuSAWtWzOt7Qv1kA&dl_branch=1
Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9xRm54clo3UA
This podcast is part of the Human Guild. Learn more at: https://humanguild.io
Join the Human Guild Discord: https://discord.gg/bUu2hcdzxW
Jonathan Dunlap is CEO and founder of MintGate - a company allowing creators to create token-protected pages for any content for their community including events, videos, music, websites, and written blogs. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Software shops running as co-ops
• Enabling communities with MintGate
• The new possibilities of DAOs
• How democracy itself is a technology and can evolve
• Running the flash runtime team at Adobe
• How to think about product-market fit
• What he brought to Web3 from working in Silicon Valley
Episode links:
Jonathan Dunlap: https://twitter.com/jadbox
MintGate: https://www.mintgate.io
Twitter NFT drops: https://twitter.com/Twitter/status/1410227743636217856
MintGate Discord: https://discord.com/invite/9BGwzQwJdt
DappCon: https://dappcon.io
Ethereum Homestead: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-2
Nate Geier is CEO of Mintbase, the Shopify for the new virtual economy. Mintbase enables you to monetize your content by allowing you to create and sell NFTs as art, tickets, music and more. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Helping create Wildeverse, the world's first hybrid NFT festival
• The emerging crypto community in Lisbon
• Hurdles of rewriting Mintbase in Rust
• Early career days of overhauling NIkeID from jQuery to React
• The future of smart contracts and DAOs
Episode links:
Nate Geier: https://twitter.com/nategeier
Mintbase: https://www.mintbase.io
Mintbase's Discord: https://discord.com/invite/89cSHH7
Wildeverse Hybrid NFT Music Festival: https://www.wildeverse.com
Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee is CEO and founder of DIGITALAX, a digital fashion OS optimized for taking digital fashion into gaming, VR and other live 3D content environments. In this episode she talks with Sasha about:
• Dropping out of space engineering school
• How digital fashion can onboard new people into Web3
• Bringing NFTs to games like Minecraft, Among US, and Roblox
• The state of the Metaverse today
• Balancing building a platform for digital artists, gamers, and coders
Episode links:
Emma-Jane MacKinnon-Lee: https://twitter.com/emmajane1313
DIGITALAX: https://www.digitalax.xyz/
DIGIFIZZY Magazine: https://digifizzy.xyz
Variance Swap: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/varianceswap.asp
[BOOK] The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Learning-Journey-Optimal-Performance/dp/0743277465
[BOOK] Black Swan by Nassim Taleb: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Swan-Improbable-Robustness-Fragility/dp/081297381X
Fashion predictions from 1930s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvtxFFj6eDY
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Kyle Chayka is a freelance journalist featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The Verge and more. He's currently creator of the $DIRT newsletter which recently raised $33,000 in one week selling 131 NFTs. It's a proof-of-concept that shows NFTs alone can fund a small media company. In this week he talks with Sasha about:
• Raising nearly $30K via NFTs to fund the $DIRT newsletter
• His experience writing for Mirror, a new kind of publishing platform
• How social tokens/DAOs could serve as self-controlled economic engines for producing culture on the internet
• Transitioning from an art curator to journalist
• Creating Study Hall, a media newsletter & online support network for media workers.
Episode links:
Kyle Chayka: https://twitter.com/chaykak
Sign up for the $DIRT newsletter: https://dirt.substack.com
Mirror: https://mirror.xyz
Study Hall: https://studyhall.xyz
Mattia Cuttini is a musician, painter, digital artist living in Italy. Recently NFTs and other web3 opportunities allowed him to work on his art full time. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• How Web3 platforms allowed him to pursue art full-time
• Remixing art and music in Web3 in ways that weren't possible before
• How he structures his day to create more
• Advice for new artists entering the space
• New platforms people should explore
Episode links:
Mattia Cuttini: https://twitter.com/mattiac
Mattia's Rubber Stamp Art: https://knownorigin.io/collections/mattia-cuttini/rubberstamp-artworks
hic et nunc: https://www.hicetnunc.xyz
Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda on Async Art: https://async.art/music/master/0xb6dae651468e9593e4581705a09c10a76ac1e0c8-1745
Artur Sychov is CEO & Founder of Somnium Space VR an open, social & persistent #VR platform built on blockchain where users can buy land as well as build or import objects. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Changing careers from day trader to an entrepreneur
• How trying on a VR headset changed his life
• Why the Metaverse is already here
• How he grows the community in Somnium Space
• Integrating blockchain as an integral part of VR in Somnium Space
• Will there be one Metaverse or several?
Episode links:
Artur Sychov: https://twitter.com/asychov
Somniium Space: https://somniumspace.com
AltspaceVR: https://altvr.com
VRChat: https://vrchat.com
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Welcome to the new episode of Next Creators, a podcast interviewing creators forging a new path for themselves and others on the internet. In this week's episode Sasha talks with NFT artist BruceTheGoose about:
• Being able to change his life trajectory because of NFTs
• Why we've only barely scratched the surface of what NFTs are capable of
• Being the first artist to mint on Paras
• Questioning whether we are killing the environment by running NFTs
• Advice for new creators in crypto
• His passion for creative freedom
Episode links:
BruceTheGoose: https://twitter.com/xbrucethegoose
The First Supper on Async Art: https://async.art/art/master/0x6c424c25e9f1fff9642cb5b7750b0db7312c29ad-0
Flawnt: https://flawnt.me/
Showtime: https://tryshowtime.com
[Blog Post] What is an IDO: https://hackernoon.com/what-is-ido-the-new-alternative-to-ieo-and-ico-70l34zf
Lazy.com (From Marc Cuban): https://lazy.com
Welcome to the new episode of Next Creators, a podcast interviewing creators forging a new path for themselves and others on the internet. In this week's episode Sasha talks with Max Jackson about:
• Becoming a pedi cab driver
• Learning Calligraphy from YouTube
• Advice for creators who feel stuck
• Completing 100 days of Blender
• Building a community to find healthy base of support
Episode links:
Max Jackson: twitter.com/mxjxn
Paras Profile: https://paras.id/mxjxn.near/collection
Blog: https://beta.cent.co/mxjxn/
Sasha Hudzilin: https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH
Welcome to the new episode of Next Creators, a podcast interviewing creators forging a new path for themselves and others on the internet. In this week's episode Sasha talks with Jason "Vandal" Schadt, founder of DAOrecords about:
• Having a top billboard hit and signing away all music rights to it
• Differences between music industries in different countries
• Giving music artists control again with audio NFTs and in Web3
• His advice for creators and new builders
• How music labels might work in the future
This podcast is part of the Human Guild. Learn more at - https://humanguild.io
Join our discord to discuss this episode and meet other creators and see how you can support your favorite artists : https://discord.gg/bUu2hcdzxW
Welcome to the new episode of Next Creators, a podcast interviewing creators forging a new path for themselves and others on the internet. This means NFTs, gaming, music, community platforms, and other ways creators are earning directly from their work and building a community with their supports.
In this week's episode Sasha talks with Rogan X - welder, NFT artist, and technologist about:
• Becoming a certified journeyman welder
• How he discovered Web3
• Fitting in as an artist in the technology space
• Dropping out of high school
• Advice for new people in the NFT and Web3 space
This podcast is part of the Human Guild. Learn more at - https://humanguild.io
Join our discord to discuss this episode and meet other creators and see how you can support your favorite artists : https://discord.gg/bUu2hcdzxW
Welcome to a new episode of Next Creators, a podcast interviewing creators forging a new path for themselves and others on the internet. This means NFTs, gaming, music, community platforms, and other ways creators are earning directly from their work and building a community with their supports.
In this week's episode Sasha talks with Chase Freo, CEO of OPGames, about:
• The current state of gaming
• What are game jams and how do they work?
• Balancing play-to-earn incentives with community building
• What he does to get unstuck
• Advice for creators who think the Web3 space may not be for them
This podcast is part of the Human Guild. Learn more at - https://humanguild.io
Join our discord to discuss this episode and meet other creators and see how you can support your favorite artists : https://discord.gg/bUu2hcdzxW
Welcome to a new episode of Next Creators, a podcast interviewing creators forging a new path for themselves and others on the internet. This means covering NFTs, music, community platforms, and other ways creators are earning directly from their work.
This podcast is part of the Human Guild. Learn more at - https://humanguild.io
Join our discord to discuss this episode and meet other creators and see how you can support your favorite artists : https://discord.gg/bUu2hcdzxW
UPDATE: We will be back shortly! Join our new Discord in the meantime for updates on the podcast and our upcoming guild! https://discord.com/invite/bUu2hcdzxW
Tara Tan is an investor at IDEO CoLab Ventures, which is the investment arm of IDEO. In this episode, she talks with Sasha about:
•Her unique perspective and the expertise IDEO brings to the table
•How the space has evolved in last several years
•Why adopting a product-first and user-first mindset is critical for founders
•Why product design holds untapped innovation in the Web 3.0 space
•How founder DNA affects early brands and how it interplays with early communities
Episode links:
IDEO CoLab Ventures - https://www.ideocolab.com/ventures/
Tara Tan - @TaraTan (https://twitter.com/TaraTan)
State of Adoption Report - https://www.stateofcrypto.report
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
NEWS - Join our new Discord for updates on the podcast and our upcoming guild! https://discord.com/invite/bUu2hcdzxW
Brady Dale is a senior reporter at CoinDesk, a publication reaching millions focused on digital assets and blockchain technology. There he covers blockchain-based startups. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• What exactly DeFi is
• Do boom cycles bring more innovation
• What are NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) and what are their use cases
• What is yield farming and liquidity mining
• Music artist Imogen Heap's project with blockchain and IP
• Should you be paying attention to prediction markets
Episode links:
Brady Dale: @BradyDale
CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com/
Mycelia Project (from Imogen Heap): http://myceliaformusic.org/
Yearn Finance Fair Launch: https://medium.com/iearn/delegated-funding-dao-vaults-7ab05a63d7ba
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Join our new Discord for updates on the podcast and our upcoming guild! https://discord.com/invite/bUu2hcdzxW
Maria Shen is an investor at Electric Capital, an early stage venture firm focused on cryptocurrencies, blockchain, fintech, and marketplaces. In this episode, she talks with Sasha about:
•How she decided to pursue her own business and what she learned through this experience
•What attracted her to join Electric Capital and what she does day-to-day as an investor
•How to avoid common founder mistakes
•How the blockchain industry has evolved in last couple years
•How to successfully synthesize information as a founder entering the space
Episode links:
Electric Capital - https://www.electriccapital.com
Maria Shen - @MariaShen
[REPORT] Electric Capital Developer Report (2020)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Rahmat "Riqi" Albariqi is founder of Paras, one of the fastest growing NFT marketplaces built on the NEAR protocol. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Differences in building a product integrating blockchain versus a traditional Web2 company
• Finding your niche as a platform
• Pivoting from building websites to social media to an NFT marketplace
• Onboarding new artists onto their platform
• Growing usage for your product after you've launched
• Finding channels to grow your community
• Deciding between Rust or TypeScript to develop on
• How artists can get paid with NFTs in a way that the internet did not deliver
Episode links:
Riqi: https://twitter.com/hdriqi
Paras: https://paras.id/
Paras Medium: https://medium.com/paras-media
ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/?sort_by=community
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator and be a part of a community of Web3 founders: https://www.openwebcollective.com
Robin Schmidt is Head of Video & Multimedia at The Defiant, the premier resource for DeFi news and content. In this episode he talks with Sasha and Matt Lockyer about:
• How developers and filmmakers are alike
• Telling a good company story when the market is against you
• The North Star at The Defiant
• Staying current with all #DeFi news
• How a meme is just a unit of story telling
• Frictions that are holding back more experiments in DeFi
• #RespectingDaPump
Episode links:
Robin Schmidt: @DirSchmidt
Camila Russo: @CamiRusso
The Defiant: https://thedefiant.io
The Defiant YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/3a0BEBx
The Rug Pool: https://decrypt.co/49124/meme-coin-rug-pull
[BOOK] Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson: https://amzn.to/3rC27eF
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator and be a part of a community of Web3 founders: https://www.openwebcollective.com
Nick Emmons is CEO and co-founder of Upshot, a protocol that pays experts to be honest and uses a new field of mechanism design called peer prediction to incentivize people to answer questions truthfully. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Real applications for a peer prediction protocol and market
• Creating a meme market
• The state of the NFT market in early 2021 and how you can manage NFT appraisals
• Use cases for decentralized claim insurance
• The dominantly truthful multi-task peer prediction mechanism
• Insurance products that could be built in the social sphere with Twitter and other services
• Developing on Skynet
Episode links:
Nick Emmons: @nick_emmons
Upshot: https://upshot.io
Upshot on Medium: https://medium.com/upshothq
MemeEconomy Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MemeEconomy/
Arrow's impossibility theorem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow's_impossibility_theorem
Skynet: https://siasky.net
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator and be a part of a community of Web3 founders: https://www.openwebcollective.com
Aidan Hyman and Greg Markou are cofounders and CEO and CTO, respectively, of ChainSafe a global leader in blockchain protocol and infrastructure development. In this episode they talk with Sasha and Matt Lockyer about:
• The Toronto crypto and developer ecosystem
• Implementing Typescript for the Ethereum 2.0 ecosystem
• Running and scaling a business when there's so much volatility in the space
• The transformative community and experience of ETH Global and ETH Waterloo
• The possibility of a light client, a key cornerstone feature, getting built and finished on Ethereum 2.0
• Problems to solve when building a decentralized product service like ChainSafe Files
• Maintaining web3.js
Episode links:
Aidan Hyman: @Aidan_IH
Gregory Markou: @GregTheGreek
ChainSafe: https://chainsafe.io
ChainSafe Files: https://files.chainsafe.io
Open Roles at ChainSafe: https://chainsafe.io/careers
[DEV TOOL] Lodestar, a Typescript implementation of Ethereum 2.0: https://github.com/ChainSafe/lodestar
[DEV TOOL] Truffle: https://www.trufflesuite.com
[DEV TOOL] Ganache: https://www.trufflesuite.com/docs/ganache/overview
[DEV TO FOLLOW] Richard Moore: https://github.com/ricmoo
[DEV TO FOLLOW] Nick Dodson: https://twitter.com/iamnickdodson
Matt Lockyer: @MattDLockyer
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator and be a part of a community of Web3 founders: https://www.openwebcollective.com
Marguerite DeCourcelle is CEO of Blockade Games, a leading blockchain video game development studio and maker of Neon District, a cyberpunk role-playing adventure and flagship franchise leveraging the latest in decentralized technologies, enabling players battle to progress through a sci-fi dystopia and earn in-game items. In this episode she talks with Sasha about:
• Launching her first crypto puzzle
• The opportunity for digital artists to monetize their work with NFTs
• Embedding technology and money into art
• The cultural artist explosion around NFTs
• Her vision for Neon District and how it tactically works for users
• Permanent storage on-chain with IPFS
• Challenges and learnings in running a game studio while also managing an online community
Episode links:
Marguerite deCourcelle: @coin_artist
Neon District: https://neondistrict.io
Blockade Games: https://blockade.games
NIFTEX: https://landing.niftex.com
I Love Bees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Bees
[RESOURCE] Meta Factory: https://metafactory.ai
[TOOL] Matic: https://matic.network
[TOOL] Koji: https://withkoji.com
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator and be a part of a community of Web3 founders: https://www.openwebcollective.com
Welcome to our first episode of 2021! We're excited to have a packed episode with James Young. James is founder of Abridged, a technology stack to build and manage decentralized projects and maker of Collab.Land, tokenized community tooling. Previously he was at Zynga (Farmville), Moloch DAO, and MetaCartel. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• How talking too much in class lead him to wanting to be a programmer
• Raising funds from Vitalik Buterin for Moloch DAO
• Lessons he brought to crypto after seeing the rise of Web 2.0 after the Dot-com crash
• The qualities that define the crypto ecosystem
• How social tokens can bring new social interactions between community members
• Solving product problems with game theory
• Incremental Decentralization vs. Progressive Decentralization
• How technology can shape culture
• Teaching students financial literacy through wallets
• Product opportunities in the creator economy
Episode links:
James Young: @jamesyoung
Moloch DAO: https://www.molochdao.com
Abridged: https://abridged.io
Collab.Land: https://collab.land
MetaCartel: https://www.metacartel.org
[Tool] Torus: https://tor.us
[Tool] Blocknative: https://www.blocknative.com
[Resource] Side Hustle Stack: https://sidehustlestack.co
[Book] Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
[Blog post] The Ownership Economy by Jesse Walden
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator and follow us online to keep up with new episodes: https://www.openwebcollective.com
Hi everyone we're on a short holiday break and have been busy planning more episodes with Open Web founders, builders, and investors for 2021. We hope you're staying safe and healthy. We will be back in 2021. Thank you for listening and subscribing!
Follow us on Twitter: @OpenWebFounders
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Subscribe to us on YouTube: Open Web Collective
Hart Lambur is co-founder of UMA Protocol, a decentralized financial contracts platform built to enable Universal Market Access. Similar to how HTTP allows information to move across borders, UMA allows risk to move across the internet without a centralized authority or single point of failure. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• How Hart made the switch to entrepreneurship from a trading desk
• What are synthetic assets?
• How we can move out of the proof-of-concept phase in crypto to the consumer product phase
• Thinking through your token economics
• Increasing the surface area for experimentation in DeFi
• What they want to inspire with developer mining
• Challenges and advice on how to run a project completely remote
Episode links:
Hart Lambur: @hal2001
UMA Protocol: https://umaproject.org/
Talk directly with Hart and the UMA team on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/jsb9XQJ
UMA Knowledge Base: https://docs.umaproject.org/
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator batch and apply to be part of the next cohort in January 2021 - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Balaji S. Srinivasan is an angel investor and entrepreneur. Formerly the CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he was also the cofounder of Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), Counsyl (acquired by Myriad), and Teleport (acquired by Topia). In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• What lead him from biology into computer science and entrepreneurship
• Real projects that are seeing 10X improvements over the past few years
• How crypto is like a 10-100 million-person country building its own internal economy
• Is crypto a good space for Google or FaceBook employees?
• Making it possible to consistently make money in crypto
• How the next evolution of open source is open-state and open-execution
• Good entry points for people interested in the open web space
Episode links:
Balaji Srinivasan: @balajis
[Blog post] And What Has the Blockchain Ever Done for Us?
Balaji's writing and website: https://balajis.com
[Educational resource] Coinbase Earn: https://www.coinbase.com/rewards
[Educational resource] Binance Academy: https://academy.binance.com/en
[Educational resource] Brilliant.com Course on Cryptocurrency: https://brilliant.org/courses/cryptocurrency/
[Educational resource] Nakamoto: https://nakamoto.com
[Book] Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator batch and apply to be part of the next cohort in January 2021 - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Thibauld Favre is CEO of Fairmint, a company focused on helping founders with the most effective solution to turn stakeholders into investors. Sasha is joined by special guest Matt Lockyer from the NEAR team. In this episode they talk about:
• What is a continuous organization?
• Waking up to seeing someone invest $20K in your company
• Reversing the negotiation power between you and your investor
• How traditional organizations will become DAOs
• Using a DeFi stack to build a consumer product
• Transitioning from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism
• NEAR's developer culture
Episode links:
Thibauld Favre: @Thibauld
Fairmint: https://fairmint.co
[White paper] Continuous Organizations: Aligning stakeholders’ financial interests in the Digital Economy: https://github.com/C-ORG/whitepaper
Magic link: https://magic.link
Matt Lockyer: @MattDLockyer
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator batch and apply to be part of the next cohort in January 2021 - https://www.openwebcollective.com
David Vorick is CEO and co-founder of Sia, a leading decentralized cloud storage network secured by blockchain technology. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• The one thing that lead to the centralization of the internet
• Why we should open up the internet again
• Making data secure when users are convenience-minded not privacy-minded
• Making sustainable content without advertising
• His favorite Web3 consumer apps
• Mental models and resources useful for building a thriving community
Episode links:
David Vorick: @DavidVorick
Sia: https://sia.tech
Sia's discord: https://discord.gg/sia
[David's blog post] The War for a Free Internet: https://blog.sia.tech/the-war-for-a-free-internet-c0a7fcc00c46
Mastadon: https://joinmastodon.org
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator batch and apply to be part of the next cohort in January 2021 - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Brady Dale is a senior reporter at CoinDesk, a publication reaching millions focused on digital assets and blockchain technology. There he covers blockchain-based startups. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• What exactly DeFi is
• Do boom cycles bring more innovation
• What are NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) and what are their use cases
• What is yield farming and liquidity mining
• Music artist Imogen Heap's project with blockchain and IP
• Should you be paying attention to prediction markets
Episode links:
Brady Dale: @BradyDale
CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com/
Mycelia Project (from Imogen Heap): http://myceliaformusic.org/
Yearn Finance Fair Launch: https://medium.com/iearn/delegated-funding-dao-vaults-7ab05a63d7ba
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator batch and apply to be part of the next cohort in January 2021 - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Carolyn Reckhow is Head of Business Development and Strategy at Thesis, a cryptocurrency venture production studio that builds and invests in products that empower individuals. In this episode she talks with Sasha about:
• How her background in social sciences helped build a foundation to make her successful in crypto
• Building teams to scale at Consensus
• Defining your user persona to help you build your crypto product
• What was revealed to her that convinced her to join the Thesis team
• The best of bitcoin and Ethereum with tBTC
• How to improve the usability of crypto products
• Books she recommends reading to get excited about the Web3 space
Episode links:
Carolyn Reckhow: @CReckhow
Thesis: https://thesis.co
Keep Network: https://keep.network
tBTC: https://tbtc.network
[Blog post] Where are the crypto products?
Reading recommendations:
Camila Russo's The Defiant: https://thedefiant.substack.com
Token Daily: https://www.tokendaily.co
Zero Knowledge Podcast: https://www.zeroknowledge.fm/
[Book] The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum
[Book] Out of the Ether: The Amazing Story of Ethereum and the $55 Million Heist that Almost Destroyed It All
[Book] The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
[Book] Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Sasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator batch and apply to be part of the next cohort in January 2021 - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Joyce Yang is founder of Global Coin Research, an online publication focused on helping traders, investors and execs get deep access and research into the Asia crypto ecosystem. In this episode she talks with Sasha about:
• Turning Global Coin Research from a small newsletter into a business
• Go-to-market strategies for breaking into Asia
• How to build awareness for your startup in Asia
• How Alipay and WeChat are digitizing the entire cash payment system in China
• DeFi trends she is noticing in China and Asia
• Differences in developers in the Eastern hemisphere versus Western
• Her advice for founders looking to break into the region
Episode links:
Joyce Yang : @JoyceInNYC
Global Coin Research : https://globalcoinresearch.com
Global Coin Ventures : https://globalcoin.ventures/
WuBlockchain : @WuBlockchain
[Book] The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business
[Book] No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator batch and apply to be part of the next cohort in January 2021 - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Haseeb Qureshi is Managing Partner at Dragonfly Capital, a cryptocurrency venture capital firm. Their portfolio includes companies like Cosmos, dYdX, and Maker. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Turning $50 into over $100K in poker
• Working on Brian Armstrong's code at Airbnb
• Advice for product teams entering crypto
• Developing a vulnerability against Bancor
• Knowing what we know today, how would we design a payments system from scratch
• Being recruited by Naval Ravikant to become an investor
• Why the internet is not the only model for building technology products
• What he would do as a new entrepreneur coming into crypto in late 2020
Episode Links:
Haseeb Qureshi : @hosseeb
Dragonfly Capital : https://www.dcp.capital/
Dragonfly Research : https://medium.com/dragonfly-research
[Blog post] What explains the rise of AMMs?
[Blog post] Introduction to Cryptocurrency
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Meltem Demirors is Chief Strategy Officer at CoinShares, pioneers in digital asset investing. They believe bitcoin and blockchain networks are landmark innovations that will fundamentally reshape the global financial system. In this episode she talks with Sasha about:
• Staging a FinTech protest at MIT Media labs which eventually lead to one of the most widely attended online classes in MIT history
• How 20 years of mental models have completely broken with new Web3 technologies
• Asking for what you want in your graduate degree and in your career
• What resonates with founders when they get started in the Web3 industry
• Real use cases for IPFS
• Her top sci-fi book recommendations
Episode notes:
CoinShares - https://coinshares.com
Meltem Demirors -@Melt_Dem (https://twitter.com/Melt_Dem)
Meltem's Sci-fi reading list - https://www.meltemdemirors.com/sci-fi-reading-list
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Yisi Liu is CTO at the Dimension Foundation. Dimension offers a series of products in advocatory for social liberty in the ever-realistic era of cyberspace, among which the most fundamental ones are Right of Cryptography and Freedom of Interpretation. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Why privacy and encryption is fundamental for Web3
• How Europe and the US think about privacy
• The fundamental tradeoff between privacy and usability
• Identity on blockchain
• How the Open Web will evolve
Episode notes:
Dimension Foundation: https://dimension.im
Yisi Liu : @TheYisiLiu (https://twitter.com/theYisiLiu)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Adam Draper is Founder and Managing Director of the Boost VC Accelerator. Boost VC Accelerator invests $500K in founders and focuses on technologies like crypto, VR/AR, AI, human augmentation, space and more. They've invested in over 250 companies from over 30 countries. In this episode Sasha talks with him about:
• Advice for founders after hearing Coinbase pitch and being one of their earliest investors
• Why video games are undervalued social networks
• Why crypto is an amazing sandbox for rapid prototyping of financial products
• How to attract the best talent to your startup
• Investing in jetpacks
• Why he fears our imagination is shrinking
Episode links:
Adam Draper - @AdamDraper (https://twitter.com/AdamDraper)
Apply to the Boost VC Accelerator - https://www.boost.vc
Email Adam directly at : adam@boost.vc
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Mona El Isa is CEO & Founder of Avantgarde Finance, a company focused on on-chain asset management and bringing the DeFi ecosystem together. She was formerly CEO and co-founder of Melonport. In this episode Sasha talks with her about:
• Launching and managing a $20 million seed capital hedge fund
• Selling out the Melonport token sale in two minutes
• How to establish trust in a decentralized market
• Similarities from being a trader at Goldman Sachs and building a DeFi product
• Why the killer use for blockchain is finance
• How the crypto space will evolve over the next few years
Episode links:
Mona El Isa - @Mona_El_Isa (https://twitter.com/mona_el_isa)
Melonport - https://melonprotocol.com
Avantgarde Finance - https://avantgarde.finance
Multichain Asset Managers Association - https://www.mama.global
Validity Labs - https://validitylabs.org
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Subscribe to the Building the Open Web newsletter so you never miss an episode - https://openwebpodcast.substack.com
Calvin Liu is a strategy lead at Compound, an open-source, autonomous interest rate protocol and one of the most widely used systems built on Ethereum, with tens of thousands of users, and dozens of applications integrating Compound. He was previously founder of the iOS app Outpour.
In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Making decisions as a first-time entrepreneur versus a serial entrepreneur
• What convinced him to join Compound when it was just a deck and a white paper
• Product frameworks on deciding which problems to prioritize as an early-stage startup
• The secret to seeing DeFi and crypto projects being built in real time
• How to get feedback on your startup idea from others in the crypto space
Episode links:
Compound - https://compound.finance
Calvin Liu - @cjliu49 (https://twitter.com/cjliu49)
Pantera Capital - https://www.panteracapital.com
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Subscribe to the Building the Open Web newsletter so you never miss an episode - https://openwebpodcast.substack.com
Ash Egan is a partner at Accomplice where he invests in blockchain and crypto enabled protocols, applications and companies. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• Finding product-market fit outside of DeFi
• Monetization opportunities in open finance
• Avoiding tragedy-of-the-commons with building protocols
• Successful DeFi experiments
• How crypto networks differ from walled gardens like Facebook or Twitter
• How to bring crypto adoption to the next level
Episode links:
Accomplice - https://accomplice.co
Ash Egan - @AshAEgan (https://twitter.com/ashaegan)
Maker DAO - https://makerdao.com
Torus - https://tor.us
Linda Xie's Beginner’s Guide on Cryptoassets - https://medium.com/@linda.xie/beginners-guide-series-on-cryptoassets-d897535d887
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Episode NotesJake Brukhman is founder and CEO of CoinFund, a blockchain technology research company and private cryptoasset investment firm. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
• What's changed in 2020 for the blockchain space
• How to figure out the right model for decentralized funding
• Bringing decentralized products to market
• Leveraging blockchain tech to build companies
• How the current pandemic will affect founders
Episode links:
CoinFund - https://coinfund.io
Jake Brukhman - @jbrukh (https://twitter.com/jbrukh)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Sergey Nazarov is Co-founder of Chainlink, a decentralized oracle network that provides real-world data to smart contracts on the blockchain. In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
•The need for universally connected smart contracts
•What is and what makes a good oracle
•How Chainlink came to be
•The world changing scenario for DeFi
•What it takes to build blockchain infrastructure
•Advice for developers and founders thinking of entering blockchain
Episode links:
Chainlink - https://chain.link
Sergey Nazarov - @SergeyNazarov (https://twitter.com/SergeyNazarov)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Jill Carlson is a principal at Slow Ventures and co-founder of the Open Money Initiative, a non-profit that researches how people use money in closed economies and collapsing monetary systems.
In this episode she talks with Sasha about:
•Early days of Bitcoin and Venezuela
•How cryptocurrencies can dig tunnels through financial silos
•Why she's still bullish on Layer 1 protocols
•Advice on how to break into the crypto space when you're outside of it
•Where founders can go for a source of inspiration
Episode links:
Slow Ventures - https://slow.co
Open Money Initiative - https://www.openmoneyinitiative.org
Jill Carlson - @jillruthcarlson (https://twitter.com/jillruthcarlson)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Anton Bukov is Co-Founder and CTO of 1inch.exchange and former Senior Smart Contract Engineer at NEAR. 1inch.exchange is a decentralized DeFi aggregator that sources liquidity from various exchanges and is capable of splitting a single trade transaction across multiple EXes.
In this episode he talks with Sasha about:
•The magic of smart contracts
•Having his blockchain startup double in growth every month
•Why Ethereum will never be able to scale
•How shaded systems will change the dynamics of DeFi/blockchain space
Episode links:
1inch.exchange - https://1inch.exchange/
Anton Bukov - @k06a (https://twitter.com/k06a)
1inch Exchange Blog - https://medium.com/@1inch.exchange
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Brett Gibson is a partner at Initialized Capital, an early stage venture capital firm. They've invested in Coinbase , Instacart , Cruise , Reddit , Opendoor, and more. In this episode, he talks with Sasha about:
•How he got started in entrepreneurship
•The value crypto can add to products
•How he thinks about the future of the crypto space
Episode links:
Initialized Fund - https://initialized.com
Brett Bgison - @brettdg (https://twitter.com/brettdg)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Jesse Walden is founder at Variant, previously a (crypto investing) partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and founder at Mediachain Labs (acquired by Spotify). In this episode, he talks with Sasha about:
•How a16z thinks about investing in crypto companies
•Starting a startup using a progressive decentralization path
•How to think about the "layers (not eras) of blockchain computing"
•What it means for crypto to go consumer
Episode links:
Variant - https://variant.fund
A16Z Crypto Startup School - https://a16z.com/crypto-startup-school/
Layers (not eras) of blockchain computing blog post
Jesse Walden - @jessewldn (https://twitter.com/jessewldn)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Allan Carroll is Chief Technology Officer at LoanSnap. A smart mortgage lender that provides solutions based on your entire financial situation while using smart loans. In this episode, he talks with Sasha about:
•What he learned about growth and scaling to 20 million users at FamilyLink
•Building an April Fool's joke that brought 3-4 million people to his previous company
•Working on machine learning in the early 2010s
•Biggest challenges in building LoanSnap
Episode links:
LoanSnap - https://www.goloansnap.com
Market LoanSnap - https://market.goloansnap.com/
Allan Carroll - @AllanCa (https://twitter.com/allanca)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Raphael Gaudreault is Chief Technology Officer at Eva Coop. A cooperative ride-sharing application based on blockchain. In this episode, he talks with Sasha about:
•How he learned problem-solving by building games at an early age
•How Eva is solving the two-sided marketplace problem
•Programmable equity and applying the cooperative model to other verticals
•How to make the blockchain layer disappear for users when they use your product
Episode links:
Eva Coop - https://eva.coop
Raphael Gaudreault - @RaphaelGaudreau (https://twitter.com/raphaelgaudreau)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com/podcast
Avichal Garg is a Managing Partner at Electric Capital. In this episode, he talks with Sasha about:
•Why Avichal pursued PM work in Google post college and his entrepreneurial adventures afterwards
•How he and Curtis got into crypto for the first time
•What they’re looking for in entrepreneurs at Electric Capital
•Why top talent should join blockchain space
Danny Zuckerman, is co-founder of 3box. In this episode, he talks with Sasha about:
•How Danny fell down into the blockchain rabbit hole
•How an unfortunate event in his personal life led to him co-writing the book on identity and becoming interested in the topic
•Why product builders and engineers should be excited about the space
•How crypto enables piecing together any set of experiences into interoperable, holistic experiences
Episode links:
3Box - https://3box.io
Danny Zuckerman - @DaZuck (https://twitter.com/dazuck)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com/podcast
Yat Siu is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur (Outblaze & Animoca Brands) and angel investor. In this episode, he talks with Sasha about:
•How he started making money on software coding jobs since he was 12
•How he worked in the early days of Atari and came to the U.S.
•How he moved to Asia, started the first Internet service provider in Hong Kong, sold it to IBM, and moved on to mobile gaming and now blockchain gaming
•What are some commonalities between early Internet, early mobile and blockchain now
Episode links:
Animoca Brands - https://www.animoca.com
Yat Siu - @YSiu (https://twitter.com/ysiu)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Tara Tan is an investor at IDEO CoLab Ventures, which is the investment arm of IDEO. In this episode, she talks with Sasha about:
•Her unique perspective and the expertise IDEO brings to the table
•How the space has evolved in last several years
•Why adopting a product-first and user-first mindset is critical for founders
•Why product design holds untapped innovation in the Web 3.0 space
•How founder DNA affects early brands and how it interplays with early communities
Episode links:
IDEO CoLab Ventures - https://www.ideocolab.com/ventures/
Tara Tan - @TaraTan (https://twitter.com/TaraTan)
State of Adoption Report - https://www.stateofcrypto.report
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Yaniv Tal is a project lead at Graph Protocol, a query protocol for blockchains. In this episode, he talks with Sasha about:
•How he got interested in pursuing entrepreneurship as a career
•How he come up with the idea for his latest project, Graph
•Why Web 3.0 skeptics are wrong & lots of decentralized apps will emerge
•Strong product teams focusing on usability in the space
•How the real adoption should start with the crypto-native community first
Episode links:
The Graph - https://thegraph.com
Yaniv Tal - @YanivGraph (https://twitter.com/yanivgraph)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Maria Shen is an investor at Electric Capital, an early stage venture firm focused on cryptocurrencies, blockchain, fintech, and marketplaces. In this episode, she talks with Sasha about:
•How she decided to pursue her own business and what she learned through this experience
•What attracted her to join Electric Capital and what she does day-to-day as an investor
•How to avoid common founder mistakes
•How the blockchain industry has evolved in last couple years
•How to successfully synthesize information as a founder entering the space
Episode links:
Electric Capital - https://www.electriccapital.com
Maria Shen - @MariaShen (https://twitter.com/mariashen)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com
Roneil Rubmurg is CEO and co-founder of Audius, a decentralized music streaming platform. In this episode, he talks with Sasha about:
•How he got into the crypto space & what inspired him to pursue Audius
•How to get adoption for blockchain applications
•How to make blockchain applications a lot more accessible for general audience
•How community owned and operated web services evolve beyond music space
Episode Links:
Audius - https://audius.co
Roneil Rumburg - @roneilr (https://twitter.com/roneilr)
Sasha Hudzilin - @AliaksandrH (https://twitter.com/AliaksandrH)
Learn more about the Open Web Collective and apply to be part of the community of founders and builders - https://www.openwebcollective.com