Ventures

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Chase Merlin (https://twitter.com/ChaseMerlin) and I discuss product management in Web3, specifically how he is approaching his projects within InfoTokenDAO (https://twitter.com/infotokendao) and BanyanDAO (https://twitter.com/BanyanDAO). We talk about how Chase got into Web3, how product managers need to think about Web3 differently than Web2, how NFTs are used in InfoToken, how dynamic NFTs will be used within BanyanDAO to signal progress, how to get involved and help, and why Web3 matters in general for humanity.Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-99 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.   1:35 - Tee-up for the episode, i.e. this is part of an informal mini-series within this show on why Web3 matters1:59 - Chase background: Web2 to Web3 product management, startups, growth teams, front-end flows, DeFi summer 2020, InfoToken, and BanyanDAO3:07 - Product management: what is it in the Web2 world? What have Chase’s roles been like?4:37 - Product management in Web3. Background on BanyanDAO (leveling-up Web2 product managers into Web3). 6:07 - More information about InfoToken (https://informationtoken.io/) https://twitter.com/infotokendao 8:10 - Is InfoToken capped at 100 people? (info about their scouts program) 9:00 - How were/are NFTs a part of InfoToken? 9:40 - InfoTokens were originally dropped for free. Who got access to them originally?10:46 - Fascinating model using NFTs as a gated community, where the NFTs are originally dropped for free.11:13 - More information about the type of work happening within InfoToken DAO. 12:25 - AMM on Optimism (explanation) → Product launch: https://twitter.com/VelodromeFi 15:30 - NFT project within BanyanDAO that Chase is leading. (Dynamic NFTs)17:46 - Will these be Soul-Bound / Non-Transferable NFTs?18:42 - What chain will these be issued on?19:11 - How is Chase leading the DAO team to go through “the product management process” when working on this project?21:57 - Will these NFTs be profile pics? 22:44 - For people in BanyanDAO - or not yet in - how can people help with this project?  (If you aren’t a part of BanayanDAO yet, check out https://banyandao.xyz/) 24:00 - Call to action - jump into BanyanDAO’s discord server24:38 - How is InfoToken operated as a DAO? What tooling is used?25:17 - How are people compensated within InfoTokenDAO?26:35 - Why does all this matter? Why does Web3 matter in Chase’s opinion?28:42 - Where can people learn more about Chase, BanyanDAO, and VelodromeFi? https://twitter.com/ChaseMerlin // https://banyandao.xyz/ // https://twitter.com/VelodromeFi 

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Josh Vitulli (https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-vitulli-71926415/) returns to the show to not only reflect on the last six months of the metaverse space, but how DAOs and NFTs can help humans flourish IRL (in real life). We talk about his recent article “Beyond Beeple and Bored Apes” (https://longtalestudios.substack.com/p/beyond-beeple-and-bored-apes), soul-bound NFTs, his leadership of Project Starling within BanyanDAO, a number of practical use cases for NFTs beyond what is normal today, and how all these technologies can (and should) be designed to tangibly make the world a better place. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-98 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.   1:40 - Tee-up for the episode, with an eye toward how all the Web3 things can (and should) promote human flourishing globally.2:25 - Introduction to Josh’s article of Beyond Beeple and Bored Apes → https://longtalestudios.substack.com/p/beyond-beeple-and-bored-apes // Different expressions of NFTs. 3:42 - Soul-bound NFTs (see also https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4105763 ) 4:15 - The past of NFTs - clearly driven by greed and financial gain - but there are hints of something more.5:10 - Bored Apes transitioned into a community play (token, metaverse, etc..) – and ape conservation efforts → https://redapes.org/bored-in-borneo/ 7:00 - BanyanDAO https://www.banyandao.xyz - more details, April 29th training day, how to get access, more details about Josh’s project within BanyanDAO → “Starling” 10:36 - What has the process been like to seed the Starling idea in BanyanDAO and organize a group of people around the world through the DAO across multiple time zones. 15:20 - Previous episode (Ep74) Josh was on around Metaverses (https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-74) // What has changed since then in the space?17:54 - Gaming community is pushing the first wave of the metaverses. 21:59 - Walmart training their workers via VR → https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/technology/pages/virtual-reality-revolutionizes-walmart-training.aspx22:27 - Coming back to Project Starling, how does Josh see the project helping people URL? 25:50 - Example of the algos pairing up teams to determine the best possible way/approach to accomplish something awesome IRL. 26:48 - How is Josh thinking about the authenticity of the trust network needed for Project Starling? 28:30 - How trust and trustlessness - trust in humans and trust in math - can affect positive change IRL. 32:29 - Final words from Josh on the overall theme of this episode. Hopes and aspirations of this technology. 34:02 - Where can people get a hold of Josh to continue the conversation? Best place → https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-vitulli-71926415/

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Daniel Wilson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wilson-phd-46956b35) and I continue our conversation from last episode to dive into how Web3 can (and should) be used to help promote human flourishing. We talk about the basics of Web3, how creators can receive direct compensation for their work easily from anywhere in the world, the implications of programmable money for developing communities, the story behind Daniel’s startup (https://smartstream.app/), and how NFTs can be used to start all kinds of businesses and NGOs globally. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-97 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.   2:49 - Quick recap of Part 1 of this conversation (https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-96) 3:27 - Daniel’s Web3 story; how he got into it. His “ah ha” moment. Learning about DeSo, DAOs, and NFTs from the perspective of the developing world. 9:30 - Daniel receives a $50 USD tip for a simple post, in the country of Georgia. 11:47 - Quick Web3 101: What are blockchains? What are NFTs?13:28 - What is a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)? // Daniel’s on-the-spot definition: “Cooperation by Code for a Common Cause”14:35 - How does Daniel see Web3 as a mechanism to help humans flourish globally. 18:03 - All the different terms in Web3 should be talked about in a multi-disciplinary way. The mosaic of the disciplines is what makes Web3 so compelling. 19:50 - What is Daniel doing right now in the Web3 space? (Compassionate Innovation, human language technology).21:14 - Daniel’s ideas in the Web3 payments space, based on programmable money. For example, payment for devices based on use (like a vending machine, but for many more types of devices).23:40 - How does money flow happen right now to lower resourced communities around the world right now? Stories from Fintech. Story of ~57k retail shops in Bangladesh that can convert SMS money into fiat money.25:49 - What are the cool things that can be done with programmable money to promote human flourishing? (Payment staking, improving remittances (remittances to earn), loyalty tokens, launching businesses with NFTs)28:30 - Yuga labs bringing the Ethereum blockchain to a halt / imagine if launching your business was like this. Solving the cold start problem. Users can just sell their NFT when they are done with your product.31:15 - The Internet of Things, when connected to streaming payments, can also incentivize behavior such as building better products to last.33:01 - Helping the developing world if pay-to-use models allow better appliances and things to be built35:55 - More about Daniel’s startup: SmartStream.38:35 - (https://smartstream.app/)  – can put in your email and check out the white paper39:10 - Summarizing our Part 1 and Part 2 conversations here40:25 - What really excites Daniel about the future of Web3 - more innovation that is compassionate. Whatever backs your currency is what you want to see more of in the world.44:55 - Best way to get a hold of Brandon online to continue the conversation.  Twitter: @danwils (academic) @geoframeai (web3 & smart stream) // Also: @_smartstream_ // LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wilson-phd-46956b35/ // email: daniel@smartstream.app

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Daniel Wilson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wilson-phd-46956b35) and I discuss his work with International Literacy and Development (ILAD, https://ilad.ngo/), specifically in the area of human language technology. We talk about the landscape of low-resourced languages that are unfortunately going extinct, why it’s important to preserve these language communities, and how technology can be used to develop languages and promote literacy. We also tee-up how Web3 will be able to accelerate literacy and development work worldwide, which talk about in more depth in Part 2 (which will be released next week). Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-96 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.   1:59 - Tee up for this episode, why “solving problems” has a lot more weight and importance for venture builders and investors in the developing world.2:40 - Daniel’s background in compassionate innovation, human language technology, and ILAD. 3:43 - What is ILAD? (International Literacy and Development, more details) 4:42 - More about Daniel’s background and why he got into linguistics. 6:18 - Quick introduction to linguistics. Different types, approaches, etc… 8:14 - How do linguistics define what a language is vs. a dialect? 9:20 - Many languages are spoken by a small number of people and are going extinct. Where in the world are these languages? What kind of numbers are we talking about? What’s the life situation of these people? (Correction here from Daniel, the minority of languages are spoken-only, just over 3k of them: he incorrectly said “majority” in the show)13:25 - Richness of preserving languages around the world. The importance of helping with language development and literacy. 15:03 - How many people around the world are in low-resourced language communities?  Example from Arabic speakers / dialects.17:11 - Human language technology (HLT) - what is Daniel working on to help humans flourish via HLT?22:34 - What is the difference between a low-resource and a medium-resource language? How are these defined?23:26 - Goal will be to get low-resourced languages to have 500k+ parallel sentences with other languages, then they can be used to train a model. 23:52 - How many high-resource languages are out there? (Correction: the actual number is around 20, Daniel said “less than 200”, so he was shooting high on that one off the top of his head)25:03 - From a market understanding lens, what is the future of HLT?26:54 - How many of the lower-resourced communities have access to power/electricity?29:00 - Anything else that Daniel would add from a foundational perspective on this topic? Automated payments w/ cryptocurrencies - we’ll dive into this a ton more next week in Part 2). 32:08 - Where can people find Daneil and ILAD online? Twitter: @danwils (academic) @geoframeai (web3 & smart stream) // Also: @_smartstream_ // LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-wilson-phd-46956b35/ // email: daniel@smartstream.app

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Mike Anderson (https://twitter.com/mikeyanderson) and I discuss the latest updates with BanyanDAO (https://www.BanyanDAO.xyz), scaling DAOs, and NFT strategies for product managers. We also talk about management and operations nuances in DAOs vs. traditional organizations, the Yuga Labs Otherdeeds drop last weekend, the phenomenon of dynamic NFTs that change based on interactions, and the steps you can take (and should take!) to get more involved with BanyanDAO. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-95 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.   1:35 - Tee-up for the episode, continuing the conversation from Ep93 (https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-93).1:57 - Quick background on Mike, and more about BanyanDAO (background, goals, mission, vision, and current status). West Africa twitter spaces for BanyanDAO → https://twitter.com/BanyanDao/status/1521615179976372226 3:09 - What is a DAO?4:29 - Elections on the blockchain; types of uses for blockchains5:09 - BanyanDAO pre-season and Season 1 commentary / description / projects 7:54 - More about the NFT project within BanyanDAO8:17 - Internal teams to help scale DAOs; architecture discussion & approach10:35 - Commentary about Saturday night’s Yuga Labs’ Otherside.xyz mint. 13:45 - Parallels between the NFT project in BanyanDAO with the Otherside / Otherdeed mint. Discussion about dynamic NFTs.16:01 - NFTs as “apps” // Pondering exponential growth17:37 - What is Mike looking forward to personally? What will he be working on within BanyanDAO? (and outside BanyanDAO?) 20:16 - Steps to take to get involved with BanyanDAO? https://banyandao.xyz/ // Discord: https://discord.gg/T7s7zGNan9 21:27 - Follow Mike at https://twitter.com/mikeyanderson and BanyanDAO https://twitter.com/BanyanDAO 

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Jesse Bryan (https://twitter.com/JesseBryan) and I continue our conversation from episode 89 to discuss multiple aspects of NFTs and NFT clubs. We talk about the history of NFTs, the differences between Moonbirds, Crypto Punks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, the important nuances of intellectual property ownership and licensing, airdrops, community, “staking” of NFTs, cybersecurity, and thoroughly evaluating a team and their roadmap before deciding where to spend your time and money. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-94 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.   1:54 - Tee up for the episode, recap of Part 1 (Ep 89), storytelling in organizations, introduction to the world of NFTs.2:40 - Quick background on Jesse and his introduction take on NFTs // He believes the next billion dollar brands are going to come out of the NFT space.3:45 - Background on Ethereum, ICOs originally, but NFTs started in 2017…Punks, Kitties, and then Apes didn’t launch until April 2021. 5:19 - History of NFTs from Jesse’s brand-building perspective9:53 - What the Bored Apes did that the Crypto Punks didn’t (e.g. IP ownership)12:00 - Tweet, minting a bored ape 1 year ago turned into the best investment of all time. https://twitter.com/JulianKlymochko/status/1516920342400450562 13:56 - NFTs are investing in a brand. You can essentially buy a brand name, like buying Radio Shack. “The most valuable real estate is the corner of someone’s mind” (John Hegarty quote)16:30 - Status games / signaling w/ NFTs18:22 - Summarizing the facets and layers of NFTs for entrepreneurs to be aware of. Networking benefits, status benefits, financial benefits, claims to airdrops, IP ownership, cooperation with other brands, and deal flow. None of this is new.20:45 - Moonbirds. What are they? What just happened?23:49 - NFT mint analogy to kickstarter; better when you already have an audience.25:14 - Subgroups within NFT clubs, and subgroups of subgroups25:35 - Jesse believes Quirkies is the strongest community in the NFT space. Examples of people helping each other out.27:00 - Importance of understanding basic cybersecurity when diving into the NFT space.27:10 - Recap of Moonbirds, why it seemed like a good investment (analysis from a VC perspective). Nesting. Problem of diluting the term “staking” https://cobie.substack.com/p/apecoin-and-the-death-of-staking 29:20 - How to teach entrepreneurs to use NFT clubs to help humans flourish32:53 - Two pieces of advice that Will got early in his startup investing career: 36:20 - Typical investment model, comparing NFTs to traditional investments…e.g. is the team “known”?  Is there real traction or just “fake” traction? What’s the roadmap?39:20 - 5 Part Matrix when evaluating an investment. Team, Product, Market, Traction, Financial Model, https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-62 40:10 - Don’t silo your understanding in Web3. The multidisciplinary nature of DAOs, DeFi, Metaverses, NFTs, etc… 41:35 - APE Coin43:14 - Where can people get a hold of Jesse to continue the conversation? https://twitter.com/JesseBryan 

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Mike Anderson (https://twitter.com/mikeyanderson) and I talk about all-things BanyanDAO (https://www.BanyanDAO.xyz) and its upcoming April 29th Training Day event to teach Web3 product architecture, design, and management (https://www.banyandao.xyz/web3-product-manager-training-event). In this conversation we cover the history of BanyanDAO, how Mike has been helping to coordinate teams in a decentralized fashion within the organization, the difference between “Pre-season” and “Season 1”, the details of the upcoming event, and what outcomes/topics are most compelling to Mike as someone who is leveling up in Web3.Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-93 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.2:29 - Intro and setup for the episode. Quick background and history of BanyanDAO from Will’s perspective.4:24 - Background and history of BanyanDAO (and Web3 in general), from Mike’s perspective.6:20 - Q4 2021 background and research that Will did on Web3 product management and DAOs (including many episodes here → https://satchel.works/@wclitlte/daos) // Difference between permissioned and permissionless DAOs. // See: DAOHaus.club // see also https://satchel.works/@wclittle/product-management 9:24 - How is Mike helping to coordinate 100+ smart people to get things done within BanyanDAO.12:07 - More about BanyanDAO, vision/mission, naming design, etc… 12:39 - April 29, 2022 Training Day event details for learning Web3 product management (speakers, topics, etc.)15:17 - Go to BanyanDAO.xyz to learn more about the DAO and the event, including different ways to pay for the event (including scholarships available) → https://www.banyandao.xyz/web3-product-manager-training-event 17:01 - What outcomes are expected for those attending the Training Day event?18:25 - For people who are just learning about BanyanDAO for the first time, how do you get involved?19:25 - Difference between “Pre-season” and “Season 1” in BanyanDAO21:16 - How can DAOs best coordinate people who have limited time per week to participate?23:49 - Small/simple mechanisms to participate in BanyanDAO, and how compensation happens via https://coordinape.com/ 25:08 - Nobody can keep their own GIVE tokens, they have to give to receive.26:29 - Other DAOs that BanyanDAO is working with / partnering with27:49 - How can someone submit a proposal for a new project within BanyanDAO for Season 1?29:50 - Of all the topics in the upcoming Training Day event, which ones are Mike most excited about? 31:25 - Where can people learn more about BanyanDAO & Mike (and find them on Twitter)? https://twitter.com/@BanyanDAO & https://twitter.com/@mikeyanderson 

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Arvin Khamseh (https://twitter.com/arvinknft) and I discuss the NFT landscape in terms of current best practices for how to build and market to a community of buyers and evangelists. We talk about the wide variety of NFT use-cases, the importance of a compelling team and roadmap in an NFT project, and a number of extremely practical tips for how to market an NFT collection successfully based on Arvin’s impressive track record in the space.Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-92 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.1:58 - Tee-up and background about NFTs and marketing them.2:19 - Arvin background, history, and story getting into Web3.3:51 - What was it about NFTs that captured Arvin? What was his “ah ha” moment?6:32 - What are the various NFT use-cases that captured (and continue to capture) Arvin’s attention?10:52 - What has captivated Will in the NFT space.12:54 - What is Arvin’s advice for how folks can properly get the word out in this space?19:21 - Clarity in NFT roadmaps and communication to buyers24:00 - For those new to the NFT space, what is the history of “whitelisting” ? What is the marketing tactic here?27:15 - Tracker bot that will measure levels in your discord server. See https://top.gg/tag/leveling29:05 - What has Arvin seen out there regarding the best NFT projects out there? 34:14 - For people who want to continue the conversation with Arvin, what is the best way to get a hold of him? https://twitter.com/arvinknft // https://soldoutnfts.io/ 

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Will Rush (https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-rush/) and I discuss his new startup, Stack (https://www.trystack.io/). Stack is all about promoting financial literacy and practical Web3/Crypto knowledge for investors under 18 years old. We talk about Stack’s five-point strategy of encouraging teens to consider long-term holding, diversification, periodic saving, engagement, and continual learning about the areas they are investing in. We also talk about NFTs, fixed-income products in DeFi, and general advice for teens looking for side hustles and entrepreneurial success.Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-91 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.2:09 - Intro/background for Will and his journey thus far4:34 - What’s the origin story for Stack?6:09 - What is Stack?10:38 - The five approaches: (1) Long term holding, (2) diversification, (3) periodic saving, (4) engagement, and (5) learning11:14 - For the quizzes / engagement, how is Stack approaching this? What is the revenue model for Stack?12:15 - Foundations from various networks/L1s have money to invest into (or grant money to) companies like Stack. Also, the importance of basic financial literacy.14:20 - Importance of the product to be non-cost-prohibitive. For the price of a cup of coffee per month this service can be used.15:08 - Pulling in content from Web3 and other places. 20% about financial basics and 80% about Web3/Crypto.16:07 - What does engagement UX look like on Stack?18:22 - Are NFTs part of this?19:33 - How are users receiving rewards on Stack?20:40 - By playing video games (many types), kids are learning a ton of applicable life skills. Blowback against NFTs from the gaming community. (more commentary about NFTs)22:26 - Forward-thinking NFT groups. How Stack can think about NFTs moving forward. Yuga labs commentary.24:00 - Long-term/periodic savings. Fractional node providers for the upcoming Beacon chain. Staking as a fixed-income product. Liquidity pools. Superfluid staking.27:42 - Importance of learning about the top 20 chains. Rollups/sidechains. Potential for a panel discussion on this w/ Stack.28:52 - Diversification. Limited number of coins to start on Stack, but this will grow.30:21 - Different types of coins. Will stablecoins be on there?30:59 - Long-term holding on the Stack platform31:50 - Overall value proposition of Stack. What does Stack mean about “side hustle”?33:41 - What is it about Web3 that is so compelling to Will?35:31 - Audience as entrepreneurs, often younger / on Reddit, etc…. Final words for entrepreneurs. Importance of being a great listener and having the courage/resilience to get past the hard times.38:51 - Go to trystack.io and get on the waiting list. App comes out in April. iOS is the start. 90% of the Stack audience has an iPhone.39:45 - Thoughts/reflections as a parent of teens.40:22 - Ambassador program that Stack is going to provide…helping teens get experience to be able to get their first internship. https://www.trystack.io/ambassadors

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Dr. Alexandra Sims (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-sims-833a8123/) and I talk about various academic and practical operational nuances of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). Alex wrote her PhD thesis last year on DAOs (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3971228), and in this episode we talk about the various types of DAOs, jurisdiction issues, voting and governance mechanisms, and advice for new on-chain organizations forming today to learn lessons from previous DAOs and traditional decentralized organizations that existed long before blockchains.Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-90 for MUCH more detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.2:12 - Intro to the episode / general setup and motivation3:02 - Alex intro / background in law, academia, Crypto/Web3, and DAOs in particular.9:14 - Differences between a proto-DAO, pseudo-DAO, and actual DAO12:16 - What are the things to look out for to recognize when DAOs aren’t quite decentralized yet. What is a healthy path to true decentralization for a DAO?16:30 - How would Alex update her overall recommendation for legal/corporate setup for DAOs - and how they work - since her PhD thesis was published in May 2021.18:11 - Brief introduction to Prota Ventures; why they are curious about when to recommend founders go the DAO vs. traditional route. Will - as a Managing Director of Prota Ventures - was compelled to practice it himself with BanyanDAO.  (Background, motivation, and operations for BanyanDAO). 23:55 - How would Alex comment on the formation and incentive structure for BanyanDAO? (Recognition that the process has been indeed different and admirable…the importance of harnessing the power of community).26:12 - For those interested in the power of DAOs outside of pump-and-dump schemes, “how are we going to get things done”? Is it possible to harness the power of a community to do something great with DAO mechanics? 31:04 - Importance of having practical experience about how to lead/manage a group of people. 31:38 - Voting mechanisms - Quadratic voting - explanation of the various types of voting, including conviction voting. 38:49 - Recap of voting types, plus a conversation about governance tokens. 40:00 - If Alex were to start a DAO that, say, was trying to build a product - how would she do it? How would she architect it?43:10 - Who gets to decide who gets to be on teams in DAOs? How would Alex guide new DAOs to setup these teams? (An analysis of existing civil structures)46:25 - Balance between self-assessment and community approval. Elections. And removals. What are principles to guide people building DAOs?52:04 - Final words / final thoughts about this space from Alex. It’s not all about the online world; people are using it to coordinate - for example - natural resources.  “Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and modern technology” // Best way to get a hold of Alex. https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-sims-833a8123/ // https://twitter.com/alexsims101