Web3 Unlocked

In this episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang, Sachi Kamiya, and Diksha Dutta speak to Matthew Gould, the CEO of Unstoppable Domains. He discusses building a digital identity-focused Web3 company, what founders need to focus on for fundraising, and why he thinks token funding may be harmful to protocols.  Here is a deep dive into the conversation, featuring edited excerpts from the podcast.   Here is a list of the selected time stamps on the different topics discussed during the podcast:   1:21 to 2:08: On what excites Matthew the most about Web3  2:09 to 4:27: How Matthew got into Web3  4:42 to 8:03: The founding of Unstoppable Domains  8:04 to 9:24: On how founders can distinguish good and bad ideas  9:28 to 13:14: On the biggest differences between Web2 and Web3  13:15 to 18:24: On being an atypical founder  18:47 to 29:06: On making decisions to survive downturns  29:40 to 34:00: On raising equity instead of doing token rounds for funding  34:01 to 35:57: On building a community without tokens  35.58 to 41:03: On what Web3 adds to digital identities that Web2 does not  42:39 to 46:52: On reaching a $1 billion valuation

In this episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang, Diksha Dutta, and Sachi Kamiya speak to Harsh Rajat, Founder of Push Protocol. Push Protocol is the communication protocol of web3. It enables cross-chain notifications and messaging for dapps, wallets, and services tied to wallet addresses. In a chat with us, he discusses how they approached Ethereum Foundation for funding, their learnings in community building, mentors in the crypto ecosystem, and more.

In this episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang, Diksha Dutta and Sachi Kamiya speak to Jack Lu, CEO and one of the four co-founders of Magic Eden. Before co-founding Magic Eden, Jack worked at FTX, Google, and Boston Consulting Group.  Magic Eden is an NFT marketplace launched in September 2021 and serves as a home base for SOL NFT collections. Initially launched on the Solana blockchain, it has since become multi-chain by integrating Ethereum-based NFT collections. In November 2022, Magic Eden added Polygon as their third supported chain, committing steadfastly to their vision of a multi-chain future.  Since it was launched, Magic Eden has been lauded for its creator and community-focused tools, and was one of the first NFT marketplaces to offer the Launchpad feature to its users, which makes it easier for creators to create, mint, market, and successfully launch products.   Jack speaks to Kenzi, Diksha, and Sachi about getting into the cryptocurrency world, Magic Eden’s journey from its conception to today, the challenges of running a Web3 startup, and how Web2 and Web3 have more similarities than we realize.   Here is a list of the selected time stamps on the different topics discussed during the podcast.   01:30 to 03:55: How Jack got into Web3 and Crypto  04:18 to 07:34: How Magic Eden was born  07:35 to 12:38: Breaking into the ‘NFT marketplace’ market  12:39 to 16:57: Failures and mistakes in the early days of Magic Eden  17:15 to 22:13: Differences in Web2 and Web3 work cultures  22:14 to 27:27: Similarities and differences between a Web2 and Web3 founder  27:28 to 30:12: Qualities of a successful Web3 founder  30:15 to 33:36: Getting users to adopt a Web3 product  33:37 to 36:46: Community building in Web3 and increasing network value  36:47 to 38:11: Hiring for Web3  38:14 to 40:46: Raising capital in Web3  40:47 to 45:48: The future of NFTs  45:49 to 48:00: Navigating the bear market  48:01 to 52:33: Solana community vs Ethereum community and going multi-chain  52:43 to 53:52: Magic Eden as a destination  55:51 to 57:09: How Web3 and Web2 are not that different

In this week’s episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang and Diksha Dutta speak to Chris Gonsalves, the CEO of Community Gaming. He discusses how Community Gaming was created, how the Web3 gaming ecosystem differs from traditional eSports, and how Web3 gaming will change in the future.

In this episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang and Diksha Dutta speak to Sandeep Nailwal on his entire journey with Polygon so far. He discusses how he got into Crypto, his commitment to the developer community, and what the future looks like for Web3 today. Website: web3unlocked.xyz Twitter: @web3unlockedxyz

In this episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang and Diksha Dutta speak to Lucas Vogelsang, CEO, and Co-Founder of Centrifuge, focusing on bringing Real World Assets to Defi since the early days of Ethereum. During the discussion, Lucas covers the future of Defi, the Polkadot ecosystem, and his experiences of being a founder in the Web3 bear market.   Lucas had always been passionate about computers and coding. But, in 2017, after working in the tech space for seven years, he decided that he wanted to revolutionize the finance industry and use blockchain to build the backbone for financial transactions. That’s how Centrifuge was born and became a platform to help people access capital for future needs.

In this episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang speaks to Sota Watanabe, Founder of Astar Network, on being a Japanese founder in the crypto world, parameters that affect Web3 company valuations the most, the multichain future and the exciting new projects at Astar. Here are edited excerpts of the episode. Before Sota Watanabe founded Astar Network in Japan in 2018, he studied information technology at the San Francisco State University in the US. He then worked at a blockchain startup,  Chronicled, in the San Francisco Bay Area.  After returning to Japan, he worked as a blockchain researcher at the University of Tokyo. But when Gavin Wood, the creator of Ethereum and Polkadot, visited Japan and talked about Web3, Sota decided to make Astar the Future of Smart Contracts for Multichain Hub on the Polkadot blockchain network.

In this episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang and Diksha Dutta speak to Nischal Shetty, Founder of WazirX and Shardeum, on decentralization, the right way to build communities, and making it in web 3. Before Nischal launched WazirX and Shardeum, he started his entrepreneurial journey by creating a social media company (what began as JustUnfollow is now Crowdfire) in 2010. He was a software developer, and before 2010, he had a day job and worked on his app on the weekends and any free time he had. This social media app was based on the idea that most people needed a single account to manage their Instagram, FB, and other social media pages. The app was successful and got 20 million users. In 2017, the large social networks started changing many rules, which affected all the businesses built on their platforms. That’s when Nischal decided that he would build his next projects on a decentralized platform.

In this episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang speaks to Andrew Durgee on the work Republic is doing, its various arms, the current market cycle, the impact of the recent Terra-Luna crash, and why Republic has zero attrition. In terms of structure Republic has four different companies - a holding company, Republic Retail, Republic Capital, and Republic Crypto. Its mission has been to democratize finance and increase access and inclusion. But the regulatory framework makes it very difficult for retail investors to invest in early-stage startups in the US. The framework is based on an accreditation system with a series of requirements that need to be satisfied for an investor to participate in an early-stage venture. These include an average annual income above $200,000 or an average household income above $300,000 or a net worth of $1 mn and a few other parameters that keep a lot of retail investors out.

In this episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang and Sachi Kamiya speak to Ciara Sun, Founder & Managing Partner of C² Ventures, on being a woman in web3, the challenges she faced, and the road ahead for her investment firm. Before she dived into the world of web3, she was a management consultant with Boston Consulting Group and Deloitte. Her journey to discovering crypto began in New York in 2017 when the city had become a hub for investors and entrepreneurs interested in blockchain. Having spent years working in banking, capital markets, and private equity, she understood how crucial digital assets and blockchain were for making the global economy more inclusive. After working at the crypto exchange, Huobi, in international business development, partnerships, and leading the global markets institutional business unit, decided to launch her firm, C² Ventures. The company focuses on empowering the creators of the next-generation web3 and metaverse applications.

In this episode of Web3 Unlocked, Kenzi Wang talks to Miles Anthony, Founder of Decentral Games. Decentral Games builds games that give players economic freedom through aligned incentives, self-custody and delegation of yield-bearing metaverse assets. . The game first launched its closed beta in September 2019 and currently includes poker, blackjack, roulette, backgammon, and slots. In a candid conversation, Miles shares his journey of building play-and-earn poker in the metaverse, its search for establishing product-market fit, the future of Web3 and more. This episode was supported by Diksha Dutta and Robert Do.