Episode 13 is live - "Riding Out" with @SuperRareJohn, co-founder of @SuperRare 🌊 A nod to his passion for surfing, the title speaks to the ups and downs of creating one of the best known and most successful platforms for digital art and a core crypto application. We chat about BC (before crypto) times: architecture, civil engineering, a New York ad job and finding his people in the early @ethereum crowd. Pitching SuperRare to 120 VCs. All 120 passed so they built it anyway: "You have to be a little bit crazy..." SuperRare is a family business - John, his brother @SuperRareChar and his cousin @rareperkins...because they already knew how to disagree without it getting personal. Especially when debating about maybe giving up on SuperRare entirely and maybe pivoting into DeFi back in 2019... On the personal side of staying in it through the lows: "This may be pretty horrible, but I know where I'd like to go, and I think it's still worth it to get there. So I'll suck it up and deal with it. Every day isn't a good day, otherwise you wouldn't have good days..." Then October 2020: the first $1M month, the moment it started to feel like this is definitely something. And the honesty of going from the crest of that wave to having to lay off 30% of the team in 2023 - all in public, full ownership of mistakes made while growing. "I think the best learning experiences are always the most difficult." This is the yin and yang of building here. Full episode - piped.video/C04m_9zqtF8 open.spotify.com/episode/0Mw…

Episode 12 is live - "Growing Up" with @evabeylin She joined crypto because she realised management consulting was just duct taping a broken system and checking crypto Twitter in the bathroom felt more alive than her stable job. Then it was the people, putting her energy into building alongside them felt so much more aligned. But that initial idealism slowly turned into realism - both personally and industry wise. Crypto has had a 10-year experimentation phase and stress test on human behavior: the culture "grew up" because people got more evidence. But experimentation wasn’t a detour, it was the education. She also makes a point we don’t hear enough about: technical fluency matters less than people think. What matters is understanding the framework, learning fast, and knowing how to sell what you build - if nobody sees the product, it doesn’t matter how elegant the code is... As we journey through the past nine years, we also go through her exit from @graphprotocol - five and a half years in, she was burnt out. Not because the mission stopped mattering but because she knew she wasn’t the right person for the next phase anymore. That level of self-awareness and knowing when it's time to end a chapter tends to be rare. So is her answer to burnout: removing Discord and Slack from her phone and a vision of crypto slowly becoming more “9-to-5” socially, even if the rails are on 24/7. Because humans need to set and practice boundaries... Full episode - piped.video/bKrjn7RxaC0

"Be Less Worse" - episode 11 with @ricmoo is live! One of the most honest and heartfelt conversations about building, open source, crypto and what it means to be human while the world gets weirder... Ric's story starts far from “founder legend” energy: University of Waterloo, Blackberry graphics engine, Kindle work at Amazon. Then a Kickstarter experiment that failed and taught him more than its success probably would have. The early days of crypto - a small, strange community: meetups, random developers, @VitalikButerin, drinks with people who all seemed "normal" until you realised they were all building the future together. Then ethers.js - at first just a tool to scratch his own itch, then millions of people depending on it. The edge and beauty of open source: you build for yourself, then the world shows up and the responsibility kicks in. Throughout the conversation, there's a self awareness and honesty that makes it all incredibly relatable: from admitting he loves being on stage to going off on tangents, to taking a good few minutes talking about potentially killing a frog. This episode is part technical history, part philosophy, part cautionary tale and part frog-related existential crisis. “Be Less Worse” is brilliant - not fake perfection, no moral posturing, just a more realistic goal: make things less harmful, less captured, less broken, one step at a time... Full episode piped.video/gGM9WoTNnHcBe

Ep 10 is out - High Stadards Build Resilient Ecosystems @kartiktalwar @ETHGlobal Kartik's first ever podcast interview dives into in his background in astrophysics, exploring complex systems and big questions blending into @svangel and the 8,000 pitches that shaped his high standards when it comes to...everything. Recognizing real value, real conviction and the difference between something that sounds good and something that proves it can actually become huge. Hackathons became the perfect environment for fast feedback, low friction and the chance to turn ideas into something concrete - @CryptoKitties was born at ETHWaterloo, @Uniswap and @1inch also sparked during @ETHGlobal hackathons. The thread connecting it all is that ecosystems get stronger when builders and projects share openly, learn quickly and hold themselves to a higher bar: "If you want things to get better, the only way they will get better is everybody is in the same room. And the second you go internal or solo or on your own track, you're bound to just be behind because ideas don't spread that way..." Full episode - piped.video/49ZmG59hBm0

Ep 09 is out - The Decentralization Revolution: Tech Needs Human Resilience with @jbrukh @coinfund The most disruptive tech isn’t just about the innovation, it’s about human resilience, creativity and purpose. Growing up in the USSR, Jake learned early to distrust authority...that cynicism became a superpower in crypto. When most saw Bitcoin as a speculative gamble, he saw a chance to challenge tradition - an act of rebellion rooted in deep skepticism that made him question everything: Why can’t money be self-sovereign? What’s actually stopping blockchain from changing the world? The emotional core of it all? Rebellion, curiosity, creativity and purpose - crypto's not done, it’s just evolving. We’re finally at the intersection of technology and mainstream acceptance and now more than ever humans need patience, even though it is a tough space to navigate. It's our creativity that fuels innovation and tech-driven pursuits need that human touch. More than anything, Jake emphasizes: don’t wait for perfect conditions. Build, iterate, learn. The market always rewards resilience. For all the ups and downs, the key message is stay true to your purpose, keep learning and trust your gut. The best is yet to come... Full conversation: piped.video/Qi3AWRFNvYE

Ep 08 is live - Proof of Letting Go: The Story of POAP @poapxyz was all about preserving memories, building belonging and proving that our shared collective experience is worth encoding. @worthalter's journey starts with crisis, burnout and a search for meaning. It leads into @ethereum, early crypto optimism and the push to build something non-speculative and human. But over time, the industry shifted and POAP’s original mission became harder to sustain. That’s why “letting go” matters. Sometimes the bravest move is knowing when a chapter has run its course and closing it with clarity, not denial. This episode is a lesson in: - building for meaning, not just momentum - the emotional rollercoster of building here - accepting when a season is over - making space for what comes next In full piped.video/zAg4uBmSDqY?si=z_gg…

Crypto is swinging between public goods and business models. The real work isn’t picking a side...it’s staying focused and disciplined enough to find the balance without losing the core. @pedrouid @WalletConnect reflects on the law of oscillation applicable to everything from crypto to politics. Nature finds the optimum window of balance...naturally. The skill for humans is to try and do the same. In full - piped.video/Plj_jKw4FpA

New HP episode - @pedrouid @WalletConnect chats about the beginnings, protecting the core, why leadership is a feedback sport and how good leaders create feedback loops, not echo chambers and why hype distorts product decisions. So many good insights in this conversation, especially around founders often overestimating their own certainty and how leadership gets better when you separate ego from decision-making. The goal is not to be right, it’s to make the product and team stronger... In full - piped.video/Plj_jKw4FpA

Sneak preview to the conversation: Founders who build at the bleeding edge have this mental battle where the knowing that the tech they are building is good is stronger than what status quo reality may show as they're building it. Full episode coming soon...

Ever been told you’re not cut out for something and it shook you to your core? @amandacassatt shares the vulnerable story of a New Year's party and the raw impact of such a verdict when you're just starting out. Full story piped.video/Y5fld_4Hi1Y?si=tAn7…

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Most people get this backwards: understanding the chaos inside is what makes you strong. True confidence isn’t about never doubting, it's about feeling the doubt and still moving forward. I asked @amandacassatt about her journey from the New Yorker to transforming crypto marketing...and what that felt like. Tune in to a very personal conversation where we chat balancing conviction with humility, aligning your actions with what’s valuable to people, not just to the map thats been given to us. In a world of abstractions, this grounding in real value keeps you honest and resilient. Crypto is the way to keep the world open, permissionless, and less under control. This episode, as always, isn’t just about technology; it’s about the personal side of playing the long game, trusting the process not the instant results - especially when the doubt creeps in. Real change takes patience...

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Ep 05 is live - @egalano @infura_io shares over a decade of experience in blockchain infrastructure, the evolution of @ethereum based services, lessons learned, and visions for a decentralized future. We look at the human side of high stakes development, team resilience, and the importance of community driven innovation. Key insights: 04:22 - The shift in @ethereum growth and infrastructure reliance 07:24 - Managing work-life balance during rapid scaling 16:59 - Handling criticism and system reliability concerns 27:25 - Challenges of industry growth, competition, and resource allocation 31:00 - Reflections on supporting new chains and primitives 36:48 - Stepping away from @infura_io and future directions in web3 42:38 - The importance of community, responsibility, and innovation 46:34 - Personal lessons: staying humble, open-minded and dedicated

"Seeing somebody using your project in the wild, that never gets old. That always motivates you. Hearing people as you're walking by saying "you should just use Infura for that" ...that stuff's really addictive." Ep 05 with @egalano co-founder of @infura_io drops tomorrow

full ep 04 piped.video/4iufbfFmABs?si=6UKH…

"I'm proud of myself because I didn't have a seat at the table until I created one. So it was mostly about just enjoying the things that I actually grew for myself." @MPtherealmvp sharing the honest journey of carving one's path and reaping the rewards of your own making...

Hmm wonder what happened there - piped.video/yHvFI2YIYmw

full episode: open.spotify.com/episode/2DN… podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas… piped.video/watch?v=4iufbfFm…

3AC. FTX. one after the other. And you still have to get on stage...still wanting to say this industry matters and mean it. "I felt like I was painting a clown face." What it actually costs - personally and professionally - to keep believing and showing up when others keep burning it all down... @MPtherealmvp @aave

open.spotify.com/episode/2DN… podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas… piped.video/4iufbfFmABs

ep 04 is live. @MPtherealmvp is senior director brand partnerships at @aave - from Argentina to Berlin, from oil and gas to becoming a key figure of the crypto ecosystem. A personal journey through the early days, community building success with @ETHBerlin & @dod_berlin industry disappointments, the rise and fall of @______jpg______ , motherhood, navigating industry rejection as a generalist and finding her path...

Full conversation piped.video/yHvFI2YIYmw

"I just know this technology has the power to make nonprofits profitable. But I don't know how to do it [...] it's been years of failure and it's really sad." @griffgreen gets vulnerable about the reality of value creation that doesn't fit the spreadsheet, the continued resource focus on the casino angle and the readiness of crypto for broader human use. Full episode: piped.video/watch?v=pR5GCQ-v… open.spotify.com/episode/7tG…

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"I was actually the first person to see The DAO was being hacked...there was no time to feel, it was all action." @griffgreen remembers the first moments of the morning of June 19th 2016 and how coordination and fast action together with @VitalikButerin @jbaylina @ChrJentzsch & @simon_jentzsch made what we now know as history... Full story in the episode with Griff, links below.

Full episode open.spotify.com/episode/7tG… piped.video/pR5GCQ-vwk0?si=l5Dm… podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

"This is why I became a community organiser..." The fight to keep the Seattle SuperSonics in town set off a chain of events that led @griffgreen to not only become a passionate community mobilizer but ultimately, an anarchist. *explicit content

Continuing on the path of uncovering the personal side of building big things… @griffgreen leads @thedaofund, founded @Giveth, @dappnode and has been an ever-present figure in our ecosystem ever since his key role in the White Hat response to The DAO hack. This episode is a conversation captured at @EthCC [9] and Griff shares an anarchist’s path from Seattle Supersonics die hard fan to needing little more than 60k to retire, the importance of security and the vulnerable reality that after years of experimentation, succeeding in making non-profits profitable still eludes him (for now...) This is the human arc: the wild stories, real emotions and the truth about being here now.

“AI is going to be your daddy...if you can't ask for or receive critical feedback" - @austingriffith and I cover AI psychosis, LLM parenting and why this is the worst time to be a junior developer and the best time to be a solo entrepreneur... Full ep here piped.video/Dt0MvChh97c?si=Hud2… open.spotify.com/episode/7fN… podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

“I was not that cypherpunk when I learned about Ethereum - coming into Ethereum made me cypherpunk” @austingriffith and I chat @ethereumfndn CROPS, can’t be evil vs don’t be evil and everything in-between…

full episode: piped.video/Dt0MvChh97c?si=2f0g… open.spotify.com/episode/7fN… podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

“That tear in the eye in the airport really solidified it for me.” From a room of 20 people in Berlin to the CEO of a major protocol - @austingriffith chats about the unpredictable, compounding impact of hands-on education in our ecosystem and why it matters...

Let’s talk about the personal side of building big things @austingriffith is Head of Developer Growth at the @ethereumfndn. This episode was recorded at @EthCC [9] and Austin shares his journey from tinkering and building to becoming a key member of the ecosystem We talk about finding acceptance in the crypto space, that familiar imposter syndrome, real life impact, AI and honest reflections on finding that balance between work and personal life...

How to keep focus when building - we chat frustration, dealing with noise, distractions and conflict Full conversation: open.spotify.com/episode/7kU… piped.video/yHvFI2YIYmw?si=iRn4…

Let’s talk about the personal side of building big things @StaniKulechov is the founder and CEO of @aave Labs and the very first guest on The Human Protocol Our episode was recorded live on stage at @EthCC 9 last week. Tune in for a candid conversation exploring challenges, motivations, untold truths and personal lessons learnt along the way …

“I don’t think people realize or talk publicly about how important Ethereum is.” Full episode drops on Monday…

Episode 001 with @StaniKulechov goes live on Monday Here’s a preview where we look at the personal burden of DeFi responsibility…