Connect, Communicate, Curate: Community building with Erica Kang

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   nothing we say here is investment advice legal advice life advice or representative of the views of the organization we are part of or affiliated with see chain abstracted tocom for more information hi welcome to chain abstracted I'm Jared I'm the head of content and your foundation hi I'm Alon I'm Founders an ecosystem talk terica is interesting because it's you know we've been tting with a lot of technical folks and and founders of like protocols and apps and stuff like that

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   but it's really nice to talk to someone that runs a community in a sense that like the community is not part of the protocol right so so very very Community like chain abstracted community in such a way and Erica does that really nicely with Cosmos near polygon all that like all that old those like l1's l2s and I think she has she brings a unique perspective with her background absolutely and I think it was she

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   dropped so much great knowledge for anybody who's in the web 3 space especially for not only just networking and building out communities and growing like you're kind of self-brand and she also did this thing and I you know it's basically get out there and like communicate connect and then curate your network and I I think that you can really tell with her success that she's done this really well and it's very thought out yeah we loved it and and if you if you're new to crypto or if you

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   were have been in crypto for a while and trying to kind of you know I understand like some Engineers looking to kind of get into becoming Founders becoming you know uh more like taking more business Le uh or business toolman Le initiatives uh definitely should watch this and then learn from it yeah and thank you everyone for listening hope you enjoy we know you're the proud of crypto soul but maybe give us a bit of a background how uh maybe I haven't asked this before I know you've been to

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   Stanford for for Masters but love to hear what your journey into crypto right I mean I know yeah that that love to learn a bit more about sure um so hi I'm Eric am I run crypto Soul crypto Planet bidle Asia e Soul all sorts of things uh Community related events related um I started my crypto journey in 2017 um way early like in March um in 2017 and before that I was in various Industries like Toco banking um Academia um and uh

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   what else I was in media for internship at some point so like various in law firms um just like as a clerk as well just kind of like seeing what the indust diverse Industries are like but Mo mostly my main focus was um Korea in Korea Telecom which is uh Telco big Telco in South Korea so I was in that corporate role for some time um not honestly wasn't as exciting as crypto but you know I got to see some of the you know how the businesses are run um

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   and then I took a leave munity leave uh for some time and I was rethinking about my career um and like thinking about how I can better my career or how I can transition my career and I thought it was a good timing to actually do a redo of U my career basically and trying to start from scratch maybe something that can get me excited right so I was looking for various opportunities in startup space and um randomly my friend uh said suggested that I you know attend the

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   seminar with him uh and it was a very rare crypto seminar back then in South Korea uh you know I think it was the only one I think that was available back then and um so I paid money to go there and that's just like the rest of rest's History um because I got connected to some of the major players um in South Korea back then and they tried to hire me and um as like the Ico uh how should

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   I say Communicator or like you know the pitch the the the person that the global pitches right um because I'm bilingual and I'm a good communicator and so they wanted to hire me and I was kind of thinking well well this industry where it it seems very nent and everything's very raw and honestly it does seem a little scat me but you know people need me for some reason and I don't know why so I want to check it

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    out right so if I want to go where I can be feel needed and I could add value and I thought it was a good opportunity to see um like where it goes so I took some you know dive-ins I did my own YouTube search all around back back in the day and all I could you know dig up and um now you know I was like okay well I cannot trust any single project back then so why not just have my own Community brand and kind of start from there to gain more sovereignty and kind

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    of more Independence and um I can decide for myself who I want to work with um and so that's how it all started that's a really cool like origin story but uh you said something that I think is so impactful especially in modern day which is you kind you you focused on creating own brand right because you know you always hear that thing like I come from a corporate world too it's like you know your your net worth is your network or stuff like that right but I do think

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    that in in in web 3 specifically Founders and people who have a good brand can actually get more stuff done because of that so um when you talk to Founders and uh and your stuff have you what do you think is like the best way for a founder or somebody to work on their personal brand to grow at least anybody like not only Founders but everybody should have their own person no brand um and um I think for me it

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    started with filtering a lot of people networking a lot but then finding my own I guess comfort zone and finding like the good quality people um and you you need a lot of practice for this but I think I I met thousand not even thousands like hundreds of thousands of people and by now and now I can kind of see that person for like 10 seconds and tell if this person's a good bit for me

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    um or this person has good intentions good intents right uh and whatnot and um I think you just have to do a lot of networking to see if um this person's in it for the longer run or for the shorter run and I think Founders also should Network within their own you know um have a good sense of that as well because they may get into the wrong you know crowd for example and when you're

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    making the right Connections in the beginning it's really important to make the right initial uh connections right because otherwise you may in the longer term you may end up in issues um negative issues with like you know people who does wrongdoings and whatnot so I think having that sense of filter is also a personal brand it kind of keeps like it it colors who you are right and what you going for um and I think that kind of like barrier sort of in a way you you can be you should be open to everybody but not too open to

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    everybody if if um you know what I mean and I think that's a really good color to have um as a personal brand but also like of course social channels you know I mean it's inevitable I think we uh as this podcast too but we need to keep ourselves like open to the public um also sharing our insights and um also you know um sharing what we are going for insights but not only like personal interest um anything could be a personal bre it can shape your you know um uh

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    your you know I guess life story and your narrative um it's all about the narrative right um I think I think it's like narrative is very important in shaping a person's even career and I think for me as well even though my career seems very scattered because it um goes with diverse Industries but you know I think if I put the right narrative into it it does actually click pretty well and so that can also shape a person's personal brand um and uh yeah I

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    think it's I cannot stress it enough like honestly if if a founder or not only a Founder but just any team member is part of a team for now but they can like change their career at any time for example they may have to Pivot to something else and I think but but keeping that personal brand you can be flexible enough to do whatever you you know can do you know so I think having that Independence and also the you know

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    uh that U yeah Independence is really important so in that sense you just dropped like five bangers in there so for first off like so here's if I had to like tick The Narrative right you've got like basically communic connect and curate like I think that's like a pretty cool thing to do the narrative helps drives and then the last thing you said like towards the end there with a

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    personal brand you can always pivot it which I think sometimes people focus so much on their personal brand like has to be 100% it's like no you just feel it out you you just have to start and be consistent you find your way through right like yeah just just to thought that right like you love Moss if you think about it has a great narrative I mean Tesla doesn't make that much money compared to the ones that are like

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    valued less than Tesla itself right I mean also when you look at that sort of change and like I mean I did this quite nicely a lot of folks we know kind of changed over time right so I guess like that that's quite nice to see uh the narrative and the personality changes over time and you know the world is dynamic it's not like static and somewhere um but building on that like I guess you said something about

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    networking and a lot of folks so of take networking as like hey I I'm going to go to this sort of conference I'm going to go to these parties I want to try to meet these folks is that the right way like I think like what's what's the thing about like how do we Define right networking in crypto I think a lot of people are very transactional in a way and like how should someone treat that

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    and some approach that because I've seen like interacting with you you have a lot of people that are like from all over the place right being able to pull right like how can someone build something like that so in the beginning I was pretty off filter I just had to meet anybody that comes in my way um and I thought it was a good starter point and it was it's it's a very exhausting process honestly and I I think everyone can relate to this because it is

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    basically no filter but you have to be nice to everybody and kind of be accommodating right and um in the beginning I think it's somewhat necessary because you do have to have that sense of like finding that right person to really connect longterm with um and so like that part is as a as a newbie I I had to do that for like several years at least um but then um being in the right Circle well not Circle but being in the right crowd is very important too but conference Rising you have to pick the right conference

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    too right you cannot just be at any conference and just be at any booth and just you know um like no offense but it is definitely you have to filter quite a bit there too um not to say that my events are pretty good but I think your events are great you know they kind of they kind of are good though not going to lie yeah yeah especially in Korea but that's that's my take because I want to make that barrier

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    at least some type of a first curation that it is full of good people and I want to make that environment for people who are coming to my events I don't want to Tire them out I'm going to say like oh hey like this is guaranteed like that this is a good crowd of people and you will add value you some to somebody at some point and actually in many of my cases I've heard so many testimonies where hey Eric I met like somebody a

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    co-founder at your event um I I employ I hired somebody from your event and like this these type of like um proofs really just make my day right and me I think that's very important in shaping a good event meaning like you need to go the right type of event with the right intentions and you know not just random like random event um so it's I think it really does U make a difference

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    really um in shaping who you connect with and um to what degree so yeah I think it's a it's a subtle difference but it does make a big um Ripple to your career I I like that you're really showing there's like strategy to this right because I think sometimes it's the misconception that you just go to places and you meet people and then it all falls into place and it's like maybe at first you kind of have to just go but

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    then it starts to turn into like really making the most impact out of each of those events targeting events that are like the most impactful for your project like if your Project's in one specific area might not want to go to an event that doesn't help or have support for that so that's cool and I think like one of the things that I uh tried in the beginning is to have my own pitch um so like it's not like a formal pitch per se but I I would definitely would have my story to tell when I'm introducing

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    myself and I don't want to waste anybody's time I don't want to just ramble and just go on drinks right honestly like I don't really like like the parties where you can't recognize anybody but one and you're kind of drunk so you really don't remember anything from last night and I don't I'm no offense I don't really get the value of like networking at a party it's they only going with your friends maybe and

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    to just like you know chill and hang out but to make new connections meanful connections I think those are a little bit less like I think that negative um honestly and um so something that you can like really focus on see the person at face value um and you know be able to just like have a you know 10-second pitch just like say hey I I did this I believe in this and I'm working on this right and I like because I used to teach

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    interviews actually back in the day um when I was helping um uh MBA students potential MBA candidates actually so I used to do a lot of interview practices with a lot of the candidates and um I used to like you know just really demand this right this is very important you have very limited time frame and you had to make a really good impression first impressions are everything uh really

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    everything so uh you got a mean so like I had a very how should I say I had a pitch that really and I had a belief that came out of nowhere basically I had a really strong belief but then it really didn't have any support system for example like I had no funds exchanges no team to back me up basically but I just G I just gave that for every single time like I believe in the Builder Community I want to like host events like East and West connect them and Founders I believe in like the technical you know um insights and bl

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    and then people actually started to like for in the beginning it was a little people were doubting me they're like oh you're not a developer like how can you do this right and then and then like when I prove one by one like how I can prove this like on ongoing and I think as time went by people started to believe in this so you gotta be really consistent in your pitch but really like stay strong in your like story basically

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    so um I think that's like really important you you mentioned something important which is like collecting East and West you know you you grew up in I guess you grew up in to grew up in us right and they went back to create and so maybe a story there but I just want to hear like how do you connect these two different differences because I personally you know I grew up in Turkey once to United

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    States now in Europe and you have a bit of a different dimension where there's like there's a lot of developers in crypto which I they relate to but how do you how do you play all this right it's like how do you play all these differences okay so going back to my background um so I'm a like native Korean but I was raised in the US for about five years when I was in elementary school so like those golden

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    days where you can like assimilate all the culture and language right and so I was in Seattle for a long time and then went back to Korea became a very koreanized you know a local Citizen and um but then I was like okay well I did all my undergrad here in Korea but I'm I'm still yearning for a global you know education so I just stand for to do a masters in Cal policy which like International policy was my thing back

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    in the so like international relations policy um diplomacy right that was kind of my forte um so I delve into that more so I have and then like when I was living in Korea back after Stanford I went to Vietnam for two years so to just you know experienc southeast Asia and it's a very interesting and I'm now in Europe so it's kind of a interesting um diversity and Al too like I think you're

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    also diverse as well in your background but like really um I think really importantly because Koreans tend to be very local meaning it seems open but it's not really open and also Asia if you chunk Asia in like one thing it's very misguided because it's so diverse in every single country northeast Asia southeast Asia like as on everything so you really have to I can't say I'm an Asia expert for sure like I cannot say that because I'm just like care specific and maybe Vietnam a little but like

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    definitely I have more things to do um but uh yeah I mean like having that balance um and having that local network for the us but also Korea and Vietnam that's really valuable because you can and I I can be like bilingual too fully bilingual in Korean and English not just like one-sided um and I can I I was in the corporate world in South Korea too so I know how to deal with seniors I know how to deal with like you know that whole cultural um barriers I or differences

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    and so in that sense it really gave me a big opportunity to like really be balanced and um and me I'm the US I can definitely be American right I can definitely you know um play there too so it's like a very good balance to have I think it's still very rare too to have that person who's really balanced meaning they can like switch from A to B really easily and so and you need an

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    interpreter to cultural interpreter or a business interpreter to like actually be able to explain what these pie will actually mean how you know how should how they should react or respond or do business whatever um deal with like locals right so it it really gave me uh I mean 14 in many ways not just in crypto actually before crypto even I was kind of the the the bridge in many aspects yeah I

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    mean culture differs right you have your in crypto you have your own sort of nationality per se and then you have other beliefs and then you have beliefs about technology which is essentially saying hey I believe in like for example when I join near I was like I believe in sharding as a way to scale and then other folks would say well I believe in alus to scale blockchains blah blah blah right so yes you have that kind of difference uh which comes to my next

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    point I guess right like which this this is a so J abstracted podcast um when I first got into crypto people I mean this was EDS cult and the internal uh meetings we had maybe he just said it publicly too is like we should kill the tribalism that exists in blockchain communities right I mean um and my problem with this is like okay we believe in that sort of sense and we've acted that way in year um which over the last sort of couple of maybe a year or two um but we have these like new blockchains now right like you have like

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    increasing number of blockchains in in in Cosmos like bar is coming and you have like monad that has a different Community yeah I don't know it's just seems like this modular expansion is increasing the number of blockchains which increasing the number of communities how does this work like how does this work in a CH abstracted world where you could connect all these into all right uh you have any thoughts around there um I mean tribalism is definitely

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    an issue uh from way back in the day I think it's been like always a well it's there are two sides of the point right one is you can unite better within a single tribe so you can have that culture internally and you can grow faster and um you know that's I mean because in a being in a nomadic crypto space I think that's somewhat needed because you need to kind of like align with your own own crew basically and

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    like wherever they are in the world right I think having that unified Vision or you know um goal I think it's really important and it it did help some projects to grow like be L right um and I think I can't judge that I mean it's actually something that's needed um at the same time you cannot really open your perspective to other um ecosystems and for me like I think I believe in

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    this like chain abstraction um you know uh inoperability like way back like since I just started in crypto and um the reason why I'm close to like ethereum Cosmos even salana you know I mean near polygon like I respect all these different ecosystems that are building from scratch and having their own culture and I truly did like want to help like good projects that mean well and that you know want to like attract Builders um and so like I really devoted

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    my time to learn about each ecosystem back in the day it was a little smaller than now so it was actually like okay it was doable like now I think it's kind of impossible because it's there's so much going on in each ecosystem and so like as you mentioned before um so I I was privileged because like I was able to actually start like knowing the founders from way back like way like when they were just raising for example

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    and so I mean it it gave me a really good perspective right um and uh I think it's really important to well for back then it was really hard to like try uh prove myself as a uh a person who believes in like you know under chain abstracted World basically like you know you go across different ecosystem but no ecosystem is Superior or they will win the race or you know no tribes will exist you know a single tribe Will Conquer right um because I had to they were like questioning like which tribe

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    are you on which you know Clan are you on which you know why are you on this when you're like you host etherum meetups you know for example and so it would it took a lot of proving uh for years actually uh and now I think my point is getting across because there are many parties that are popping out that you know believe in this same vision as well so I mean it's definitely rewarding now but

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    it was very hard to prove as a community Builder to say Hey you know I I believe in the you know Mutual ecosystem growth um I believe in like um chains coming together um so yeah it's it's a good progress to see for sure yeah and it is interesting too because like you've been around since it was like a hard infrastructure like everyone was just building infrastructure raising on infrastructure and as the as the the ecosystem

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    transitions from like a heavy infrastructure to more products and and apps and stuff like that it it starts to really dilute the Maxi beneficial aspect right so for example like if you have like say near is a chain abstraction layer it's going to be about the apps that leverage that and then the behind the scenes whether they're using any of these chains shouldn't matter and then

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    it'll be kind of like what we have now where on my phone I have certain apps I prefer but I don't really know how everything's going on behind the scenes so it's cool to see that it is going that way yeah no absolutely I think it's a good progress for sure and I think before that whole debate about with different layer ones and see that oh comparison of TPS you know that that whole era that was when I

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    was um starting in the day so um like seeing that Evolution and seeing the difference in perspective the evolution in perspective it's really meaningful and at the end of the day you really have to see what's in front of you like the the user friendly apps not what's behind the scenes I mean it is important to see I mean if you really are interested in it but as a user you don't really have to you know delve into that

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    right and compare different things so um in that sense uh it's a good progress yeah so we we had like 2017 maybe when um Erica started in the industry um we had a very small market cap on a small Market if you think about it right I mean I guess like then like 2020 we've seen I guess two three million three billion three three to four trillion in market cap which is like still large and

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    we're still down that like if you compare that high we're still not there in terms of all all um the cryptocurrencies um but we have more projects right I mean like the the incre the increasing number of projects is there maybe that's because of that I mean what do you think about that I think that there's more projects which sort of increases the appetite to collaborate more rather than taking as it's not a zero s game and it's more

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    like a collaborative effort have you seen that sort of play out and is that kind of the the thing you're seeing yeah I think I I definitely see that uh narrative and sentiment um like being more friendly toward or open-minded towards other you know projects that are building in a similar Direction even they don't see as direct competitors maybe they could like open the door for like Synergy effects for example or some type of merge or like I think there are

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    more uh open opportunity there and I think it's a really good thing to see that many there are more flourishing projects um in the ecosystem as a whole um meaning that there are more brilliant Founders that are you know coming to the space um even from web 2 like from Ai and it's like very um converging right so in that sense there's less it means that there's less of a barrier um in crypto and as a whole it's not like a far far away land where you you know have to overcome all these like you know

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    cultural barrier whatnot I think it's becoming more and more approachable um and um I mean it's not a humongous like rapid progress but I think of course day by day you can see like year by year we can see um it progressing towards the better um and so yeah like I see so many brilliant Founders uh like hacking you know in my hackathon for example and I'm like oh my God like this is so much more

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    like better quality than like you know five years back for example and so in that sense it's great and amongst the founders as you said like I think it's like I definitely see oh know they respect other Founders in other ecosystems as we call it right they're like oh for example people from you know salana ecosystem they would like definitely feel open to like collabing with near as well like back in the day it was a little bit a little antagonistic back in the day right but

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    now I think it's definitely more open um I I think apps like people building applications um in specific they're more open to being cross cross chain right I mean definitely being in multi- Chains um and so because it has to be accessible everybody uh in the end um and so in that sense um yeah I think the mentality is definitely getting healthier what are what are some of the steps you take to launch the perfect hackathon and then also if you want to talk about an event as well like what what are how do you think about it ah I

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    mean I wouldn't say I'm hosting a perfect hackathon I have a long way to go honestly and I I would love to like actually Benchmark other uh hackathons that are doing so much better than I am but you know for me I started as small meetups like I I started like very small scale and I used to do one Meetup per month like regularly and so to see like how I can run things how better I can run um good quality what would be a good

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    theme and and what audience would be suitable for this topic and so forth and um in that journey I met so many good people good like who means well good projects that mean well and I think that like seeing different crowds like students developers Founders um even business BDS um web 2 friends right um like being connected to all different groups um makes a really converging good quality event in general not only hackathon

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    hackathon you have to approach not not only web 3 natives but also uh Web Two um enthusi I mean who who are enthusiastic about web 3 for example they want to get into web 3 but they're intimidated to like as of now right but we have to make it accessible we have to make it open uh to people like say hey you don't have to be perfect you can just try and we'll be welcoming to you right we we we'll educate you um and

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    that has to be the welcoming ground like the hackathon has to be that um not so overwhelming but you know uh good entry uh level so uh in that sense like you just have to like Network a lot you have to have all these different types of groups of people uh and be able to converse them together uh so that you know who to like reach out to when you know when you're choosing the you know U promoting the event but also finding the right sponsors and speakers judges like

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    they're all like so I get them from my own network right and uh like I choose my own sponsors as well I don't just like open the door to everybody um and uh like that could be a little bit like like people can judge me on this but but I I want to keep the quality very consistent and high quality as well so I know that these sponsors mean well they know what I'm going for um and so we

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    have to be aligned very well to make a very successful and satisfactory event all together and so like even little little details like this they make a perfect event um in me uh at many levels and so like speaker wise sponsors um even like the attendees um like media even like every single element that constitutes an event should be curated and should be strategically curated and so it does take a lot of network effect Network Power I should say um and uh I

69. 30:08

    guess all the years of networking paid off in that in that sense because I have a diverse network of different like ecosystems as well so it wouldn't be just like a ethereum hackathon it could be opening other you know a hackathon other ecosystems as well and um also like my corporate like background right if I knew some people from KT back in the day and I could like reconnect with them say Hey you know I'm doing this

70. 30:32

    like we three crazy haathon but you can maybe look into it right or my alums from back in the day like eall University like you know they don't they had no exposed um like opportunity to like look at any web three events I could say I'm a I'm I'm a good person right I'm like I I don't mean it for like a you there's no Shady background here like it's definitely like it means well like please check it out so I I reach out like that individually to every single group so it takes a lot of

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    uh effort um but uh in the end I could really see the network power uh the effect there because I've I as I said before I hear so many testimonies of saying like oh I just got into F3 because of you because of this event yeah I mean like I just like that just it's everything I don't need money like I that is what I why I'm hosting these events right the first place okay I mean fine like you did networking sure but

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    you do how many events a year like you do EOL you do I get fasia or any other ones that I'm like not even probably haven't seen and probably was part of how do you manage all of this and if somebody wants to grow to that scale like Al time wants to H to debat in Turkey like how can one start uh doing that people ask me this all the time they say how can they like initiate any you know event um I mean okay so for me

73. 32:03

    it's an there's an annual big event Biddle Asia e Soul maybe shei Soul Summit I mean they could be like the Korea week Biddle week that could be one but then I do Biddle Vietnam as well every year um and that will happen after Defcon this year um um but anyway and then I could I'm G to do ble Europe um this is in the making by the way uh it's not in the near future but it will happen like maybe next year um but uh like trying to and then in the meantime there's like side events ac

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    across the world like I do like maybe 20 Builder breakfasts like maybe every year or at least 10 for sure and then just kind of spread those around and then yeah so it's like it amounts to a ton of events just I think every month I do something for sure and um I think I'm I this this is a little bit more extreme I would say there's a lot to handle for a single person to like organize but I think since my network is pretty vast and deep

75. 33:07

    I guess I think I I can whip up these events pretty easily um now uh but back in the day it was really hard um just con know one I think my beginning um like stay focused and don't like try to do everything don't try to like scale okay I'm going to do like five events per year I'm like at the first year like it's going to be very hard um so a really good first example and like just focus like all your energy on that and

76. 33:33

    then you can scale later but do have to be big either it could be a small curated event doesn't need to be like like hundreds of people it could be just like 80 people with a very solid lineup or like a solid um theme of the Meetup and um get a good lineup sponsor speakers and that would like honestly that is a very good beginning to uh a series of events but then you have to beat be consistent as well you can't just stop at one um if you want to keep that Brad right you have to be consistent say hey it's not just the end

77. 34:06

    we're going to do another one so for example I just started a series open source AI Summit um and uh that's a new thing that was trying to be like open source AI is obviously a big Trend a movement and um I mean I'm meeting so many good teams now that I was inevitable like okay I'm going to try something at Stanford so I did want a Stanford and feary and it was such a big success that I was like okay I cannot stop I have to keep this going um other the waste right of the brand so I'm

78. 34:37

    doing another one during Etc but that's like a five month um like Gap but still it's a good enough Gap because it's a summit it's a one day full Summit so it does take a lot of you know curation and planning right I think that's a good enough Gap but you have to be be consistent at least have a you know people expecting you know that like keep them excited right um keep the narrative going and so um it's a constant battle

79. 35:03

    with scheduling finding the right timing the right thing but you it's a 24h hour you know 247 job I think you have to love events and for me I love events so you just have to love it otherwise it's it's gonna be brutal it's gonna be so hard so I've seen many people say to me come to me and go I'm never doing an event ever again like it's not my thing I please like host good events I can come to your event you know um so it's it's not suit up for everybody it's actually like you have to really love the organiz like

80. 35:37

    organization plan so yeah so not for everybody yeah events are their own thing for sure but I think that's that's so interesting about just like I'm really getting these themes from this talk which is really like you got to really love it you got to work hard you've got to get out there and be consistent and then you've got to cure it when you get to the point when you can start to curate and uh I think that's like a really cool sort of like and then just repeat repeat repeat and be have a good Cadence going so that's

81. 36:07

    cool but then again like I definitely you have to keep the Cadence and the consistency that's like primary but at the same time I was going to mention it before but you need to keep an open mind for like additional brainstorming like new ideas so I think this job requires a lot of creativity actually because you need to be always thinking about what would be in what would be helpful right

82. 36:30

    and what's needed from like my you know my friend's perspective right others perspective and so you really have to keep an open like ear and eye on everything um at the same time while you're doing all these like repetitive events so like the the network one of the networking tips that I always well use is I have no agenda like I really don't like to have any agenda when I'm meeting a person so for example like there are many cases especially in Korea or like where they like before the

83. 37:00

    meeting they line up like these like bullet points like we're going to talk about this this this in an hour and it's like it's so limiting like I mean it's great that you have a clear path but at the same time and you know what's you know what's expected but at the same time it really blocks any room for additional conversation meaning you can brainstorm while you're having that meeting which I always do so whenever I come out of a like a meeting with no

84. 37:27

    agenda it's always enlightening because I always get new ideas like I always am so like full with in new insight like I just like I'm so excited to you know talk more about what came out of that conversation and so people some people think oh it's guilty to not have an agenda like oh I'm wasting that person's time but no like actually you're if you're in it for like brainstorming

85. 37:50

    together you can really whip up some amazing idea out of that one hour session you know so I I think it's a really good trick to have actually and you and if you really like concentrate in that one hour you can really like concentrate on each other hear what's up from each end and really try to like yeah like a you know white for session like literally yeah it's a really like I I

86. 38:14

    learn so much from this and I gain so much so I'm just like sharing if anybody's up for it like I would really highly recommend this yeah though these tips are crucial too because in web 3 it is a lot of people I mean are heads down building projects really doing that and it's like that is definitely massively important and there also has to be like that is like crucial right like there is no web through without people building it right

87. 38:38

    and especially right now but as more teams start to build applications and need to get the word out there and it's really important to network and just grow that and and be able to like use socials so that was like a one question I wanted to Pivot to right now how do you leverage social media within your overarching Network world domination how do I leverage it uh so basically I'm connected to all socials that exist I mean not all but I

88. 39:12

    try to stay connected I was I was this close to getting on Tik Tok I mean I'm still close to getting on Tik Tok and I'm thinking I mean I was approached by Tik Tok Korea like okay you have to be on Tik Tok I don't know like I'm I'm too old for Tik Tok maybe but we'll see maybe um but I I try to stay as connected uh on socials and try to leverage that in many ways um I'm not as strategic as you know uh and I think

89. 39:36

    that's the beauty of it this this like just the fact that you're not as strategic that makes you human right and I think the fact that I'm approachable but like they can see my personal you know like life there and the personal views and just like me being just simpleminded like just you know sharing my what I look at what I you know cook BL that's that's a really have insights

90. 39:58

    but that does shape who I am as a person right and that can share like okay she's actually an approachable person she's you know like a Normy like us you know just you know like that but also in in between those things I plant some important announcements or important things I think it keeps the balance really well because it's not just like a serious account like announcing like oh

91. 40:22

    I'm thrilled to share you know I'm which is a great thing but at the same time if you get only those updates it's a little bit intim it's a little bit too how should I say too boring I should say it's not like as colorful as um like a personal brand would want to you know I want I don't want my personal brand to be like that for me I want to be uh I'm doing my job I'm making happen

92. 40:47

    right but at the same time like when I'm like chill I actually have other interests as well like I love dancing I love you know um like exercising and so I think like having that humanness inside you it does like differentiate you from AI number one but also you know it can you know I think it makes people like you I mean just like actually just you know want to mingle with you not just like for work but also uh in personal ways as well so

93. 41:18

    yeah I mean like I for my Instagram for example I do mostly personal strictly personal stuff and I think I keep it closed too because I don't want to like open it to everybody but that's like exclusive and the Twitter is more open I do like all a to z um but uh yeah I try to make it more different across social so that it's more just fun and YouTube it's like I do I post videos about my events um and

94. 41:43

    sometimes do interviews you know I do live stream sometimes and so it's kind of interactive in that sense so yeah I mean I think it's a it's strategic but not so much you know it's like a it's be a natural habit like a 247 job when you're you know dozing dozing off from like working too hard like at the end of the day you can just like you know scroll and just post something in the meantime you can use that like little

95. 42:07

    bit of time I mean you can't do like 24 hours of building honestly you can you can you you got to shut your brain down a little bit right and when you're doing that might as well like take a photo something and then just you know write an Insight or some like whatever right I think that just I did better than nothing I think it's actually like you know it's a good balance to have actually and for me like yeah when

96. 42:31

    because I you know I have I have kids I you know I I us juggle so many things at the same time that it's actually a good refreshing switch from this life to another so I'm not like I'm on the my MacBook all the time but at the same time oh I can take a 30- minute break I can like some put something on Instagram or on Twitter one tweet a day like put a quote out there and just like okay yeah so I think it's multitasking is definitely helpful and you everyone

97. 43:01

    should do it I I think and you're you're talking about something that's really important with um the way social media works right and because I'm a big fan of like figuring out like what what does each social media platform do for web 3 right and each one has a different sort of vibe like a for some reason like a YouTube short is so different than like other things and then like YouTube video and then Tik Tok it would be interesting if you did that because that's one of those platforms that you could have one video

98. 43:28

    get like a million hits out of nowhere because it just catches a wave like so it's it's like Discovery right and so like figuring out how to like what is your social media strategy but yours is kind of like what you're saying is like you kind of like feel it out and you like have some basic like do a tweet a day or something but then everything else is just feeling out like what you're G to do and then the second part is like being genuinely yourself in any

99. 43:51

    social media platform I find to be like the hardest thing it is like such a bold move to do that like to be like this is who I am I know personally and that could just be because I am like a where I am in age or whatever you know sometimes I'm like I'm an elder Millennial like I'm scared to be myself right so I we're in the same goow here not a problem I don't know if you have an agenda and if you're meeting people I think it's so obvious that sometimes like to they stop right I

100. 44:24

     mean like it's it's happened to me a couple of times where you know I was helping someone for you know getting like getting a grant say right I mean like I really like you what you do and like the First Response he just walks into eat them boost and he just walks into like oh so would do you have grants and I'm like dude like don't start a conversation like that because you're literally gonna lose everyone right it's like I think there's this well T are from what I've heard from

101. 44:49

     Erica is like hey just like have a conversation with everyone and see how they feel and then you know even if for meeting I I guess like if you're a CEO you still need to have next steps in in a call but you know like have that a bit of a flexibility around like your interactions I think that's what I kind of learned from this conversation but you mentioning about like having No Agenda as well I I cannot stress that

102. 45:13

     enough I mean of course as a CEO yes it's important to have that like concentrated session but you know you can also have an additional you know conversation one-on-one or something and then like maybe have a more casual conversation to complement I mean for that you know seriousness all that seriousness before so you can have like a actually well-knit you know interaction with that person so I think it's helpful somewhat to make you like

103. 45:38

     more a approachable but also open-minded and say okay well this ver is not to like Focus focused and um like for me like one one thing so I think for me as a community Builder I think it's more of a relevant topic but it's good to be a contributor like to I just like let your like share your resources and be helpful to a lot of without asking for stuff in the BNA he's like I mean it's important as to do business to say it's it should be interactive it

104. 46:09

     should you know you should be reciprocated or you know you should have some compensation right and that is normal and that is you know much needed at the same time when you're starting out your career when you're building a brand when you're you know want to be recognized for certain things I think it's actually good to be a volunteer in many ways and I've been a volunteer for so many things and I haven't been paid at all like I don't and I don't mind

105. 46:33

     because that like when you're writing your CB resume right back in the you know day where you write out your onepage CB you have a bullet points and being a volunteer is actually one of the bullet points that you can put on your CB right it's actually a contribution like doesn't need to be paid but it is a you know a decent decent performance that you did achievement right and I

106. 46:56

     think I think of my uh contribution like that for example and I for example I was MC at Defcon um back in like 20 18 it was even before like I didn't I knew anything right and but like that experience was so surreal that and it really paved the way to so many things and I you know got to meet so many amazing people after that just like one like that two days of concentrated you know contribution and that just really

107. 47:24

     um yeah changed everything actually so you know be open to like contributing be open like to help out um you know that's when you're especially starting I think it's very important um and uh yeah want to add that as well I would say even like being a contributor means that you don't write a CV anymore right it's like basically the point where people just recognize you by the things that you've done um you know you don't even have to

108. 47:49

     put anything there because like you've done something that people recognize you for right I mean that's that's kind of the goal for everyone love to a bit more um about like your work at crypto soul and and what's next for you in general what's your vision for um I guess this year and next year and where you want to be in like next five so five years is a long time Horizon in crypto yeah I want

109. 48:12

     to like here I think five years in in you know crypto is like 20 years and in normal you know lifespan but uh so for me I I've been running crypto soul soul as in the City Soul because you know I was based there um and now I'm in you know Europe more so um as you know so I extended to Crypt Planet which is like a more Global brand and I think like I'm Gonna Keep on expanding that brand um and having more events in Europe um us um of course I'll keep the events in

110. 48:45

     Asia for sure but I I'll try to be more reach agnostic um so that I could I could could be everywhere you know nobody can expect where I where I am where I'm hosting these events and I have like these local network within each region that I can trust um by now which is great I think that's very important when you're building a Global Community you need to have those trusted people um in each local area because you

111. 49:09

     can't do everything um for one so uh it's it's a privilege for me to expand this brand because I think it's about time and it's I'm ready for it I can do it um and so I'll concentrate on that um uh expansion and uh as I said before bid Europe is in the plan I mean it's in the long-term planning for sure uh and TR to be having a builder Focus Lisbon I think Lisbon will be the area so um I will try to uh ramp lisban as a Europe Hub uh and

112. 49:41

     um Also let's see well I'm hosting ble Vietnam after Devcon as I said and I'm trying to you know uh have a more educational Retreat um for people visiting Vietnam having a good intro level meeting all the right institutions um so that's my another plan Etc I'll be hosting a ton of events there open source AI Summit and um and then actually I'm you know getting into investing uh which I haven't really announced it yet but it is you know it's

113. 50:11

     it's an alpha I guess um that I'm sharing but you know and I are investing together um and jul and as well we're like uh we're launching a small fund so I'm finally getting into the world of investing uh which I haven't uh actively yet as of yet so it's a very new Venture for me it's like a you know whole different scene so it'll be a very interesting uh uh yeah Journey for me so that will be my upcoming you know plan well I think I'll work on for the next

114. 50:43

     few years um and build that brand as well um and yeah I mean I think I'll just keep what I love doing which I don't think I can cut out events in my life I think at this point I'm just kind of a event I'm trying to I want to be event magician where I just can like like you know deploy you know like curate deploy and like shoot out you know and that that is what I want to reach at um at a goal uh so yeah that's I'll probably keep that as well and

115. 51:13

     complemented with my investing but also advisory and all sorts of things so yeah try to be more you know uh also Mentor for some women in web 3 as well U because I've been pretty I mean increasingly active in you know um shifi Community as well but you know having my Korean uh like lovely students who want to come into three so yeah just kind of being a spokesperson for that as well so

116. 51:39

     and living by you know living the example if I can like showing that it could be possible to be a like Mom in crypto for example to be uh working like active very active work on CP up and just you know also leader too if possible so just on many levels I by example so hopefully I can crypto Soul so crypto Soul platform was a first L2 growing to become a crypto Planet which is the which is the the platform where

117. 52:11

     you can do anything basically so that's what that's kind of the kind of the goal uh Started From The Chain itself but going to more of a platform I guess where you have like events investing advisory all of that bundled as a as a as a as a solution for the future the one package I can when they come to me you can you know do everything yeah thanks so much for being on the Pod thank you for having me thank you so much