[Thoughts #41] Consensus Part 1: People, Places, Things

So much content there's 2 parts! 🧠

Note: I wrote this post yesterday night, but due to Substack issues was unable to publish it until now. Enjoy :)

Greetings from Austin!

The crypto market is down bad, but my mind and heart are at all-time highs coming off of Consensus 2022, one of the largest crypto conferences with over 15,000 attendees.

I don’t think I’ve been so excited to work at 1AM in a hotel lobby before 😂

As I’m reflecting on my Consensus experience while the broader markets face uncertainty, it’s clear that there is something going on in this corner of the universe.

Something special.

Something fun.

Something challenging.

Something intimidating.

Something I’ve ignored for a while but am not anymore.

Something that has encouraged me to write and share my experience to others despite the fact that my Substack has 3 subscribers (maybe after this, I’ll get one more!)

In part 1 of this recap, I’ll be going over some themes, anecdotes from people I’ve met over the past 4 days, and notes (please feel free to share them!) from sessions I attended.

Part 2 will focus on some more themes and broader observations. Let’s get going!

Themes:

While on the plane from San Francisco to Austin, I was pondering the irony that thousands of people are going to be gathering in one place on a crypto conference. Isn’t crypto all about…DEcentralization? 🤔

As I had more conversations, soaked in the energy from the conference, and stayed up late into the night, I realized that the concept of convergence and divergence was applicable here.

WTF is that? This methodology is typically used in User Research.

So how does this apply to Consensus?

Even though the values and ultimate vision of Crypto is around decentralization, the participants are humans. As social beings, we can of course collaborate and work from anywhere around the world at any time, and build some cool shit. However, when we ‘converge’, we’re able to have a richer experience sharing ideas, meeting new people, and go back to a state of divergence with renewed energy, sense of mission, and new connections.

Or to put it in another way…

Digital decentralization + (occasional) Physical centralization = A positive growth loop of innovation for the space.

As we transition from physical convergence back to digital divergence, we create stronger ties on Discord and Twitter…until the next conference or meetup! 🙃

More themes in the next post, onto some other fun things!

People I met

First of all, I’d like to thank Sam from Coindesk and Jeff Kauffman from JUMP, who were kind enough to sponsor myself and several other JUMP members with complimentary passes to attend Consensus. I still remember my hesitancy to apply, and figured why not apply and see what happens? So glad I did :)

Jonathan - My roommate for the conference! Once the ticket was taken care of, my attention shifted to lodging costs. I sent a message out into the JUMP Discord to see if anyone would be willing to split costs. Jonathan responded my open request, we had a quick video chat, and the rest is history!

It’s been such a pleasure to be your roommate, to listen to you passionately riff on various topics, to learn more about Fancurve, and to come back to the hotel with you knocked out with Anchorman playing on your laptop (this happened 2 nights in a row! 😂). Looking forward to hanging out with you at NFT NYC in a week 🫂

Min - While registering for my conference pass, I bumped into Min, who is leading global expansion efforts for Stellar Network. A casual conversation led to a spontaneous dinner where we shared more about our personal and professional backgrounds.

I wish you the best in helping the under and unbanked through Stellar’s capabilities, and congrats on the Moneygram partnership!

Khayyam - Oh boy, I don’t know where to even start with you. Thank you so much for dropping SO. MUCH. KNOWLEDGE. Whether it’s your personal stories, professional endeavors, or world class puns, I’ve never had so many 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 moments in such a short span of time. I’ve lost count at how many times my jaw dropped and mind melted while listening to you riff.

On top of that, you do it with humility and openness that I could only hope to do. Thank you 🙏

A small sample of topics discussed:

• Champagne DAO, Squiggle DAO, Detective Debbie Dao

• Training AI to talk to each other. Basically Her becoming a reality 🤖🤖🤖

• Raindrop.io, cool bookmarking tool

• Wonderseed Foundation

• Your crazy stories about traveling in India 🤫

Joe - I also don’t know where to start with you! When people say they are “community builders”, I approach with caution. However your authenticity, focus on giving vs. taking, and real-time community building is a true superpower. This guy created a 350+ person Whatsapp group on Day 1 of the conference, WTF?!

Thank you for even getting your cameraman (welcome to Web3 Anthony 💪) to film a segment on me explaining the brilliance of Goblintown, super fun!

Excited for you, the evolution of Furlough, and all the other things you have baking in the oven 🥖 I’ve gotta visit Miami sometime soon!

Michael - You are my first Web3 friend that I have met IRL! From our initial call to Twitter Spaces, thank you for being excited about my writing. I’m grateful to be a small part of Investrly!

Dan - You serendipitously met other JUMPers at the 4th floor lounge and are now one of us! From your enthusiasm for the space, your vulnerability sharing your personal story, and your GRIND, I’m excited for you. This dude sleeps 4 hours a night!! 😵‍💫 Please take care of yourself sir.

Maybe your PR business can help my Substack grow from 3 subscribers to 4? 😂

(note: I have more than 3 subscribers, it’s just fun to imagine myself putting in all this effort for 3 subs)

And SO MANY OTHERS!

Ryan - Thanks for educating me more about what Unstoppable Domains is up to and I hope my gaming insights were helpful. Also, thanks for sharing more info on CabinDAO. For anyone interested in getting over the cold start problem of writing, check them out!

Jeremiah - Creating NFT ATL, a Web3 community for folks in Atlanta. Also a fellow Cool Cat holder 😸

Ari - Entrepreneur, VC, and Professor at Carnegie Mellon working with a lot of players in the Web3 space. The CMU community runs deep in Web3 🤝

Helena - Building Pearl, a SaaS tool for more effective communication for projects and DAOs. Can’t give too much away as they’re fundraising soon 😉

Reza - From being strangers at a party to ending the night together in debauchery, I’m looking forward to seeing more NFTpay integrations!

J - Thank you for sharing your observations as a VC in the space. Great to hear folks are bullish, but discerning. 

Kathy - It’s so cool to reconnect from our Uber days to venturing into Web3 together. Excited for you and Amy as you build a Web3 customer service solution!

Sophia - I know jack💩 about insurance, but your explanations about Relm Insurance are simple and clear. Crazy that your company is the main insurance provider in Web3. I’m sure demand for the depeg (Terra anyone?) insurance product is red hot.

Tony - Thank you for sharing your thoughts about Polkadot and wallet safety. Your role as Head of Innovation at Omnicom is well deserved. Also, thanks for trying to get us into the Verus dinner party with such persistence. Despite getting rejected, our free dinner plans were saved thanks to Polygon 😂

Dean Wolf - Thank you for sharing more history behind Punks and IP law (I’ll just leave it at that lol). Attorneys are becoming more commonplace in Web3, but attorneys that trade NFTs? That’s rare. And on top of that, he’s an amazing shuffler, self-taught!

Here’s a sneak peek of Dean shuffling at the airport because his flight was delayed. Are you kidding me?! 🕺

Jackie - It was great meeting you at brunch! Your vision to improve the dating experience is awesome and bad behavior should not be rewarded 🚫. Looking forward to Trust being a top dating app soon.

And a special shoutout goes to…

Paul - You drove a group of us back to our hotels at 4AM and chatted with us about crypto. By the end of the ride, it was clear that you were more knowledgeable about the space than 95% of the conference attendees (myself included). On top of that, you have a 4.94 driver rating?!

I’m keeping my promise and will make sure you get a pass to Consensus 2023 (Sam/Jeff please help lol). I’ll follow up with you in early 2023!

Sessions + Notes

Though I only attended 3 sessions (busy chatting it up, heh), I took notes! Feel free to share them with anyone that might benefit:

How Web3 is Disrupting the Gaming Industry

Bored Apes, Blue Chips, and Where Do We Go from Here?

DAOs and the Creative Mindset

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Wow, late night TPan seems to use a lot of emojis. Hopefully you don’t see another post with this many emojis since it’s 4AM (Substack deleted some content so I had to rewrite it…), time to hit the sack.

See you tomorrow, part 2 incoming! 👋