Introducing: Tokens, But How?

In theory, ‘web3’ will fundamentally re-architect our digital lives. It should enable a new generation of platforms that are not only built, operated, and funded by users—but owned by them too. A rapidly growing group of people dream of web3 Pinterests that compensate top pinners as much as top engineers, or web3 Ubers owned by the drivers.

But if you wanted to launch a product that actually takes advantage of the benefits of web3 to build a community of user-owners, how would you actually do it? 

Sari Azout and Joey DeBruin are trying to figure out exactly that. They are two  experienced entrepreneurs both actively launching products in web3 and they’re interested in quickly turning theory into practice. “Tokens, But How?” is a podcast tracking their real time exploration into the messy details of token-based products, co–produced by Every and SeedClub. 

Each episode features an interview with an expert in web3 who will help them (and you) understand how to design and build token-based products from the ground up. They’ll find the answers to questions like:

• How should we design token incentives in ways that encourage the right kinds of products to grow? 
• What tools do entrepreneurs have to integrate tokens in ways that don’t spoil the UX of a product? 
• How ‘bout that legal stuff?? (But seriously, how can you build in web3 without getting a nasty letter from the SEC?). 

By the end, Sari and Joey hope to have built and launched their own token-based products. And you’ll have the tools to do it too.

This podcast is about web3, but its aim is to put people and their problems before technology and solutions. It prioritizes understanding over terminology. It’s a no-nonsense, no-fluff conversation from people too deep in the weeds to get lost in the clouds. If you’re interested in tokenized products but have lots of questions, join Sari and Joey as they think out loud, ask embarrassing questions, and walk the talk of the ownership economy.

Want to know more? Meet your hosts, and listen to the first episode below.

Meet Your Hosts

Sari Azout, Startupy

Sari is an early stage VC, writer, and product strategist turned founder of Startupy, a digital playground for thinkers and creators to curate, organize, map, and interconnect the world's most meaningful intellectual content. Think of it as if Roam, Wikipedia, Substack and a DAO had a baby. The vision is to build the first community-powered and owned knowledge base and search engine.

Joey DeBruin, Backdrop

Joey is a neuroscientist turned entrepreneur who has led the product teams and helped scale several successful consumer products, from Feastly to ResearchGate. He recently founded Backdrop, a network for tokenized communities — sort of like if Github, Reddit and your crypto wallet got down to business. Tokenized communities are an emergent new type of organization, using crypto assets for everything from equity to governance to compensation. Backdrop helps community members in those organizations connect and participate in ways just now possible in web3.

Listen to the First Episode

In the first episode, Sari and Joey explore how to decide whether including a token makes sense for your company. They talk to Jenil Thakker, the founder of Coinvise. Coinvise offers simple tools to help creators and communities mint and manage their own tokens. Jenil has answered this question perhaps more than anyone else on the planet, and has a very clear mental model of when a token will open up new possibilities, and when it will actually inhibit or destroy value in a community. This episode will also answer some foundational questions such as: 

• What is a token, actually? 
• Where is the analogy of tokens to equity useful, and where does it break down?