Liquid Culture

In this episode we chat with Brandon Tory, co-founder & CEO of Formless. We dive into his early passions for engineering and music, managing the duality of corporate life & creative life, discovering crypto & the original vision for SHARE Protocol, tradeoffs between PMF and decentralization, self-funding media & much more. 

In this episode we chat with Brian Flynn, founder of Boost Protocol, and Jon Moore, investor at TCG Crypto and longtime friend of the pod. We dive into the origins of Rabbithole and its evolution into Boost Protocol, how token distribution mechanisms have changed over time, the emerging concept of “onchain virality,” patterns in how users are leveraging Boost today, identify & sybil resistance challenges, experiments around AI agents, and more. 

In this episode we chat with Chris Osborn, founder of Dialect. We dive into his background in physics & quantum computing, how he discovered and transitioned into crypto, the original vision for Dialect and “smart messaging,” Blinks & Solana Actions, crypto as a novel UX paradigm, reflections on crypto’s superpowers, and more.

In this special episode, Nat interviews Liquid Culture co-host Ben Roy. We dive into Ben background in politics & international relations, pivoting into crypto, reflections on being a prolific community builder, working with the Seed Club, early ideas for Liquid Culture, Canada’s tech talent exodus, and much more.

In this special episode Ben interviews Liquid Culture co-host Natalie Mullins. We dive into Nat’s crypto origin story, her musical heritage & creative process, how she thinks about onchain media and minting, breaking into venture investing, and more. 

In this episode we chat with Colby Mugrabi, founder of mmERCH. We dive into Colby’s early obsession with fashion, her crypto origin story, initial experiences with the “metaverse” and virtual fashion, the inspiration and vision behind founding mmERCH, lessons & learnings from their Genesis drop, how the fashion industry views crypto, upcoming releases, and more.

In this episode we chat with Jonny Mack, co-founder of Hypersub. We dive into Jonny’s background as a professional designer, his early forays into crypto, the origins of Hypersub, pivoting from crowdfunding to subscriptions, pricing strategies & onchain referrals, scaling beyond crypto-natives, and more. 

In this episode we chat with Parker Jay-Pachirat, an investor at FinTech Collective and founding member of Boys Club. We dive into Parker’s thoughts on defining “consumer crypto,” what constitutes a “break out” consumer application, studying using retention, her experience being Tumblr famous, the significance of minting, distribution incentives, and more. 

In this episode we chat with Ryan Ouyang, co-founder of IYK. We dive into Ryan’s background in software engineering & ETH mining, IYK’s origin story and vision, weird early use cases, dropping out of university, the future of fandom & loyalty, musicians as early adopters, and more.

In this episode we chat with Peter “pet3rpan”Pan, partner at the crypto investment firm 1kx. We dive into Peter’s background a product designer, his thesis for "blockchains as toys," web2 skeuomorphism vs. crypto-nativity, mobile games, autonomous worlds, the potential of onchain social graphs, and more. 

In this episode we chat with Latashá and Ed Balloon, both independent musicians and trailblazers at the intersection of music & onchain media. We dive into their respective background as professional creatives, frustrations with onchain platforms & marketplaces, going “direct-to-consumer” and the importance of user data, creative freedom & ownership, explorations beyond music, and more. 

In this episode we chat with Sofia Garcia — generative artist, curator & founder of ARTXCODE. We dive into Sofia’s early interest in generative art, how she discovers and works with artists, finding crypto art, the origins and mission of ARTXCODE, her thoughts on the current state of NFT markets and collector archetypes, her recent “Misunderstood Machines” collection, and more.

In this episode we chat with Bold Leonidas, known & loved by many for his witty comic illustrations of the infamous “Crypto Twitter.” We dive into Bold’s original skepticism of crypto twitter, his foray into NFTs and crypto art, the genesis of the comic strip idea, owning memes, the important of scarcity in art, why he still draws freehand, and more.

In this episode we chat with Coldie, renowned 3D artist, collector & blockchain art OG. We dive into Coldie’s background and training in visual arts, the importance of documenting blockchain history through art, the inspiration behind his artworks, meme culture, collecting, royalties, and more. 

In this episode we chat with Kalos and Adrian of Parallel Studios, creators of the Parallel Trading Card Game (TCG) and Sci-Fi franchise. We dive into the early days of the crypto gaming scene, Parallel’s story arc & game universe, the future role of AI in gaming, the UGC & mod ecosystem, creative inspiration, and more. 

In this episode we chat with Julian Holguin, current CEO of Doodles and longtime executive in the traditional media industry. We dive into Julian’s origins at Billboard before transitioning into crypto, the differences between traditional IP development and the onchain approach, Doodles’ business model & community engagement strategy, the future of internet-native media businesses, and more. 

In this episode we chat with Wab, serial entrepreneur and founder of Sappy Seals. We dive into Wab’s origins and background as a software engineer, his unique perspectives on building NFT communities, sustainable funding, community use of IP, game development & more.

In this episode we chat with Natasha Hoskins, co-founder of Boys Club. We dive into Natasha’s unique background in art history and entrepreneurship, the origins and evolution of Boys Club, building media companies and lifestyle brands, the art of event planning & community building, and more.  

In this episode we chat with Winnie Lau, investor at BlockTower Capital, and Aleksija Vujicic, former investor at Multicoin Capital and now founder of TATA Bazaar. We dive into their backgrounds as consumer-focused investors, what makes consumer investing so hard, why consumer crypto struggles to reach the masses, a sneak peak into Aleksija’s stealth startup & more.

In this episode we chat with Kel Eleje, former Messari analyst & author of the "Memecoin Supercycle" thesis, as well as Ansem (aka Zion), legendary crypto trader & co-founder of Bullpen. We dive into the arguments for taking memecoins seriously as an investment category, celebrity coins & social tokens, the evolution of onchain trading, online attention flows, potential downsides of memecoins and more.

In this episode we chat with 0xDesigner, one of crypto's most prolific designers and creator of the "Design Everydays" series. We dive into his philosophy & approach to software design, how to build "cultural moats," Zora & the power of minting creations onchain, reflections on crypto's current design landscape, and more.

In this episode we chat with Claire Silver, an acclaimed “AI collaborative artist” and founder of Accelerate Art. We dive into Claire’s creative origins experimenting with both crypto and artificial intelligence as artistic mediums, the economics of selling art onchain, her journey as a collector and more. 

In this episode we chat with close friends of the pod, Smac (investor @ Compound VC) and Jonathan Moore (investor @ TCG Crypto). We dive into the cultural evolution of crypto, from early Bitcoin days through DeFi Summer and 2021 NFT Mania, exploring how each new wave broadened and transformed crypto's culture, and more.

In this episode we chat with Dani Loftus, founder of digital fashion platform DRAUP. We dive into Dani's background and journey into the world of digital fashion, how the industry has evolved since the early days, generative personalization, the future of social commerce and more. 

In this episode we chat with Derek Edwards, co-founder & partner at Collab + Currency as well as co-founder of Glitch Marfa. We dive into his focus on investing at the intersection of crypto and consumer technology, his passion for digital art and more.

Welcome to Liquid Culture.