PressClub with Josh Constine

This is the story of how college two friends built the #2 social app in the country called Down To Lunch, but pivoted to start Alchemy, the #1 crypto and NFT infrastructure startup in the world. Now valued at $10 billion, Alchemy powers the biggest names in blockchain from OpenSea to Dapper Labs to Polygon. Founders Nikil Viswanathan reveal their lessons from going viral, how they fought a smear campaign against DTL, and why Tim Cook had to help fix their iMessage because too many users were texting them. Hear how they spotted web3 coming before anyone called it that, and their vision for powering the future of programmatic money.

Listen in to learn:

• Why you should optimize for now: "The fast kill the slow"
• How to cultivate an obsession with your customers' needs
• When to sell picks and shovels so you don't have to predict what will be built with them
• How to create a youthful company culture, regardless of age
• What's next for crypto's impact on business

"With the computer, machines can follow human instructions. Then the internet comes along, and machines can exchange information. Now machines can exchange value, and this could be a really transformational shift" Alchemy's CEO tells us.

This PressClub will make you want to start a company.

Subscribe to PressClub at http://constine.club/. This podcast is recorded live on Josh Constine's PressClub on Clubhouse, Thursdays at 4pm PT. PressClub is Clubhouse's first show, where the big names in tech discuss the big ideas. It's hosted by Josh Constine, an investor at early-stage venture fund SignalFire and the former Editor-At-Large of TechCrunch. PressClub is a relaxed venue where luminaries can share their stories, passions, thoughts on trends, and visions of the future. Past guests on PressClub include the founders of Facebook, Instagram, Slack, Shopify, Spotify, Substack, WordPress, Patreon, and more. Thanks for being part of our futurist community!

How can you use networks effects to grow anything? "The Cold Start Problem" author Andrew Chen from a16z shares stories and strategies from the rise of Tinder, Zoom, Airbnb, and new web3 startups. On PressClub, we discuss viral coefficients, why users "come for the tool, stay for the network", the double-edged sword of exclusivity, and how new computing platforms can reset network effects. Listen in to learn about:

• Meerkat’s Law
• Minimum Viable Network
• Context Collapse
• How to build the "Hard Side" of a network
• "Flintstoning" to cover up product deficiencies
• The three types of network effects

This PressClub will make you popular.

Subscribe to PressClub at http://constine.club/. This podcast is recorded live on Josh Constine's PressClub on Clubhouse, Thursdays at 4pm PT. PressClub is Clubhouse's first show, where the big names in tech discuss the biggest ideas. It's hosted by Josh Constine, an investor at early-stage venture fund SignalFire and the former Editor-At-Large of TechCrunch. PressClub is a relaxed venue where luminaries can share their stories, passions, thoughts on trends, and visions of the future. Past guests on PressClub include the founders of Facebook, Instagram, Slack, Shopify, Spotify, Substack, WordPress, Patreon, and more. Thanks for being part of our futurist community!

Why have fans when you can co-conspirators? Crypto-powered Decentralized Autonomous Organizations are reimagining co-working by erasing the divide between customers and teammates. How will DAOs be used for investing, building products, launching social clubs, and funding philanthropy? And why has isolation from our communities inspired people to find a sense of belonging with strangers on the Internet? During this PressClub, we ask top DAO leaders and the founders of DAO tool startups what their impact on society will be. Come learn why we need simpler ways to start them like Superdao, what their future use cases will be, and which challenges will face this new way to align incentives with your fellow humans.

PressClub's guests include:

• Yury Lifshits - CEO of all-in-one DAO tool Superdao
• Gaby Goldberg - Web3 reading list author and investor at TCG
• Qiao Wang - Founder of DeFi Alliance / Alliance DAO
• Elaine Zelby - Web3 investor at venture fund SignalFire
• MacLane Wilkison - Founder of dApp tool startup NuCypher
• and your host Josh Constine

This PressClub will teach you to collaborate in the future

Subscribe to PressClub at http://constine.club/. This podcast is recorded live on Josh Constine's PressClub on Clubhouse, Thursdays at 4pm PT. PressClub is Clubhouse's first show, where the big names in tech discuss the big ideas. It's hosted by Josh Constine, an investor at early-stage venture fund SignalFire and the former Editor-At-Large of TechCrunch. PressClub is a relaxed venue where luminaries can share their stories, passions, thoughts on trends, and visions of the future. Past guests on PressClub include the founders of Facebook, Instagram, Slack, Shopify, Spotify, Substack, WordPress, Patreon, and more. Thanks for being part of our futurist community!

"I don't think that there will actually be significant cultural change until Zuckerberg steps down" Facebook's former Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos tells PressClub. The Wall Street Journal's Facebook Files scoops revealed that the company knew its algorithm incentivized hate, its XCheck system shielded VIPs from content moderation, that human traffickers used it to lure in victims, and that Instagram made 40% of users feel unattractive.

On PressClub, we ask Stamos and the lead author of these scoops whether Facebook is trading our well-being for profits. Is it human nature to attack and envy others? Can social networks be built safely, and how? Is it employees' moral duty to blow the whistle when they're not? And will it take new leadership for Facebook to have a change of heart?

On PressClub, we ask:

• Ex-Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos
• Assistant professor and Facebook Oversight Board researcher Kate Klonick
• WSJ's Facebook reporter Jeff Horwitz
• And your host Josh Constine of SignalFire, who covered Facebook for 8 years at TechCrunch

Subscribe to PressClub at http://constine.club/. This podcast is recorded live on Josh Constine's PressClub on Clubhouse, Thursdays at 4pm PT. PressClub is Clubhouse's first show, where the big names in tech discuss the biggest ideas. It's hosted by Josh Constine, an investor at early-stage venture fund SignalFire and the former Editor-At-Large of TechCrunch. PressClub is a relaxed venue where luminaries can share their stories, passions, thoughts on trends, and visions of the future. Past guests on PressClub include the founders of Facebook, Instagram, Slack, Shopify, Spotify, Substack, WordPress, Patreon, Genies, OpenSea, and more. Thanks for being part of our futurist community!

Should you do your hardest task first -- what Mark Twain called "eating a frog" -- and block off your entire calendar? Or stay flexible while focusing on what's urgent and excites you? On this episode of PressClub, we ask productivity master Shishir Mehrotra, the CEO of collaboration app Coda and former VP of product for YouTube. He breaks down his strategies for time management, decision-making, and strengthening your willpower muscle. Shishir shares tips he picked up from the founders of Google, LinkedIn, Airbnb, and ...Seinfeld about how to keep your mind clear and your to-dos done. Listen in to learn:

• Are you a task-piler or an etch-a-sketcher?
• How to stop letting others define your task list via email
• Prioritization instead of context switching
• Why you should refuse Zoom's default meeting lengths
• How to focus on what's next, not what's left
• A better format for brainstorming
• How "eigenquestions" get you to faster decisions
• And why the future of productivity is the rebundling of tools into suites like Coda and Motion

This PressClub will make you better at just about everything.

Subscribe to PressClub at http://constine.club/. This podcast is recorded live on Josh Constine's PressClub on Clubhouse, Thursdays at 4pm PT. PressClub is Clubhouse's first show, where the big names in tech discuss the biggest ideas. It's hosted by Josh Constine, an investor at early-stage venture fund SignalFire and the former Editor-At-Large of TechCrunch. PressClub is a relaxed venue where luminaries can share their stories, passions, thoughts on trends, and visions of the future. Past guests on PressClub include the founders of Facebook, Instagram, Slack, Shopify, Spotify, Substack, WordPress, Patreon, and more. Thanks for being part of our futurist community!