Drew has a decades long history in tech and product development, but it’s his talent for quickly and insightfully understanding what a community needs to thrive and innovate that’s made him so successful.
He might have discovered Bitcoin in 2013, but Drew’s been attentively listening to consumers, communities and businesses for more than 20 years. Not satisfied with simply delivering the MVP, Drew has made a point of always asking himself how he and his team could innovate to meet the needs of communities in ways that are truly meaningful. It’s no surprise he’s now the CEO of Frens, a web3 startup driven to help communities of all kinds grow, connect, and ensure every member is seen.
What we unraveled —
2:26 - Drew’s speaks to his background in tech, from back in the days of running a web1 product development agency and wine startup, to discovering Bitcoin in 2013 and now serving as the CEO of a web3 company
6:03 - The mindset behind creating, iterating, and pivoting (and how to navigate failure and the lessons that come with it) and why it all comes back to people and community
13:59 - How the current bear market has influenced Drew’s thinking about what he’s building, and how the way people are building community now is so different to how they did in 2021
17:16 - The vision Drew is building with Frens, how it’s an invaluable tool to properly cultivating and nurturing community, and the kinds of communities that are a perfect fit
25:44 - Drews advice to people brand new to navigating Discord
29:23 - What Drew feels is the most interesting and exciting about the web3 space right now, and which areas he sees as really needing attention, particularly in the wake of the FTX and Terra Luna crashes)
Unravel Further —
Links Mentioned in this Episode -
Bitcoin
Crash Punks
Frens
Lean Startup
Stacks
Freehold
Patrick Stanley
R Planet
Discord
Ethereum
The Doodles
Bored Ape Yacht Club
Moonray
Ryder (also check out Episode 14 with Ryder co-founder Louise Ivan)
More of Drew -
Drew Falkman has over 20 years experience in product strategy and development, starting as CTO/Co-founder of a web agency in the Web 1 era. He has worked with numerous startups and enterprise organizations - including Adobe, HP, and AARP - to build products (usually from scratch). Drew started a product strategy consulting practice at Modus Create, a digital transformation consulting company, and grew it to a team of 10 PMs and 25 UX practitioners. He discovered Bitcoin in 2013, Ethereum in 2016, and has been building community apps since building daoOS in 2017.
In 2021, he helped grow a number of communities and discovered the challenges community managers face daily. He was granted a residency program with Stacks blockchain foundation to research and build a prototype - this became frens place, inc., of which he is now CEO.
Connect with Drew on Twitter
