web3 with a16z crypto

Creativity Across Industries, with Uniswap & KidSuper

Episode Summary

A special guest combo -- Hayden Adams of Uniswap and Colm Dillane of KidSuper -- on the topics of: industry jargon, the power of naming (and origin stories), marketing vs. spectacle; the power of early community and "selling out"; drops as in “airdrops” in crypto to drops in fashion (a la Supreme); open source copying, forking, and design (in both tech and fashion)... and the power of innovating vs. stagnating

Episode Notes

with @haydenzadams @kidsuper @smc90

This episode involves a special mix of guests:

• Hayden Adams, founder and CEO of Uniswap Labs, and inventor of the Uniswap Protocol a leader in decentralized finance (DeFi); they recently announced Unichain; and
• Colm Dillane, the multimedia artist behind fashion brand KidSuper, CFDA award winner who has his own Warhol Factory-like creative studio and space; Dillane started out selling t-shirts in his highschool cafeteria, and then went on to present his collection at Paris Fashion week — and has also done creative campaigns for iconic brands from Louis Vuitton and Mercedes Benz to Puma and Converse

...in conversation with editor in chief Sonal Chokshi. The conversation originally took place at our Founder Summit (October 2024) but is more relevant than ever as the crypto industry focuses on mainstream applications and users. It covers:

• industry jargon, to making technology not just more broadly available but more culturally and socially understood
• the power of naming, including the origin story behind the unicorn and Unisocks and more
• the difference between marketing vs. spectacle
• the power of early community and what it means to expand to new users vs "sell out”
• drops -- “airdrops” in crypto; drops in fashion (a la Supreme), and just product launches in general

We also touch on some questions and issues around open source, including forking and copying -- good or bad? -- and whether a collective can actually do good design. 

The theme throughout is about innovating vs. stagnating -- learning from different industries and places; trying (unexpected) new things, even when there may not be a clear business case up front, and much more. 

As a reminder: None of the following should be taken as business, investment, legal, or tax advice; please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information.