In this episode, we sit down with David Phelps—co-founder of JokeRace—to trace his journey from Craigslist tutoring gigs to designing experimental onchain voting systems with real users and real incentives. David shares how building a Stripe-powered tutoring DAO before DAOs were cool helped him see the future of crypto, and how a silly game about bad jokes on Twitter turned into a full-blown governance product used by the Ethereum Foundation.
We get into the weeds on distribution, incentives, and why rivalries—not kumbaya—are the key to real community. David also explains why most crypto tooling forgets the user, how founders should think about power users vs. normies, and why vote-and-earn is a controversial but necessary experiment in finding PMF for crypto-native governance.
👀 Topics: – Building pre-Ethereum DAOs with Stripe Connect – The surprising origins of JokeRace – Onchain incentives vs. community vibes – Crypto Twitter as your harshest and best validator – Power users, product scope creep, and when to ignore feedback – Why AI might be overrated for great devs – The Ethereum Foundation’s role in app distribution (and why it should fuck up more)
Whether you’re building a governance tool, trying to make voting less boring, or just thinking about what makes online communities actually work, this one’s packed with insight and real talk.
Link from the talk: https://sarahtavel.medium.com/five-lessons-from-scaling-pinterest-6a699a889b08
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com