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00:00:00
00:00:01
Nice To Meet You
116 Plays2 years ago
Welcome to The Nervous Podcast, a show hosted by two ex-street performers who accidently founded a web3 startup and are trying to figure out how to use weird new technology to make the world a little bit more fun.
In Episode 1 you meet the hosts, Dylan Reed and Steve Brown, and learn a little more about how they got here and what they're trying to do.
Join the Nervous Discord server: https://discord.gg/6btBJAWwKu
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Transcript
Introduction and Disclaimer
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, I'm Dylan. And I'm Steve. And we are nervous.
00:00:36
Speaker
I think the first thing I think the first thing we should start off by saying just to get this out of the way early and often is none of this is financial advice and we are not lawyers.
00:00:48
Speaker
True. We are not lawyers. Uh, none of this is financial
Journey to Web3
00:00:51
Speaker
advice. What we are is a pair of X street performers who somehow accidentally ended up with a web three startup. It was an accident. Um, literally an accident. And we don't, we don't really know how it happened. We just know that we got here and we love it here. Um, so that's basically what we do. Yeah.
00:01:14
Speaker
Yeah. No kidding. I mean, for real, like I've was a professional yoyo player for most of my life. And now I have a web three startup. And I prior to this worked in healthcare for eight years in nursing homes with people over the age of 80. And now I sell JPEGs for a living. It seems not just JPEGs. Sometimes they're PNGs and you're a clown.
00:01:39
Speaker
And I'm also a professional clown. I build puppets for fun, learning to play the banjo. So basically we're just two normal dudes doing normal dude things who have a web3 company. And if by normal dude things, you mean painting Warhammer miniatures and doing yo-yo tricks, yes, very normal dudes. And what Steve isn't telling you guys is he also is a Pokemon master. What do they call you? The super trainer? What is the best Pokemon trainer called?
00:02:06
Speaker
I don't know. I know I'm level 50 in Pokemon Go and I'm not ashamed of that in the slightest. You shouldn't be. You really shouldn't be. So yeah, so we're
Roles and Skills Exchange
00:02:18
Speaker
Dylan and Steve. We run nervous and we basically both got here
00:02:23
Speaker
Um, I got here because I needed a change in my life. So I started playing around with web three and then it got real busy and I was introduced to Steve and Steve hopped on to help finish up some projects. And we just kind of kept going from there. The best thing is we have never actually seen each other in person. Not once working together more than a year. And all I know about Steve is his basement and his kitchen. Cause we occasionally do calls when he's in his kitchen, but that's it. Yeah.
00:02:53
Speaker
Yep. I mean, you have at least a bit of a background in technology. Like you've spent an awful lot of time like creating technology. You started in on computers really, really early. Your brother is also heavily into technology. So you.
00:03:08
Speaker
You have like a stronger base in the tech side of this. I'm just a project manager guy. Like I'm good with event management. I'm good with people. I'm good with planning.
NFTs and Blockchain Transparency
00:03:18
Speaker
I'm good with spreadsheets, but I don't have any kind of real technical background in this other than somebody who's always been sort of an early adopter of technology.
00:03:29
Speaker
I think, Steve, what it is, I think we're both tech adjacent. I think that you have a lot of friends that work in tech and have been around tech. And I have a brother who has always been into computers and technology and for the longest time because I'm a very responsible and very level younger sibling. I just avoided doing anything with technology because I couldn't compete.
00:03:52
Speaker
And then with NFTs, when they happened, and the art side of NFTs is what really drew me in, and I think that's what drew you in as well, into Web3 was the ability for artists to receive royalties on their work after they first sold it and continuing to be able to profit from their work as time goes on. And I think that was what drew me in and got me really excited. Then as I got deeper into it and I learned more about the underlying technology, started to understand the blockchain a little bit more and how
00:04:20
Speaker
everything is public record, it became really interesting for me because there was no more of the like sketchy, oh, this product sold out when it was all bought by one person. You know, like all of that is trackable on chain. I think that makes it really interesting because then the projects that are a success are successful because people wanted it versus a success because it was bought out by friends or something like that.
Understanding Web3 and Crypto Critique
00:04:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think we should kind of talk a little bit about what Web3 is because I think that the general gist of what Web3 is is kind of lost on a lot of people. And I also think that you and I really do not view it the same way most other participants in the space do. That's very true. I think it's interesting, too, because Web3 is still being defined.
00:05:14
Speaker
And the people who are participating in it are the ones who are defining it. So that's what's kind of interesting about this is it's no longer a, Oh, web three. And everyone was like, Oh yeah, that's these three things. This is what web three is. It's like web three started out as primarily NFTs, which are non fungible tokens. Early when I said that I'm a JPEG rancher, that's what I meant. Um, most of our projects we've done.
00:05:38
Speaker
early on were generative JPEGs that people used as their PFP and paid money for it.
00:05:47
Speaker
The beauty of that is, is that the ownership is trackable and traceable. And you can say, I am the owner of this NFT, this JPEG. There are no other JPEGs like it that someone has ownership of. And that's, that's kind of like where it started for us. And I think kind of where it started in most people's understanding of what like Web3 is. I mean, I think it's also worth noting that Web3 is a stupid fucking name.
00:06:14
Speaker
It's it's just it's exactly one of those kind of dumbass marketing terms that get slapped onto something and then everyone is just sort of forced to run with it because, oh, well, it's too late. This is what we're calling it now. Yeah, I hate it. I think it's a dumb term. And I'll take you one step further, Dylan. I hate crypto. Don't don't don't be that way.
00:06:36
Speaker
I don't like crypto. I really do not. But I really love NFTs. And I feel like those are two very, very different things. I think that the technology behind crypto is interesting and there are use cases for it. I think the technology behind NFTs is more interesting. I think there are greater use cases for it. And I don't like
00:07:01
Speaker
currency that is worth less than it was when I got it. That is weird. Yes, that is weird. I don't I don't want to get paid and then all of a sudden find out two hours later I got paid less like that is bullshit. That is that is actually one of the most hilarious things about this space and people's understanding of it because if you are good, which I'm doing finger quotes around because
00:07:29
Speaker
It has nothing to do with
Market Fluctuations and Motivations
00:07:30
Speaker
being good. It has to do with being lucky. You can possibly buy an NFT or receive crypto and have that go up in value and then be smart enough to sell it and suddenly you've made a bunch of money.
00:07:41
Speaker
Which is great until taxes, but it is funny how, you know, like we had when we did the warps project last January, he was headed up. And so for like a month after we'd finished warps. I think we were both like, we got paid. And then like two months later it was like, Oh shit.
00:08:00
Speaker
That's all gone! And so that is definitely crypto's rough. I think for me, I don't mind crypto because I think it's a fascinating concept and I think it's putting pressure on financial institutions to embrace these alternative currencies and open things up for people to be in more control of their money.
00:08:20
Speaker
My problem with crypto is that it is a space of people just trying to make a lot of money. And there's not a lot of people who are like, I'm into crypto because I think that this is interesting and it can help a lot of people in the future. They're like, I'm interested in it for those reasons, but actually, I just want people to make it so it's worth a lot of money so I can sell it and make millions of dollars. And that's not why I'm here. I would love it. I would love to make millions of dollars, but that's not why I play in this space.
00:08:50
Speaker
Money doesn't change who you are, it reveals it. And the problem with crypto is that it moves very fast. Fortunes are like won and lost like in minutes. And having people revealed to be who they are in that kind of accelerated timeframe is deeply gross and uncomfortable to watch. The benefit of that, I think, is that like when we watch this happen is when the market was good and ETH was going up,
00:09:20
Speaker
there were a million different scams and a million different people pumping projects and doing all this stuff just so then they could liquidate and make a lot of money. As soon as the market crashed, everybody that was doing that, it suddenly got hard for them to do that and make money, and it wasn't worth their time. So they've all disappeared, been found out for what they were doing. I think some of them have even been not necessarily brought to justice, but have at least been investigated for committing fraud.
00:09:47
Speaker
that to me is kind of like the benefit of the market going down a little bit is it got rid of the the people who were in this space just to make money or a lot of them and kept this made the space more of a builder space where people who were doing projects were trying to do cool shit versus just trying to make money.
00:10:05
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, and that's the thing and that, that I feel is part of the reason that you and I click so well is that like we're both totally fine with making a bunch of money, but we would like to earn that money by creating and providing things of value to people. Like we're not just looking to, you know, figure out some way to game system X so that we can cash in coin Y and make a big pile of money off of it. Like we want to be,
00:10:31
Speaker
appropriately paid for doing really good work you know and we're constantly trying to find more good interesting work to do yeah and that's definitely something that we've talked about a lot and we've talked to a lot of people about this is that we don't want to do the same project over and over again or we don't want someone to come to us and be like hey i'm gonna do i want to do this same project or i want to do a project just like this project that exists
00:10:59
Speaker
We want people to come to us and say, hey, I have this crazy idea that I think would be fun to do with Web3. How can I do that? And then we can talk through how you can actually complete that project as well as a bunch of really crazy ideas that Steve and I will just throw at you. The other thing, and this is something that Steve and I have had to do quite a bit as well, is
00:11:23
Speaker
We either are throwing insane ideas out or having to communicate to people that like, no, we get what you're saying. This is what you want to do. Here's a way you can do it that is better, you know, and try to explain to people that like one of my favorite quotes that my brother told me when we first started out doing nervous was in Web three, no one knows what they're doing. Everything changes every day and we're all fucked.
00:11:49
Speaker
And I think that's the thing, I think that's a principle that I think about is how I know a lot about Web3. Steve knows a lot about Web3. But we both know people who know much more about Web3 than we do. And so we don't ever try to be like, we know everything about Web3. And a lot of times when people ask us, hey, is something possible? I mean, yes, it's possible. But is it plausible or is it effective?
00:12:14
Speaker
Because there's doing cool shit for cool shit's sake, but there's also doing cool shit that is actually going to move things forward or be of interest to your audience, not Web3 people, but your audience, because this really is just about connecting with people.
Connecting with Web3
00:12:30
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that that's the biggest thing that people tend to forget, right, is, you know, why are you doing this? If you're really just doing this because you see an opportunity to chase some money, like, let me tell you, there's easier fucking ways to make money in this world for sure. There's also, you know, safer and ostensibly quicker ways to do it. But, you know, if if you legitimately find value in the technology
00:12:57
Speaker
And you legitimately want to use this new technology to find novel ways to connect with people, to tell a story, to hear a story, you know, to build like a new and interesting kind of way, kind of a new and interesting web of connections to human beings and organizations and a new way to be a fan of things and a new way to be a creator like
00:13:22
Speaker
You know, great, like that is why you should be here.
Web3 and Vice Industry Speculations
00:13:26
Speaker
You know, like I the whole like everybody looks at this as like a gold rush, but I would like to remind them of what happened with the dot com boom and bust, you know, like that was it was a mess. And, you know, and the great thing is Web three literally just busted like just absolutely busted shit tons of people.
00:13:48
Speaker
who were just here looking for quick cash, lost their ass, a lot of companies folded, and it's because they were here for the wrong reasons. Their motivations were bad, their methods were bad, and they may have made some money, but they lost themselves in the process, and life's too fucking short for them.
00:14:08
Speaker
One of the hardest things that has happened in Web3 is because any new technology, you know, it's just like the, you know, Betamax VHS wars, like it was won by porn. Is Web3 going to be won by porn? It has to be. That's the only way. That's the chain that survives is going to be the first one that has porn.
00:14:30
Speaker
I'm telling you, actually, you know what? It's somebody pointed this out recently. Crypto has almost no real acceptance in the adult industry. And I'm truly baffled by that because honestly, you would think it would solve a shitload of the problems they're having with payment processors. I think I'm guessing part of the problem is is similar to why like alc brands
00:14:53
Speaker
which stands for alcoholic brands, have a hard time in the crypto space is they're very, very regulated. So they have a lot of rules they have to follow just to conduct business normally. And then you add in a brand new financial layer that you're accepting payments on, and you're going to have a better chance of being looked at closer.
00:15:16
Speaker
that. I mean, that makes sense for sure. I think it's like industries like the vice industries, I believe is what they're they're typically known as try not to get governmental attention on what they're doing. Because even though even if they're following all of the rules, they're going to be looked at closer and then possibly more regulations will come. Right.
00:15:37
Speaker
I also wouldn't be surprised if some of the negative connotations around crypto being used by criminals to do illicit activities doesn't sit well with legitimate like adult entertainment companies because it'd be easier to accuse someone or company of participating in human trafficking if you're not paying with real money and it's untraceable currency. Yeah, I mean, that's fair. I mean, I think the optics probably would be like extra, extra sketchy on it.
00:16:06
Speaker
Now, if they were going to do that, the smart way to do it would just be very open with it. It's all available on the blockchain anyway. So yeah, you hear that? If you're an adult industry and you want to get into crypto, call Nervous.
00:16:23
Speaker
Oh, shit. Our DMs are going to be flooded by sex workers asking us weird questions about Bitcoin now. What I actually love is how I said call into nervous because we're both old and we don't have a phone number. You can't call us like we don't have like you can't call a number and it's like, oh, thank you for calling nervous. This is Dylan. Oh, yeah, let me connect you. No, we don't we don't have that.
00:16:45
Speaker
So why are we doing this podcast?
Podcast Goals and Web Evolution
00:16:48
Speaker
I personally wanted to do this podcast because I feel like we need a place to talk about this stuff. I feel like the viewpoint that we have on crypto and on Web3 and NFTs and all that stuff is unique in the market. Like we are not approaching this like traders or flippers and we're not approaching this like honestly, most of the other kind of Web3 service technology companies are. We're approaching this.
00:17:15
Speaker
from the standpoint that we want to use this technology to do what we've personally always used technology for, and it's to find ways to connect with other people.
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that's where we're headed is a place where web three isn't just a, Hey, let me buy this thing. Let me do this thing. It's, it's, let me participate in this community. I was talking to a friend the other day and one of the things we talked about, and we should get, it's tan, we should get tan to talk with us on this podcast. Um, one of the things that we talked about was how there's this shift where, you know,
00:17:56
Speaker
Web One, which was the best web, was all about everyone figuring out what the hell the internet was and how they can use it. And we started to get business websites and all this stuff. But it was about bringing your customers to your website. And then we got into the Web Two nonsense. And that, to me, has always been, I know this isn't probably accurate, but it's always been the social media side of the internet where
00:18:24
Speaker
you gather everyone in one space and everyone participates there, but you don't own your stuff. You know, like Twitter, you know, you get on there and you talk to your friends and you, you know, tweet at Elon Musk cause he's a fucking douchebag and stuff like that, but you don't have a real connection. And I think web three is going to become about creating those connections with people that are very interested in similar things to you and
00:18:53
Speaker
having a like way almost like a members-only situation where you have a way to be like, oh yeah, this person also likes Warhammer. I like Warhammer. We're hanging out together because we both like Warhammer and less of a, oh yeah, fucking nerds painting minis randomly showing up. I don't know if that made any sense at all.
Early Tech Experiences and Community Building
00:19:16
Speaker
I don't know, but like while you were talking, it reminded me of the
00:19:20
Speaker
the very first two things I ever did on a computer. The very first thing I ever did on a computer, it was on like a TRS 80 in like the sixth grade, and I programmed it to make my name march around the screen. Oh, nice. The very second thing I ever did on a computer was at my computer teacher's house, because I was friends with his son, and we got onto a BBS.
00:19:48
Speaker
so that we could ask for hints about where to find a certain item in the game Bard's Tale. Wow. So my very first two computer experience, my very first two experiences with computer technology was trying to figure out how to do something cool and trying to connect to other people about a shared interest. And I've never stopped doing those two things. Every single thing that I've done with technology since then has been 100 percent
00:20:17
Speaker
those same two actions. I actually think looking at both of ours backgrounds, it's not just with technology. I think that everything we do, you know, whether it's learning a new trick or a new instrument or a new skill, it's about figuring out how to do something cool and then sharing it with other people.
00:20:39
Speaker
And I think that's, that is what maybe separates us a little bit from some of the other, you know, Web3 people we know and hang out with is that a lot of them want to do cool Web3 shit. We just want to do cool shit and connect with people. So Web3 just happens to be a really fun and interesting way to do that.
00:20:59
Speaker
But it doesn't mean that it's the only way to do things. And I think that's where sometimes the glass fills for people. They're like, oh, I have to do this in the Web 3 bucket. And it's like, well, no, you can do it in the Web 2 bucket or the Web 1 bucket or with phones. You don't have to do it.
00:21:16
Speaker
in this new technology just because you've heard of it. And I think we've helped some people kind of reach that point where they've realized that maybe it's not time for them to do Web3, or maybe their idea doesn't have to be Web3.
Creative Potential in Web3 and Future Plans
00:21:28
Speaker
The ideas that always have the most value are the ideas that connect people. And I mean, that's our goal as a company. That's our goal as people. That's what we're here to do. We're here to try and find ways to build more and better pathways between people.
00:21:45
Speaker
Yeah. And that's it. And that's why we're doing this podcast so that we can start having this kind of conversations and bring on other people to help us have these conversations and kind of pull this conversation up to the front. Because realistically, most people when they talk about Web 3 or crypto or NFTs or any of this stuff, it's all about the money. And I mean, that is the least interesting fucking part of all of this. The people, the people, the friends that we've made
00:22:13
Speaker
The people that we've met in this industry are truly some of the most creative and interesting people I've ever met in my life. And I want to dive more into what attracts that kind of creativity and how we can harness that creativity to do cool, interesting shit. Yeah. And I think that's the biggest thing is I actually think that's probably what defines Web3 is the people because it's not just
00:22:41
Speaker
computer nerds who can program stuff that are making these projects or making these products even like some of the stuff we've seen in the last year have been completely led by artists you know who find someone like us to you know build some of the technology for them or they're people who you know like me understood technology but didn't really
00:23:07
Speaker
get deep into it and now we're deep into it. So I think that's one of the things that is great is that we are at the beginning of an interesting technology that is more about the people for us than it is about anything else. So that's us. That's nervous. That's what we're here to do. And we hope that you will join us as we continue shitting out these podcast episodes.
00:23:29
Speaker
where we hopefully do not bore the pants off of you. So anyway, like and subscribe, click that notification bell. See, oh, wait, shit. Sorry, this isn't YouTube. But seriously, we're going to hope to get a couple more of these out and or a bunch more of these out and, you know, join us. Yeah, you can follow us on Twitter at nervous underscore net. All right. Well, we just like to end our podcast with a feeling like, huh, huh, what did I just listen to? Hmm.
00:23:59
Speaker
Yes, very interesting Oh shit
00:24:36
Speaker
the the