PoolTogether Community Podcast #7: Anne Well

This is the PoolTogether Community Podcast. PoolTogether is the world's number one no-loss prize savings account. You can visit pooltogether.com to deposit. Oh yeah, you're listening to the PoolTogether Community Podcast. I'm your host Tim, and I am here today with Ann, the most, I would say, the most beloved community member in the PoolTogether community. Welcome, Ann. It's so good to have you on this program.

Ah, stop it, Tim. Thanks. Hi, everyone.

None of what we're saying here is financial advice. We're just playing around here. So, Ann, you have just, you know, in your short time in the PoolTogether community, You have made some waves, and including you did an interview for the PoolTogether community Substack email, and it's really cool to read. I would love for you to just tell us about your journey in this weird space we call crypto. Can you just tell us how you got into it and then how did you find PoolTogether?

Yeah, perfect. I'll try to give them some more crunchy details than what I did in the So basically, my partner has been in DeFi for about 3 years now. So he was just the geek geeking away, doing DeFi, talking about DeFi 24/7. And I was very much annoyed. I think like most SOs in here can attest. So eventually, last October, so October 2021, we went to Portugal for a crypto conference. I really didn't want to go because I was like, it's going to be boring. We're going to talk to crypto nerds. It ended up being really life-changing because I was really amazed by just how nice everyone was and how inclusive it was. I was scared being like one of the only girls, but it really didn't matter. You know, no one cares. You know, what you look like, who you are, what's your experience. It's just like, come on board. And as a marketer, I could totally see all the possibilities. So I came back and I quit my job like the next day, which is kind of wild because I'm not, I'm not a wild person like that. And I quit my job and since November I've been freelancing and working in the space. Yeah, the next day. So I just, I came back from vacation and I quit and the whole trip was basically we were just supposed to do 2 days of crypto conference. It was LiskCon. And I was like dragging my partner to every event, every party, every cocktail hour, every rooftop bar, just so I could meet new people because I felt like, oh my gosh, you could feel excitement in the air, literally. So that's kind of how I got into the space.

I love the crunchy details. So you must have hated your job, right? And what was that resignation letter like?

I loved my job. I am kind of— I'm very lucky in the sense that I've always known what I wanted to do. I always knew I wanted to do either marketing, communications, advertising, TV. So I've been in that space for about, you know, almost nearly 10 years because even back in university in my bachelor's degree, I was in an agency. So I always loved it. I just could feel that the Web3 space was, you know, needed marketers, needed creative thinking. And I thought, if I don't do it now, I'm going to be getting calls later on saying, hey, do you want to come to Web3? I'd be the one calling people and say, come and jump in the Web3 with me. So that's kind of where it went. And when I resigned, I had a like 30-minute exit interview. And basically we just talked about NFTs. But yeah, they were disappointed, but they got it. I just, I told them, I feel, I feel like I met someone else, you know? You know when you're in a relationship and you just fall out of love because you got, you know, love at first sight kind of thing? That's kind of how I felt with this whole like week in Portugal and meeting new people. I was just like, I need to learn more about this.

I love that. And I'm seeing more and more brands enter into the space and create their own divisions. Generally, I find it's like in marketing, like the metaverse director or these positions. But I feel like what they're doing is they're paying their employees to leave them because these people for these big brands, like whatever, Pepsi, Budweiser, they get into the space and they realize, oh wait, we're all about— there's this underlying philosophy of decentralization. And I work for the man. And so I should leave working for the man and work for the community and work with everybody building these other things. So I feel like it's like, what is that? Is it— what is that? Somebody help me out here in the chat. Is that a honeypot or some sort of thing where you like, you know, steal everybody's employees?

I think that's what it's called.

So, so have you seen that, Anne? With your friends?

I'm seeing a lot of, obviously, a lot of brands are doing it. I think people are a little, I don't want to say scared. Okay, I'm going to rephrase. Sorry, you can cut that when you edit it. But meaning, I'll explain what I mean. When I quit my job, I was like, I need to do this full-time. I totally understood that I couldn't just do this on nights and weekends, you know, to be— I understood the community. I understood that like you have to kind of jump in and put both hands, feet, jump all in the pool. Gotta be— you gotta dive into it to get it. So I think that's kind of like the, um, the issue with people is that that dive is very scary, right? But once you're in it, once you've been red-pilled, then it's like you, you get it. So I think you're right, Tim. I think that as soon as people Have— if their employers are telling them, okay, go touch the water, go touch the metaverse water, and they're gonna— it's gonna be a world that opens for them, forget about it. They've just lost them, right? So I don't know if that answers your question, but—

Totally, totally. In the chat, we got— we got a V— instead of calling it a honeypot, we can call it a Venus flytrap or some catnip, which I personally love. Love that catnip. Hey, so you're at— you're in the PoolTogether community now. How's it been? What's it like? How would you talk to your friends about PoolTogether and what you're doing with them?

It's so much fun. Actually, I think I skipped the question of how I met PoolTogether. If I go back to that, basically when I was in Portugal for LisCon, I met a few of the members on a dance floor at a party, which is just the best way to meet people. I met a few of them on a dance floor. Then we ended up seeing each other every other day, and then we went for sandwiches with like a bunch of the guys from PoolTogether. It was great. So in December, Leighton reached back out to me because he knew that I had quit my job and that I was interested in marketing and NFTs, and he was asking me if I could help work for a little NFT strategy, which will be launching sometime in Q1. Stay tuned for that. And to do so, I was like, okay, I'm going to get into the community and really understand, see what's going on. And then I just fell in love, honestly. Everyone was so nice. Everyone was so welcoming. So since then, I've been working on a few projects, trying to put in place a marketing group, doing a Valentine's Day NFT project. This will be shared next week, so we're fine for the podcast. And yeah, that's basically what I've been doing. And it's just It's been so much fun to just jump in and discover Discord too. I have had Discord on my computer for the past 2 years, but I was too scared to open it because it was incredibly overwhelming. But now I feel like I've mastered 60% of it and I can, I can work through Discord. So that's better. And yeah.

It's crazy to me that you can just take out Discord and Twitter And all of crypto collapses. Really, right? That would be it. We need to come up with some contingency plans here, people. What are the other options? But, Anne, you gave us some juicy alpha, and this is right, right? We're all friends here. We're in the Discord, and this is coming out next week for the public, right? So, you could share, you can talk about that NFT Valentine's Day thing. So, could you address that right now, please? Please, oh please.

Yes, yes, of course. Well, this is so great. The Valentine's Day NFT was a community initiative, which we can also— I'll circle back to that later on because I think it's so interesting how DAOs work. And you can just like, someone has an idea within a community and we all come together to make it happen. Like, that doesn't happen in traditional companies or traditional areas. And this is just You have an idea, get a few people on board and just do it, which I love that. So the Valentine's Day NFT is basically a campaign where we'll have people try out PoolTogether. So deposit, we want people to go try it, play with the protocol. That way they understand the magic behind it. And then also a little bit of Twitter involved in there. Everyone is going to get an NFT because we want to reward everyone. But then some of those NFTs, 16 of them, will come with 25K delegations on PoolTogether. So I don't know if I need to explain delegation or maybe, Tim, you want to explain what that is?

Yeah, let me try right now. I'll try. So delegation is this innovative feature in PoolTogether where you might be deposited in the pool. You might be a whale in the pool, right? You've got a lot of your stablecoins. Into the PoolTogether pool and you're getting those sweet prizes, but you go to a friend and you're like, hey friend, why don't you come in the pool with me? It'd be so great. But your friend might be like, ah, I'll try it with like a little bit, a little bit, you know, I'll just dip my toe in the pool. But as a whale, I could delegate my pool portion, my portion of the pool to my friend who's dipping their toe in the pool and they can experience What it's like to win, win, win. Prizes, prizes, prizes. So that's what delegation is. And right now you have to do that on PolygonScan, and it's a little complex, but we want to make it a little bit easier. And then with this Valentine's Day NFT, it sounds like you can get that $25,000 laser beam of delegation potentially directed in your way or toward you.

Exactly. Yeah, that's exactly it. And I think you— that's how we're gonna educate and show people like what you can do with it and why it's important. So I think it's gonna open new possibilities, you know, for partnerships or for brands or for marketing campaigns could use PoolTogether in the future with delegation, right? So we just have to kind of go out there and show this is a PoolTogether initiative and that's what we're showing off what the, you know, what the protocol can do and how far we can take it. So that's the first, a first initiative that's coming out, uh, for Valentine's Day.

I love that. You've been, you've been in the community for how long was it? 2 months?

I think, yeah, yeah, 2 months.

And you're already doing an NFT initiative. This is so great. This is a testament to Web3 that you can just dive in and people will listen to you and you can make this sweet campaign. I'm really excited about it. So, Anne, tell me, I'm sure— oh, go ahead.

I was just gonna say it's not me, right? It's like the community. We're a big group of people. I'm not gonna name everyone, but there's just, there's a lot of people behind this project. I'm just the project manager, if you want, making sure everything's getting done on time and things are, you know, gonna happen, but there's a lot of creative, great creative minds, a lot of tech people who've helped out. Uh, so it's really an equal part collaboration with a lot of the members. So I just, I just want to make sure that I'm not taking credit for something that was a group project.

Totally. But I can give you all the credit anyway. That's fine. But, uh, but I looked at the, I looked at the like credits list and somebody commented it looked like a movie and it really does. It looks like You're watching a film with how many people had their dirty little fingers in this project to be able to make it happen. But there's like this Twitter haters on Twitter. There's always haters on Twitter, but they talk about how DAOs can't produce anything. And like, name me one thing that DAOs have done that's worth anything. And then somebody said Maker, and then they're like, never mind. That's right. I'll stop. But this is a testament. It's really cool to see, like, and this is fast. I mean, it's like within 2 weeks, this whole thing got off the ground, right?

Really? Yeah. I haven't been sleeping much. I'm gonna be honest. And when I do, I'm dreaming about PoolTogether and Valentine's Day. But to go back to that list, actually, it's quite funny because I feel that's a learning that I've had so far is I come in the space with my marketing creative brain, but that has no technical knowledge. So every time I have an easy idea or something that I think is easy, it ends up being like way more complex than I ever thought or imagined it could be because all these people know the backend of it and what needs to come to play to make my silly small idea come to life, not just Pull Together, but other initiatives too. So that's a huge learning. So when you want to do things, you have— you need that huge list of people, right?

That's right. That's right. So you said that there's other stuff that you're working on outside of Pull Together. Ooh, please do tell. What else are you doing? What else are you excited about?

All right. Okay. I have something of a passion project that I'm working on. When I came back from LispCon, I was like, okay, I quit my job. Wake up the next morning after I quit my job, I was like, what am I going to do? You know, where do I go from here? So what I did do is I actually reached out to friends of friends who were artists. And I was like, let me try to onboard people to NFTs. So I reached out to 2 people that I didn't know them personally. I knew them from afar. I said, hey, have you ever thought of selling your art as NFT? They were kind of skeptical, weren't really interested. And I told them, just give me, give me 30 minutes. Let me just walk you through it. You know, you don't have to do anything. So after the 30 minutes with both, I was like, what do you guys think? And then they got back to me and they're like, we need to do it. So I'm helping 2 artists get into the space, working on creating smart contracts with them, where to list their NFTs. So this has been super helpful for me just to see it kind of like the backend of it. how they're going to be sold, how does it work, how does a smart contract work. I had never seen code in my life apart from like in The Matrix. So this is like all news to me. So yeah, just follow me on Twitter, I guess, to see both of their projects. But they're really lovely artists, Quebec-based artists. One of them is going to be helping sea turtles with her collection and the other one does amazing 3D art. That's inspired by his favorite childhood movie, so I'm really excited.

That's awesome. But the real question is, when are you going to learn to code? Like, have you reached that point yet where you're like, never mind, I'm gonna do it myself?

That's like the TikTok. I don't know if you are on TikTok here. Fine, I'll do it myself. Um, I'm interested. But extremely scared because I know it's a new language, but I definitely think within the next year I'm going to start to like learn it myself.

You just said TikTok, and I have no clue about TikTok, but I know that it's all the rage, especially I work in, you know, one of my many things that I do, I work with students and like they live on TikTok and still Snapchat. That blows my mind that they're still using Snapchat. And they just take pics of random stuff like a corner of their face and just send it back and forth to their friends. But I'm not getting a lot of hope with the youths. I don't know if you have any experience with this, with like the high school, middle school students, or, you know, I don't see a lot of them in crypto. Does that mean crypto's dead?

Well, in my experience, you got to follow what the youth is doing because TikTok was like super popular. You know, already 5 years ago, or I can't remember. And everyone was like, ah, whatever, whatever. And now it's blowing up, right? But I think, I think it is. I think they get it, right? When you talk about like gaming and like, let's say, you know, NFTs for gaming, like the youth will totally get that. So I think it's just— I'm not involved with them as much as you are because I know you see them on a daily basis. But I think once they get involved with like more, more gaming NFTs, we're going to see all like the teenagers getting into that.

Totally. That's brilliant. And I do— when I do talk about crypto with them, they're like, they flip out about it because they want to get rich quick. That's like their main thing. So they think if I give them any NFT, they will be a millionaire. And what they don't know is I just made this— I made a PoE app. You know, and I gave them a PoApp and they're like, yes! They're basically, I think, the, you know, the next generation, they're going to be PoApp farmers. Let's be real.

No, this is just my French-Canadian background. We don't like to talk about money. We don't like this, just like from our history, historical background. Uh, what I'm trying to do is have fun and be able to pay my bills and, um, hopefully just By the time all of this settles down, that I make kind of the same kind of money I was making at my old job just to keep living the life, you know, going to a few conferences, meet some friends. That's all you need.

I love that. I love that. And I saw a tweet about like how crypto is like basically just playing with house money. And like no one's taking it out until you get rugged or something. So That's the hard thing is you got to pay yourself at some point. But hey, there's tons of Canadians in crypto. What's the deal with that?

Well, yeah, go Canada. Also, I think this is right before the Olympics. So Canada go in general. But there is a lot of crypto stuff going on. Canada has been very strict on the pandemic. And Quebec especially, so there hasn't been a lot of you know regroupments or meetings or whatnot. What I can say is that there's going to be an ETH Montreal coming this summer. I hope everyone will come to that. That's going to be fun. We're going to be able to see and meet a lot of people. I know that people on the board are you know people in the crypto community, in the Web three community. but that are also in Quebec, Canada. So that's going to be exciting. There's also, if ever you guys are in Montreal, swing by the OX Society. This is the first NFT gallery that was opened. It's amazing. The quality there is great. It was started by 2, a couple, a Canadian couple. They're awesome. So actually the girl who started it She is a lawyer and was studying intellectual properties, and that's how she got into NFTs. So they started their gallery. And then I know there's a bunch of projects too, like Zapper. Their headquarters are here. A large number of the team are Montrealers and Quebecers. So yeah, but I'm excited for ETH Montreal. It's going to give us a better overview of who's here or who's still here, because I know a lot of people are moving to Puerto Rico and Portugal. So who's still in Montreal?

So are you going to present at ETH Montreal? Can, can we get your commitment right now to present?

I don't know what I would present. I

didn't— didn't I see you presenting at something like on Twitter? You posted— the chat says you're gonna, you're gonna present your code that you've written.

Oh my gosh, no. Oh, you know what I'm gonna present? I'm gonna present a motion to have all smart contract developers be named smart contractors from here on out.

They shall forever be called smart contractors!

And when you say it, you have to pronounce tors. Yeah, that's what I'm gonna say.

Yes, you have to sing that specific note. That was really good. Oh, it's good. Okay, great. I've got a lightning round of questions real quick, just to— and then we can go back to talking about something else. But I want to give you a couple of questions that I want just kind of your first answers. First thing that comes to

your mind. Go, go, go.

Bitcoin or Ethereum?

ETH all the way.

Amen. Guilty. What's your guilty crypto pleasure?

Oh my gosh. Guilty crypto. Okay, okay. I was going to say NFTs, but that's so broad. I guess just, yeah, NFTs.

Is there like a cheapy NFT or something that you—

I would say anytime I see something that's like girl power, girl owned, I have the feminine urge to go and like try to impulse buy it. So I have to calm myself down.

I love that. I love that. Who's your favorite follow on Twitter?

My favorite person who follows me?

No, well, the favorite— the— your favorite person that you follow. Like when they pop up in your timeline, you're like, yay!

Um, uh, can I wait? Can we circle back?

Yeah, I mean, my feelings are hurt already, but that's fine.

What's your favorite Yeah, go ahead. It's Tim.

No, no, it's a pity. That's a pity answer.

You know who always makes me laugh? Okay, I'll go with who makes me laugh. The Stoner Cats account. I like that one. They always have like quirky little one-liners that make me smile.

Stoner Cats. That is perfect. And I can't believe I don't know about that. What's your favorite dApp? What's your favorite dApp besides PoolTogether?

I think I would have to say— oh, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Okay, so I haven't explored that much. I haven't— I've played mostly in PoolTogether, actually. So I can't give a committed answer to that.

Okay, I thought you were required contractually to say Zapper, but that's fine.

I was gonna, but, um, I was gonna, but yeah, okay, Zapper. But I wasn't sure if— are they a dApp? Does that— how— I'm always confused on what's—

Zapper's everything. They do everything. Okay, quests. Yeah. Okay, what's your favorite chain and why?

I'm okay, so I'm still starting, guys, so you got to give me a chance, but I would say ETH for now just because of everything that's been built on it. But I do love the small gas fees of Polygon for quests and stuff like that.

So, so side question then. So you're doing mainnet stuff, huh? You're like big time balling, balling out with mainnet fees, aren't you?

Uh, yeah, but I've made a few mistakes, my friend. Um, I would say, yeah, I guess big balling, but I don't got the funds to big ball yet.

I think that's a good like catchphrase for mainnet is I've made a few mistakes, my friend. That's really good.

Always kind of like sell as soon as I want to buy something. I'm like selling a bunch of things at a loss and here and there, and I'm like, oh, I shouldn't be doing this. I'm too emotional. I'm too emotional to be in crypto. I think

I'm right there with you. That's like I just upgraded all of my Ice Poker wearables last night, and I and I would told myself I would only. I'll only buy new ones and not upgrade, but I just want the flourish of them. Okay. What's your favorite moment in crypto so far?

Oh, when I got the ENS airdrop. I know this is like talking about money again, but just for me, it was like so exciting because I had just gotten into crypto and this was what, in October, November, the ENS drop? And I was like, oh my gosh, it is real. The internet money is real. It works. That was really exciting.

I'm still waiting for mine because I got it through Status, which was like this early wallet/messaging system. It still exists. It's great. But I was able to register an ENS domain through them, but they get all the ENS tokens and so they're still holding on to them. And now they've like dropped in value considerably. But I'm excited. I look forward to the day when I can celebrate that same win with you, Anne. But congratulations, I'm pumped about that for you. And you sold them? Did you sell them or you still got them?

I sold a few. I sold a few, but I kept a few too. And another exciting moment was when we were doing the Constitution DAO and that we were all live watching the auction to auction the— was it not the Declaration of Independence? I'm losing my words right now. But the Constitution. Constitution. Thank you. I was just thinking National Treasure. But yeah, that was really exciting too, to be all like watching that and seeing ETH on screen for the auction was really like— I felt like it was a pivotal moment for me.

Okay. So you asked me not to ask you this question, but I'm going to ask you it anyway. Celebrity that you would onboard into crypto?

Yeah, the reason I asked you not to ask it was just because I was like, I don't have no idea. And I'm scared. I'll tell you the real reason. Okay. I'm scared I'm gonna say someone and then they've already done something, right? Because I feel like everyone's doing. But, um, yeah, I'm gonna give the answer we discussed yesterday would be Taylor Swift. I feel like she, she gets it, right? Taylor's Version. She's already been making all this music to reclaim her rights to music. So I feel like You know, NFTs, Web3 would be perfect for her. But I'm saying this now and watch her already have like a full-blown collection of something on the blockchain.

So the reason I asked you that question is because you said National Treasure. And I was like, oh, that's who I would onboard is Nic Cage. If we could have Nicolas Cage on crypto, and Jeff Goldblum, I get 2 of those. If we could, if we could onboard both of those, People, I think, uh, I think we'd be off. I mean, we're already off to the races, but I think it'd be— so Taylor Swift is— yes, we win with Taylor Swift. But then also Nic Cage. Also, yeah,

always Nic Cage. Yeah,

at the same time, all of them at the same time at once would be good. Um, cool. What's your worst moment in crypto?

Oh, I think I said this in my, um, newsletter interview, but I messed up my, uh, my password to get into my Ledger. And then I had to enter like word by word, this, the code or the 24 words. So that was like my today I effed up, but financially, no big, I would say no big, big mistakes, just little tiny stupid mistakes. Here and there. Like, let's say, what did I do the other day? I wanted to transfer $1,000, but I forgot a zero. So I transferred $100 from like USDC to ETH. And then I ended up having like a $60 gas fee on a $100 exchange. And I was like, shit. Oh, can I say that on— I said shoot.

Wait, wait. So are you gaslighting us and saying that you actually said a word that you didn't say?

Oh no, I said— well, I said the S-word.

No, I know, I know. I'm just kidding. Okay. Yeah, yeah. No, I don't know. I think we can have cuss words. That's fine. Not allowed. Okay, so we'll delete it. We'll edit it. I'll make a song out of it, out of you saying it. We'll remix it. It'll be great. Hey, so, so, Anne, uh, that was the end of the lightning round. I think you got a 10 out of 10 on scores for your answers, so I appreciate that.

I'm stressed. All right.

Hey, so out of the lightning round, now we go into the serious question. And what do you think you've been— you're like onborder of onboarders. You like to talk to your friends, you like to like get them onto, get them onto crypto and to share in your NFT joy. What are you noticing? Like when you're, when you're onboarding your friends to crypto, what are you noticing are kind of the roadblocks and how would you fix them? Can you just fix crypto for us right now?

Yes. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk about how I'm going to fix crypto. No, I'm just teasing. First of all, I think that if you want to onboard friends, get some wine, get some pizza, you know, sit them down, have a good time because it's really stressful, right? And there's a huge learning curve. So that's what I've been doing with a few girlfriends, having them over, drinking some wine. And I think the number one thing is like, when they're starting from scratch, it's like, okay, we have to get on an exchange platform. And then from there, you have to send it to their MetaMask. And the gap between the exchange platform where they've bought ETH or bought Bitcoin or whatever, and then going to the MetaMask is like a huge gap. And I know even for me, it took me a few months to understand that like MetaMask or, you know, whatever your crypto wallet is, like your key to unlock the crypto world, right? The blockchain world and build from there. But I think that is still kind of hard for them. Also, I'm not the best person, you know, to talk about this because I only know the way that I've done it, which was like get on an exchange platform. You need to put enough money, then you you need to transfer, create a wallet, transfer it to your wallet. I think there's easier, easier way to do it. So I think if anyone has suggestions, I would be more than happy to hear your suggestions so I can help my friends onboard quicker.

Yeah, I think everybody wants those suggestions because I don't think— I think especially with Dharma being acquired by OpenSea, which was my go-to onboarding for people, At least in the United States, that's gone now. And so I don't have like a really easy way to get people into— and even with that way, you had to wait 5 days to get the money cleared to be able to use it. I mean, sure, you can use MoonPay, you can use credit card, but those fees, it's just not cost effective to do it that way. So I do think, yeah, onboarding is like a tough spot even now. I do think that 2022, we're gonna have That problem solved, do we think, chat room? And do you think that the problem will be solved of onboarding this year?

I hope so. And you also said something important. You said United States, which I know, like, just from, you know, legally, the legal perspectives of, like, finance, like, United States and Canada have different, um, tools for, for crypto. So I know that we don't have all the tools you have. So that too is an issue because sometimes I'm reading on things and I'm trying to do it and I'm like, oh no, right, I'm Canadian. I can't do that.

Yeah, totally. There's just— and what works for even within the United States, and I'm sure even within Canada— well, I'm not sure, but I would assume what somebody can do in one section of the country, they can't do in another section. And so it's just very splintered right now. As far as how to, how to even just get some sort of money online. What we need for onboarding really is you just hook up your wallet and you get airdropped some ENS tokens, right? That would be, that would be easy. I think that's the key to onboarding is airdrops.

Yeah, yeah. And just the gas fee for onboarding is like crazy, right? Because people are like, okay, well, I'll put $200 and see what I can do with that. But then they end up paying all these fees that by the time you get to the end of your wallet, you've got nothing left to even play around with, which is a huge problem.

For sure. We're getting some, you know, I'm asking permission to share some juicy alpha. But I haven't gotten permission, but I can edit it out. Apparently, like OpenSea, and this is great, when OpenSea acquired Dharma, that I'm hoping that OpenSea then kind of creates some sort of similar function to Dharma for the community that's easy for onboarding, like an on-ramp and an off-ramp for fiat. Although there is, there is some OpenSea disgruntledness out there for sure. Yeah. But I think because of like how popular they are, they would be the ones to do it. You got to give the people what they want.

Yeah, I also— okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you guys— by you guys, I mean Americans— buy NFTs or crypto through your credit cards? Because I don't think that's something we can do, but I think you guys can.

Yeah, it depends. Like, I live in— I live in New York State, and they are very stringent when it comes to anything online and money. So It depends on what service is being used. So MoonPay won't work in New York. There are ways that people can skirt around it, you know, for sure. But, but yeah, it just depends on which state. But I do, I do like to speak for all Americans.

And I like to speak for all women and all Quebecers. I'm just teasing. But

not Canadians, right? Because you specifically distinguish yourself. From Canadians. Quebecers are another breed, right?

Yes, yes, we— they are, yes. But, um, it's like its own subculture. But I'm very much Canadian. I'm very much— I'm a person of the world. I think buying crypto with credit card— I haven't used it, but I think that could kind of be an easier solution too, right? If it's directly on your wallet, then you're not You're not going through a bunch of bridges and holes and blah, blah, blah to get to there. But if you haven't tried it, I don't know.

So, Anne, so you're in this crypto space. We talked about onboarding your friends and how difficult it is. And hopefully 2022 is going to be— it's going to be the year of onboarding. What is it? The ramp year, maybe? Something we got to come up— we're marketing, right? We got to come up with something zingy as far as like Noobs, Noob Tube, and I don't know. Okay, we'll come up with something. But you said you're into, you know, anything that's like female positive. What is— what's your experience of the space of crypto and like the bro culture or that sort of thing? Like, how do you navigate that? What are you thinking about this year?

Great question, because when I started, I was very scared about like bro culture and not fitting in. But actually, it's super sweet because in just in the Pool Together Discord, like sometimes some people will share memes and then they're like, right away they write back and they're like, oh wait, is this inclusive? We can only find, you know, white male memes, or we can only find male-oriented memes. We're sorry, we have to get better. So I feel like It, you know, it might be there at some places, but I have— I don't personally feel it. I really see that everyone's trying to put an effort. And I think it's great because a lot of people are realizing too, like, yeah, a lot of memes and a lot of GIFs are, you know, maybe not inclusive, or they're very, very much white male, but we're all trying to find solutions. So I love that. And I love that, like, the space is so open. So that, yeah, that would be my experience. Nothing to be scared about. Come on, come on, girls, come on in. And there's a lot of great women to follow, a lot of great projects that are women-led to follow. So that's, that's fun.

Can you share some of your favorites? I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but just like things that you— that come— that are top of mind that you would, you would encourage, you know, the bro culture to check out and open up in their thinking and in who they're following on Twitter and And who they're funding with their magic internet money.

Well, the ones that I have in mind are pretty— I think they're pretty known. But obviously Boss Beauties is one that I love. I've had a Boss Beauty for a few months now. They basically give back to an organization that is trying to empower young women and make sure that young women get into CEO positions and leadership roles. So I love that. I also like the Alpha Girl Club. I just minted 3. They were one of my first— not first mint, but in the first project that I did mint. And basically what they're trying to build is a community that is revolving around mental health. I think it's super important, especially— I don't know about you guys, but being stuck in the pandemic in front of your computer, although it's great to have community and all of that, they're really trying to help uh, promote mental health. And they— I think they're going to build an app with it so that, uh, people who are holders will have access to this, uh, help— this mental health app. So I think that's great. That's what I want to see more of, actually. Anything that has to do with like mental health and also physical health, like, you know, projects that get you up and moving. And I think there's maybe— there's a big space for that because we're all spending 24/7 sitting down at our computers and doing this. I think it would be great if we could get people physically moving too. I know I really need it.

Wait, I'm sorry. So I'm tracking like 3 different things here, but like, what are you talking about with physically moving? What do you mean?

Like, what if there was a project where like every time you did 15 pushups, you got like a little drop or something? I don't know, but I think there's definitely a space for some kind of creative idea To reward on the you know blockchain for that.

Whoa, like, but I'm instantly I immediately go to how game the system. I I feel so cynical. I'm so scared. I had I had American Express representative call me yesterday, and I'm like, you're a scammer. Like I was like, why are you calling me? I'm so like I I just am so cynical right now, and I've only been. space a couple months that, that like people could game that. So, you know, they put their fitness band tracker onto their dog. So their dog is now farming for them, their, their fits, their fitspo tokens or something.

Yeah, well, I didn't think about the mechanics behind it. I'm just, I'm just saying, if there was something like that, I would definitely get into it.

No, it's an awesome idea. I'm so— I'm just, I just am so sad that I immediately want to go like shoot it down. But it's such a good idea. I really, I love that. I love tying what we're doing here into the meat space. And to encourage like healthier, healthier, even if you did like mental health, like just, it's so common for people to burn out here. And just, you know, work 24/7. Like you just said, you haven't been sleeping a lot and you've been dreaming about PoolTogether, which sounds like great dreams, honestly. But like, but like, what if there were something to reward people for Not working or something that was crypto related. So that's really great.

Yeah. Well, I mean, it was just it's a it's a thought starter. I wouldn't call it an idea.

The thought starter, the fire starter. We didn't start the fire. So, Ann, I listen. I asked you that question about women in crypto, but I commit to you. that I will ask the next guest that we have on here that's a white dude. I will totally ask them the same question. Yeah. But I think it's really good for that bro culture to not ask— this is very common and it's easy to ask people who don't look like you or think like you, hey, could you educate me? But crypto is all about educating yourself and finding the alpha. So it's really good. I appreciate you sharing those resources. And I commit for sure to do more research on that and follow and fund more projects that are from people who don't look like me, think like me, that sort of thing.

It doesn't— I mean, it does not stop at women. It goes to full inclusivity, you know, like LGBTQ+ and all the other letters and different colors of the rainbow and everywhere, right? I'm not marginalized. I'm not really part of a marginalized group. So we need to get more people in here that represent more representativity. And I think it's just going to also help us be more creative and think outside the box and see things from a new perspective. That's how the best ideas come from, right?

Yeah, for sure. And the other unique thing that I'm noticing about the crypto space is the Diversity in it and the diversity of thought in it. And even politically, like just the range of the spectrum. And, and I think from my experience, even though people hold very polarizing, even political views, they, they're working together. So that's just really impressive to me. I mean, sure, it's going to be easier to kind of like silo off and work with people who think like you and talk like you and And, you know, but, but I feel like there are these bits of community that are, that are working together despite how they vehemently disagree with one another on certain issues. So I think that's, that's really encouraging. But I also could— maybe I've switched from cynical to having my rose-colored glasses on. I'm Bono right now. Just call me Bono.

100%. I think that we need to learn and discuss With people who think the same way— who think, sorry, differently than we do, because then we won't grow and you're just gonna end up in your echo chamber thinking and seeing the same things that, you know, people around you think the same way as you do. So for sure, I think we definitely need to learn from each other. It is so great. I love, I love, like you said, where I'm talking to people all across the world, all different views, different ideas. It brings a lot of fun and it pushes— it really elevates us.

So what are you going to this year? I know, I've just— there's so many questions, but I'm probably just going to— we're going to wrap it up here soon. But you said there's ETH Montreal. I don't know if you have those dates. Do you have those dates off the top of your head? Did you say that?

I have the dates. But I think it's June or July. It's the summer.

Okay, June or July. And there's NFT NYC during that time.

I'm hoping, I'm hoping.

Which your boy's presenting. I'm presenting because I didn't want to pay the conference fee. So I'm like, let me put together a presentation. And they picked me.

There you go. Go Tim, go.

But hey, this isn't about me. And then we got ETH Denver coming up, which we might be able to see each other. That'd be fun.

Yeah, baby.

I'm gonna be there. Are you going to LizCon every year or something? Are you going to be— or what? ETH Denver, ETH Montreal. What else we got?

I'm really like going with the flow, you know? But I'll see. I'll see. Probably. Yeah, probably go back to LizCon. It was really great. I loved it. It was like a smaller venue. I think Permissionless, I'm thinking of going. But last time I went to Miami for a conference, I got COVID. So I'm a little bit PTSD about that.

For that conference, NYC NFT is June 20th through 22nd, something like that, right around there. Chat room. So that's exciting. I hope it doesn't interfere with ETH Montreal. You know what I'm saying?

I'm supposed to maybe talk to some people who are involved with it. So I'm going to tell them, make sure that it's not during the same dates.

Okay, I, I just had a baller zinger of a question, but I forgot it. But do we have any other questions from the chat? And do you want to— while I'm looking for questions for the chat, and do you have anything else that we, we haven't talked about that you would want to cover before we leave?

Great question. I know, I think we, I think we covered everything. Um, oh, someone said tell us about Oops! Yeah, I can, I can tell you about that. It'll be the closing story.

Cool.

So it was great because, um, Oops, as some of you may not know, he's a community wizard. He's like, I think, one of the people with the biggest heart. Uh, heart. He just, he does everything to help people. He's always ready for whatever you guys need. He's really, yeah, the legend of Web3, as Smart Investor says. He's great. He's great. So him and his sister went to Miami to give out some POAPs for Art Basel and there was another conference, Decentraland, I think. So they invited me to go with them. We spent the week. It was actually magical. We had the best time. We partied lots. We met a lot of people. They were just, it was great. And then we went to Metaverso, all 3 of us. So yeah, it was really great. Definitely listen to the podcast with Oops. Oops's story is amazing. He's been— he's literally a veteran. Like, he's so, so old in this space. So he— I feel like he knows everything. He's a great mentor for people who want to learn about how to do community management. And Soggy Apple Pie, who I was there with too, is an amazing artist. If you guys want to support women in the space, check her out too. Yeah. That's basically it.

Soggy Apple Pie. Those names. I interviewed Crypto Texan and he had some— that podcast drops today, February 2nd. But he had some like crazy names too. But Soggy Apple Pie, I love that. I've remembered my question and I would love to close this episode, episode 7 of the PoolTogether Community Podcast, with a little brainstorm. Would you brainstorm with me, Ann?

I'd love to brainstorm.

I love it. Great. Okay, so let's think experiential marketing. Here we go. Experiential marketing hat on. What would be your ideal— what would be your ideal pool-together experience in the meat space?

Physical.

Yes. Yes.

Well, I think the obvious first jumping board is like in real life pool, right? Pool party. Yes. Yes, Richard. Definitely. I think we should do a big— I was going to say a word that I can't say on this podcast. A big pool party. Invite people. We should do merch. We should have pulled together bikinis, pulled together swim trunks, pulled together towels, really have a huge party. And it should be invite a friend so that, you know, and you have to maybe invite a friend who's not into Web3 and crypto and show them how freaking cool and fun it is. Change the perception that it's like DeFi is just a bunch of geeks because we are geeks, but we're fun geeks and we know how to party and we know how to have fun. Okay, that's my— that's where I go from. Tim, you got to jump off of this idea. Where do we go next? I'm

going to springboard off. So no, I like your— so the beautiful thing about brainstorming is like you've done something there. I'm going to go totally in a different direction because I really don't want to start working out right now. So I would say I would love to see— I would love to do Times Square, New York City. It's very New York City-centric, typical me. And I would love to have all of Times Square purple, PoolTogether purple with like just emojis, you know, just the wave and the trophy all over and then pools all throughout Times Square. And, and I would love that anybody who visits that pool— I really, I like my idea about airdropping to onboard people. So what if PoolTogether took over Times Square, had a pool party in Times Square, and then And then we would onboard people to crypto at no price to them. I think that would be really fun to do and very, like, you know, newsworthy. I'm sure, I'm sure some sort of national news will cover us and then we'll get sued or something. But that's my, that's my idea. I like— see, so I kind of vibed with yours.

You vibe, you vibe. Okay, I'm jumping off of yours. We have a clear container in the middle of NYC, Times Square. Every day it fills up. We have money in it and it fills up because that's the interest. And then once a day, people who are in Times Square receive the interest from that. Like it's a visual representation of what we're actually doing in the pool, right? But they're getting, you know, money. Yeah. Like the Squid Game. Exactly. Think of the Squid Game. little— how do you say in English? What's that animal? Pig. Little Squid Game pig. And then people would be given the money every day at 2 PM, like we do in The Interest, like we do in the virtual world.

Oh, and then you have like the winning graphic, like the bouncing treasure chest that opens at $245 or $230. And then, and then like, you know, certain people, just randos getting, getting money. I mean, I'm into this. That's awesome. I love that. That's great.

I think, yeah, I think, um, that's the beauty about PoolTogether. It's so easy to understand, and that's why it's— it is a great onboarding tool. And it is definitely the thing that I'm using to onboard my girlfriends and my friends because They get it, right? You put money and you might win the interest. If you've got a small sum to put in, it's a great way to experience, play with it. It doesn't cost you anything and you're not gonna lose it. So, I mean, I'm just, I'm just recapping what PoolTogether is, but it is a great way. So we just need to show it to the world, show it in a way that they can touch, that they can feel, in an experiential way. I'm all for experiential marketing. So. Let's do it. When do we talk to grants committee?

That's right. Let's, let's whip up a proposal right now. Hey, Anne, it's been such a treat to talk with you. It's, it's a pleasure to contribute with you and the PoolTogether DAO, and you are truly a treasure. So thank you for spending time with us. And I don't know if you wanted to say something in that, in French or something that, that I wouldn't understand to people, just to be like, Give them a shout out, and then we'll close out the podcast.

On se revoit bientôt à East Montreal et à East Denver. Au revoir.

Thanks for listening to the Pool Together Podcast. It's been a treat to have Anne. Tim out. Thanks for listening to the Pool Together Community Podcast. You can visit pooltogether.com to deposit. And we'd love to hear what you thought about today's episode. So visit the Pulled Together Discord and let us know.