Beacon Podcast

In this episode of Beacon Podcast, we speak with Karan Sirdesai, the Co-Founder of Mira Network, a decentralized AI infrastructure platform that's pioneering a new approach to reliable and safe artificial intelligence. Karan shares how Mira tackles the challenge of AI hallucinations, making intelligent systems more trustworthy for critical use cases in finance, healthcare, and beyond.Karan dives into his non-linear founder journey, from hustling in university and working with Balaji Srinivasan, to founding Mira alongside deep AI and crypto experts. You'll hear how the team discovered their "aha" moment through hands-on experimentation with GPU rentals and AI pipelines—and how this led them to a breakthrough solution using multiple models and consensus-based verification.

In this episode, Ron Bodkin explores the intersection of AI and crypto, emphasizing responsibility, governance, and the transformative potential of Web3. He shares his journey from Google to founding Theoric and ChainML, reflecting on the shift from corporate AI leadership to startup innovation. The discussion covers agent collectives, challenges in AI standardization, and metrics for decentralized AI success. Ron also introduces Proof of Contribution and Collaboration as trust-building mechanisms in AI, along with Theoric’s core pillars—interoperability, composability, and decentralized innovation. He delves into token economics, governance, and company culture, concluding with insights on leadership and the future of AI.

In this conversation, Jay from Sei Labs discusses the parallels between established cities and virtual machines, emphasizing the challenges of displacing dominant systems like the EVM. He shares his journey from traditional finance at Robinhood to now building Sei Network in Web3, highlighting the importance of user feedback and the need for higher throughput in blockchain technology. Jay introduces the concept of parallelization as a solution to current limitations and reflects on the role of memecoins in fostering community movements. We hope you enjoy listening to his Web3 founder journey with hosts Kenzi Wang , Sachi Kamiya and Diksha Dutta.

Join David Minarsch as he explores the concept of autonomy and its impact on human-machine relationships. He shares his journey into the crypto and AI space, including his work with Fetch.ai and the founding of Valory and OLAS. The conversation highlights the rise of autonomous agents, their practical applications, and the challenges within the Web3 AI landscape. David also emphasizes the value of mission-driven teams and the open-source ethos of OLAS, designed to coordinate decentralized autonomous agents effectively. 🎧 Listen to David's founder journey with hosts Kenzi Wang, Sachi Kamiya, and Diksha Dutta:

Anna Kazlauskas discusses her path from traditional finance to the world of decentralized AI. She describes what it’s like building Vana, a platform that lets people own their data and contribute it to AI models, and explains why tokenomics plays an important role in their setup. Anna also discusses the challenges of starting a Web3 company, including how important it is to hire people who share the same mission. She dives into the AI data shortage and how Vana tackles this with decentralized data ownership and data DAOs. Other key topics include the difference between data DAOs, trusts, and unions, why private data is valuable, and lessons from projects like the Reddit Data DAO. This episode has a lot to offer for anyone interested in the future of AI, data ownership, and building in Web3. Listen to Anna's founder journey with hosts Kenzi Wang, Sachi Kamiya and Diksha Dutta.

Uma Roy delves into her journey in the Web3 space, the motivations behind founding Succinct Labs, and the importance of zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) for the scalability and privacy of crypto projects. She explains the inception and growth of Succinct Labs in San Francisco, emphasizing the team's preference for in-person collaboration. She also discusses the challenges encountered while developing SP1, a ZK virtual machine, and the solutions they devised. We hope you enjoy Uma's conversation with hosts Kenzi Wang and Diksha Dutta, where she talks in-depth about her Web3 founder journey.

In this episode, Rushi Manche, Co-Founder of Movement Labs, shares his journey from a young coder to a crypto innovator. He discusses the importance of offering your time and skills to gain experience, the rise of meme coins, and the shift to Gen Z marketing in crypto. Rushi explains how Movement Labs is making Ethereum more secure and accessible by introducing the Move language and technology. We do a deep dive into what Gen Z founders need to succeed. We hope you enjoy Rushi’s conversation with hosts Kenzi Wang, Sachi Kamiya, and Diksha Dutta, where he talks in-depth about his Web3 founder journey.

In this conversation, Nick Emmons, Co-Founder of Allora Labs, delves into the synergies between crypto and AI, exploring the potential for decentralized AI to create a collective intelligence network. Emmons outlines Allora Labs' mission, emphasizing their focus on AI-powered DeFi and innovative financial primitives. He also discusses the ongoing debate between open and closed AI systems and highlights the opportunities available for blockchain developers within the AI space. The discussion wraps up with Emmons sharing the milestones and developments at Allora Labs that excite him the most, underscoring the crucial role of markets in problem-solving. We hope you enjoy Nick’s conversation with hosts Kenzi Wang, Sachi Kamiya, and Diksha Dutta, where he talks in-depth about his Web3 founder journey.

In this episode, Gabby Dizon, Co-Founder of Yield Guild Games (YGG), shares his journey from PC gamer to Web3 pioneer. He discusses the challenges and future of Web3 gaming, highlighting AI's potential impact and the qualities needed for founders to succeed. Learn about YGG's evolution, their innovative on-chain guilds, and the key to mainstream adoption of Web3 games. Gabby Dizon is a game industry veteran with over 18 years of experience. He co-founded Yield Guild Games, a play-to-earn gaming guild and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that provides gamers all over the world an opportunity to access the NFT game assets needed to start playing blockchain games and earn crypto-based rewards. He is also a founding board member of the Blockchain Game Alliance. Gabby’s mission is to onboard millions of gamers so they can find opportunities in the digital world. He believes that the future of work is in the open Metaverse. We hope you enjoy Gabby’s conversation with hosts Kenzi Wang, Sachi Kamiya, and Diksha Dutta, where he talks in-depth about his Web3 founder journey.

Avery Ching shares his outlook on the intersection of crypto and AI, the fundraising process for Aptos Labs, and the key differences between Aptos and other Layer 1s like Solana and Ethereum. He further discusses the use cases for Aptos, the challenges of the Move programming language, and Aptos' future goals. Avery is the CTO and Co-Founder of Aptos Labs. He has spent over a decade building distributed technologies and scaling them to billions of users worldwide. Prior to co-founding Aptos Labs, Avery led the crypto platform team at Meta, focusing on all aspects of blockchain technology, from wallet infrastructure to L1 blockchain development—most notably the Diem blockchain. We hope you enjoy Avery’s conversation with hosts Kenzi Wang, Sachi Kamiya, and Diksha Dutta, where he talks in-depth about his Web3 X AI journey.