Helios Horizons - Episode 1 - Building Strong Communities in Web3 with Dr. Rebekka Revel

Lukas Seel: 0:00

This is episode one of Helios Horizons, a podcast where we talk about all things Web3, bring on interesting people from the Web3 space to talk about different things, and today we're starting sort of at the base layer for everything which is community, and I am very excited to have one of the most impressive community builders I've ever met and one of the most impressive projects in the Web3 community building, which is Solana's super team, the co-founder of the German version of this, Rebekka, with me. How are you?

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 0:43

I am very well. Thank you, what a beautiful introduction. It is an honor to join you on this fine Wednesday evening in Berlin.

Lukas Seel: 0:52

Exactly, and we're both here, but we're not together this evening for the first time in a few evenings, and we'll talk a little bit about that as well and how everything went with the big event Before that. I know you've told this story many times, but give us a little bit of an intro to who you are and how you sort of ended up in the Web3 space.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 1:19

Oh gosh. Well, as, along with many people, it was sort of an unexpected twist in life. I am originally from Canada, but I've been in Germany since about 2008. I came over here I was studying fine art, so I'm originally an artist and that's the thing that I always did in my life. And, yeah, I immigrated to Germany, continued my studies, continued continuing my studies to the point where I ended up with PHD in in Art and Anthropology and Buddhism.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 1:54

At that point, I was pretty burnt out from academia and I needed,

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 1:58

I needed a break and I wanted to go back to my art, and I had actually been working as a tattoo artist to also help fund my studies along the way, but I I ended up getting into twitch streaming and I so I did live streaming of my art process because I'm a traditional artist and all sorts of different things. And then I was approached to do a NFT project, by a group of people that seemed like they had their stuff together. Long story short, I got rugged, but I ended up so far down the rabbit hole understanding that this technology can really revolutionize so much about the art market in terms of royalties and the relationship to collectors and ownership, and I got really hooked on all of the notions of understanding decentralization in a much different way for communities and for all of this kind of new potential infrastructure layers as well, and I kind of fell in love and we're just having so much fun that I'm here a few years later still.

Lukas Seel: 3:08

And I think that's first of all a great story and such a typical introduction into this thing. But I want to kind of like the sort of background that you have like from an academic background and from the artistic background. What attracted you to Web3 beyond this sort of promise? Was there also this community aspect at the core of it very early on? Or when did you really start getting into? You know there is something here, and how do I get more people into this? How do I tell my friends? How do I tell my parents? You know all of this stuff? What made you really kind of dive in deeper?

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 3:52

Well, a few things. So, because I have this sort of academic curiosity of like, okay, there's a problem, how do I solve this? So, the group of people that had onboarded me as their artist they weren't really doing any work, shall we say, and I was like, okay, well, if we want to have a successful NFT project, I need to figure out what that actually means. What actually creates success within this little bubble? So who are the key players? How are successful launches done? What do we need to do in terms of marketing or understanding the, the larger network, all of this kind of stuff? So I got really deep into, yeah, trying to try to figure it out. Like it seemed like a, a problem that there was potential to to have be solved in some way.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 4:40

And then I started spending a lot more time in Twitter Spaces, a lot more, a lot of time in Twitter Spaces, even though back then, Twitter Spaces were pretty new, so they were even more buggy than they are now. And also, it kind of got to the point where I started reaching out and looking for kind of people that I could learn from, or people with similar interests, because there was no way I was going to onboard anybody, especially being so fresh myself and coming from the Twitch world. A lot of the artists and people that I were around they were very anti-NFTs and very anti-crypto, anti-web3, anything. So I kind of had my own hurdles, my own internal hurdles that I needed to overcome first and I knew it would not be well received if I told anybody that I was kind of getting curious about it. So I, yeah, I kind of didn't try to onboard anybody and I kind of went my my separate ways.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 5:36

And I obviously have chosen, I've chosen the path now but late 2021, I co-founded the NFT club in Berlin. Which was basically just an ability to come together and have a common ground of interested people that wanted to talk about similar things of this, this new kind of movement that yeah, it's a little bit underground and it's hard to find people that are on, the are on the same page with things and having those in-person conversations have become really important, and we've also seen that in the last years, especially with community growth. But I think we'll get into that later as well the super team.

Lukas Seel: 6:25

But I think maybe we'll talk about the importance of community first and I also want to like ask about your artistic practice there, or in how far that was something that really informed this idea of like, oh, you know, you come, you know all of these people, you have this artist community. That's how kind of the art world works and you wanted to. Did you see something, a need for this in the Web3 or NFT world? That wasn't so much there, or was it too online? How did you even start with the NFT club? What was sort of the need you were addressing there?

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 6:59

So, yeah, in terms of like the arts community and the need that was kind of not being met, I never felt like I belonged in the art world. I you know I'm not from the right socioeconomic background that it wasn't something that I felt I could really even level myself up to the point where I could get into some of these really cheeky-meeky, these well-to-do galleries and actually make it as an artist. So that's part of what really tugged at my heartstrings was my whole life. I was looking for ways to support myself with my art and finally I was tattooing and doing Twitch streams and commissions and art workshops and stuff like that and seeing that there is also potential for artists to support themselves in a much different way and also for digital artists to, yeah, be able to monetize their work for the first time.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 8:07

Because previously, how do you sell a piece of digital artwork or a digital animation or even photography has also exploded in the NFT world, and so my interest in trying to find other people is also to kind of explore some of these, these challenges together.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 8:26

Right, it's such a new landscape and there's so much discovery as well, like in terms of how, how does one market themselves in the NFT world, I didn't even know how to use Twitter. You know, there's so many nuances and the landscape changes very, very quickly as well. The meta is different every few weeks, which can make it really challenging for artists to even get a foothold in this little world, and so part of it was the education side was really important for me. I was like OK, how can I better educate myself?, how can I surround myself with people that I can learn from and potentially gather resources that help other people as well? And so the NFT club was in large part, a bit of like an educational or inspired by educational interests, because we had a whole bunch of people that were kind of curious but didn't quite have the knowledge of the but didn't quite have the knowledge of the Bekka.

Lukas Seel: 9:26

I'll let you continue. Basically, we were talking about what need did you see in the community. How was it that your artistic practice and maybe the opportunities that you were afforded in Web3, that you didn't have in the traditional art world, kind of drove you to start this community, the local and in-person community that maybe didn't exist on Twitch and couldn't be found on Twitch.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 9:57

All right. I don't know how much, I don't know exactly where I cut off last time, but I think I was rambling about education and the importance of a group of people that you can learn from and also that new people can kind of come into that group and understand a little bit more about the space. And there's something about this in-person aspect to it too that is so important when you're starting to do something that is very, very foreign For a lot of artists. Going to Web3, which is kind of this, I kind of understand it as this weird overlap between tech and finance. You know, there's a lot of both of those aspects within the space and it's not necessarily so artist-friendly aspects within the space and it's not necessarily so artist friendly. It's very foreign and a lot of artists don't have any experience in the tech world or the finance world and so just having friendly people that are patient and understanding and happy to answer questions can be so valuable for anybody. That's kind of new in the space, and I think we started to find that a lot more in Twitter Spaces, but before Twitter Spaces were really built out more of a thing, and also the whole of our ecosystem has also grown considerably in the last two years as well.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 11:19

And yeah, so just having kind of this open educational space and all of these resources that when you are struggling with your wallet or you're struggling with offboarding or onboarding or KYCs or minting or what's additions versus all these other kinds of auctions or buy nows or whatever it is, or understanding marketing in the space, understanding relationships with collectors, understanding tempo to releasing your work, there's so much that is quite foreign, and so NFT Club was also a very mixed publicum, a very mixed audience. So it had quite a few artists and creatives, musicians, but also a lot of developers, also a lot of people that are just interested in NFTs, of more of like the PFP collecting side as well, and also some tech enthusiasts and people that are just curious as well. So it was a real mixed community, but we really tried to focus on the educational aspect and bring in people that do taxes or marketing things and things that can potentially benefit a larger portion of the collective as well. So, yeah, I guess I kind of got lost there, but I bet that that answers the question.

Lukas Seel: 12:44

Yeah, it definitely does. Let's talk about how this sort of NFT club involvement and and providing this space then also eventually led to you, discovering super team and and being, you know, becoming part of the, the Solana crew, but then also being asked to, being asked to lead this local task force that is Superteam Germany. That would be an interesting thing, and then we'll talk a little bit more about Superteam and its goals.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 13:14

Absolutely so, while starting NFT Club I met my co-founder. We started NFT Club, we were in the very early founding team of NFT Club, Berlin. So Chris, he had just kind of gotten into Solana a little bit and he had started going to different hacker houses. He's a developer by background, a very kind of curious and enthusiastic person, and we worked together so well from the very beginning and we would organize all the events and plan all these different concepts of like okay, well, what is what is all the construct of what we're creating? What kind of community are we building? You know all the Discord stuff, blah, blah, blah and because of his relationship with Solana, we ended up having a lot of really good relationships with some of the main Solana marketplaces and being able to do kind of, co-sponsored or partnership things, also getting sponsorships from other places in the Solana Ecosystem for events. And there was something about Solana that for me, was always very welcoming.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 14:29

Previously, when I first got into NFTs, everyone was all about ETH and they're like well, why would you mint anywhere else? But but I couldn't afford it. I was like I can, I cannot spend $80 to $400 or more dollars just on gas fees on minting a piece of art, that I don't have a collector base, like I. It felt so unreasonable to me and at that point it was also proof of work, and I'm a staunch tree hugger and so, also just for my personal values, I couldn't conceive of burning that amount of energy and you know that kind of that kind of wastefulness as well. And so I actually my first artworks were minted on Polygon and there was, I was also kind of in the Tezos scene a little bit, but I never really found people that I really kind of connected with and it felt, yeah, I don't know, I just I never found my people, I guess. And then a lot of it just turned into being about the community and I especially around. There was a previous platform called Form Function on Solana and that it brought so many people together and it was just very, very, a very wholesome kind of time of growth, shall we say, for personally, but also for our ecosystem. And so, yeah, we just got more and more deeply involved him in the tech and going to hacker houses and whatever, and myself and more of the arts and culture side, but also doing the events and building up our local community, and it just afforded us so many opportunities that we otherwise didn't have available to us.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 16:16

So we started well, Chris mostly did the Summer camp 2022 in the Summer, obviously. It was the very first kind of co-working space that we had here in Berlin for Hackathon and for Solana, and it went so well. And then at that point, you know NFT Club, he was like already doing so many other things that he kind of exited to focus on some of his personal projects and a lot of the other things. And Tamar actually so she's an important player in the story.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 16:51

Tamar is the Head of International Ecosystem Growth for the Solana Foundation and and she is just an incredible superstar, inspiring woman and they were starting a super team in Germany and so they were looking for leads to sort of run this community and she found Chris and, of course, as a vivacious dev with all of the, the technical knowledge, but also incredible stage presence, with also previous community experience and all like he's, he's just the whole package. You know, he was onboarded and then I was onboarded shortly after to run the community because they realized that, I have more of the organizational skills, shall we say and time management skills, and so we complement each other very well. So that was how I first started this, so Super Team Germany started in late 2023, wait, 20, What year is it now? Wait?

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 17:57

No 22, 22. Here we go. Years are hard guys, and I started early 2023. Yeah, there we go.

Lukas Seel: 18:15

Yeah, let's talk about. So the super team is very interesting. Were you aware of the organization before and can you maybe talk a little bit about, sort of like, what is super team's role within the Solana Ecosystem and how did they go about like starting these local communities and how do they sort of fit in the global vision, global vision? And then we'll really, you know, dive a little bit deeper on what it is to like what community even is and how you translate this sort of online to local presence.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 18:48

For sure. So I didn't actually know what Superteam was before Tamar arrived and it kind of started bubbling up because it wasn't that well known. They had started Super Team in India maybe something like six months to a year prior, and it was the very first Super Team. We had sort of a semi-organized, semi-decentralized community ecosystem layer structure to the Solana human network. Because there's this realization that we are so much stronger together we are able to share information and resources and inspiration and help each other with our different skill sets, whether that's you know someone's building something and they need some design help or they're having issues fixing bugs or whatever it is. And this in-person engagement became, yeah, especially after COVID too, we started to really recognize how important that actually is in a much more meaningful way. And so Superteam kind of spun up with a few first countries.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 20:00

So Vietnam, Turkey, Germany, UK came a little bit later, but we started this, or well, the founders of Superteam Global started the sort of rough framework that starts with you know just a few people that are interested in leading and putting on events and you know running the social channels and coordinating people and, yeah, to act as the sort of social ecosystem, this community layer for all of the people that are curious about Solana, potentially Solana Adjacent, to do partnerships, to help work with university, give them resources, to give them grants, do bounties, help them with educational like onboarding artists, all this kind of stuff. And of course each region is a little bit different, so depending on what is necessary or helpful or needed in each region, it's a little bit tailor-made. But yeah, so Germany has been going strong for now over a year and we have such an absolutely incredible supportive community. It never ceases to really just deeply inspire me, shall we say.

Lukas Seel: 21:19

Yeah, never ceases to really just deeply inspire me. Shall we say yeah, no, I mean, it's so interesting and I think it's such an interesting thing to see develop. Also, one thing that strikes me here is I think all the super teams sort of had like a local chapter before they actually got initiated right. There was, you know, the NFT club Berlin, which morphed into this informal Solana thing anyway, and then they came and were like okay, this is a structure that we can support, that we can formalize, where we can really make an impact on local builders and then give them opportunities to thrive in this space.

Lukas Seel: 21:56

And I think you know, maybe now diving a little bit into what community actually is, because I think one I'd be super curious on your views on the difference between this sort of online presence and then translating that into community, local community events, how that works. And then also like, what is community to you and how? Like how do Web3 communities actually organize? Is IRL like an important part that's often omitted, or is IRL just an extension of the online space, sort of this? I don't know this tension between the two. Maybe speak to that and how it all developed for you also.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 22:42

I think there's a lot of especially, you know, in recent years, going through COVID and being isolated, and there has been a little bit especially in the last two years, I'd say this kind of tension between in-person things, but also really loving to be home and enjoying somehow that isolation. And also, since we spend so much time on our devices and especially in Web3 and Twitter, and there's been a lot of people all around the world that their only engagement with their Web3 communities is through their computer, they don't really have any local communities or they don't have any options to meet anyone and talk about. I don't know some of the NFTs that they collected or an app that they're trying to build or whatever it is right, whatever branch within the Web3 ecosystem that is. And I think there's been a renewed appreciation for in-person things, and I think the Solana Foundation knew this from very early on when they started doing hacker houses. They really understood the power of connecting people in person within such an anonymous and potentially questionable general crypto world. Right, they're just only communicating through Twitter and through these online medias.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 24:19

There is something that's very abstracting about it and there's something that's very also abstracting about Web3 and Blockchain and Crypto and all of the nuances that are within this little ecosystem that we're in, and having people meet up in person and having this trust that's built through developing friendships and relationships with people in the real world. There's no substitute for that. Especially since our Crypto world is very the trust aspect is a real challenge. We don't necessarily know who everybody is, especially if they're anonymous. There's a lot of potentially shady things that go on and to build something that has a lot of longevity, I think trust is a really valuable part of it that is sometimes missing. That we start to understand that when you come together and you actually build really meaningful human connections with each other, that you're more than just someone that will GM on Twitter but you'll actually. You'll help them move their flat or you'll invest in their start-up, or you'll stay up really late trying to help them with their Hackathon project or whatever.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 25:42

It is right. I think it's one of those foundational aspects. They often say that healthy communities and healthy societies are built out of, firstly, healthy individuals and then those healthy individuals having healthy connections with each other, that they're not trying to scam each other or manipulate or whatever it is, and then those smaller connections turn into larger ones, that turn into larger ones, and so focusing on this really kind of granular piece of the community puzzle I think is hugely important and sort of starting on the ground up is kind of a grassroots, which is a little bit not, as it's not the default in Crypto, so I think it's a really undervalued aspect, but it seems like it's starting to get a little bit more interest behind it as well.

Lukas Seel: 26:45

Yeah, I totally agree, and I'm so fascinated by this aspect because I think, like I told you this before and I've said this before also, like the NFT Club Berlin events were actually one of the things that that sort of like got me into the whole Crypto stuff a little bit more, where I actually saw that there was, there was a community and there were people behind the screens.

Lukas Seel: 27:11

I've done a lot of interviews now with super team members and I think every single one of them said that the IRL events were literally life changing for them, because it's such a different thing to look someone in the eye and to to be connected with real people and not just with profile pictures. And you know, I think such a great job that that you've you've done with, with what you built with super team, and I want to like talk about that a little bit. Like you know what was sort of important to you, what are kind of the I don't know the, the tricks that you found work and bringing people together. Is there something that you always look for? Is there a a special vibe you try to create? Is there? You know, what's the sort of secret sauce you would say in actually bringing people together in this constructive and communal way?

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 28:09

The secret sauce- food; pizza exactly.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 28:15

Well, I say that a little bit facetiously, but actually there's a few things that are very innate to human experience, and sharing food and smiles is just one of them. Right, and it's one of these very yeah, it's a universal connector. So, as cheesy as it sounds, I think there is something really beneficial or special to having the ritual of eating together, whether it is just like chowing down on pizza and having beers or whatever. It is right, but I think part of the secret sauce is also having it. I I mean, there there is kind of a, there is kind of a loose science to doing events and it's like, okay, well, what is the location? What's what are we trying to achieve? Is it more educational? Is it only networking? Is it just like a party? What's going on here? And so kind of having a framework for what the vibe is going to be and having the ability to communicate that clearly to people that might want to come, because a lot of the times, if you have a different idea of what something is going to be, you might not enjoy that as much. You know, it's like you think you're going to somewhere really chill, but it's actually like a rager, you're like, well, maybe this is not really the vibe that I wanted to go for, or vice versa, right? So kind of communicating what's expected, what you can see there, what's waiting for you, I think is also valuable, because then people, yeah, are more likely to really enjoy themselves. And so, understanding the venue, the capacity, having events that are really, really empty is also really sad. So it's so much better to have a smaller venue and have it something that's really intimate, right, you can have an absolutely incredible, heartfelt, deeply connecting event with just a few people, but if it's in this huge hall where you are expecting 500 people, then it's not going to be, it's not going to be a W, as the kids say.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 30:31

So that's also part of the secret sauce is just kind of understanding the framework, and having this inclusivity. You, you know, being just friendly and open and kind with everybody that comes and making sure that everybody feels respected and understood. And there's a lot of ecosystems where it's a little bit more elitist and you can kind of feel like, oh, I don't really belong here, especially if it's maybe like I mean, I've had this in like more ETH focused events where it's like, oh, I don't have, my bags aren't big enough to even pay for gas, What am I doing here, you know?

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 31:11

And everyone's flaunting their, their like Blue Chip, NFT collections, like what it's, yeah, and so I think that's one thing that really, that I really loved about Solana is that it was very open and welcoming, and there's this, just this ethos of curiosity. Nobody is there to kind of one up each other, unless they're really good friends, and it's like an early, friendly, silly way, but yeah, there's no ego. We're only here to learn and have some fun and try to develop something that is larger than ourselves, and I think, coming with that kind of attitude and that openness is also part of that secret sauce, shall we say.

Lukas Seel: 31:55

Yeah, for sure. You talked about the different types and the sort of inclusivity, and I think an interesting thing is a lot of the super teams, even, I think, but a lot of the Hackathons of course, are very much developer focused. If you can't code, you're not a builder, and all of this stuff and I think Superteam Germany specifically, but also Superteam, the global initiative, has done a lot to kind of tackle that stereotype. Maybe talk a little bit about how you see that the mix of people in the group and the mix of talents that come with different skills and different professions, let's say.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 32:41

Since I come from a creative background, it was really important for me to also make sure that it was a little bit more open and inclusive. And even at the very first Build Station we did, we had a little bit of like an artist showcase where we had, I think, something like 30 or more artists that were on show at the very first Build Station and we brought in all the artists and kind of gave them a platform to show off their work and a lot of them had never gotten to show their work in public before and they could kind of give a little rundown of who they are and what their artwork is about. And even if it was just you know a few occasions within the framework of the larger Hackathon experience, where people kind of felt included or a different kind of demographic felt welcomed, because anytime someone gets the opportunity to come into a space and feel welcomed, even if it's potentially a little bit foreign, like Web3 or maybe more tech dev focus space if it leaves a good impression, they're more likely to continue that curiosity and maybe look into Web3 a little bit more or more likely to come back.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 33:59

And we've seen a few cases where people kind of got the bug and the good bug, obviously where they wanted to get more involved with the community, whether that's through running events or Twitter Spaces or just starting to build their own projects a little bit more, or actually even joining a Hackathon team. We also do these cute events called Ideathons, which are very kind of specifically focused on top of funnel support for real beginner beginners anyone that's never tried a Hackathon before and a really easy format where it's just like a half day, and we also work together with the Crypto Girls Club to make it also really inclusive. I also gave a little talk recently on Women's Day about making Hackathons more accessible and making sure that people feel like they understand the framework of a Hackathon enough that they would be less intimidated to participate. So, yeah, those are a few of the examples of how we try to make it a little bit more inclusive to all skill sets.

Lukas Seel: 35:13

Well, and since we're talking about Hackathons, and since we're talking about Super Team initiatives, let's talk about BuildStation, because that was three weeks, more than three weeks, actually. Two cities, I think 34 projects ended up pitching. I'm not even sure how many submitted through Germany, but a huge event. A lot of builders and builders were including, marketers were including project managers were including designers were including the developers Fine, but let's talk about that and how you felt it went and sort of the idea behind that event.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 35:52

Yes. Well, I don't know if you can tell, but my voice is especially raspy right now because it has been an insanely long three weeks. The BuildStation idea was born over a year ago, where we decided to kind of do this longer term co-working space to support people that wanted to build for the Hackathon, and we really realized that there's the mutual support that happens in these co-working spaces and, you know, getting to spend time together, even if you're just, you know, mostly working on your projects or working on your own thing, but getting to get up and see people in the kitchen or stay a little bit later and watch some football on the projector yeah, these kinds of relationships are really deepened during these kinds of more intense co-working times. I think there's something valuable about it that it's also not all the time. After the first build station was actually was six weeks long, a lot of people asked us they're like, okay, so when does like the permanent build station coming? But you know, if there's something that's always there, sometimes you can also start taking it for granted or, you know, maybe not appreciating, or taking the time to make the most of it, and so having these really dedicated, three weeks is pretty still long and it kind of renews those, those friendships. It brings a lot of new people into the Ecosystem. So it's basically it's an open coworking space where anybody can join. I think we had something like 40, 50 tables, working spots, something like that.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 37:40

And specifically to help people for the Hackathon and so we also had workshops, twice a week there were workshop days on everything from technical workshops, how to make your code more secure, how to do pitches. The first week we had also every day of the week they were also had technical office hours and Ecosystem office hours for people that had any questions or bugs or needed any support. We had a few designers, actually UI, UX designer and someone that's very skilled in branding and marketing also giving office hours for one of the weeks and so really just pooling these resources together and giving people the opportunity to grow in a very kind of leveraged way with all of the different skill sets and resources available. So, yeah, it's a really special little bubble in time that culminates with what is the demo day, where everybody pitches their projects that they were working on and being able to watch the skill and talent and all these different projects develop over the course of the actually the Hackathon is about six weeks long. The course of the actually the Hackathon is about six weeks long, but it's really it's absolutely incredibly inspiring seeing the innovation come out and seeing the progress and watching their journeys. So but, Lucas, you were also there at BuildStation quite a bit.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 39:20

Is there anything? What did I miss?

Lukas Seel: 39:23

No, I think you summed it up pretty well. I think what I would be super curious because it's the third or was it the fourth, the third right Build Station how you saw that develop. And then, of course, I mean I don't think you missed anything, except maybe the multi-chain mixer I think was a remarkable event, right, like also opening the space to different chains, letting people intermingle that maybe are a little bit stuck in their tribes. I think that's, you know me, I think that's where it's at. And, yeah, talk a little bit about, maybe, the development that you've seen over the past year or two, that you've been doing it, and how you've seen the space grow or change.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 40:11

Absolutely. So yes, you are correct, this is the third build station that has happened. Before that there was one called the Summer Camp that I mentioned previously, and the progression is really interesting you know, since we started in Mid-2022 working more closely with Solana and we have some of our core community members we met them at that time at the summer camp and watching their growth as individuals, but also their start-ups or their paths. It's absolutely remarkable, and the growth of the people within the community also changes the community, which is really beautiful. And so you know the people that two years ago were just kind of starting out. Now they are incredibly experienced and have gotten really well-positioned jobs or So lana labs incubators in New York doing really incredible things.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 41:13

And so the very first build station a year and a half ago, there are quite a few really impressive projects from a lot of these core members. And compared to the demo day that we had yesterday, a lot of those builders are no longer building for Hackathons because they're working full-time, they've started their own projects, they've kind of pivoted to a bit more of a professional full-time level where they don't have quite as much time for Hackathons anymore. But there's been this whole new wave of people that have come in and the quality of the projects. I think was something that has been reiterated again and again since yesterday that the quality of the projects and submissions has increased dramatically since the very first build station. And it's really this kind of it feels like this rising tide lifts all boats thing as well, especially when you see the collaboration that happens between people at something like the build station and if there's a few projects that have a really high level of professionality and polish, it really rubs off on everybody.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 42:30

It really raises the bar and everybody tries to meet that. They're like oh my gosh, look at these projects, they're really crushing it. Oh, we need to work on our pitch deck a little bit more. Oh, why don't we like build this code out so it's actually functioning, You know it, it really it's. It's very inspiring and encouraging um for really, those um, that that little bubble to, to also grow their projects and their ideas and have a, a nut to take it to the next level of, of Hackathon kind of project. So I think, think that's where I see the biggest shift within our community and especially with the pitches, the demo day that we had yesterday as well.

Lukas Seel: 43:17

I mean, I wonder, if you want to, I'll let you think about giving us one or two favorites from favorite projects, but I'll just emphasize in the meantime I think what's important to note is that these amazing projects that don't participate in Hackathons, these people still hang out at BuildStation and elevate everyone else who's there because they love co-working, they enjoy the space and they're there sharing their knowledge, and I think that's such a remarkable thing to do. That really, really elevates everybody in the ecosystem. And you mentioned this rising tide in all of this and I think it's so interesting how much the new builders or the young generation benefits from these old guns still being there and lending that support and lending that support. So I think that's a really remarkable thing to also achieve this kind of retention and have people fly out for this and stick around and do these workshops and really help each other grow in so many different ways. But now I'll put you on the spot and have you pick one or two favorite pitches from yesterday.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 44:28

Oh, it's really challenging, right, because I've I'm there with most all of them for the for the entire duration, right, and I get to see their, their growths and their challenges. And there were actually quite a few projects that flew in, like the people flew in yesterday or came to visit specifically just to pitch their projects, which is really inspiring too. I'm a little bit biased, but I think my top project would be it's called Urani and it's built by this really incredible woman. She is amazingly inspiring and she is a top tier developer. She is solving a really important problem in our Ecosystem that she recognized that well, and it's a problem that's being solved in the ETH world.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 45:21

But I think the way that she's going about it her level of professionality, her level of depth or her level of depth, her depth in how she's thinking about the problem and aiming to solve it I think is quite unique. It's a very heavy technical task that she would be taking on trying to solve toxic MEV in Solana. It would contribute to the diversity of different swap platforms and just generally also be very positive for the ecosystem. She has a really strong team and, yeah, I think she also has a good chance of potentially winning global prizes. There's been something like a thousand Hackathon submissions this Hackathon project submissions so we'll obviously we do everything we can for our local teams and it's also very exciting to see how they also match up with the rest of the global competition.

Lukas Seel: 46:43

In the online world, a lot of things could be an email, a lot of things could be a Zoom meeting or something, but some things just can't be one, and especially just being able to walk over to someone's desk and being like, hey, I'm stuck here, can you look at this real quick. I think this is just something that is just impossible to mirror in the online world and it really deepens connections. I'll also invite if somebody has a question for for Becca, feel free to request the mic. Also, we're giving away some NFTs. I'm not sure how this is going to work with three separate spaces now, but we'll make our, we'll do our best to to find you If you want to retweet the space so people can listen to the recording later that'd be great.

Lukas Seel: 47:35

I'll tell you what my favorite thing was yesterday, Bekka, and it's quite a simple one. I really loved the Ukrainian refugee who struggled with learning German, which is a terrible language to learn, and because of her own need, she figured she might just build something that will help her learn the language, and so she built this gamified German grammar learning platform that rewards people with NFTs and has sort of this gamified, very sensible Web3 integration and I really that to me, I think, stood out as sort of the project is like here is a need, I need this for myself, so I'm building it for everyone to benefit from it, and I thought that that was really compelling both as a story and as a project. So, yeah, I think that was one of my favorites. Adrian, thanks for coming up. Your thoughts, your questions, everything's welcome.

Adrian: 48:39

Hi guys, thanks for having me. Just some comments initially, it's a really cool discussion. Rebecca, this is the first time I'm meeting you and hearing you. It's intimidating but also exciting to see how developed other ecosystems are and how far away they are with regards to others are with regards to others. So, wow, I, I knew there was differences, but not that big differences. So, yeah, interesting. I was having a question because, at the beginning you mentioned that your background was Twitch or something like that, and my question was a bit more on the no-transcript.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 49:35

Oh gosh. So I can't really speak for the gaming community on Twitch, because I was in my own little branch of the art world and a lot of small independent artists are very, very anti-NFT because they sort of see it as coming from a very tech bro standpoint and they don't feel it's inclusive. They feel like it's very opposed to a lot of the things that they feel are important. And the sad irony is that a lot of people in their cases of you know artists that aren't able to get into galleries. You know, they're maybe a little bit less. They've been artists for a less amount of time. They might not be able to support themselves with their art.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 50:33

I mean, most people can't support themselves with their art but these are the people that could potentially have access to a whole new collector base and a whole new experience as an artist themselves with their art. But these are the people that could potentially have access to a whole new collector base and a whole new experience as an artist if they were able to potentially open their mind and try something new. But it's become a very tribal relationship where the minute they hear NFTs or Crypto, they just think it's a scam and they kind of dismiss all of it. So yeah, like I said, I can't speak for the gaming, but that's my experience with the art side of Twitch at least.

Adrian: 51:09

Yeah, very interesting. Because I'm in the ecosystem, I know about how it works and I think there are much more benefits for artists to actually adopt NFTs than go to a platform and be under terms and conditions by them and stuff like that. So interesting how the world works.

Lukas Seel: 51:38

I think it speaks to this too. Becca kind of took the initiative and then started real-life communities, because I think a lot of this is not something you can communicate so well online. But when you start meeting people and see that they're not crazy and that they're not there to just steal your money, I think it really changes the perception entirely. When I open up it up to the Bitcoin Crypto Club, were you there at at build station? I saw you.

BitCryptoClub: 52:08

I saw you around yes, yes, yes, Hello Everybody. Thank you so much for allowing me to speak. So, yes, I had been there and it's been like really exciting for me to get to know the Billet Station environment and all are like super nice people and everything is new for me. I am like watching and listening and it's really exciting and I am looking forward to start a community for Hispanic people, for Latin people, in Berlin. I agree 100%. There is a need for a space where people can meet personally and get to experience more about the wet tree space and how they can also gain some insight or opportunity. My question is to Rebecca, who I hear has a lot of experience. So do you have any ideas of what kind of opportunities could be for people in Tej, in South America or other Spanish countries here in Germany? What kind of opportunities could I help with or any

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 53:47

Oh gosh, good question. Yeah, there's so many really incredible international people that sometimes feel like they don't have access to a certain kind of community, also because of language barrier or just culture barrier, and we actually we have quite a few people from all around South America, Central America and there are also super teams in. I mean, there's super teams. Now there's 11 countries around the world. We have a Super Team Brazil and Super Team Mexico, and one of the beautiful things about this kind of international network is being able to connect each other. Or you know, somebody moves somewhere and we are able to give them a contact, or we meet somebody somewhere that lives in the same location where there's a super team. So leveraging those kind of international networks is really valuable.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 54:46

I think there's also a lot to be said about, just yeah, creating these really welcoming spaces for people that want to have some kind of educational resources. And in terms of, yeah, just like I mentioned earlier, you can make them very small and cozy. And you know NFT Club for the first year, we didn't I mean, we didn't ever have any funding. We had a few small sponsorships and things, but it's amazing how much you can bootstrap events into. You know there's a lot of places that you can get for Actually, one thing that super team does as well is we help, fund different events that are supporting our ecosystem. So we try to empower people within our community who want to do events as well and try to, yeah, support them in doing fun things. Apparently, Lucas might have something coming up in the next little while as well, but, yeah, maybe those, maybe those little tips can potentially help a little bit.

Lukas Seel: 55:59

I hope that answered your question. Bitcrypto and also I think, yeah, starting as local as possible is kind of interesting, right? Even a Spanish-speaking community within the Berlin Crypto Community, that's. I think even those niches are great, and just finding people that are like you, let's say, and kind of growing together and empowering each other is so important and so great. And maybe leave us with some advice, Becca, as we close this, because I want to be mindful of all the time you've spent now here and also, of course, in the last three weeks, sleepless and building community. I don't want to keep you much longer.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 56:49

Maybe, yeah, one piece of advice for people looking to kind of connecting a local community and then tell us how to get involved with Super Team and Super Team Germany if people want to check it out yeah, I don't know, one of the pieces of advice that I've I've often given for people that have asked about communities is is just being very, being just genuinely curious and interested in meeting all these other people. And, yeah, coming with an open mind, just being very genuine, I think is it. Because people can tell if there's ulterior motives or if you're not potentially doing it for maybe the right reasons or whatever it is maybe the right reasons or whatever it is. But, yeah, just being very genuine in your intentions and interest and doing something that I think a lot of. What Blockchain enables is that we get to participate in something that is so much bigger than ourselves. We get to help co-create this incredible future potential network that is potentially going to revolutionize so many of our world structures. And, yeah, being really humble about it and knowing that this is just the beginning and we're all here to learn. It also helps diminish maximalism and being able to work together. And, yeah, just creating a really genuine and uplifting space.

Dr. Rebekka Revel: 58:21

And to your last question, if anyone wants to get involved, you can follow the Super Team account that you see in the space. There's also a Link tree that should be in our bio somewhere. And, yeah, we have a Telegram. We have all different kinds of events and things going on, but our Twitter is a pretty good place to start. Thank you, Lucas. It's been an absolute pleasure to spend time with you at the Bill Station and also now, and thank you for the lovely questions, as well.

Lukas Seel: 58:54

Everyone, of course, also follow Bekka. She's really one of the most genuine people this place has ever seen Such a kind heart and an amazing person to follow and connect with, because she's genuinely there to help. She's genuinely trying to make the world a better place using technology, and it's so interesting to always hear your thoughts on things, and I'm so glad that you shared so many, I think very insightful kind of tips on on how to get started and how to build this yourself if, if you're willing and able to put a little bit of time into it, help the people around you and grow some, grow some cool communities around you. Don't overthink it, just invite some people to your house, chat about how you can make a difference and how you can help each other, and I think that really is the seed of so many great connections. And, yeah, so glad that you joined. I see Noe, I want to give a shout out to him too, because he was one of the other co-founders of the Super Team or initial team, so thank you all for being here.

Lukas Seel: 1:00:08

This was a three-part episode one of Helios Horizons. We're going to give away some NFTs to everybody or raffle them off between people that attended this. We'll announce the winners tomorrow. Very much looking forward to next week when we'll have the Head of Business Development of the Injective Network, another network to explore. We're gonna have a lot of different guests here, from different networks, with different backgrounds, sharing their knowledge, so I'm really looking forward to next week as well. Thank you so much, Becca. Everybody, have a good night. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you soon. Bye-bye.