Kevin Jiang is a design researcher at Medium and the cofounder of CafeteriaDAO. A curated community and digital platform for people passionate about food. We talk about creating Coffee Omakase, building CafeteriaDAO, and how he crafted his own Web3 University with Crypto Coven, Seed Club, and Kernel.

Learn more about Kevin and CafeteriaDAO:

• Kevin’s Twitter: @caffeinatedkev_
• Cafeteria DAO Twitter: @cafeteriadao
• Cafeteria DAO’s Manifesto: https://www.cafeteriadao.com/manifesto
• Seedclub Twitter: https://twitter.com/seedclubhq/status/1490757788867305473

Episode notes and timestamps:

(02:52) How Kevin got into Web3

(04:30) What is Coffee Omakase

• The Kona Coffee Omakase Kevin set up: https://www.konacoffee.nyc/coffeeomakase
• Kevin was stoked to meet Arden Cho as an Omakase guest
• How Kevin built the coffee omakase:
  • Intro: palette warmer
  • 3 coffees in a row, with a focus on strong contrasts in flavor and preparation method
  • Coffee w/ dessert from Fouet bakery
• Kevin’s notion templates on coffee:
  • Low fidelity: Grind size, brew time, tasting notes
  • High fidelity (for specific recipe tastings): Low fidelity + Flavor, Intensity, Enjoyability
  • Finalizing a recipe
• How Kevin thinks about building the Coffee Omakase
  • Origin of bean - Altitudes, lots, processing methods
  • Roasting: Light (have more clarity/fruitiness), medium, dark (more nuttiness / chocolate notes)
  • Brew method
• Most important factor(s): The roast date and a fresh grind.
• Favorite dark, off the shelf coffee for drip? “Buy full beans and get someone to grind it!”

(17:51) Why Kevin was so inspired by Crypto Coven

• How Kevin was invited to speak about his DAO learnings in CryptoCoven
• Crypto Coven is a Web3 talent accelerator
  • Meta Angels
  • Companion in a Box
  • @____jacklyn

(27:15) What is CafeteriaDAO?

• Determining CafeteriaDAO’s purpose and if a DAO was the right structure for the company?
  • Knowing what community means to you
    • Knowing what you want to enforce
    • Knowing what you want to stand out
    • Knowing what you value
• Wanting to have a very curated community, that is strong, dedicated, and safe to meet IRL.
• The top topic Kevin is thinking about: inclusivity
• Seed club: https://seedclub.xyz (Y-combinator for DAOs)
• Balancing a DAO w/ a standard corporate entity if you’re doing IRL events.

(35:01) What the process was like to get into and be a part of Seed Club.

• Apply through a portal
• Accepted applicants participate in a token race: Started on mirror
  • Originally, a “write” race https://mirror.xyz/race
• The people who hold seed club, can vote
• Accepted companies invest 3% of their tokens into Seed Club
• What’s different about Seed Club’s token?
  • It’s a non-transferrable ERC token which has no liquidity value. It’s a locked token which was dropped to early alumni.
    • It’s mostly used for governance.

(40:01) Where CafeteriaDAO is today.

• First Token
• First Crypto native dining experience
• NFT ticketed dining experience

(41:47) How participating in @KERNEL0x is also helping Kevin build CafeteriaDAO.

• Kernel: https://kernel.community/en/start
• “What trust means on the internet”
• “How value is determined”
• How Kernel is like a liberal arts school

(44:45) What feature Kevin is focused on the most:

• Ensuring there is a structure in place to teach MM’s what to expect and where things are going.
• CafeteriaDAO’s vision
  • Creating new incentive models in restaurant businesses, to create more fairness across chefs, owners, restauranteurs, waiters.
  • A new editorial program which can have more equal coverage:
  • More decentralized editorial platforms. Eater or Infatuation.
  • How to better facilitate relationships b/w consumers and chefs.
    • Ex. NFT for discord and discussion
  • All in one community / platform: funding, media,
• How important a town hall is.

(52:58) What DAO leaders do you love speaking with / look up to right now?

• Jon Yan from VectorDAO
• High Witches of Crypto Coven: community building and management
• Alex and Ruby Justice of FWB: what their flows look like.
• Tina from Station: the difference b/w building a company vs. a DAO.
• Xuannu from Crypto Coven: @xuannu_eth
  • Inking a Smart Contract

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