Podcast: The Web3 Founder’s Playbook | Qiao Wang & Imran Khan, Alliance DAO

Qiao Wang and Imran Khan join Jason to discuss how to build a successful Web3 product

article-image
share

In this episode of Empire, Jason is joined by Qiao Wang and Imran Khan, core contributors at Alliance DAO (the Y Combinator of Web3). Alliance DAO is a Web3 startup accelerator with a portfolio that includes 0x, dYdX, Paraswap, Synthetix and top Web3 protocols.

Qiao and Imran are former founders who now assist Web3’s top entrepreneurs in building, launching and growing their own products. As a result, the duo has a front-row seat to the latest trends and innovations in crypto. This episode is for you if you want to know what it takes to build a top Web3 product.

We discuss:
– how to think about tokenomics
– why product should come before community
– what tech stack developers are building on
– why Qiao recommends launching your product on Avalanche
– how to scale a team in Web3
– the top 3 things founders should think about
– why you shouldn’t start a DAO, and much more!

Check out what they had to say in the video below.👇

About the show

“Empire” is a twice-a-week show where we share the real crypto stories that aren’t heard elsewhere. On Mondays, Jason and Santiago Santos interview crypto industry movers and shakers to talk about their struggles, bold moves and tough decisions. Finish off the week with Friday’s weekly roundup episode that covers the top news and narratives of the week.

For any NPR or Guy Raz fans out there, you can think of “Empire” as a “How I Built This” for the bitcoin and crypto industry.

Subscribe to “Empire” today on Apple or Spotify. Watch episodes on YouTube.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

morpho 2 graphic.png

Research

Utilizing a ‘DeFi Mullet’ approach, Coinbase’s Bitcoin-backed loans integration with Morpho demonstrates a powerful blueprint for CEXs to monetize dormant assets by expanding adoption of wrapped products (cbBTC, USDC) while also supporting native and/or preferred DeFi ecosystems (Base) which can further lead to downstream growth in onchain liquidity and increased utilization of the related assets.

article-image

The firm behind Helium announced that it reached a settlement with the SEC

article-image

SKALE’s Jack O’Holleran said that certain metrics are becoming more important to gauging the success of a project

article-image

Mary Gooneratne, co-founder of Solana DeFi startup Loopscale, wants to give blockchain borrow-lend a facelift

article-image

BlackRock, Fidelity and others had their spot ETH EFTs approved, and we may see more crypto products come to market

article-image

Inflation reached a five-month low in March, but 10% blanket levy may impact prices

article-image

The administration announced a pause on reciprocal tariffs, but the bond market shows signs of trouble