Ted Livingston joins us to discuss how to build consumer crypto products that solve problems users actually care about. In 2009, Ted founded Kik, which grew to over 300M users and led the way for today's messaging apps. Ted is now working on Code, a Solana-based payments app that makes it easy to pay anyone, anywhere in the world. In this episode, we cover Ted's learnings from building Kik, why Kik launched Kin and built on Solana, why stablecoins aren't crypto's answer, what the crypto industry got wrong, why Code could be crypto's first mainstream app and more!
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Timestamps
(00:00) Introduction
(01:01) Building Kik: One of the Fastest Growing Apps in History
(08:22) Crypto as a New Business Model
(12:03) Why Build on Solana?
(19:57) Code’s Design + Live Demo
(23:43) Jito Plug
(24:46) Kin: Why Stablecoins Aren’t the Answer
(30:00) How to Cultivate Unique Ideas
(34:43) Focusing on Narratives vs Products
(37:05) Crypto's Go-to-Market Failure
(40:02) Why Ted’s Still in Crypto
(42:15) Thoughts on Social and Stablecoins
(46:07) What Crypto Uniquely Enables
(51:21) How to Attract New Users
(58:06) Rapid Fire
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Resources
Code
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Disclaimers:
Lightspeed was kickstarted by a grant from the Solana Foundation.
Nothing said on Lightspeed is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Mert, Garrett and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.