Foundation Talent Team here 👋 —
Foundation is at the epicenter of web3 and culture. We fundamentally believe in the power of the blockchain, and how it will shape the future of the internet. More importantly, we believe in rewarding the creators who are at the frontier of internet culture.
Our team isn’t just into crypto and art; we’re in tune with the ever-changing, effervescent world wide web. Our latest collab with Petra Voice on her new collection, Babes, is a perfect example of how Foundation is committed to blending cutting-edge tech, art, and internet culture.
Let’s face it, we all have a love-hate relationship with the internet. But for our team, it’s just made us even more fired up about reimagining its future. We thought it was high time you got to know some of the team behind Foundation—they’re seriously cool, imo.
Don’t take it from us - take it from them ⬇️
When you were younger, what was your favorite memory of the internet?
Slime Volleyball. Easy. Next question.
From Dancing Baby, Pepe to The Dress, life online is like the wild west; provocative, boundary pushing and mostly fun. Do you have a favorite meme, or moment in internet’s zeitgeist?
My favorite moment of the internet was when YouTube came out. Tears of joy for days! To expose the extensive library of local news bloopers from all of the country, from Leprechaun sightings in Alabama to the whistle tips controversy in my native Bay Area, early YouTube was the most fun era of social media. You remember YouTube parties being a thing? I can’t think of a product since that’s been more effective at bringing people together.
How did your relationship with the internet influence your desire to work in tech?
I’ve always found the term “tech” funny. Tech is “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes,” which basically means everyone from doctors to farmers work in “tech.” I’ve never thought about it as working in tech; it’s always just been “What kinds of products are meaningful to the lives of people I care about?” And it turns out the people I care about spend a good amount of time on the internet :)
What about Foundation drew you to work here?
I had previously worked in most of my core passion areas — music, travel, and shopping. But a big one for me was missing — art. So Foundation made a ton of sense. My mom is an artist, and she’s had a tremendous influence on me. Ultimately, I joined to help the most creative people on the internet make a living.
The internet is a fast moving place; as is web3. Why do you believe web3 is important for the internet’s future?
Web3 has a shot a being the easiest way for creators to distribute and sell digitally native content.
Right now, distribution is clearly superior in web2. But distribution pipes in web3, due to their decentralized nature, are designed for ultimately superior distribution. And the monetization pipes of web3, where users literally log in with a wallet and creators receive instantaneous and transparent payouts, are already significantly better than web2. If the superior monetization pipes in web3 attract enough creators, and those creators in turn pull in enough of their fans, things could change on the distribution advantage. And then things could get very interesting.
Why do you love building Foundation?
I think creativity has been undervalued by society for my entire life. How much joy has your favorite song brought you over the years? How much did you pay for it? How much did the artist make? It’s crazy!
For the last several decades, we’ve been trained to think creative output on the internet should be free, prioritizing distribution for the sake of indirect (ads-based) monetization. I’m hoping to play a small but important role in helping people un-learn that and instead feel the joy of supporting creators directly, similar to buying a work of art in the traditional art world but at the scale of the internet.
When you were younger, what was your favorite memory of the internet?
My favorite internet memory was using Myspace after school!
Having a song automatically play when people visit your profile was fire. I also liked searching for and discovering new music on blogs and downloading music for my computer and iPod, so I always took my profile song kind of seriously. Ranking my friends in my top 8 was also hilarious.
I also did things like, customized my layouts and hid things with code. People would always wonder how you got your page to look a certain way. Myspace pages were totally a form of online self-expression for everyone.
From Dancing Baby, Pepe to The Dress, life online is like the wild west; provocative, boundary pushing and mostly fun. Do you have a favorite meme, or moment in internet’s zeitgeist?
Charlie the unicorn.
I just remember when I was younger watching it on YouTube when I was bored. Watching it now, I’m thinking, “What even is this?” But that era of early YouTube was iconic. It just reminds me of the other unhinged videos from early YouTube.
How did your relationship with the internet influence your desire to work in tech?
Since I was young, I’ve been good at using computers and navigating the online world, so I’ve been getting cozy with the internet and computers for a while now.
Growing up, I also had a tad bit of a rebellious nature and was super into the arts (theatre, acting, photography, etc.). So I enjoy working at interesting companies that do good for a community and try to do things that are challenging or against the norm. I like to be involved in those purposes.
What about Foundation drew you to work here?
At first glance, it was the design of Foundation. I also loved the confetti. I’ve been passionate about the arts and humanities, so working with art, new Web3 technology, and beautiful design is nice.
Besides that, I knew Foundation was very future-forward thinking because they are always shipping and have proof of always doing new cool things over and over again, so I wanted to be involved. I also liked that Foundation had a great community of artists and collectors, and I wanted to help support them in selling their art; that was important to me as a Support person.
The internet is a fast moving place; as is web3. Why do you believe web3 is important for the internet’s future?
Web3 offers a decentralized and more secure way of doing online transactions and interactions. It’s important to advance something that gives users more control over their data and digital identities and increases online privacy and security. That statement alone would be enough for me to consider getting involved in Web3.
Why do you love building Foundation?
Foundation is known and trusted by the Web3 community, and the team who builds it is committed to supporting its community and continuing to give Web3 hot new things. Knowing that I’m here contributing and pushing Web3 forward in a very hands-on way feels fulfilling.
Work-wise, it’s a great place to express my creativity. It’s fast-paced, so there’s never a dull moment, and it never gets boring.
When you were younger, what was your favorite memory of the internet?
I was on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger for the uninitiated) wayyy before I ever had a cell phone. I was likely too young if I’m being honest, but I was a curious kid with an overprotective mother who got scared whenever I left the house — the computer it was. I became quickly enthralled with the eccentric, shapeshifting culture of online interaction. It’s a different language that had emerged from constraints in technologies, like SMS, breeding memetic morsels of online written language. Like, how long have we been saying ‘lol’ now? But yea, I just had a great time chatting on AIM with my friends as well as internet strangers, doing things like discovering Taking Back Sunday on my dial-up connection.
From Dancing Baby, Pepe to The Dress, life online is like the wild west; provocative, boundary pushing and mostly fun. Do you have a favorite meme, or moment in internet’s zeitgeist?
Pepe…it was always Pepe. No other meme has anything comparable to the bizarre, long-lasting history of Pepe the Frog. Pepe is ubiquitous across the internet. Pepe is the Mickey Mouse of the internet. Pepe is a medium of art and expression. Gosh, I feel like such a geek typing this stuff out
How did your relationship with the internet influence your desire to work in tech?
Until I went to university to learn how a computer works, the internet and the aforementioned computer was just straight-up magic to me. I’m the type of person that likes to dig deeper and deeper to understand how something works (until my head hurts), so that’s what ultimately led me to study computer science and pursue a career in the tech industry.
It was web3 though that got me thinking more deeply about memetics — not just funny pictures — but this idea that memes are the genes of the internet, in constant battle for attention. And how from anywhere in the world — either subconsciously or consciously — we look to internet memes to inform our interests, opinions, and beyond. I believe everyone is a “child“ of the internet in that sense.
What about Foundation drew you to work here?
Foundation is the intersection of many interests of mine: technology, art, finance. I had friends that had shared their art on Foundation, and since entering web3 in 2021, I’d always perceived Foundation as a mainstay for web3 artists. It’s an honor to contribute to Foundation and push the company forward into its next era.
The internet is a fast moving place; as is web3. Why do you believe web3 is important for the internet’s future?
The internet is broken in a lot of ways. Centralization breeds censorship and single points of failure. A primary internet monetization model is data farming — data that lives with the company instead of you, the user. We have hundreds, if not thousands, of passwords scattered around the web, when we really just need a cryptographic key pair fam. And lot of trust is placed on opaque code sitting on a server that you’ll never be able to see or understand — smart contracts give transparency to the internet. In equal parts ironic and unironic: “Blockchain fixes this”.
Why do you love building Foundation?
Foundation is a cultural hub of a web3. I just have a lot of fun building that hub with really cool people, so other really cool people can express themselves through art, perhaps inadvertently creating the next great meme.
When you were younger, what was your favorite memory of the internet?
One of my favorite core childhood memories is the legendary virtual pet game Neopets. After school, my friends and I would fight over the “good” computers. My favorite species was Lupe, and my favorite place to visit was the Healing Springs. I was probably better at managing my Neopoints as a kid than my own finances today. This article by BuzzFeed (rip) sums it up pretty well.
From Dancing Baby, Pepe to The Dress, life online is like the wild west; provocative, boundary pushing and mostly fun. Do you have a favorite meme, or moment in internet’s zeitgeist?
There are so many it’s hard to choose one! Just off the top of my head, I’m not sure if Charm School was filmed pre-internet, but someone posted it on YouTube and it’s become a part of pop culture history: *see when you do clownery, the clown comes back to bite.* Another one would be when Michelle Phan, who pioneered online beauty content on YouTube, first started posting videos. I’ll never forget watching her videos when she started her channel, and seeing the growth of the massive industry that she helped start has been insane.
How did your relationship with the internet influence your desire to work in tech?
It didn’t. Although the beginning of my relationship with the internet started in an experimental, authentic and goofy place, in my adult life its impact on me has been confusing. For a while, I couldn’t tell whether it was making my life better, or it had become so pervasive in my day-to-day that I was dependent on it. What made me want to work in tech, and therefore reopened my mind to the possibilities of the internet, was art and the digital art community.
What about Foundation drew you to work here?
I wanted to work for a place that had a clear mission and in a creative field. But it was really the people. Every single person at Foundation is exceptional at what they do, dedicated to doing it well and curious. Curiosity is an underrated quality!
The internet is a fast moving place; as is web3. Why do you believe web3 is important for the internet’s future?
A lot of us thought the internet was going to make the world a better place. And it has in a big way. But then it got messy, and now it feels more like an opportunistic place rather than a cultivating environment. Web3 has the potential to make what we wanted the internet to be a reality—and more.
Why do you love building Foundation?
Our team and our community believe that culture, cultivated by creators, collectors, curators—everyone involved in the creative ecosystem—have the power to bring web3 to the mainstream. And that’s something I want to be a part of.
Foundation is constantly seeking talent that deeply resonates with our values and loves to build hot product.
Keep up to date with the new roles, product updates, and lots more below ⬇️