Web3 CMO Stories

Joeri Billast
  • 5.0 (1)
  • MARKETING
  • UPDATED TWICE WEEKLY

🎙️ Smart, strategic conversations at the edge of Web3, AI and marketing. Hosted by Joeri Billast, this top 5% global podcast dives into how bold brands and founders grow with visibility, trust and storytelling – across tech, community, and culture. You’ll hear from thought leaders, tech builders, and marketing minds shaping the future with no hype, just real insights and actionable ideas. Sponsored by CoinDesk and RYO • Host of Sintra Synergies Retreats

  1. From Crypto Victim to Security Visionary: Xavier's Story | S5 E39

    10 HR AGO

    From Crypto Victim to Security Visionary: Xavier's Story | S5 E39

    Send us a text What happens when you lose your Bitcoin in the Mt. Gox hack, then watch 44,000 Ethereum vanish from a project you helped build? For Xavier Hendricks, these painful experiences sparked a mission to revolutionize crypto security through radical simplicity. Xavier's journey from blockchain enthusiast to security specialist reveals a counterintuitive truth: the best security removes technology rather than adds it. "Anything that's complicated, anything that's technical, is a weakness," he explains with the hard-earned wisdom of someone who's experienced devastating hacks firsthand. As CEO of NGRAVE, Xavier has created a hardware wallet designed around this philosophy. The solution keeps private keys completely offline while allowing users to sign transactions through an intuitive QR code system that anyone can visually verify. Most impressive is their unique backup solution: two metal plates with a punch system creating a split key backup resistant to fire, water, and physical damage. Beyond the technical innovations, Xavier's perspective on the psychological aspects of crypto security is what truly sets this conversation apart. The industry asks people to take full responsibility for their assets, akin to keeping all your cash in your living room. Creating solutions people actually feel comfortable using requires addressing both technical and emotional security needs. The conversation evolves to explore how trust is quickly lost in the security space, the future of integrating services like staking without compromising security, and why looking beyond the "ugliness on the surface" reveals blockchain's true potential as a peer-to-peer financial system that preserves individual freedom. Join us to discover why simplicity trumps complexity in wallet design, how military-grade security certification meets user-friendly design, and what's next as crypto adoption expands beyond technical enthusiasts to mainstream investors.

    28 min
  2. The Crypto Storytelling Problem: Tales from Four Continents | S5 E38

    11 SEPT

    The Crypto Storytelling Problem: Tales from Four Continents | S5 E38

    Send us a text The crypto industry has a storytelling problem. Despite its revolutionary potential, most crypto projects struggle to connect with mainstream audiences because they've created an insular world of jargon, acronyms, and narratives that actively exclude outsiders. "I've been in a lot of different industries – social impact, investment, technology, healthcare – and I've never been in an industry where narrative mattered more than crypto," explains Stephany Zoo, Head of Ecosystem at Caladan and a veteran crypto marketer since 2014. Drawing from her experience across four continents, Stephany reveals how cultural contexts profoundly shape crypto adoption, from Vietnam's surprisingly high 30% adoption rate (driven by distrust in traditional financial products) to the interplay between regulatory environments in different regions. The disconnect between crypto projects and mainstream users runs deeper than many realize. While companies like Robinhood are successfully bringing their existing users into crypto, the reverse rarely happens. Crypto marketers have created barriers through excessive technical language and a focus on what makes crypto different rather than relatable. "So much of the storytelling we've seen recently positions crypto as this unique thing that's redoing or undoing what the financial world has done previously," Stephanie notes. "You can't have an entire industry that stands by itself." This marketing challenge extends to how founders approach growth. Too often, they chase vanity metrics – Twitter followers, conference appearances, impression counts – while neglecting the fundamentals of positioning, messaging, and conversion metrics that actually drive business. The result? Unsustainable hype cycles that quickly fade instead of building lasting value. For marketers navigating this space, Stephany offers practical wisdom: return to marketing basics like user segmentation and channel strategy, focus on clear messaging consistency across all platforms, and tell stories that connect crypto to everyday experiences rather than isolating it as something alien. As the industry matures and institutional adoption grows, communicating crypto's internal culture to the outside world responsibly becomes increasingly critical. Ready to build bridges instead of walls with your crypto marketing? Subscribe to Web3 CMO Stories for more insights from the frontlines of blockchain communication and community building. This episode was recorded through a Descript call on September 5, 2025. Read the blog article and show notes here: https://webdrie.net/the-crypto-storytelling-problem-tales-from-four-continents/

    31 min
  3. From Keynote Stage to Amazon: The Future CMO | S5 37

    4 SEPT

    From Keynote Stage to Amazon: The Future CMO | S5 37

    Send us a text The marketing landscape is transforming rapidly, and leadership must evolve with it. That's the driving insight behind my exciting announcement today – my new book "The Future CMO" is almost ready to launch! After sharing keynote stages with Philip Kotler in Cairo and Dennis Yu in Portugal, I realized the message I've been developing over years was finally coming together in a powerful way. What started as a conversation with Mark Schaefer in July – "You're already doing the work, your book is halfway done" – has blossomed into a focused, actionable guide for modern marketing leaders. This isn't a lengthy theoretical tome; it's a sharp 90-minute read designed specifically for marketers, founders, and decision-makers navigating the complexities of AI, Web3, and the overwhelming technological noise we all face today. "The Future CMO" explores how marketing leadership must evolve from strategist to integrator, from campaign thinker to system builder. I dive into critical themes of visibility, trust, and storytelling while making the case that tomorrow's most effective marketing leaders will guide their organizations not just with metrics, but with meaning. The e-book launches this September, followed by the paperback in October. If you'd like to be part of this journey – as an early reader, launch team member, or just someone who wants to grab the book when it's available, reach out to me via https://webdrie.net. The future of marketing starts with how we choose to show up, and I'd love for you to join me in exploring what that means for all of us. This episode was recorded via Descript on Sep 3, 2025.

    5 min
  4. Reimagining Business with AI | S5 E36

    28 AUG

    Reimagining Business with AI | S5 E36

    Send us a text Dive into a revolutionary conversation with Kelwin Fernandes, co-founder and CEO of NILG AI, who shares a powerful vision for how artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping business strategy and entrepreneurship. Drawing from 15 years of AI expertise and his journey from deep research to successful entrepreneurship, Kelwin challenges conventional thinking about AI implementation. Rather than viewing AI as just another tool for automating tasks, he presents it as a catalyst for completely reimagining business models and decision-making processes. "The most underestimated power of AI is reimagining a business model," Kelwin explains, painting a bold picture of a future where AI drives production costs toward zero, enabling radical new approaches to pricing and customer relationships. His provocative concept of consultants potentially paying clients for the opportunity to optimize their businesses illustrates just how dramatically AI could transform traditional business relationships. The conversation explores practical distinctions between superficial AI adoption driven by FOMO and strategic integration that transforms core business operations. You'll discover why focusing on decision-making rather than just automation yields the greatest business value, and how Kelwin's company applies the 10X Rule to marketing, achieving over 140 speaking events in a single year through strategic AI use. Perhaps most valuable is Kelwin's entrepreneurial wisdom: "First-time entrepreneurs focus on product, second-time entrepreneurs focus on distribution, third-time entrepreneurs focus on networking." This progression reveals why building both a strong personal brand and AI expertise creates powerful competitive advantages in today's business landscape. Whether you're an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader interested in AI's transformative potential, this episode offers both strategic frameworks and practical examples for leveraging AI to create genuine business value. This episode was recorded through a Descript call on August 11, 2025. Read the blog article and show notes here: https://webdrie.net/reimagining-business-with-ai/

    30 min
  5. Crypto Who? Making Web3 Gaming Accessible to Everyone | S5 E35

    21 AUG

    Crypto Who? Making Web3 Gaming Accessible to Everyone | S5 E35

    Send us a text The wall between Web3 and mainstream gaming is finally crumbling, and Joana Barros is helping to tear it down brick by brick. As Marketing Director at My Neighbor Alice, she's spearheading a revolution in how blockchain games approach player onboarding – with remarkable results. Joana's journey to this role is fascinating. After managing the Xbox brand at Microsoft despite having no gaming background, she discovered how deeply passion drives the gaming industry. "You are working with how people spend their free time," she explains, "and that's a lot of passion." This insight would later inform her approach to Web3 gaming marketing after a surprising pivot into blockchain in late 2020. When faced with the challenge of reaching one million players for My Neighbor Alice, Joana recognized the fundamental problem: entry barriers. While the game had built a dedicated Web3-native community since winning Binance Project of the Year in 2021, that audience alone couldn't sustain growth. Her team implemented three critical changes: browser-based gameplay (no downloads), one-click play access, and most crucially, Web3Auth – allowing account creation with just an email, generating wallets invisibly in the background. The results speak for themselves – 100,000 accounts created in less than two months after their June 2023 launch. Their marketing approach carefully balanced dual audiences, using X (Twitter) to engage their crypto-savvy base while focusing platforms like Instagram and TikTok purely on gameplay experiences. Strategic partnerships with KOLs and gaming guilds, especially in receptive Asian markets, further amplified their reach. Joanna's vision extends beyond immediate growth. She believes the distinction between Web3 and traditional games will eventually disappear: "It doesn't matter if we're a Web3 game or Web2 or mobile if the experience is good enough." This philosophy – that technology should serve player experience, not define it – represents the future path for blockchain gaming's mainstream adoption. Ready to see how blockchain can enhance rather than complicate your gaming experience? Visit My Neighbor Alice today and discover a world where owning your digital assets feels as natural as playing the game itself. This episode was recorded through a Descript call on August 8, 2025. Read the blog article and show notes here: https://webdrie.net/crypto-who-making-web3-gaming-accessible-to-everyone/

    29 min
  6. From Accidental Entrepreneur to Building One of Asia’s Leading Blockchain Firms | S5 E34

    14 AUG

    From Accidental Entrepreneur to Building One of Asia’s Leading Blockchain Firms | S5 E34

    Send us a text Vikram R Singh takes us on a journey from his unexpected entrepreneurial beginnings to building Antier, a blockchain powerhouse with 700+ team members that has weathered multiple market cycles through unwavering vision and purpose. What draws someone to blockchain beyond the hype? For Vikram, it was the revelation that this technology could create trust and accountability within systems themselves, reducing intermediaries and putting control back in people's hands. This vision guided Antier through three bear markets while maintaining impressive growth, proving that sustainable success comes from solving real problems rather than chasing trends. Vikram shares powerful insights about India's position as a Web3 talent hub, needing only regulatory clarity and better storytelling to claim its place as the global Web3 capital. His perspective on the relationship between blockchain and AI is particularly enlightening—"Blockchain is trust, AI is intelligence"—positioning these technologies as complementary forces rather than competitors in our digital future. For founders and marketers, Vikram offers practical wisdom: focus on the problem you're solving, not your technology, ensure your narrative answers "why now, why you, and why should I care" and remember that people don't adopt technology, they adopt stories that reflect their needs. His Co-Pilot Program demonstrates how partnerships built on equal risk/reward and aligned energies can accelerate innovation in the Web3 space. Perhaps most surprising is Vikram's revelation about what truly transformed his business after years of perfecting delivery, sales, and management: it was marketing that ultimately enabled exponential growth. This lesson holds particular value during market downturns, when maintaining visibility can position companies for success when conditions improve. This episode was recorded through a Descript call on July 7, 2025. Read the blog article and show notes here: https://webdrie.net/from-accidental-entrepreneur-to-building-one-of-asias-leading-blockchain-firms/

    26 min
  7. Building Trust in Web3 | S5 E33

    7 AUG

    Building Trust in Web3 | S5 E33

    Send us a text What if the best model for Web3 community building isn't found in crypto at all, but in places like Taylor Swift fandom or Buffalo Bills tailgates? This thought-provoking insight from Catherine Daly, CMO at Space and Time, challenges how we approach marketing in blockchain technology. Catherine takes us behind the scenes of marketing ZK-proven data infrastructure – perhaps one of the most technically complex offerings in the Web3 space. Rather than getting lost in technical jargon, she reveals her strategic approach to audience segmentation, explaining how the same technology solves fundamentally different problems for developers versus enterprise clients. This clarity of purpose allows Space and Time to communicate effectively across channels from crypto-native Twitter to enterprise-focused LinkedIn. The conversation turns refreshingly honest when discussing trust-building in an industry scarred by broken promises. "The simplest solution is really just to tell the truth," Catherine states, noting how their recent Microsoft Fabric integration generated massive attention precisely because it delivered on long-promised real-world utility rather than manufactured hype. This philosophy extends to her community-building approach, where she advocates focusing on shared values rather than financial incentives. For marketers entering Web3, Catherine offers practical wisdom gained from her journey: embrace being a generalist, don't fear looking back and cringing at past work (it means you're growing), and above all - be reliable. "If people know they can hand you work and it's going to get done well and in a timely manner, you're proving your value long before you have any real hard skills on paper." Whether you're marketing complex technology, building community, or exploring how AI tools like DreamSpace are democratizing blockchain development, this episode delivers actionable insights for navigating the evolving Web3 landscape with authenticity and purpose. This episode was recorded through a Descript call on July 29, 2025. Read the blog article and show notes here: https://webdrie.net/building-trust-in-web3-with-catherine-daly/

    29 min
  8. Fighting Bots: The human.tech Revolution | S5 E32

    31 JUL

    Fighting Bots: The human.tech Revolution | S5 E32

    Send us a text What happens when artificial intelligence makes it increasingly simple to create thousands of fake identities? In the world of Web3, this isn't a theoretical question. It's a pressing challenge that threatens to undermine the fair distribution of resources and community governance. Yan Ketelers, CMO at Holonym (the foundation behind human.tech), joins us to discuss how the proliferation of bot activity and Sybil attacks is diluting value that should flow to actual humans. "A single entity can collect a thousand times the airdrop they should be entitled to get," Jan explains, highlighting how this pattern creates a system where honest participants find their rewards and voting power dramatically reduced. The conversation explores human.tech's innovative approach to solving this contradiction through zero-knowledge protocols. Their ecosystem—consisting of Human Passport (formerly Gitcoin Passport), the upcoming Human Wallet, and the Human Network backend infrastructure enables users to prove their humanity without compromising privacy. This technology has already proven valuable for projects like Story Protocol in ensuring airdrops reach genuine community members. Perhaps most exciting is human.tech's solution to one of crypto's persistent user experience problems: wallet recovery without seed phrases. By splitting keys across network nodes that can be reconstituted when needed, they eliminate a significant barrier to mainstream adoption. "We don't believe everyone should do self-custody and write down their seed phrase, then hide it somewhere in a field," Yan shares, outlining their vision for more accessible crypto ownership. Beyond crypto applications, human.tech's partnership with RefUnite is helping refugees establish digital identities and receive aid without requiring traditional identity documents. This practical application ensures humanitarian assistance reaches intended recipients rather than being diverted through intermediaries or fraudulent accounts. As AI continues to advance, the distinction between authentic and artificial identities grows increasingly blurred. Join us to discover how Human Tech is establishing a framework where individuals maintain control of their digital identities while still being able to prove their humanity when needed. Subscribe now and share your thoughts on the future of digital personhood! This episode was recorded through a Descript call on July 24, 2025. Read the blog article and show notes here: https://webdrie.net/fighting-bots-the-human-tech-revolution/

    32 min
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About

🎙️ Smart, strategic conversations at the edge of Web3, AI and marketing. Hosted by Joeri Billast, this top 5% global podcast dives into how bold brands and founders grow with visibility, trust and storytelling – across tech, community, and culture. You’ll hear from thought leaders, tech builders, and marketing minds shaping the future with no hype, just real insights and actionable ideas. Sponsored by CoinDesk and RYO • Host of Sintra Synergies Retreats

Information

  • Creator
    Joeri Billast
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    260
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Joeri Billast
  • Show Website
    Web3 CMO Stories