welcome to the beanpod a podcast about decentralized finance and the beanstalk protocol i'm your host rex before we get started we always want to remind everyone that on this podcast we are very optimistic about decentralized finance in general and beanstalk in particular with that being said three things first always do your own research before you invest in anything especially what we talk about here on the show second while you're doing that research try to find as many well-developed opposing viewpoints as possible to get the best overall picture and third never ever invest money that you can't afford to lose or at least be without for a while and with that on with the show [Music] on this episode of the pod publius and i are going to bring things all the way around so on our first two episodes we talked about beanstalk's philosophy and its components now we're going to talk about its people and as head of community of beanstalk this is one of my favorite things to talk about so i really can't wait oh and as a quick reminder publius uses a voice modulator to help conceal their identity it's nothing to be afraid of but it does take a bit of getting used to so that let's jump right in you've talked through what brought you from a couple thanksgivings ago reading the esd white paper to that nine month sprint the new white paper that is now the beanstalk white paper which for those listening can be found on our website bean.money now we're here seven months after after launch through some some kind of ups and downs but really have achieved significant price stability oscillation around peg has been very reliable especially since let's say like late january when it comes to how the organization has grown and developed since that initial launch could you talk us through your viewpoint on on what's happened organizationally going from you know this real small team that's doing the sprint to where the team is at now yeah definitely that's something that puts a big smile on our face to think about and get to talk about so putting aside publius uh now we're just one cog in the wheel of beanstalk farms which is the decentralized development organization putting together the bean pod and doing a bunch of other stuff to support uh support beanstalk i think the latest numbers are like 40 plus paid contributors by through being stuck farms and that stretches across community uh it stretches across business development it stretches across marketing there's a branding department a variety of different engineering departments there's a an analytics and data team at this point there's a whole wide diverse set of participants that are all working to build beanstalk and contribute their unique skill sets and viewpoints and value added and that's that's really exciting and so uh the other thing is it's not just about numbers it's about the quality the the quality of people that wanted to come work on beanstalk and quit their full-time traditional world jobs and come work on beanstalk farms is it's kind of mind-blowing and so at least speaking from our perspective we're at the point where we really are just part of the operation that is beanstalk farms and uh beanstalk farms is separate from the on-chain beanstalk dow right so there's a high level of different different aspects to the decentralization of working on beanstalk at this point whereas we started from just a publius right a small group working on this uh you know in our in our minds right to now being at the place where there's dozens of people that are spending all or most of their free time working on making beanstalk happen is quite the amazing experience and it's you know we take great pride in the quality of the people that are all working on beanstalk and one of the things that's also most most rewarding from our perspective is that the quality of the community that aren't necessarily working on being stuck actively but are just helping newcomers get acquainted with the protocol and when you stereo typically think about what's out there on the internet uh it's it's been amazing to witness the birth of this uh amazing organic spot on the internet for for real substance and that's cool to be a part of i couldn't agree more i think a lot about how you really said it what the internet can look like right now especially in environments where anonymity pseudonymity are very common a lot of times it seems like people take that as an opportunity to show their worst and one of the things that i think about literally every day especially being you know with the community team and thinking a lot about how our organization is growing and and what the culture is i want to echo how pleasantly surprising really energizing it is to go into the discord or to see different communication happening on twitter i mean there's there's a lot of energy but the energy is positive it is a it is a group full of very smart individuals but at the same time nobody worries when someone asks a rudimentary question or when a question that's been asked 30 times gets asked the 31st time there there's never a a backlash or uh we'll just go to the faq you know here's a link there is always somebody that's willing to step in and talk an individual through what's going on answer their questions sometimes even manage fears about um things like when their investment might be realized you know so individuals that are that are using beans to buy pods and looking at the pod line and saying you know this this is going to take forever and you know they start to lose confidence to have individuals come alongside of them and say well here are some other options here's some things to consider you know that positive interaction that we see on a daily basis is extremely energizing and i think at least for now we're in a very a very positive feedback loop within the community and for me that's that's extremely exciting to see and that's not even necessarily to talk about the first group that you mentioned which which are really the staff um that surround the beanstalk project in general the protocol the dao etc um again you really said it some extremely talented individuals um that have left you know great jobs in other places and the quality of work that we see on a regular basis is such that you can tell these individual individuals take their craft seriously they're very passionate and at the same time work together really well are willing to have constructive dialogue um support each other step in when when someone needs help and it's again it's another place where that positive feedback loop has has started and it's really just it's a great place to be it's a wonderful place to contribute and to learn and um you know from the community side i find myself thinking a lot like how do we bottle this how do we how do we capture this right now there's 2300 2350 members in the discord i want this same energy when there are 7 500 more when we're you know 10 000 folks discord and we've got a you know just a hulking organization sitting out there i want the same energy and um i know that that's something that we think about a lot and talk about a lot how can we how can we keep this great thing in terms of how we treat each other within the organization well rats i hate to turn this one back on you but that makes sense that you're thinking about this because you're you're leading the community department man so that that makes sense that it's top of mind but don't have much that i can add because frankly uh not sure if we can take any credit for the quality of the community it's uh it's been amazing to witness it grow but you know it's the individuals that comprise it that really make it so amazing so how how we're gonna continue that trend is to hopefully attract high quality people um first and foremost by putting out high quality and intellectually uh intellectually honest content and that seems to attract the people you're describing that's exactly it you just you just hit the thought that was running through my mind you know we can put as many systems in place as we want to try to reward interaction and um you know highlight individuals that are helpful or whatever but that intellectual honesty is fundamental and there are again there are a multitude of projects that i would say aren't necessarily intellectually honest that do take advantage of either the naivete of investors or a particular opportunity in a market that might not necessarily be might not necessarily be honest or legitimate they may have found something that's that's exploitive to have a to have a system built on that intellectual honesty and that genuine curiosity is fundamental and then from there [Music] we start to get to ask the really good questions about how do we move from that foundation to recognizing and rewarding individuals that personify it and give them opportunities to turn around and to reflect that honesty and those fundamental principles out to new and growing members of the community and then really to to the public at large and it's it's a really exciting place to be from a community standpoint it's a good spot to be in and isn't that such an incredible feeling right like we have the whole world in front of us and the opportunity and one of the coolest things about decentralized finance when done properly is that that's actually what it should naturally create because when you have economically aligned individuals they are incentivized to coordinate right and so ultimately this is the manifestation of strong uh protocol incentives that create it's not benevolent behavior people have exposure to the protocol and contributing to its successes far and away uh the best use of their time clearly right and that's an amazing place to be it's a great spot to be with some great things to come so definitely appreciate your time publius i think we're going to have you back for our next episode where we'll talk about some of the more key components of the protocol itself and excited to to hear more about that and to hear what's on the way thanks again yeah this is uh hopefully the first uh if you'll have it seems like you'll have us back at least once more but uh you know we like this uh this chair so thanks for having us rex and uh excited to uh start this uh this endeavor together but uh wishing you the best with this bean pod and uh you know excited for what it becomes thanks so much