I said nope — because someone is already doing it.

Then I asked if they’d want to hear an interview with him.

They said yes.

Your wish is my command:

So, I secured a warm intro to Matt Martensen, the founder of User Cooperative, and we had an AMAZING conversation. 😍

Before we jump in, let me introduce Matt properly.

Matt Martensen has a Yale MBA, a finance degree from Rutgers, and spent over 15 years working across Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and international markets.

He’s held leadership roles in everything from high-growth startups to legacy institutions, served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Google for Startups in London, and advised companies like Shopkick (which eventually exited to Trax).

Translation: Matt knows exactly how the current system works — and he’s choosing to build something totally different. 😎✨

Here’s the deal:

User Cooperative is creating a browser (Surge) that looks and feels like Chrome (because most people like Chrome), but instead of your clicks and data enriching a bunch of VCs and ad networks, you get the rewards.

The structure is wild in the best way:

• It’s a true tech cooperative, meaning the users own it.

• Revenue from search engine royalties and unobtrusive ads gets kicked back to members based on actual usage (clicks, not some sketchy points system).

• Eventually, full governance gets handed off to the community once they hit 1.5 million users and $15 million in revenue.

Basically, it’s like if REI and Chrome had a baby... and it decided tech is coolest when it belongs to the People.

Why a browser?

It’s simple, familiar, and low-friction, and Matt’s goal is to get people off the Big Tech hamster wheel without having to completely rewire their habits.

And his ethos is very much aligned with TAO when he says:

Why does it cost $15 million?

Good question.

Unlike TAO, where we’ve been able to bootstrap a lightweight app and grow it community-first, building a browser is a whole different beast.

You’re talking about cloning Chromium (the open-source code behind Chrome), building in an ad infrastructure, locking down privacy features, securing search engine royalty deals, and making sure the user experience runs flawlessly across every device and OS.

That level of technical and legal complexity just isn’t something you can hack together with a scrappy MVP — it needs serious firepower from day one if it’s going to compete.

(And honestly, $15M is a bargain compared to what Big Tech throws at this stuff.)

But like with TAO Social or any of these other human-first tech platforms, it’s going to take numbers to pull off. We can’t rely on traditional investors.

Which means we need millions of everyday people united and pulling in the same direction. In Matt’s case, a million people putting down $15 bucks.

What’s the catch?

There isn’t one, except it’s a longer game. User Cooperative is building the community first, before they raise the funds to build the full product. (And yes, apparently one random person already called it “vaporware,” because people on the internet are impatient.)

But real ones get it.

This is exactly how you break the cycle: You don’t wait until after the platform is built and sold to billionaires. You own it from day one.

If you want to get involved:

• You can sign up for free at usercooperative.com

• Sign up for free or chip in a few bucks if you want to help speed it along

• Or just keep an eye on it and spread the word

The more of us who opt out of business-as-usual tech, the faster the new world gets built.

Tech power and profits to the people.

Let’s go. 🚀

Today’s systems celebrate growth for growth’s sake: GDP at all costs, shareholder profits over human thriving. But beneath the noise of collapse and resistance, a new story is quietly taking root: the rise of the Wellbeing Economy.

A wellbeing economy isn't a dream or an abstraction. It's happening now. It's being built by more than 300 movements around the world — regenerative communities, cooperative businesses, commons-based initiatives, and new governance models that prioritize people and the planet over extraction and endless growth.

The Connection Engine, founded by UK-based strategist and storyteller J. Friday, aims to unite these siloed movements. The Connection Engine isn't just a network: It's a coordination hub, designed to align these fragmented movements into a shared flywheel of action.

The premise is beautifully simple: a platform where anyone can plug into a global ecosystem of change with weekly actions (five-minute, 15-minute, or one-hour commitments), strategic storytelling, and peer support. Whether you want to join something local or launch something new, Connection Engine turns passive hope into participatory action.

And perhaps, TAO — with its long-term vision to combine TikTok's legendary algorithm for connecting people, products, organizations, and movements + infrastructure that enables human beings to organize locally, nationally, internationally, and globally — will become the connective tissue these movements have been waiting for. ;)

As J Friday explains, much of the world is still trapped in a cultural phase of resistance…unionizing, protesting, fighting systems that were never designed for human thriving. While important, resistance alone doesn't change the underlying structures.

What we need is systemic transformation.

And that transformation starts with belief: shifting our cultural consciousness from survival and extraction to regeneration and community wellbeing. From resistance to creation.

Across domains like ecology, technology, governance, commons stewardship, and economic redesign, the solutions already exist. The problem is they are siloed, underfunded, and largely unknown to the public. That's J Friday’s vision for the Connection Engine, stitching together the fabric of the new world in a way that is visible, actionable, and accessible.

Why a Wellbeing Economy?

Because "wellbeing" touches everything: health, wealth, community, fulfillment. It's not just a value: It's the real metric that should drive our systems. People don't buy "GDP." They buy health, happiness, meaning, and connection.

A wellbeing economy aligns the incentives of governance, business, and community around what actually matters to human life.

This isn't theory: countries like Iceland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales have already begun to implement wellbeing economy metrics into their governance structures. And the Connection Engine aims to help amplify these efforts on a grassroots level by giving people tangible pathways to participate in the development of wellbeing economies.

Example: Driver’s Co-ops

One of the clearest examples of a wellbeing economy emerging in real time is the rise of drivers' cooperatives. Instead of drivers being trapped in extractive models like Uber and Lyft, workers are banding together to own and operate their own rideshare platforms, keeping profits within their communities and ensuring better wages, governance, and dignity.

• Colorado: The Drivers Cooperative of Colorado is leading the way, showing how a federated rideshare model can empower drivers, reduce exploitation, and circulate wealth locally.

• Hawaii and New York: Similar cooperative models are taking root, inspired by the same principles of worker ownership and community wealth building.

Rather than fighting endless battles for scraps within the old systems, these drivers are building entirely new ones. Systems where the value created stays in the hands of those who generate it. It's a living testament to what happens when we shift the purpose of an economic system from extraction to wellbeing.

Together as One: The Power of Distributed Change

One of the most powerful aspects of Connection Engine — and of the broader movement — is that it is decentralized by design. There is no single leader. No gatekeeper. The 300+ movements span a wide variety of strategies, sectors, and structures, but they are aligned by a shared value: Prioritizing collective wellbeing over extraction.

This is how systemic change happens: not through top-down decrees, but through emergent, synchronized action across networks of people, movements, and organizations.

The future isn't written yet. But it is unfolding. And for once, it looks like it could be built not on the backs of the many for the benefit of the few, but together, as one.

If you want to be part of this emergence, explore the work of Connection Engine at jfriday.com. And if you’re curious about those 300 movements, she regularly shouts out the ones she’s finding on Tiktok!

As J tells us:

About J. Friday

J Friday is a UK-based storyteller, systems strategist, and co-founder of Connection Engine, a global initiative connecting over 300 movements building a wellbeing economy. With a background spanning grassroots organizing, narrative strategy, and regenerative systems design, Friday works at the intersection of culture, community, and systemic change. Her work focuses on creating practical pathways for ordinary people to plug into extraordinary change, weaving together movements that prioritize community care, regeneration, and collective wellbeing over extraction and endless growth. She believes the solutions to humanity’s greatest challenges already exist — we just need to connect them.

• Website: https://jfriday.com/

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@realjfriday

• Substack:

Now we’re cracking open the vault.

Because TAO Social (the platform built by the people, for the people, with the people) is going fully opensource the day the app releases to the public.

Not in six months. Not once we fundraise. Not an ambiguous "eventually."

The day anyone can download TAO from the app store.

We’re in closed beta now and will progress to invite-only in the coming weeks. Give us a little while to work out the bugs and kinks, and the app will be fully available this summer.

@humanexperienced@TAO Social is the only social media platform that cannot sell out by design. We will always remain in the hands of the people we were designed to serve: YOU! Closed beta this month —> invite-only in a few weeks —> full, hard launch likely this summer

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🔓 Why?

Well, sure, we could gatekeep. Hoard the code. Talk a big game like “We’ll open source…eventually” while keeping it locked behind glass.

But the truth is this: The code is not what makes TAO special.

What sets TAO apart is this:

Everyone can build a TikTok clone on a decentralized protocol. You could start today and be up in six weeks. But here’s what nobody else in this space is doing:

• Decentralizing power.

• Decentralizing profits.

• Phasing in DAO governance so this whole thing actually belongs to you.

Skylight? Fanbase? ThreeFive? Neptune? All answer to shareholders — their founders and investors.

TAO will answer to the People.

@humanexperiencedReplying to @amber jean @TAO Social will be governed by its users with all profit reinvested into the community

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We’re not just using tech to build a better social platform…we’re using it to redistribute the whole damn system. We’re building a digital commons where the profit doesn’t exit out the top. It circulates.

Like breath.

And blood.

And sunshine.

And life.

Like all the regenerative cycles of nature.

Because if we’re serious about being a platform for the people, we’ve gotta walk the talk.

💡 The Team Made the Call (Full Rationale):

1. The Strategic Reason:
   Once TAO’s in your hands, the value is no longer in the code: It’s in the community. That’s why we go opensource the day the app is live in the public’s hands.

   
   

2. The Ethical Reason:
   We’ve been building on top of open-source infrastructure from Bluesky. If we benefit from an open ecosystem, we contribute back to that ecosystem. It’s only right.
   
   That’s not just software logic: That’s the ethos we’re committed to.

   
   

3. The Existential Reason:
   If we don’t make it through crowdfunding (because this is a LIFT and we need massive numbers to pull it off) we still leave something behind.
   
   A full GUI for a TikTok-style frontend on Bluesky, free for anyone to fork and build on.
   
   Not a graveyard. A garden.

🌀 Because Sharing > Hoarding

This is not just a platform. It’s a provocation. A challenge to the old paradigm of “winner-takes-all.”

• We believe cooperation is stronger than competition.

• We believe open beats closed.

• We believe you should own the tools of your expression…and share in their rewards.

We’re not here to build the next unicorn.

We’re here to build the mech suit for the people vs the Systems that serve none of us.

So yes.

We’re open sourcing TAO as soon as possible.

Because in the new world we’re building, the walls are falling and the bridges are rising ⚔️🛡️🐦‍🔥💓

Subscribe now

You get Coexist: Evolution of Freedom, the first book in a visionary trilogy by Jon Sundell, and the star of this week’s TAO Talk.

Jon is a Finnish civic innovator, systems thinker, and recovering screenwriter who’s out to redesign society like it’s a broken IKEA bookshelf. His book Coexist: Evolution of Freedom lays out a bold (and surprisingly readable) framework for how humanity can compete by cooperating, using evolutionary science, game theory, and solid common sense.

We get into everything from why universal basic income doesn’t have to be dystopian, to how reputation systems can keep things fair without turning us into Black Mirror extras. John explains why small groups are the secret sauce of human collaboration, why current institutions are holding us back, and how technology might finally make participatory democracy actually work.

TAO (our soon-to-launch, community-owned social platform) is the perfect testbed for these ideas. Because what if governance didn’t suck? What if money flowed like sunlight? And what if your team actually got rewarded for doing the right thing?

Tune in for a heady but down-to-earth conversation about the future of society, and why the revolution might look more like an evolution.

Below are the highlights from our conversation, served fresh and nerdy.

Table of Contents:

• Competitive cooperation (capitalism-but-make-it-fair)

• Worker owned co-ops and incentive systems

• Evolution of governance

• Reputation scores (without Black Mirror vibes)

• Liquid democracy

• Our current, major evolutionary transition

• Universal basic income

• Jon’s trilogy of books
  

🔁 Competitive Cooperation: It’s Giving Capitalism-But-Make-It-Fair

John proposes a system where we compete in our ability to cooperate. Imagine a world where doing something good for your community also benefits you personally—kind of like sales commissions, but for being a decent human.

It’s a hybrid of capitalism and socialism that could make both camps weirdly happy.

“Every time we benefit the community, we prosper ourselves.”

🧩 Co-ops? Kinda. But Make Them Smarter.

He alludes to worker-owned co-ops but says they’re not a magic fix. It’s all about incentive structures, and those only work if designed with surgical precision.

His proposed system rewards people hourly with “work shares” but allows different hourly rates (yes, the star player gets more), and leans on the power of small, tight-knit groups to self-regulate and sniff out freeloaders.

🧬 Multicellular Society: Think Evolution, but for Governance

John draws from evolutionary science to argue that the most effective social structure is the small group…like hunter-gatherers or soccer teams. These “cells” compete like multicellular organisms, creating a society that’s resilient, adaptive, and impossible to game at scale.

Large institutions? Too easy to hide in. Small groups? Everyone sees your B.S.

💬 Reputation Scores Without Black Mirror Vibes

Yes, reputation is a central pillar of his model. No, it’s not a creepy social credit score.

Instead of rating people, his system rates groups. You get social capital by participating in trustworthy collectives, not by turning into a clout-chasing individual scoring points on strangers.

🗳️ Liquid Democracy: Finally, a Way to Fire Your Rep

John champions delegative democracy, aka liquid democracy. You vote when you care, delegate when you don’t. Your vote isn’t stuck forever. Revoke it anytime.

Perfect for platforms like TAO, where communities can assign decision-makers based on trust and expertise, not status. Radical transparency meets flexible trust.

🌍 We’re in a Major Evolutionary Transition. For Real.

You’ve heard of biological evolution, but what about cultural evolution? John says we’re in the middle of one right now. Just like the leap from spoken to written language, digitalization is reshaping how we cooperate across the planet.

The infrastructure is here. What we need are the rules for how to play and thrive in a new system.

💰 Universal Basic Income (but Not Like That!)

Yes, UBI is a cornerstone of his model. No, it’s not a dystopian WEF handout.

In John's system, UBI isn’t a government pacifier. It’s a tool of economic democracy, part of a broader redesign that gives everyone equal access to money, votes, and reputational influence. He likens money to sunlight: vital, renewable, and distributed freely.

“Money should have the same function in the economy as sunlight has in an ecosystem.”

🎬 From Hollywood to Holarchy

Coexist is just the beginning. The sequel (Monopoly) dissects how power got hoarded through monopolies. The third book will tie it all together. But we’ll have to wait for the final boss fight of systemic dysfunction ;p

Before he was a civic innovator, John was a screenwriter. Turns out writing human drama gave him the perfect lens to design incentive systems at scale.

“Screenwriting is about motivation. Once I understood that, I saw it could apply to all of society.”

🚘 You Don’t Need to Build the Car. Just Drive It.

His parting metaphor: not everyone needs to read the philosophical manual…just give them a functional system, like a car, and let them experience the benefits directly.

But if you DO want to read it:

Website: https://coexist.fi/

And find more of him at:

You can even listen for free on his Patreon.

About Jon Sundell

Jon Sundell is a Finland-based civic innovator, systems thinker, and author of COEXIST: Evolution of Freedom, a visionary book that reimagines how we might redesign society using insights from evolutionary biology, game theory, and systems thinking.

A former screenwriter turned civic architect, Jon brings a rare narrative sensibility to the world of institutional design. His work centers on creating scalable governance models and incentive systems that optimize human well-being, promote cooperative behavior, and align with the carrying capacity of the planet.

Rather than getting stuck in outdated left-versus-right frameworks, Jon champions a pragmatic, science-driven approach to social systems. He recently joined Finland’s Green Party with the goal of incorporating the ideas from COEXIST into its political platform—seeking to bridge cutting-edge theory with real-world policy.

At its core, COEXIST offers a blueprint for a new kind of civic infrastructure: one where reputation systems reward contribution without dystopian vibes, small groups serve as the building blocks of collective intelligence, and participatory governance is powered by technology but grounded in timeless human values.

Through his writing and collaborations with initiatives like TAO Social, Jon is helping usher in a new era of cultural evolution—one where we don’t just adapt to change, but consciously design for a thriving future.

Michael the Chairman isn’t your average podcast host. At 26, he’s survived more near death experiences than most people have dentist appointments. Born with Marfan syndrome and legally blind for much of his life, he’s faced a staggering amount of adversity…and turned it into fuel for comedy, creativity, and compassion.

He calls himself a sit-down stand-up comedian with a dark sense of humor (his words: “but much like my past self... I don’t see it”) and a deep sense of purpose. Michael wants to build systems that uplift the overlooked. And he’s just getting started.

See Full Episode

We talked about everything from decentralized governance to the global shift in paradigm that’s unfolding; from censorship and the dream of digital commons to supernatural experiences and life after death. Michael asked sharp questions, cracked clever jokes, and genuinely got the mission of TAO Social: to build a platform that’s for the people, by the people, with the people.

If you’ve ever wondered what it means to build a social media platform that can’t be sold to the highest bidder…one that’s immune to corporate capture and algorithmic decay…one where power actually flows to the people who use it—this one’s for you.

Watch the full video above, or get the Cliffnotes below!

Table of Contents

• A New Paradigm: From Extraction to Interdependence

• What Makes TAO Structurally Unfuckwithable

• Circulating Wealth, Not Extracting It

• Ads That Don’t Ruin the Experience

• Free Speech and Community Standards

• About Michael the Chairman

A New Paradigm: From Extraction to Interdependence

TAO isn't just a social media platform. It’s an experiment in what the future could look like if we stop building from the same broken blueprint.

We talked about:

• The shift from top-down control to community-driven ecosystems

• Why the extractive model of wealth is collapsing

• How our generation is hungry for tools that prioritize cooperation over conquest

• The rise of a "community wealth" movement emerging on TikTok and beyond

In short, it’s not just left versus right anymore. It’s all of us versus the old system.

What Makes TAO Structurally Unfuckwithable

Most platforms can be sold off, co-opted, or corrupted. TAO is designed to resist all three.

Key design choices include:

• DAO structure: Every user gets a soulbound token—non-transferable and one per person

• No equity: There are no shareholders or VC firms with controlling interests

• Wyoming DAO LLC: Legally structured for flexibility while blocking traditional ownership

• Collective governance: The direction of the platform is decided by users, not executives (once the platform is stable)

This makes it very hard for bad actors to seize control or for the platform to be bought out.

Circulating Wealth, Not Extracting It

TAO is not built for private profit. It’s built for shared value.

Here's how that works:

• No shareholders taking a cut from user activity

• No venture capital payout driving decisions

• Revenue generated by the platform is reinvested into the ecosystem

• Creators and users both benefit from the value they help generate

This allows TAO to operate more like a digital commons than a corporate product.

Ads That Don’t Ruin the Experience

TAO doesn’t promise a world without ads. It promises a world without garbage ads ;p

We discussed:

• Letting users opt into the kinds of ads they actually want to see

• Prioritizing small businesses, ethical brands, and local commerce

• Giving creators more control over what gets shown to their audiences

• Using advertising to strengthen microeconomies rather than exploit attention

When done right, advertising can be a tool for community empowerment, not disruption!

Free Speech and Community Standards

TAO supports freedom of expression but it also supports healthy boundaries.

Key ideas around moderation:

• Rejecting censorship while still maintaining shared values

• Building community-led moderation systems that reflect user input

• Preventing top-down suppression without enabling toxic chaos

• Encouraging thoughtful discussion, not echo chambers or flame wars

It’s not about silencing people. It’s about giving the community the power to shape its culture.

See Full Episode

About Michael the Chairman

Michael the Chairman is a 26-year-old sit-down stand-up comedian with a mission bigger than punchlines. Born with Marfan syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that has affected his heart, spine, joints, and vision, Michael has spent much of his life navigating hospitals, surgeries, and the kind of adversity most people can’t imagine.

Legally blind for most of his youth and using a wheelchair since birth, Michael turned pain into purpose and embraced comedy as a vehicle for healing and truth. His humor is often dark—he says he doesn’t see it, much like his past self—but it’s always rooted in love.

Bullied in school and underestimated by the world, he chose laughter as his weapon of choice and storytelling as his craft. His goal is simple but profound: to take the suffering, absurdity, and duality of life and shine light through it, helping others find meaning in what they might have missed.

Michael believes that God has a dark sense of humor—and that laughter can be sacred. He plans to use every bit of power, money, and influence he earns in his lifetime to serve those who are overlooked, unheard, or unseen. His nightly prayer is to be guided toward those no one else can hear crying for help.

Above all, he is committed to building a better world.

See more from Michael:

• 🌐 Website

• 🎥 YouTube

• 🎙️ TikTok

• 📝 Substack

We want to make sure our platform is as valuable to you as it is meaningful to us, so we conducted an in-depth research study with ten amazing participants. Their insights are worth their weight in gold, and we want to share those treasures with you through total transparency.

The sole focus of these interviews was to help us gain a deeper understanding of exactly what users do and do not like about other social media platforms so we can build a platform to fit the standards of those who it belongs to: You.

We asked the participants to explain their favorite features, their frustrations, and what they wish other platforms did differently. Below is a summary of what we found and how we plan to use it to shape TAO.

What Users Want from Social Media

• Data Control: Privacy is a top concern, and users desire active control over when and how their own information is used.
  

• Creator Support: Users are concerned that big tech companies are prioritizing their own financial gain over that of the creators that make their platforms desirable.
  

• Smart Discovery: While everyone loves a good deep dive down the rabbit hole, people also want to have control over their algorithm.
  

• Engaging Conversations: Features such as TikTok’s “stitch” seem to be favorable as they act as a way to keep conversations going, allowing people to feel more connected.
  

• User-Friendly: Many of the participants expressed that technology and social media alike should be working for the user, not against them.

The Barriers to Posting

• Fear of Judgement: Many users seem to feel overwhelmed by the process of creating content and building a brand for themselves.
  

• Editing Tools: TikTok’s editing features were said to be too limited, making it difficult for creators to produce polished, quality content.
  

• Tip Culture: Users enjoy supporting their favorite creators. However, they’d prefer more dynamic ways to do so apart from tipping.

Features We’re Exploring

• Hubs: Small, creator-driven spaces where communities can be built by like-minded users from all corners of the world. Think Facebook Groups, without having to use Facebook. Something our participants seemed to show a collective interest in is micro-courses, a feature that allows users to learn and grow together. Hubs can also be used as a base for hosting live events and engaging in meaningful, endless conversations among peers.
  

• Local Hubs: A dedicated space for local content such as local events, businesses, and creators.
  

• Algorithm Control: Users seemed excited about the idea of temporary algorithm changes, which would give people the ability to switch content categories manually when they need a break from heavier topics. Another algorithmic feature that seems popular is inverse algorithms, which would allow people the ability to see content opposite to their usual preferences as a way to break out of echo chambers.
  

• Creator Support: We want to create a better process for supporting creators. Since TAO is not beholden to shareholders, creators will receive a larger percentage of revenue generated, and we’re exploring a variety of ways to monetize. As always, we welcome your ideas on Reddit.
  

• Video Editing: Users seem to enjoy tools such as CapCut because they’re easy to navigate and produce high-quality content. We are researching ways to match or enhance these capabilities. An idea we’ve come across is AI-powered features that assist with editing content without replacing creative control.

Get to Know our Participants

Of the ten participants, two were open to sharing their bios and photos with us so you can learn a bit about them!

Dettee Duveaux: A content creator and performer known as The Abstract Witch.

TikTok: @theabstractwitch - @Wanderinglanternproductions

YouTube: @theabstractwitch

Mastodon: @theabstractwitch

Facebook: @Wanderinglanternproductions

https://beacons.ai/theabstractwitch

Dettee Duveaux is a content creator, spiritual educator, and performer who is passionate about empowering people to claim their own path—whether in spirituality, creativity, or the fight for systemic change. As The Abstract Witch, they blend witchcraft, a hobbyist's understanding of quantum physics, and cultural awareness to help others craft intentional, ethical spiritual practices. Their work isn’t just about magic—it’s about understanding power, autonomy, and the forces that shape our world.

With a background in theater and social work, Dettee has spent years examining the ways systemic control influences access to knowledge and resources. They are deeply invested in empowering people to share and equip themselves with education in an effort to disrupt the current financial and governmental influence over social media and information sharing. Their work in education, content creation, and performance has given them a unique perspective on the intersections of media, culture, and accessibility.

Beyond their spiritual work, Dettee is a stage actor, burlesque performer, and a proud member of Wandering Lantern Productions, where they help bring nostalgia-driven, immersive theater to life—most often at the historic Redford Theatre in Detroit, Michigan. Burlesque, in particular, has been a source of empowerment and self-expression, providing a deeper understanding of the systemic attempts to control art, the body, and free expression. Through performance, education, and digital media, their work remains rooted in storytelling, connection, and challenging the status quo.

McKenzie Shelton: Owner of Embody Media & Design/ Professional Photographer

LinkedIn: Https://WWW.linkedin.com/McKenzieSheltonMedia/

McKenzie Shelton (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist and community organizer exploring the nuances of human connection. Anchored in relational aesthetics, her practice treats conversations, gatherings, and moments of focused attention as creative mediums. Through photography, events, and AI-supported journaling, McKenzie facilitates experiences that deepen presence and play, untangling what it is to be intra- and interpersonal. Lately, she's been asking herself whether a work has to be publicly showcased for it to be "art." Can art be strictly personal, held quietly and secretly to yourself; a letter you wrote but never sent, a dish you chipped but you like it better that way? Or does something simply need to be noticed to be art? If you read this bio, did it, in the act of the reading, become art? If reading it prompts you to think about what constitutes and coincides with art, are you having an artistic experience?

Anyway! :) In her professional consultancy role at Embody Media + Design, McKenzie assists small businesses in realizing their social missions and financial objectives by weaving compelling visual storytelling, fine-tuning marketing strategy, and managing impactful events. McKenzie is proud of being named Durham's Best Photographer in 2024 by Durham Magazine, and excited to be supporting TAO Social as it grows into its own very cool social/tech/creative/community-building experiments!

To Sum Up

With your support, we’re building TAO with transparency and user input at the core. Our research concludes that people want a platform that is privacy, creator, and user-control friendly. This is only the beginning.

As TAO develops, we’ll continue to put our community’s needs first and share our progress every step of the way. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Which potential new feature is most exciting to you? What else would you like to see on the platform?

Let’s build this thing, Together As One.

That’s basically .

I had the wild pleasure of chatting with Michael, founder of APEX DAO. He’s a regenerative economics Jedi who’s swapped corporate boardrooms for bioregional blueprints, NFTs, and soulbound mission coins.

From Wall Street to Web3

Michael spent 25 years in sustainability analytics on Wall Street, building ESG algorithms before they were a buzzword. A fierce Independent, he worked on presidential campaigns (like Andrew Yang’s), only to watch them get DNC’d into oblivion.

Eventually, he looked around and said: “Screw this. I’m going local.”

Now he operates hyper-locally in Greenville, SC, while cultivating a global network through APEX DAO: A decentralized, community-centered initiative built around regenerative economics, AI literacy, and self-sufficiency.

🌎 APEX DAO 101: Not Your Average Crypto Bro Cult

Apex DAO was one of the first 500 DAOs registered in the U.S. Meaning it’s a pioneer in using blockchain for real-world community infrastructure. No VC money. No token speculation. Just an earnest attempt to reroute power and profit back to the people actually doing the work.

✅ Globally connected (Zoom calls with people everywhere)
✅ Governed by soulbound mission coins (NFTs that can’t be sold or flipped)
✅ Focused on Proof of Impact > Proof of Work or Stake

Membership is earned, not bought. You show up. You contribute. You level up. It's kind of like if Dungeons & Dragons got a purpose and a soul.

🔧 How the DAO Actually Works

The governance is intentionally simple:

• Voting: One person, one vote. Evolving toward contribution-weighted decision-making
  

• Profit sharing: 20% to founder, 20% to treasury, 10% to Indigenous/bioregional projects, and the rest distributed pro-rata to contributors
  

• Tokens: Soulbound Mission Coins (ERC-721/SBT) and a utility token called Flow Coin (ERC-20)
  

• Infrastructure: Snapshot, Gnosis Safe, modular contracts (surprisingly non-scary)

You can get involved just by showing up and doing something tangible like mentoring a cohort, testing a game MVP, or joining a composting challenge for community rewards.

🧠 Teaching People How to Learn (and Earn)

Michael doesn’t just build tools, he builds ecosystems for transformation. One of his flagship projects is IMMERSA, a neurodivergent-first AI bootcamp designed to teach people how to build MVPs using low-code tools like V0.dev and Lovable.

His methodology is delightfully metaphorical. He doesn’t just teach prompt engineering, he serves up a whole “AI cookbook” with a prep / cook / serve structure. It’s project-based, monetization-conscious, and tailored to help people become radically self-sufficient.

He even runs his entire workflow through AI voice tools like WhisperFlow so he doesn’t have to type. (Two seasons of podcasts' worth of thoughts…just spoken into the void.)

🔥 Flagship Projects Connected to Apex DAO

• The New Reality Fund: A regenerative fund-of-funds, channeling capital into actual regional projects (not vague global slush funds)
  

• Community Wealth-Building Game: Earn rewards for real-world actions like barefoot running and composting (yes, really)
  

• IMMERSA: The aforementioned AI bootcamp that treats neurodivergence as a feature, not a bug
  

Regenerative Economics: Capitalism, But Make It Cute and Ethical

Michael’s model for change? Regenerative Economic Zones (REZs). Think of them as self-sustaining communities with steward-owned businesses, decentralized trade networks, and local governance by people who actually live there.

It's the economic equivalent of composting your entire lifestyle:

• Local energy? ✔️

• Community land trusts? ✔️

• No billionaires or banks required? Double ✔️

Basically, it’s like if The Sims had a cottagecore anarchist expansion pack. With soulbound NFTs.

What This Means for TAO Social

The synergies between APEX DAO and TAO are hard to ignore:

• Community-first wealth creation

• Real governance without sellout structures

• Education, AI, and decentralization that don’t require a tech bro translator

• Connecting digital platforms to bioregional impact

We even explored how TAO might integrate mission coins, flow funding, and crowdsourced innovation, so that viral ideas don’t just trend…they transform.

Final Thought

One of TAO’s supremely skilled and wonderful designers, Mafe, said it best:

“I feel like we all separated when the mothership crashed, and now we’re finding each other again.”

That’s exactly what this conversation felt like.

So if you’re disillusioned by big systems and wondering if a better future is actually buildable…it is. It’s happening. In places like Greenville and Asheville and maybe your neighborhood too.

I’ll be speaking with more founders, thinkers, visionaries, and builders who are mission-aligned. Perhaps TAO is the reconstruction of the mothership; a vehicle to take us forward into the New Earth.

Want to dive deeper?

• Connect with Michael on TikTok

• Check out Michael on Substack

Michael and I also made referenced a couple other people and initiatives that are connected to the TAO ecosystem. You might find them of interest!

• and her Connection Engine, a storytelling platform uniting 300+ movements into one shared narrative of community-led transformation.

• Mayhem Marketplace, an Etsy and Amazon disruptor — no cuts, no ads, just a flat monthly fee.

And keep an eye out for our newsletters. TAO Social’s closed beta is coming soon.

Let’s build the next economy. Together.

• The Problem with Social Media: Exploiting Attention for Profit

  • Mental Health Issues

  • Information Ecosystem Degradation

  • Social Polarization

  • Manipulation & Loss of Autonomy

• The Shareholder Value Trap

• The Hidden Cost: Not Just Anxiety, But a Lack of Thriving

• A Better Future: Community-Owned, Well-Being First

• TAO Social: A Path Forward

• About the Author, Zack Prager

• References

Share TAO Social

The Problem with Social Media: Exploiting Attention for Profit

Humane technology is designed to respect human attention, avoid exploiting psychological weaknesses, and promote well-being. Instead of manipulating users into compulsive behavior, it supports focus, meaningful connections, and informed decision-making.

Today’s social media platforms are built on the opposite model—maximizing engagement at the cost of mental health and societal well-being. Algorithms are designed to keep users scrolling, not to enrich their lives. This leads to addiction, anxiety, polarization, and misinformation, all byproducts of a system optimized for profit rather than human flourishing (Harris, 2019).

Below, we explore each of these dangers and how they manifest on different platforms.

1. Mental Health Issues (Addiction, Loneliness, Depression)

Social media platforms are designed to capture attention, often leading to compulsive usage that contributes to addiction, anxiety, depression, and loneliness (Andreassen et al., 2012; Keles, McCrae, & Grealish, 2020).

The constant stream of notifications, infinite scrolling, and algorithmically curated content create dopamine-driven feedback loops that keep users hooked (Setiawati, 2024).

Over time, this can erode self-worth (Fardouly et al., 2018), replace real-world social interactions, and disrupt sleep, particularly among young users (Hale & Guan, 2015). Adolescents with ADHD are especially vulnerable to behavioral addictions, as their poor impulse control increases susceptibility to excessive social media use (Setiawati, 2024).

How does this play out on TikTok?

• The Infinite Scroll: TikTok’s For You Page (FYP) delivers an endless feed of highly engaging videos, personalized by AI to maximize watch time.
  

• Dopamine Loops: Each short video provides a quick hit of dopamine, reinforcing compulsive scrolling for hours.
  

• Social Isolation: Time spent consuming content replaces real-world social interactions, contributing to loneliness and emotional detachment.

2. Information Ecosystem Degradation (Misinformation, Sensationalism, Bots)

Social media platforms often prioritize user engagement over content accuracy, leading to the spread of misinformation, sensationalized content, and conspiracy theories.

Their algorithms are designed to maximize user interaction, inadvertently promoting sensational and emotionally charged content, which often includes conspiracy theories, over fact-based information (Guess & Lyons, 2020).

Research indicates that false information spreads faster than factual content; for instance, false news stories are 70% more likely to be retweeted than true ones, and they reach 1,500 people six times faster than accurate stories (Vosoughi et al., 2018).

This rapid dissemination is partly because negative content spreads faster than positive content, making it easy to manipulate emotions by creating narratives that trigger negative responses such as fear and anxiety (Ferrara & Yang, 2015). Consequently, the proliferation of misinformation erodes trust in institutions and hampers the public's ability to discern fact from fiction.​

How does this play out on Facebook?

• Algorithmic Amplification: Facebook’s news feed prioritizes emotionally charged content, often promoting misleading or exaggerated stories because they drive higher engagement.
  

• Echo Chambers: Users are recommended content similar to what they’ve engaged with, reinforcing existing biases.
  

• Fake News & Bots: During major events (e.g., elections, pandemics), misinformation campaigns thrive, spreading conspiracy theories that influence real-world behavior.

3. Social Polarization (Divisive Content, Ideological Echo Chambers)

​Social media platforms often amplify outrage and controversy to maximize user engagement, leading to increased societal polarization. Content that elicits strong emotional reactions, such as anger or fear, tends to receive more attention and sharing, reinforcing users' existing beliefs and creating ideological echo chambers (Cinelli et al., 2021).

These echo chambers limit exposure to diverse perspectives, fostering environments where individuals become more entrenched in their viewpoints, thereby hindering constructive dialogue and contributing to societal division (Jiang et al., 2021).

How does this play out on Twitter/X?

• Trending Topics Reward Outrage: Controversial tweets are promoted in trending sections because they generate the most engagement, not because they are the most accurate or constructive.
  

• Reply Visibility Algorithm: Replies with the most likes (often extreme takes) get boosted, drowning out nuance.
  

• Political Extremism: Political discourse on Twitter has become more hostile, with users retreating into ideological bubbles where opposing viewpoints are demonized.

4. Manipulation and Loss of Autonomy (Exploiting Psychological Vulnerabilities, Behavior Nudging)

Social media platforms exploit psychological mechanisms to keep users engaged, often nudging them toward compulsive behaviors without their conscious awareness. Techniques such as intermittent reinforcement—where rewards are provided at unpredictable intervals—create persistent engagement, similar to gambling addiction (Alter, 2017).

Additionally, the pursuit of social validation through likes, comments, and shares activates the brain's reward system, releasing dopamine and reinforcing continued use (Meshi, Tamir, & Heekeren, 2015).

The fear of missing out (FOMO) further drives users to incessantly check their social media accounts to stay connected and informed, leading to compulsive behavior (Przybylski et al., 2013). Collectively, these strategies encourage excessive social media use, often beyond users' best interests.

How does this play out on Instagram?

• Like Count Anxiety: Instagram originally displayed public like counts, leading users to curate posts based on what would get the most validation, rather than authentic expression.
  

• Story View Rankings: Users obsess over who viewed their Stories, reinforcing compulsive checking behavior.
  

• Push Notifications: Timed notifications (e.g., "Your friend just posted!") trigger FOMO and pull users back into the app.

The dangers of social media can be directly tied to the ownership model and the fundamental incentive structure of publicly traded technology companies.

The Shareholder Value Trap

Most social media companies operate under the shareholder value model, meaning their primary responsibility is to maximize financial returns for investors. The primary driver of revenue—especially for ad-supported platforms—is user attention. The longer users stay engaged, the more ads they see, and the more data the platform can harvest to improve ad targeting.

This creates a structural conflict:

• Maximizing engagement often means optimizing for emotional responses (fear, outrage, envy, and desire) because these are the strongest drivers of compulsive behavior.
  

• If a choice arises between prioritizing mental health and increasing profits, the system overwhelmingly favors profit. Even if executives acknowledge the harm, their fiduciary duty to shareholders pressures them to maintain engagement metrics.

This dynamic is not due to evil intentions, but rather the logic of a system that rewards engagement above all else. Platforms do not simply give people what they want; they steer people toward what will keep them hooked.

The Hidden Cost: Not Just Anxiety, But a Lack of Thriving

Much of the discussion around social media harms focuses on mental health crises—addiction, anxiety, depression, loneliness. But there’s a more subtle, insidious cost for those who don’t fall into outright distress: they fail to thrive.

For many, social media doesn’t drive them into deep despair, but it numbs them, keeping them in a state of low-grade distraction that prevents them from reaching their full potential.

• Instead of engaging in deep work, creative pursuits, or personal growth, they scroll.

• Instead of building meaningful relationships, they maintain shallow connections.

• Instead of using technology as a tool for transformation, they let it dictate their attention.

This is not just a mental health crisis, but a human potential crisis. Social media could be designed to help people flourish, yet under the shareholder value model, the highest priority is keeping users engaged—not helping them become their best selves.

A Better Future: Community-Owned, Well-Being First

The problem isn’t the technology itself: It’s the business model behind it. Today’s social media platforms prioritize shareholder profits, meaning maximizing engagement takes precedence over user well-being.

But there’s a better way.

A community-owned platform would keep value within the ecosystem, ensuring that no outside shareholders extract profits at the expense of users. Instead of optimizing for addiction, it could prioritize (or at least not actively thwart) well-being, informed choices, and meaningful interactions while still being financially sustainable.

Rather than relying on an exploitative ad-driven model, such a platform could be funded through user-friendly alternatives like:

• Subscription-based models (e.g., Discord Nitro, Patreon-style memberships) that give users enhanced features without forcing engagement.
  

• Tipping and microtransactions, allowing users to directly support creators and communities they value.
  

• Value-based ads, where users opt into ads that align with their goals—such as local businesses, wellness resources, or educational tools—instead of being bombarded by engagement-driven distractions.

Ads wouldn’t dictate the experience; they would appear only when they support, rather than disrupt, human flourishing. For example:

• An ad for a local café or bookstore could encourage real-world interactions and local spending.
  

• A career-building or wellness platform could be surfaced to users genuinely seeking self-improvement.
  

• Ads could be placed in ways that respect user attention, rather than exploiting it.

By shifting incentives, social media doesn’t have to be a battle for attention—it can be a tool for connection, learning, and thriving.

A Real World Path Forward: TAO Social

Social media doesn’t just shape what we think—it shapes who we become. If the underlying business model prioritizes engagement at all costs, it will continue to erode both mental health and human potential, keeping people not just addicted, but distracted from their fullest lives.

The time has come for a new model of social media. One that prioritizes people over profits, connection over control, and well-being over engagement metrics. TAO Social is bringing that new model to life.

TAO Social is a decentralized, member-governed platform where all profits are reinvested into the community. More than just a space to share and create, TAO is built to empower everyday people—allowing us to reclaim our collective power and wealth from those who have long controlled it.

Instead of trapping users in echo chambers, TAO fosters bridge-building, creativity, and collaborative problem-solving. It's built to resist corporate and government co-opting, ensuring it remains forever in the hands of the people it was designed to serve.

By embracing a community ownership model, TAO breaks free from the crushing demand to capture attention at all costs. There are no shareholders to impress with daily active user metrics. No algorithmic addiction loops. No chasing virality just for the sake of growth.

This freedom allows TAO to focus on what truly matters: long-term value for the individual and society.

What if your social platform helped you become the best version of yourself — not tomorrow, not next week, but five years from now?

That kind of vision is unimaginable in Big Tech boardrooms. But for us, it’s the starting point.

ABOUT THE GUEST AUTHOR: ZACK PRAGER

Zack Prager is a full-stack developer, lecturer, community organizer, and founder at the forefront of humane and ethical technology. With a background in applied psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a degree in Cognitive Science from UCLA, Zack weaves together technical rigor with a deep understanding of human behavior to create tech that uplifts rather than exploits.

He’s the co-founder of ShotCaller.ai, an AI platform that brings accountability to the world of financial influencers, and has contributed to mission-driven initiatives like FoodRevolution.org, BlueZones.com, Emberlight, and the World Well-Being Project at UPenn. His projects frequently explore the intersection of digital well-being, AI therapeutics, Web3, and positive psychology.

A seasoned technologist with expertise in React, Node, AWS, and LLMs, Zack also lectures at UC San Diego and organizes Consciousness Hacking meetups to nurture communities of mindful innovation. When he’s not coding or teaching, you might find him on stage or at a poker table—he’s performed music and played poker professionally across the globe.

Zack is passionate about building digital spaces that foster connection, gratitude, and flourishing in a distracted world. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon, where he continues to develop tools for a more humane digital future.

References

• Harris, T. (2019). Optimizing for engagement: Understanding the use of persuasive technology on internet platforms. Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet. Retrieved from https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/96E3A739-DC8D-45F1-87D7-EC70A368371D
  

• Andreassen, C. S., Torsheim, T., Brunborg, G. S., & Pallesen, S. (2012). Development of a Facebook addiction scale. Psychological Reports, 110(2), 501-517. https://doi.org/10.2466/02.09.18.PR0.110.2.501-517
  

• Keles, B., McCrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2020). A systematic review: The influence of social media on depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in adolescents.International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851
  

• Setiawati, Y. (2024). The interplay of ADHD, social media usage, and dopamine receptors in adolescents: A literature review. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383652623_The_interplay_of_ADHD_social_media_usage_and_dopamine_receptors_in_adolescents_A_literature_review
  

• Hale, L., & Guan, S. (2015). Screen time and sleep among school-aged children and adolescents: A systematic literature review. Sleep Health, 1(1), 50-58. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5839336/
  

• Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2017). Instagram use and young women's body image concerns and self-objectification: Testing mediational pathways. Sex Roles, 76(5-6), 311-324. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314083058_Instagram_use_and_young_women's_body_image_concerns_and_self-objectification_Testing_mediational_pathways
  

• Ferrara, E., & Yang, Z. (2015). Measuring emotional contagion in social media. PLOS ONE, 10(11), e0142390. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0142390
  

• Guess, A. M., & Lyons, B. A. (2020). Misinformation, disinformation, and online propaganda. In Social Media and Democracy: The State of the Field and Prospects for Reform (pp. 10-33). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108890960.002
  

• Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 1146-1151. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559
  

• Cinelli, M., Morales, G. D. F., Galeazzi, A., Quattrociocchi, W., & Starnini, M. (2021). The echo chamber effect on social media. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(9). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023301118​Wikipedia+1PNAS+1
  

• Jiang, J., Ren, X., & Ferrara, E. (2021). Social media polarization and echo chambers in the context of COVID-19: Case study. JMIRx Med, 2(3), e29570. https://doi.org/10.2196/29570
  

• Alter, A. (2017). Irresistible: The rise of addictive technology and the business of keeping us hooked. Penguin Press.
  

• Meshi, D., Tamir, D. I., & Heekeren, H. R. (2015). The emerging neuroscience of social media. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19(12), 771-782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2015.09.004
  

• Przybylski, A. K., Murayama, K., DeHaan, C. R., & Gladwell, V. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1841-1848. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563213000800?via%3Dihub

• Roundtable 1.1 Video

• Meet the People 💓

• Takeaways & Next Steps
  

TL;DR: We’re taking on Big Tech, decentralizing governance, and making this a movement. This convo was a mix of legal chess, startup strategy, and a bit of sci-fi dreaming. Stay tuned for the next steps.

Roundtable 1.1: Incorporation & Legal Structure

Here’s the recording of our powerful, hour-long conversation:

Welcome to our first-ever roundtable—a deep dive into the nuts and bolts of how to keep PeopleTok (working title) unfuckwithable. We gathered brilliant minds to hash out the best way to structure and incorporate this platform so it stays true to its mission: transparent, democratic, and forever in the hands of the people.

We explored big questions like: Should we go the DAO route or stick with an LLC? Is the U.S. really the best place to incorporate, or is Ireland calling our name?

This is where the magic happens—where strategy meets creativity, and where we lay the groundwork for a platform built to outlast billionaires and bureaucracy. Let’s make this conversation count!

Meet the People

The best part of PeopleTalk/PeopleTok (whatever we decide to call it; branding is on the way) lies in its people. From the core team and supportive allies within the ecosystem to the larger community, it’s the people who make this project truly special.

It’s in the name—and even if the name evolves, the mission stays the same: to create the first truly people-first social media platform.

By the people, for the people, and with the people.

Matt Dearden

Matt Dearden is a highly sought-after business attorney with over a decade of experience delivering tailored legal services to businesses, high-net-worth individuals, and corporate clients.

As the founder of Dearden Law Offices, Matt’s expertise spans business transactions, tax consulting, contract negotiation, reputation management, and real estate law. His commitment to excellence and innovation has earned him a reputation as a trusted advisor to clients across industries.

Matt also leverages his engaging communication style on TikTok, where he breaks down complex legal concepts into easily digestible content for a broad audience. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where he honed his skills in startups and entrepreneurship, Matt has built a career on his ability to navigate intricate legal landscapes while prioritizing his clients’ goals. Beyond his legal practice, Matt actively contributes to his community through volunteer work, mentoring, and leadership roles.

Mike Feerick

Mike Feerick is the visionary founder and CEO of Alison, one of the world’s largest free online learning platforms, with over 50 million users worldwide. A Harvard MBA graduate and a leader in social entrepreneurship, Mike has dedicated his career to revolutionizing global education by making workplace-focused learning universally accessible.

He designed Alison to be self-sustaining and scalable, using an innovative model that combines free education with optional paid services. Mike believes that education is the foundation of social progress and sees Alison as a tool to address critical global issues like poverty, political instability, and climate change.

An Ashoka Fellow and sought-after speaker, Mike has received numerous accolades for his contributions to education and social entrepreneurship, including speaking at the Forbes CIO Summit. His vision aligns with the UN Declaration of Human Rights' call for free education, inspiring millions to empower themselves through knowledge.

Samantha Radocchia

Samantha Raddochia, aka Sam Rad, is a trailblazing futurist, anthropologist, and entrepreneur, celebrated for her groundbreaking work at the intersection of technology, culture, and human behavior. As the founder of Radical Next, a meta-media studio exploring transformative stories and innovations, Sam is shaping visions of a thriving, tech-enabled future.

With a background in anthropology, symbolic systems, and engineering, she applies her expertise to emerging fields like applied cryptography, blockchain, AI, immersive realities, and simulations.

A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Sam holds several patents linking the physical and digital worlds and is recognized as a pioneer of NFT protocols. She has co-founded four companies, advised organizations like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, and authored the bestselling book Bitcoin Pizza: The No Bullshit Guide to Blockchain.

Her latest book, RADICAL NEXT: Reclaiming Your Humanity in a Post-Human World hit #1 bestseller in all three of its categories on launch day.

Through her captivating talks across five continents, Sam inspires individuals and organizations to not only survive but thrive in times of radical change.

Takeaways & Next Steps

The Big Question: Where to Incorporate?

🇺🇸 The USA Argument:

✅ Access to funding
✅ Strongest business infrastructure
✅ Wyoming & Delaware have good protections for LLCs & DAOs
✅ Competing on home turf against Big Tech = legal protections

❌ BUT The US loves regulation & can be unpredictable

🍀 The Ireland Argument:

✅ Home of EU data infrastructure
✅ Lower corporate tax rates (15% vs. 21% in the US)
✅ Strong EU protections against government overreach

❌ BUT Still kinda under US influence (hello, Big Tech HQs in Dublin)

It’s also worth noting that DAOs are not formally recognized in Ireland, so if we go that direction we would have to create the LLC there and still create the DAO in the US.

🌍 The Decentralized Approach?

Sam made the wild (but interesting) point: Why have an entity at all? What if everything is structured as DAOs and tokens with no single legal jurisdiction? 🚀 Big brain move, but tricky in a world where we still need bank accounts and contracts.

So we likely need an entity…at least getting started.

🔥 Legal & Structural Takeaways

LLC vs. B Corp vs. Nonprofit

• LLC (Limited Liability Company): Offers maximum flexibility and liability protection. This structure allows for operational freedom and the ability to scale, while safeguarding personal assets from business liabilities.

• B Corp (Benefit Corporation): Focuses on balancing social impact with financial profit. While a B Corp requires a legal commitment to social and environmental goals, an LLC can include similar social impact provisions in its operating agreement, making the additional benefits of a B Corp relatively minimal for companies with a strong mission focus.

• Nonprofit: Heavily regulated, which could limit operational agility and make it more challenging to compete with larger tech companies. The stringent oversight and government involvement can hinder flexibility, especially in terms of business strategy and profit distribution.

🏆 Winner? Probably an LLC + a Wyoming-based DAO for governance to keep things decentralized but still legally protected.

💰 The Road to Revenue

We don’t want VC money because VCs = strings attached & corporate hijacking (RIP cool projects that sold their souls).

Instead, we’re going full grassroots crowdfunding—but without offering equity. Because this needs to be more of a public utility than a for-profit asset for it to be what it needs to be in the world.

After crowdfunding, we’ll need to get the platform to a place of generating revenue as quickly as possible so that it can be self-sustaining.

🔹 Crowdfunding = ✅ legal
🔹 Equity crowdfunding = ❌ potential securities law nightmare, takes us away from the mission of being user-owned/governed and unfuckwithable.
🔹 Revenue streams? Platform interactions, creator transactions, subscriptions, maybe ethical ads (consent-based).

📜 Other Juicy Insights

• Data & Infrastructure – We might need separate entities for different regions due to GDPR & data localization laws.

• Governance Concerns – Who watches the watchers? Even with smart contracts, there has to be some form of oversight.

• "Social Business" Model – Inspired by Mike’s Alison model, where revenue covers costs, scales impact, and isn’t driven by hyper-profit motives.

🎯 Where We Landed

• Structure: Likely LLC + Wyoming DAO for governance

• Funding: Grassroots crowdfunding, user-driven (not equity-based)

• Global Expansion: Plan for multi-region compliance

• Next Steps: Flesh out exact governance models, finalize incorporation plans, and start rallying the people

What do you think? Should we incorporate in the USA, Ireland, or somewhere else? The team is leaning toward what is home turf for most of us.

Andy: Laughs I think Nostr is more like… buying an engine off Craigslist and duct-taping it to a skateboard. It moves, technically.

Katie: Wow, savage. Okay, sell me on AT Protocol.

Andy: Sure. Think of AT Proto as more like a prebuilt car and the corresponding blueprint. With software, we are always creating the blueprint (designing) and building the car (putting pieces together for the car, writing code for software). It’s got all the parts we need—user accounts, encryption, video uploads. With Nostr, we’d basically be like, “Cool, we have an engine! Now let’s spend the next two years building the rest of the car.”

Katie: Sounds… painful. But Nostr is simpler, right?

Andy: Oh, absolutely. Nostr’s whole pitch is: “All messages are sha256-encoded JSON objects sent over a websocket.” That’s it. You get a message with an ID, a timestamp, and maybe a little tag saying, “Hey, this is a video.”

Katie: And that’s bad because…?

Andy: It’s not bad, it’s just basic. Like, “Hi, here’s a paper airplane with your data on it. Good luck building TikTok with that.”

Katie: Fair. But isn’t “basic” easier to work with?

Andy: Only if you want to do a TON of work later. Imagine starting with Nostr—cool, we’ve got messages flying around. Now we need to add user authentication, video storage, media blobs, and a way to make it all secure. AT Protocol has all of that baked in.

Katie: So, AT Protocol is more like… a Tesla?

Andy: More like a truck. It’s rugged, scalable, and already hauling 30 million users over at BlueSky.

Scalability

Katie: Let’s talk about scalability. Nostr could scale, right?

Andy: Technically, yes. But you’d have to build all the infrastructure yourself. With AT Protocol, it’s like plugging into a power grid that’s already running.

Katie: Okay, but what about feeds? Everyone’s obsessed with custom feeds.

Andy: That’s the beauty of AT Protocol. BlueSky lets you spin up custom feeds—basically “fake servers” that serve real data. For PeopleTok, we can just plug into one of those while we’re building. No server headaches.

Katie: Love that for us.

Openness

Katie: What about openness? Nostr’s big on decentralization. Doesn’t AT Protocol feel… less pure?

Andy: laughs Purity’s great until you’re drowning in dev work. AT Protocol is still open-source under an MIT license. We get the freedom without reinventing the wheel.

Katie: Okay, last pitch: Why NOT Nostr?

Andy: Because we’d be spending years adding all the things AT Protocol already has. Why waste time? It’s like deciding to bake a cake from scratch when someone’s handing you a pre-made cake and saying, “Just add frosting.”

Katie: Fair enough. You win. AT Protocol it is. Let’s grab the truck and get PeopleTok rolling.

The Verdict: Nostr is like a cool DIY project for hobbyists. AT Protocol? That’s the pro toolset for building something big, fast, and scalable. For PeopleTok, the choice is clear: grab the keys to AT Protocol and hit the road. 🚚✨

Here’s the game plan:

1. Launch the MVP alongside a crowdfunding page. Show people the what and why—aka the “proof of concept” we’ve all been working toward.

2. Build the DAO hooks into the app. It’ll take longer to fully flesh out, but Ally suggested reaching out to Decent DAO for their governance expertise.

Design: Where Speed Meets Style

Ksenia pitched two approaches for design:

• Deeper Dive: Comprehensive research and highly polished features. (+15% better than baseline)
  

• Quick & Dirty: Just enough polish to get the MVP out the door while leaving room for iteration. (10% better than baseline)

The vote was unanimous: Quick & Dirty FTW. Bonus? Mafe and Ksenia are leaning on Figma UI kits for speed, starting with a sleek black-and-accent color scheme. Less is more, people.

TikTok Trouble & Migration Magic

Kasey raised an important point: the potential TikTok ban looms in 60 days. Good news? The AT protocol could make data migration seamless. Adam said it’s possible.

We’re also brainstorming creative ways to turn this moment into a marketing win. Pitching “the last migration you’ll ever need” sounds pretty compelling, right?

Competitive Intel: Spying for Science

The team is diving deep into competitor analysis with a shortlist of apps, including:

• TikTok

• Blue Sky

• Red Note

• Neptune

• Loops

Patrick is tackling Red Note, Mafe is recording the BlueSky onboarding flow, and Ksenia is on TikTok duty. We’re dissecting everything—features, UX, and what we can do better.

Skylight, a potential competitor, will be tracked on the side. It’s still in beta, but we’ll keep an eye out for any big moves.

Key Takeaways & To-Dos

1. Everyone is diving into Blue Sky to identify pain points to prioritize quick wins and log what’s already working.

2. The design team is aligning on system fundamentals and prepping a simple, cohesive experience for launch.

3. Next week, we regroup on personas and post-MVP roadmap priorities.

The Vibe Check

This meeting was equal parts strategy and appreciation. Shoutouts all around for a talented, driven team. Special love to Mafe and Ksenia for their design brilliance, Katie for herding all us cats, Adam for reality checks, Ally for being our “I know a guy” guy and Kasey for always asking the right questions.

We’re building fast, we’re building smart, and we’re building together. Stay tuned for more updates as the MVP comes to life. 🚀

We’re 17,000 strong behind the vision for a decentralized, collectively owned and governed, unfuckwithable TikTok alternative. We also have a core team of volunteers emerging.

You’ll hear me say this a million times: I am humbled and grateful that I managed to say enough of the right things to attract talent of this caliber to the build. Today, it is my deep honor to introduce you to some of our powerhouse team.

Developers will be next, but there’s too many to fit into this email and that team is still shaking out.

We’re a little non-hierarchical as you might notice.

Because hierarchy is for corporate dinosaurs who love red tape and pointless meetings that could have been emails.

Non-hierarchy is for people who actually want to get sh*t done. That doesn’t mean chaos mind you. That doesn’t mean having no structure, rhyme, or reason.

But it does mean that we acknowledge good ideas come from anywhere, and so intelligent leadership ought to be fluid. Think of Navy SEALs—no one’s waiting for permission to act. Whoever’s best positioned for the job takes the lead. (They call it dynamic subordination and it’s why they move like a lethal hivemind.)

In other words, we’re less chain of command, more brain of command. So in the spirit of what we’re building we do not have a C-Suite.

And this is in order of when peeps sent their bios in ;p

• Kasey Lammers, Financial Steward

• Adam Young, Technical Steward

• Kasarra, UX

• Mafe Perdomo, Design

• Katie Meade, Design Steward

• Ksenia Ivanova, Design

• Patrick Queiroz, Design

• Ally Madrone, Trust & Safety

• Chiara, Steward

Kasey Lammers, Financial Steward

With over 14 years of experience in financial leadership, Kasey Lammers has built a career ensuring financial transparency, compliance, and operational efficiency across multiple industries. As a CFO and financial architect, she has led large-scale financial transformations, designed governance frameworks, and implemented financial reporting structures that align with regulatory best practices, including GAAP compliance, SOX controls, and strategic audit oversight.

Kasey’s expertise spans treasury management, financial modeling, and risk mitigation, ensuring that every financial decision supports long-term sustainability without compromising ethical or mission-driven objectives. She has successfully optimized multi-million-dollar budgets, structured incentive programs, and led complex integrations of financial systems to enhance real-time transparency and accountability.

Now, as the financial steward for this initiative, Kasey is designing a financial framework that prioritizes fair contributor compensation, decentralized governance, and sustainable growth, ensuring that the platform remains mission-driven, community-owned, and free from external financial influence. Her goal is to create a transparent, resilient economic model that rewards participation while maintaining financial integrity.

Adam Young, Technical Steward

With a degree in Archaeology and Anthropology, Adam hoped to discover dinosaurs and ancient villages. Instead, he found himself surveying landfills in Florida. Struggling financially and hating the stench, he joined the U.S. Air Force, took a seat in a department he wasn’t supposed to be in, and discovered a passion for technology, problem-solving, and leadership.

Now the CTO at CloudCosmos, Adam thrives on collaboration, innovation, and solving complex problems. At GPM Corp, he mentored a struggling team coaching them in working toward “yes”, helping them to develop the company’s second ever revenue-generating product and successfully navigating the company through an acquisition.

At LexisNexis, he saved an at-risk $4 million /yr contract by optimizing performance and reducing costs. At Funcom, a gaming startup, he expanded the U.S. and Canadian divisions into a 178-person team, overseeing large-scale initiatives while promoting operational efficiency and fostering an inclusive culture.

Adam is a strong advocate for diverse, global teams. He has worked with women-led companies, cross-cultural development teams, and inclusive workplaces spanning North America, Asia, and Europe. His goal is mentoring the next generation of tech leaders, believing that diversity drives innovation.

Outside of work, Adam is an avid long distance backpacker, having completed long section hikes of the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and The Vermont Long Trail. Living, working and traveling throughout Europe, he’s embraced new cultures and perspectives. His journey—from dinosaurs and ancient villages to technology—is testament that adaptability, resilience, and an open mind lead to success.

Kasarra, UX

Kasarra is a Senior UX Researcher, worked in tech for years from Bird to Theragun and beyond. She is currently working to open her first business, a co-working space for artists and creatives. She is an activist in her community and fosters kittens in her free time. She's proud to support this movement because she believes that all social media applications should work ethically and responsibly.

Mafe Perdomo, Design

Mafe is a Senior Product Designer who thrives on innovation, problem-solving, and pushing boundaries. With over 13 years of experience helping startups bring their ideas to life—especially in the wellness and health industries—Mafe is passionate about using design, creative thinking, and AI to improve lives.

She loves tackling challenges, collaborating with teams, and turning blank pages into meaningful products. Always learning, innovating, and working smarter, not harder, Mafe is excited to contribute to the PeopleTalk application and help shape its future.

Katie Meade, Design Steward

Katie Meade is our Design Steward, shaping the visual and experiential identity while aligning Design and Product with our organization's mission to reimagine how people connect, collaborate, and create in digital spaces. At PeopleTok, we believe in flattening hierarchies and empowering individuals, and Katie’s work ensures that our platform reflects those values—prioritizing intuitive design, seamless interaction, and a sense of belonging.

With over 15 years in New York City and a deep network of creative professionals, she brings a research-driven, human-centered approach to design. Her work balances structure and organic evolution, prioritizing user insights, thoughtful execution, and meaningful connection. She channels her lifelong rebellious instinct into constructive reinvention—building digital spaces that foster agency, curiosity, and authentic engagement.

Ksenia Ivanova, Design

Ksenia is a Senior Product Designer that’s passionate about using design and technology to make a positive impact on everyday people’s lives. In her over 6 years of experience she has worked at startups, as a freelancer, and at enterprise level companies where she was able to hone her craft. Working for startups at various stages—seed to post-acquisition—has given her the perspective into how to effectively weigh design resources and impact as well as taking into account strategy for designing for company growth.

She believes in PeepleTalk’s mission, and as a small but passionate book content creator that values community, she has a vested interest in making a platform that is for the people and is owned by the people.

Patrick Queiroz, Design

Hi friends! I’m Patrick Queiroz, a recent college graduate having earned my bachelors in Art & Design: Games & Playable Media at UC Santa Cruz. Community oriented, I often find myself in positions where my main goal is to bring communities together, and encourage authentic communication in new and unconventional ways. As a designer, I strive to create intuitive and accessible designs that can be enjoyed by all.

Ally Madrone, Trust & Safety

I've spent my career swapping lab coats for gardening gloves—and then for chisels. I began as a clinical researcher in healthcare, then got my hands dirty as a horticulture researcher and permaculturist, building a company that created resilient ecosystems in urban jungles, suburban sprawls, and the quiet corners of rural America. These days, I've traded soil for code, diving into tech with startups focused on digital authenticity, trust, and safety. After all, why settle for a system built by a few when the best ideas come from the many?

When I'm not reimagining digital spaces, you'll find me in the workshop: a lifelong woodworker now transitioning to all hand tools because nothing beats the feel of craftsmanship done the old-fashioned way. I lived in a van for 6 years while traveling across North America—proving that freedom and resourcefulness go hand in hand—and I’m currently designing a Skoolie to build in 2025. Let's just say I'm all about crafting systems and spaces that are as decentralized and inclusive as the community we’re building.

Chiara, Steward

Chiara has touched nearly 75 companies in her career—sometimes as a consultant, sometimes as a freelancer, sometimes as the one making sense of chaos in a venture studio’s innovation lab. She’s helped build startups, managed accounts for both scrappy founders and large enterprises, and even co-founded a psychedelic education platform that hit an eight-figure valuation cap.

And it all happened by accident. (Or synchronicity, depending on your lens.)

She started in the arts, graduated college early with an English degree and no roadmap, then promptly moved to Thailand to train in Muay Thai for a year and study Theravada Buddhism. When she returned to the U.S., she launched her first business as a copywriter and brand strategist, crafting stories for brands like Marriott, Hilton, Nobu, and Montage. That was her first taste of entrepreneurship, and she never looked back.

Around 23, she pivoted into revenue operations and business strategy. And she built a lot. Some things worked. Some things didn’t. Some made money. Some…did the opposite.

There was the fantasy & sci-fi armor activewear as a first stint in ecommerce. The indie game writing. The venture studio pipeline she designed to take businesses from doodles on whiteboards to full-fledged startups. The corporate project management, the systems, the operations, the endless building. She also spent years as a strength athlete (still on hiatus after a long illness), proving that brute force and strategy aren’t mutually exclusive.

As an ordained metaphysical minister, speaker, and writer, she’s putting that skill to work to bring together the people the world desperately needs more of: healers, visionaries, builders, lovers, and the ones crazy and brave enough to help steward in the New Earth.

Find her on TikTok.

Up Next

And that’s it for this batch.

There’s an absurd amount of talent circulating in this ecosystem, and more will be pulled in as we go. As Beth Dawson, a member of our collective, astutely observed in her LinkedIn message to me:

Given the volunteer nature of this project, we may find that people come and go. But in this email it has been my absolute pleasure to introduce you to some of the early team. Next up is tech (which is still filling out and getting organized, even as initial pieces of the app have been developed).

Stay tuned to meet more of the beautiful human beings behind this mission. 💗

e pluribus unum,
Chiara Scuro
Steward

Kasarra’s Synthesis

Our Senior Researcher kicked things off with a big ol’ brain dump of UX research findings. Themes like “international community,” “safety & data protection,” and “better-than-TikTok algorithms” dominated the sticky notes. Oh, and fun fact—Kasey used to be a developer, so she’s got all the nerd cred.

Top ideas included:

• Decentralized AI that connects worldwide communities (yep, our crowd is dreaming big).

• Algorithms that don’t feel like an abusive relationship: customizable, mood-based, and with sliders that let you switch between “cat videos” and “global controversies.”

• Ensuring it’s as Creator-friendly as possible; the world doesn’t need more influencers, we need more community-builders and -inspirers.

• Building hubs for creators to gather their people, IRL events included; connect people back to their local communities.

• Functionality for mobilizing behind the causes and ideas that are important to us.

The “Why Can’t We Just Tune Our Algorithm” Epiphany

Big love for the concept of tuning an algorithm instead of “training” it (because no one has time to wrestle with likes and shares just to escape politics for a day). Imagine telling your algorithm exactly what you want to see.

“Show me cat videos, I can’t do politics today.”

“Show me conspiracy theories, all of them.”

More granular control over one’s FYP also gives us the ability to determine how much of an echo chamber we really want to be in…rather than the algo just deciding to put us into a box.

Would you like to remain perpetually in an echochamber (Y/N)?

Cave or sunlight?

We want to make it possible for people to make the conscious choice to be exposed to new ideas, cultures, things outside their norm. As we like to say:

Also pitched: a button to see the “inverse of your feed.” You know, to challenge your worldview and maybe blow your mind.

Creators Are Key

Everyone agreed: if we win creators, we win the crowd. Features they’d love? Tools to make creating easier, monetization that doesn’t suck, and customizable hubs for all their content. Plus, imagine micro-courses living right on their profile. Why stop at TikTok when we can TikTok and teach?

We’re running separate, more focused research for Creators in tandem.

When I tell you we’re trying to think of everything…I mean it.

The Tech Talk (aka How Adam Keeps Us Grounded)

We love Adam, our Technical Steward for giving us all reality checks. Because he keeps us grounded but as he also says:

He told us what’s actually possible with our volunteer dev resources (basically: 4 volunteer devs = 1 full-time dev). The plan? Start simple. Leverage BlueSky’s open-source code, clean it up, and get a basic app out the door. Fancy features like sentiment-flipping feeds and creator utopias can come later.

Bonus idea: turn our first app launch into a “housewarming gift” for users. Bring their TikTok data into the new app seamlessly, like Apple does with your phone backups. That would be the chef’s kiss of user onboarding vibes.

Final Thoughts

Everyone left hyped. Research is moving, ideas are flowing, the build has already begun, and our collective’s PeopleTok dream is becoming real. Do you have more ideas? Share them below, or better yet, post them in the Reddit!

Stay tuned for more updates—because this app isn’t just a TikTok clone. It’s a revolution. 🚀

First things first—we’re moving fast to get an MVP up and running. 🚀

If you’re not familiar, an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is just a fancy way of saying “bare bones but functional.” It’s the simplest version of the app that we can get out there quickly, so we can start testing, gathering feedback, and improving it over time.

We'll have a more precise timeline for you this coming week. It looks like we might do it hackathon-style, which would be wildly fun (I volunteer to send goodie bags to all our devs! 🙌).

We know a lot of the members of our collective aren’t business or tech folks, and that’s totally fine—we absolutely want you along for the ride. That’s why we’ll be transparently sharing the whole journey of building this thing, so you can be as involved (or not) as you want.

And that brings us to how we’re keeping everyone in the loop...

How We’ll Keep the Community Updated

If you've been following along, you know we originally planned to send updates through Substack.

But...our email list was so long, sudden, and overnight that it got flagged as spam. 🤦‍♀️

Despite us proving everyone opted in, Substack support ghosted us for a week.👻

So, I told them we were taking our community to Beehiiv—who approved our list in hours (thanks, Kevin!), and boom, the newsletter went out that very day (here's a copy of it, in case you missed it).

Well, guess who just approved our list and wants second chance? Substack. 🙃

Nice timing, guys. But honestly, Substack is a fantastic platform so…

Now, we’re on both platforms, and we want your input on how to use them. Since the goal is to keep everyone informed without overwhelming you, here’s how we’re thinking of breaking it down:

📌 Beehiiv (Big-Picture Updates):

Perfect if you just want the high-level updates and to keep a general pulse on our progress.

• Major project milestones 🚀

• Voting opportunities 🗳️

• Volunteer calls to action 🙌

• Key Reddit discussions of the week 🔗

• Crowdfunding updates 💸
  

📖 Substack (Deep-Dive Goodness):

Think of Substack as our behind-the-scenes documentary; featuring a range of people involved in the project and community. If you’re curious about how the sausage gets made, this is for you.

• Behind-the-scenes tea 🍵 (decisions, challenges, recordings from meetings)

• Tech talk: why we’re choosing what we’re choosing 🖥️

• Ethical biz practices & models (people > profit) 💓

• Community spotlights & conversations with members 🗣️

• Governance talk (DAOs, co-ops, Web3—oh my!) 🤖

• Tapping into our startup/founder/expert network 🤝

• Future vision: the wild ideas our community is cooking up 🔮

Please note: While we may publish multiple times a week on Substack, we will not be sending most of it directly to your inbox—out of respect for your inbox (and your sanity). Instead, you'll receive occasional key updates, and if you want more, you can always check the Substack and YouTube pages for the latest content at your convenience.

Why use Substack at all?

Despite the rough patch with our onboarding process, Substack is still a fantastic platform for spreading our mission and message to a wider audience—reaching people we might not otherwise and recruiting more members into our community.

Ultimately, the success of this initiative comes down to numbers. The more of us there are, the stronger we are.

And while 90% of what we're doing here is focused on building community and developing the app publicly and transparently, Substack's policies aren't too keen on anything that resembles marketing or sales. That’s not a huge issue for us, but it does mean that when it comes time for crowdfunding, we’d need to run that campaign elsewhere. So in that regard, Beehiiv is actually the better fit for those types of updates, making it a solid complement to our communication strategy.

So—what do you think? Feel free to share any other ideas/thoughts on what you'd like to see in the Substack.

In Service,
Chiara