The Kurty D Show

044 - User-Owned Talent Network with Adam Jackson

Episode Summary

I'm excited to share my conversation with Adam Jackson, the co-founder, and CEO of Braintrust. Braintrust is a platform that connects organizations with the top technical talent to complete strategic projects and drive innovation. I'm particularly impressed with how they are innovating their business model and providing tremendous value for their community of over 100k software engineers, product designers, and product managers. Braintrust has gained massive traction, working with 150 of Fortune 1000, including well-known companies like Porsche and Goldman Sachs. In late 2021, they raised $100M from Coutue and Tiger Global in a large token sale, making it one of the best examples of a web3, user-owned network that delivers real value to the world. Having Braintrust as a resource at my fingertips gave me the courage to take another plunge into my new startup, Realworld Asset Group, and I'm grateful to currently be the #1 connector on their affiliate leaderboard. In this interview, you'll hear me applaud the clarity of Braintrust's mission and my excitement about how they are helping so many people in so many ways.

Episode Notes

What we covered:

Why storytelling matters, and how a simple sentence can unlock profound impacts.
The importance of blockchain in the economy.
How to move and think as a CEO
Why “thinking above the line is so important” and why context matters more than content.
Why imagination is essential, both as a CEO and as a person.
The importance of self-awareness

Tweetable Quotes

“User-owned networks will grow faster and become more valuable than corporate-owned networks or investor-owned networks.”
“My framework to storytelling is to iterate, iterate, iterate until it feels like you can feel the reaction is like yeses and nods and smiles.”
“If you can't explain in a sentence why what you're doing matters to who's listening, the odds are that every sentence you say after that, they're tuned out.”
“If you can't convey why, what you do matters to who it should matter to, you may as well not do it.”
“The whole world is driven by storytelling.”
“Brands, sales pitches, whatever, they have to have an emotional reaction. And if they don't, the reaction will be boredom and apathy.”

Links Mentioned:

Gabriel Luna-Ostaseski

Jack Dangermond

Julia Crass