Gm gm is Not Internal Comms, Peeps. BUIDLing Web3 Culture

Transcript

Bonjour and hello. It's ECC peeps. How's everybody doing today? It's an Yeah. It's an honor to be back at ETHCC, my favorite conference. I'd like to share gratitude to the Ethereum community, the volunteers, the technical and speaker crews who make this amazing event possible. Some of you may have seen my previous talks on Web3 coms. If you haven't, grab some popcorn and check the ETHCC archives. I love sharing real-world lessons with the community because in Web3, I see a lot of faux pas, as we say, when it comes to coms.

A quick disclaimer before we get this party started. Sometimes I have a little too much fun up here and some spicy words come out. So, if that happens, is that okay? Great. [gasps] Because today I'm going to be talking about Web3 coms and internal coms, which is something that most folks don't pay attention to. But here's the truth. If your internal coms are a mess, your external coms are going to be a full-on dumpster fire. But before we dive in, who's in the house here with me today? Do I have any founders?

Builders? My marketing AND COMS PEEPS? WHAT? JOURNALISTS? Anybody hiding? All right. Thanks for joining me here today. There's a lot to cover. I'm going to go fast and I'll be happy to take some questions at the end. Are you ready, peeps? Are you ready, peeps? Yes. Let's [ __ ] go. So, here's what's on the menu du jour. As a battle-tested com strategist, my job is to make you look good. Because if you don't look good, I don't look good. And we can't have that, peeps.

So, today I'm going to share how to build a strong Web3 culture without offices, without hierarchy, and without [ __ ] Let's do this. So, who am I? I'm Victoria Kalman. My peeps call me the captain. I recently joined Kaiko. Kaiko delivers institutional-grade market data, infrastructure, and analytics. Kaiko is hosting the Agora, an institutional forum bringing together TradFi and DeFi leaders. It's in the JW Marriott today, so you can find all the Kaiko peeps there with me after this.

Some background about me. I've spent over 25 years in B2B marketing communications, working for Silicon Valley startups and global enterprises. I joined Web3 in 2018. Shout-out to my ConsenSys Mesh fam. I'm part of SheFi, the real mamas of crypto, and Ethereum France. For sure. I believe in what we're building, expanding access to financial tools, protecting privacy, and decentralization. And I've worked with Web3 teams through fundraises, launches, rebrands, and yes, all kinds of spicy crises.

And here's what I've seen. The difference between teams that scale and teams that implode is rarely the tech. It's something a lot less sexy. Oh, [ __ ] I'm not even I'm not even flipping my slides. Excuse me. Here we go. The reality of Web3 teams. So, communication is harder by default. Most teams are remote, async, global, decentralized, and honestly chaotic.

Because there are no offices, hallway conversations, or shared time zones. So, in this context, alignment does not just magically happen. Internal coms is not just an all-hands call, peeps. It's how decisions move. Who decides? Where that decision lives, who owns it, who needs to know, and how it gets repeated so that it actually sticks. In the reality of Web3, decisions change constantly, are not communicated clearly, and easily get misinterpreted. Y'all are busy, peeps.

But activity does not equal alignment. And what do I mean by this? I'm going to go a little faster here cuz I got less slides and we don't want to read. Being busy does not mean you know how to use communication tools effectively. Posting GM GM in Discord or Slack is not internal coms, peeps. It's a greeting reflex that has lost its meaning. Emoji reactions are not decisions. A bunch of random emojis just means people saw the message, not that they actually read or understood it.

Teams confuse chatter with progress. Some people, you know these people, they try to look productive and useful by sharing the latest AI hack. It's just performance. It's not contribution. If it doesn't tie back to revenue, product, users, or your reputation, it is not adding value. Presence does not equal clarity. Showing up to the call or lurking in the channel doesn't mean people understand what's been decided. Silence is not agreement. Most of the time it just means someone doesn't feel safe pushing back or doesn't want to be the lone voice against the crowd.

In this decentralized context, some people are shy or maybe English isn't their native language or maybe they don't want to ask a stupid question. There are no stupid questions, peeps. Open the floor to participation. And if you're one of those people who consistently show up, don't say anything, and then criticize what's going on inside DMs, you're just political. And that brings us to a very spicy topic. Back channels. Back channels are private chats that have public consequences.

The root of the problem is there are too many communication tools. We've got Slack Discord Telegram Signal email WhatsApp, where the same conversation is taking place with different tools, different groups, and different participants. Does this sound familiar? Back channels are unofficial centers of power where decisions get made in private and then information gets leaked, misunderstood, your team's motivation drops, and this is not how to manage an organization, peeps. This is a circus.

Back channels don't just live in DMs, they live in quick syncs, too. Poor documentation hygiene is another challenge to internal coms. Documents get copied, they get forked, they get renamed, and where is that doc? In a shared drive somewhere? In a Notion? In a Figma? You wind up with multiple sources of truth and nobody knows which one matters. And too many meetings become a workaround for broken processes and documentation. Stand-ups where people repeat the same information. And the absolute worst, daily stand-ups. Some peeps just like to hear themselves talk and that's 30 minutes of my life that I will never get back.

So, here's the elephant in the room, peeps. I'm not going to lie. Back channels thrive where leadership is weak, where disagreeing with others is unsafe, and where documentation is lazy. So, what's the solution? You can't ban DMs, obviously. But you can make the main channel of discussion open and safe enough so people won't hide inside chats. Because when the official communication channel works, people will use it. And when it doesn't, they go rogue and build their own. So, you need better internal coms, peeps. Every public Web3 [ __ ] show starts the same way.

Not in public on Twitter or Discord, but internally. So, let's unpack this. Here's the meltdown barometer of internal communications chaos, peeps. If you have sloppy coms, no ownership, no accountability, mixed messages, documents say one thing while your founder says something else, you're definitely going to miss deadlines. When you don't have clear internal coms, what else happens? You're wasting time, budget, and resources. Everyone is confused. Didn't we already decide this? Who owns that? Wait, I thought you were handling it.

I'm talking about duplicate work, peeps. I hate that. For teams that are unable to coordinate async with one source of documented truth and clear accountability, often the solution is another stand-up. Better yet, let's have a daily stand-up in addition to our 15 different chat groups, DMs, and back channels. Stop wasting my time, peeps. Internal coms chaos results in frustration and burnout and ultimately leads to bad launches and very public fuck-ups. So, if you want fewer public meltdowns, you need to start internally at the top.

If founders make decisions in private chats and information is not shared, no one can read their minds, okay? If leadership tolerates lack of ownership and accountability, the team normalizes it. If the strategy du jour changes without proper documentation, you're not going to make it. Lead by example, peeps. Fix your internal coms. But there's more. Let's talk about the F word, peeps. Feedback. Yeah. WTF with the feedback, okay? Feedback is scary as [ __ ] The reason why feedback fails is because it's undefined. So, let's define it.

Feedback is specific, timely, actionable, focused on the work or the behavior. Feedback is not a rant, a surprise, grudges you've been holding since last quarter, venting, or a public performance. This is why feedback is a point of failure in Web3 teams. Good feedback improves the work. Bad feedback or no feedback shuts people down. It makes them defensive, quiet, and disengaged. Silence is way more expensive than discomfort. So, what do you need to do?

Define and give feedback. Set the rules and teach feedback skills. But, your internal comms is also human. We're peeps, peeps. Your organization is made up of people, and decentralized teams don't bond by accident. And there are no shared wins unless you deliberately create them. Culture doesn't magically appear. It's designed. And remote Web3 culture is built through intention. So, what does your team need to build a culture in Web3? Visibility.

Decisions posted where everyone can see them. Real roadmaps, priorities that don't silently shift. Ownership, clear this person owns it, accountability, and no ambiguity. Feedback. Shared privately in a constructive way. Rituals, retros at the end of projects, and everyone on your team has unique skills and something to share with others. So, highlight those peeps on your team. Let them share their knowledge. Organize demo days. Have lunch and learn sessions. Shared wins, call out shipped work, celebrate progress, not just launches.

And yes, your personal milestones matter, too. Birthdays, weddings, new babies. As a mom, when my son was born 22 years ago, and my daughter 20 years ago, my company sent me a bouquet of flowers, and that was a small gesture, but that meant so much to me. So, these little things matter. They make a big difference because humans build organizations. You design connection in decentralized teams through building a culture of repeated behavior. A little structure is good for Web3. Rules create clarity. Rituals create trust, and you need both, peeps.

So, what actually works? You don't need heavy processes. You need minimum viable internal comms. It looks like this. Streamlined tools, rules for what goes where, retros with closure, fewer meetings, avoid meeting fatigue, clear ownership, one owner per action item, not the team, one source of truth, decisions live in one visible place, and if it's not documented there, it doesn't exist. And none of this works if you ignore the human side. People need shared moments to see progress and recognition. That's real culture building in Web3, intentional behavior repeated over time.

Now, how can you put this into place? Here's a blueprint to fix your internal comms step by step. Step one, audit the chaos. List every tool you use. Slack, Discord, Telegram, Notion, random Google Docs, whatever. Then map how information is shared and where decisions happen because you can't fix what you won't look at. Choose the right tool for the right purpose. Chats are for discussion, document your decisions, calls and meetings are for conflict resolution and clarity. Kill the back channels, mostly. Decide publicly, and if a decision affects other people, it doesn't live in a DM.

Fix feedback. Define feedback. Agree on where and how it happens. Practice giving feedback because it's a skill, not in the middle of a launch, and not during a crisis. Feedback is a skill, and everyone can improve with practice. Build rituals with your team. Celebrate wins and milestones, the personal and professional. Recognize achievements. Say, "Thank you, Victoria." Not, "Thank you, PR team." I have a name. Consistency beats complexity, and this is your minimum viable internal comms.

And this is how you get from what the feedback to wagmi. Wagmi isn't optimism, it's alignment. It's knowing who owns what, where decisions live, what the priorities are. Internal comms isn't about control, it's about clarity, trust, and momentum. It's about building a sense of belonging without sharing an office and avoiding chaos. GM GM is not enough, peeps. Culture is not just a greeting. Clear internal communication is how decentralized colleagues become a team. And before I let you go, sit with this. Where do decisions actually live on your team?

And what's one internal comms mistake you could fix tomorrow? Because wagmi doesn't happen by accident. It's built with intention. Don't leave your internal comms to chance peeps. I'm Victoria Kalman, the captain, and I'm happy to take your toughest questions. Merci, and wagmi. >> [applause] >> Hit me up, peeps. So, are there any questions?

Don't be shy. There's no stupid question. Yes, sir. I've got a jetman. Um, for someone who's traditionally Web2 coming into a Web3 world, very new to this, managing a Web3 team, could you just give me top two pieces of advice in terms of how how to how to sort of build bridges with that team and connect with them on a on a better level? Is you're new to the company? >> I am in Well, new to Web3 in general. New to Web3 in general? Okay. I would start by auditing what has been done before in terms of comms.

And then, uh, you can start making improvements. What tools are you using for which type of communications? How often are you communicating with people? And then, you know, if there aren't rituals in place, like celebrating small milestones, put those in place. So, you you can't come in and change everything. You have to get kind of a, you know, a temperature check and see what's been going on, what's worked and what hasn't worked. Uh, you could also even try a little anonymous survey or something. That might make it easier depending on how many folks you have on your team. But, I I would not, uh, be able to just come in and start doing stuff. I'd want to understand what happened before and where I can bring improvements. But, that's a great question. And I am myself a Web2 person who came into Web3 in

2018. And I haven't gone back. Next? Come on, guys. You didn't come here to sleep. Yes ma'am. I just wanted to make a comment, kind of more of a from a stakeholder perspective. Um, I work for I guess what would be considered a Web2 company as a contractor, and it's huge, and they're constantly making these horrible communication mistakes. Uh, and as a a teacher who works directly with children and families, like not having the information I need

is incredibly embarrassing. So, I just, uh, I don't really have a question, but I wanted to affirm the the work that Victoria is talking about, um, both within your immediate group because I think that may be where this particular organization is failing. Like, the way you described it, I'm like, "Oh, yeah. I bet that's what's going on." Um, but also for your other stakeholders, where the whether they're kind of downstream employees or, um, or customers, etc. Like, if you don't have a very clear message and you don't share your roadmap, it just creates a lot of stress downstream. So, thanks for your presentation, Victoria. Thank you.

Do we have time for more? Yes, we still have >> Come on, I was fast, peeps. Bring it on. I want the spicy ones. I love crises. I hope we have good internal comms so I don't have to manage them afterwards, but bring it on. Yes, in the back. Thanks. Um, any detailed tips for feedback structures? I would suggest a feedback training session with your team. It can be virtual, obviously, if you're not all together, but explaining the dos and don'ts of feedback. You know, because people need to understand

how it works, and if you guide them through the process, and then you can put maybe a formal and informal structure in place you you know, can have, um, different types of feedback. In one of my past experiences, what we did, which was quite helpful, is, um, we were asked to meet with someone on our team. So, for me, that would be someone in the marketing or comms department, but also with someone outside of our team, and, uh, and ask for feedback. But, then, as the person receiving the feedback, we had to give feedback on the feedback.

Like, was that feedback helpful to me or not? Because if it's just someone saying, "Eh, eh, great job, Victoria." That doesn't help me. That doesn't help me improve. So, um, you know, people need to understand, uh, how to give feedback, and then it's not about the person. It could be, you know, someone could give me feedback saying, you know, uh, yes, that was a great presentation, but you talk too much with your hands or you talk too fast. You know, so maybe next time you could work on this or that. But, it has to be, uh, also feedback given in a way that the person is ready to receive it. And sometimes I've had to ask people, "Would you like some feedback?"

And how would you like to receive that feedback? And some people, like me, were very direct, but some people you have to kind of, you know, do it in a little gentle way. And it's never in front of everybody. You know, it's not a public spectacle, but like, "Hey, do you have 5 minutes? Let's go grab a coffee or let's take a walk outside or let's have a virtual catch-up. I'd like to share some feedback with you. I I that would help you improve." And usually, you know, if it's good constructive feedback, the person is grateful. Thanks a lot, Victoria, and I think that most of the things that you've shared are absolutely valid for just normal companies about communication. And one of the specificities we have in Web3 is the multiplication of the communication channels with Telegram and Discord. And And that's

one of the difficult things to manage. Thanks a lot. Thank you.