Alex Finden

What is your background?

I’ve always dreamt of spending my days underwater with fish. My obsession with ocean life started while growing up in San Diego, CA, and ultimately developed into a passion for nature storytelling when I studied fish biomechanics and filmmaking in college. 

In my off hours, I was competing in Dance Dance Revolution and immersing myself in the Runescape, World of Warcraft, and Rocket League communities.

Little did I know that both of these worlds would collide to pave way for my career.

Until 2019, I was pursuing a title as an underwater cinematographer, a career that had no established path toward success. Consequently, I was plopped into the massive realm we now call the Creator Economy. Though I love filmmaking, I eventually found more satisfaction in helping other creators. That’s what brought me to where I am now as a co-founder of Mammalz.

How did you become interested in web3?

I’ve been aware of the web3 world for quite a while, but I didn’t understand its value outside of finance and technology for the longest time.

When a creator I work with, Alliestrasza, launched her own social token and began innovating utility for these tokens, everything started to click. The technology of web3 could be used for so much more than finance, and it could not only bring people closer together, but it could generate instant impact for virtually anything we care about. For me, that was our human relationship with the natural world.

As various NFT projects and DAOs began creating virtual experiences for their communities, I knew where I wanted to innovate.

How did you get started?

My first web3 experience was when I purchased Allie Coin on Rally and discovered the fun things I could do with social tokens. My excitement about social tokens led to a role in writing and editing educational videos for a web3 YouTube channel, which led to publishing articles about the Creator Economy, which led to my first true Discord community experience. It was on Discord that I met dozens of talented and welcoming people in the corners of web3 that I cared about most.

Eventually, I found my way to the Odyssey Discord and joined their DAO, which was the first DAO I contributed to. Given my previous experiences writing educational content, it was natural for me to join the content team at Odyssey.

What is your role and what do you do?

In an effort to build an exciting and sustainable “revenue stack” for myself in the web3 world, I am maintaining my roles as a video editor and content writer, and I still seek new roles. However, my primary role is with Mammalz as one of its co-founders.

At Mammalz, I’m responsible for developing and managing our community DAO as well as our live content experiences. I’m also a creative lead on our first NFT project, The Naturalists.

What do you look for in new hires?

Whether they’re community members or professionals taking on projects with our core team, we like to see that our collaborators are working with us because they share a similar mission. There are countless others in the web3 space who would say the same, especially in this early phase, because we’re all here out of passion.

Considering the web3 world is an ecosystem that evolves more rapidly than most people can keep up with, we also seek collaborators who are active and adaptable learners. We are constantly opening ourselves to feedback - rethinking how we can achieve our same goals in new ways - and we expect our other team members to do the same.

Any tips for aspiring web3 founders?

In this current phase of the web3 world, and especially as founders, we all need to feel comfortable floating in the ether between established structure and the pursuit of the unknown. To maintain strength in that mindset, I recommend practicing self-compassion, closely monitoring your ego, and socializing regularly in online communities with a willingness to learn. If you’re open to learning, forming valuable relationships with other founders, and loving yourself, you’ll have the support you need when you need it.