Agora: Making Decentralized Web3 Governance a Reality feat. Charlie Feng, co-founder and CEO

Colors of Web3 & Entrepreneurship

In the 62nd episode of Colors of Web3 & Entrepreneurship, Lam chats with Charlie Feng, co-founder of Agora.xyz, an end-to-end governance platform for leading Ethereum protocols like Optimism, Uniswap, and ENS. Charlie shares his journey from early coding projects and FinTech ventures to building a platform that helps internet-first businesses coordinate and make decisions.Charlie dives into the world of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), explaining how they function as organizations with governance mechanisms that are becoming increasingly programmatic. He discusses the lifecycle of a DAO governance proposal, from ideation and discussion to temperature checks, voting, and execution. Charlie also touches on the challenges and opportunities DAOs face, including the importance of progressive decentralization and the potential impact of AI on governance.⌛ Timestamps:00:00:00 Episode trailer00:00:28 Introduction and self-introduction of Charlie Feng00:01:43 Charlie’s background: From finance to Web300:02:39 Building AI chatbots before modern AI advancements00:03:36 Charlie’s first fintech startup and scaling to $100M revenue00:08:54 Charlie shares how he first learned about Web300:10:16 Charlie shares his hobbies and what he enjoys outside of work00:13:46 Building Agora for Web3 Governance00:15:31 Understanding DAOs and decentralized governance00:15:59 Why Web3 governance matters for decentralized ecosystems00:18:38 Charlie explains Agora’s on-chain voting system00:19:55 The role of smart contracts in automating decisions00:21:15 Lifecycle of a DAO proposal00:28:03 Role of Agora in DAO Governance00:30:26 Competition of Agora in the DAO Governance landspace00:33:05 How many people are working in Agora00:37:03 Charlie's Take on DAO Governance Participation00:40:57 Charlie explains the benefits of decentralization00:43:14 Challenges Charlie’s team faces in building Agora00:52:16 Charlie’s take on AI's Impact on Work and DAO Governance01:01:11 Upcoming innovations and roadmap for Agora01:02:09 Advice for Web3 founders looking to build governance solutions01:04:25 Where to follow Charlie and learn more about Agora01:05:26 Episode outro and closing remarksFollow Charlie and Agora: Charlie's Twitter: https://x.com/charliecfeng Charlie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliecf/ Agora platform: https://agora.xyz My social media: Twitter/X: ⁠https://www.twitter.com/LamWeb3⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/lamweb3/⁠Website: ⁠https://lamtrinh.xyz⁠My old article about the 2-3 prevailing narratives of 2024-2025: https://substack.com/home/post/p-143541984 If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to stay updated on our upcoming episodes with industry experts and innovators in the Web3 and Entrepreneurship spaces. Thank you for listening!