Connecting Dots on Paper with Kasper Karimaa (Struggle)

Amidst the ever-shifting landscape of Web3 entrepreneurship, the pursuit of new ideas and the art of connecting the dots are paramount. We chatted with Kasper Karimaa - Founder of Struggle - for Javelin Zine 002 to chat how furniture inspires him, building things that are easy-to-understand and why we need to make educational content cool.

J: What do you do when you take a moment to sit around and do nothing? To recharge mentally and creatively. I go soak in the vibes at disco parties.

K: I usually just hit up local, well-curated art-related spots. Gallery spaces for art, music or furniture. Or just something totally interdisciplinary. We have a physical gallery space here at the Struggle office in Helsinki.

J: I hear you’re in Paris a lot. What makes you come back to Paris all the time?

K: I just overall think that I think the city is beautiful. So, I think it's a perfect intersection of arts, culture, overall music, technology and banking. All the conversations I have with Parisians are always really comprehensive from different angles. And people appreciate the diversity of different things. It's actually quite the same as in Helsinki.

J: What about that inspires you?

K: When I go somewhere, I hope to see something where people have found new, innovative ways to communicate ideas, lessons or value. In these exhibitions and galleries, I find myself with newfound thoughts and feelings about specific ideas through design. I try to connect the dots, drawing diagrams on paper. Then, later, I can apply these frameworks to get a better understanding of concepts in my own entrepreneurship or the company I’m building.

J: Do you have a system in which you collect all of your references in a visual way?

K: Physically, I always carry a big A4 notebook and this heavy pen with me. At the start of the book, I write things which are strategy-related. From the back of the book, I connect these ideas in a mind map. And digitally, I use Obsidian on MacBook, which is like this really nice digital note board.

J: If you were to build a new startup today, what would you do first?

K: It would, of course, be related to blockchain technology and the Web3 space. From my perspective, the consumer level application layer is the one which needs the most. When I discuss blockchain with my friends, it will be impossible for most people to actually understand shit when they haven't used apps. So, just build something that’s easy-to-understand.

J: I just read a tweet of yours actually that I would like to kind of introduce this new rubric with, that I'm doing in these interviews: Explain the tweet. You tweeted, on September 18, 2023:”In a parallel decentralized universe, they currently choose consumer apps over new infrastructure.” You want to explain?

K: I think we are well-placed to efficiently expand many solutions for creating decentralized social networks. We have solutions like Chainlink and LayerZero working on cross-chain interoperability, L1 chains like Ethereum with 100% runtime, and L2 scaling solutions already leveraging the most sophisticated cryptographic breakthroughs. So, I think most of the firepower should now focus on proving this technology for the rest of the world with good consumer apps – the space is now for the protocols and applications to take.

J: What music do you listen to whilst creating?

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/59UPotVyYhH0SfnSjukg7F?si=99d9b54ac4e046b3

J: How do you look at URL versus IRL in this space?

K: I think IRL, we need events and spaces and places where people gather and actually focus on educational content. We can make this more engaging by combining it with art. I have huge respect for the rekt news guys for their YouTube content. These guys are explaining onchain patterns through animated video with great audio and such. They're like educational art pieces. That's something which has inspired me a ton in the last two years.