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In this edition of Coffee with Calyptus, we sit down with Lisa Akselrod ◈, a key researcher and technical writer at Aztec, to discuss her journey in the fast-paced Web3 space. Lisa shares candid insights into the long-term promise of zero-knowledge cryptography, maintaining work-life balance amid the industry's relentless speed, and the importance of ethical decision-making in a decentralized world. Her approach to focus, resilience, and building authentic relationships in web3 provides invaluable advice, making this a must-read for those looking to stay ahead.
What excites you most about the potential of zero-knowledge cryptography, and what misconceptions do people have when comparing it to other blockchain solutions?
Zero-knowledge cryptography is a medium of communication for the world of the future. Where by the world of the future I mean the world where more and more things are natively-digital (i.e. exist in the form of code from the very beginning).
The main confusion about ZKPs (as well as about web3 I’d say) is to think that this is a “new internet”. Web2 was the transition from the analogue world to the digital world, this is a huge innovation (like inventing an engine). The scale of web3 innovation is way more modest (though it’s still very powerful). But from my point of view, it’s niche. We need to be very thorough in looking for use cases that will work out. Where web3 and ZKPs can make a great difference and not just a small improvement.
In a highly networked environment like Web3, how do you balance building meaningful relationships without overwhelming yourself or others?
I think networking (in canonical meaning of this word) is very overvalued (if you are not a BD of course lol). My approach is.. Choosing people whom I like, whom I want to spend time with, to talk, to hang out, just because it feels good. And that’s it. I better meet the same people again and again rather than meeting many new ones. It takes time to get to know a new human, to understand, to see, to get used to, idk. I am just following the heart, and it always works out amazingly!
How do you approach ethical decision-making in the decentralized Web3 ecosystem, and can you share any moments where you had to make tough choices?
I don’t believe in hard choices or situations where one has to do something because of the circumstances. We always know internally what are the proper things to do, from a moral perspective, ethical perspective, human perspective. We can trick the jury trial in the court saying “we had to take this way”, but we can’t trick ourselves. Whatever decisions we make – we can’t undo them, we can’t cancel them, we have to live with them till the end. But it’s not about web3-decisions, it’s about life-decisions. Web3 is just a part of our life. I believe that staying sincere and honest to ourselves is a good north star that leads to making proper decisions.
How have your experiences in web3 shaped your approach to work-life balance, and what advice do you have for others navigating similar challenges?
The problem of web3 is that there are too many exciting things. At the same time, this is a very long-term game. I think we are very lucky to be a part of this industry so early but it also means that it will take years till it will have become mature. For me, the intention is to stay in the industry for 15-20 years at least. That means.. Out of all exciting things in blockchain, I should pick something I believe most of all in, and just focus on that (missing out all exciting things as an opportunity cost).
For a long-term game, I believe that the approach is to stay focused, stay calm, and never spend 100% of yourself. Something like 85-90% is the max acceptable rate (imo). The industry is exciting but it’s rushing and brutal. Taking care of ourselves is our personal responsibility, and taking care of each other is also our personal responsibility. We shouldn’t expect that the industry will care. It won’t.
You mentioned in your tweets the ease of success in Web3 with hard work. What qualities or skills do you think are most essential for success in this space, and what advice would you give to someone just starting out?
Haha, I in fact meant the contrary: success in web3 is extremely hard. It looks that it’s easy. But it is so so so hard. The advice is, choose something you are ready to work on for 10 years and go for it. Build relations with people who feel reliable and be a reliable person for them. Don’t trust things considered to be well-known facts or general opinions, develop expertise to be able to question things in a reasonable way. A lot of people in this domain don’t understand what they are talking about, many companies misinform audiences intentionally for the sake of short-term marketing. Don’t be paranoid, but do your own research, think on your own, analyse on your own, make conclusions, initiate discussions, etc. It’s not essential to have an opinion about everything, but for things you are working on and you care about – have your own opinion.
And for success.. It depends so much on what you call success. For me success is getting joy from what I do every day and follow my heart in all decisions and ways I take.. But I guess most people will have other definitions.
