292: Building AxonDAO — From Wearables to Research Funding on-chain, with Jay

Jay from AxonDAO breaks down decentralized science in plain English: giving people ownership of health data, enabling ethical AI insights, and funding research via a governed community. We cover live use cases like A+Voice (voice biomarkers for early Alzheimer’s/dementia signals) and CureRING+CureOS (a data vault + wearable), plus how AxonDAO supports external researchers and projects (e.g., LymeDAO). Jay also shares a sharp playbook for storytelling, positioning, and growth in frontier tech—who to learn from, what to avoid, and how to keep product, narrative, and feedback loops tight.Key Timestamps[00:00:00] Intro — science x AI x Web3 [00:01:05] Jay’s path: SA banking → security → tech → crypto[00:02:40] What AxonDAO is (and isn’t): DeSci, data ownership, ethical AI, funding [00:03:35] Projects: A+Voice (voice biomarker analysis)[00:04:35] CureRING + CureOS: wearable + personal health data vault [00:05:45] How AxonDAO supports researchers (network, platform, milestone funding) [00:07:05] Why not start with hospitals/gov data? Design partners and product truth [00:08:20] The hard part of marketing DeSci; proving the model [00:09:35] Explaining DeSci to family: “the commons for science” [00:10:45] Selecting projects: societal value, acceleration potential, founder grit [00:12:05] Storytelling that converts: category, positioning, emotional resonance [00:13:20] Shout-outs: Myosin’s Simon Yi; Celestia’s Ekram Ahmed; BioProtocol [00:14:40] Three growth tips: talk to users; avoid shiny pivots; roadmap with feedback [00:16:50] Host’s advice: ask better questions; product > marketing > sales [00:18:10] Vision (2–3 yrs): self-sovereign health data; infra for global researchers [00:20:05] Challenges ahead: crowded wearables; agentic AI UX; controlled growth [00:21:05] The Ask: Series A opening; looking for ML/AI talent; links & contactConnecthttps://www.axondao.io/https://x.com/Axondaohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrod-frankel/https://x.com/jay_franks91DisclaimerNothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. Finally, it would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend.Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/