Building in Public

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Connor speaks with Hal Smith Stevens, CEO of Rilla Network, about their mission to revolutionize live streaming with peer-to-peer technology. Hal shares insights from Rilla's recent $3.5 million seed round and his experiences as a third-time founder, highlighting the importance of building strong networks and finding the right investors. They discuss Rilla's decentralized content delivery network, which leverages unused upstream bandwidth from viewers to reduce costs for broadcasters and transform passive audiences into active contributors. Hal explains how this approach enhances engagement and reduces expenses, offering examples like cost savings for sports broadcasters. The conversation also touches on Rilla’s plans for a token to distribute value within their ecosystem, showcasing the potential of blockchain and peer-to-peer technology to shape the future of live streaming.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
00:35 - Seed Round Experience
01:58 - Advice for First-Time Founders
05:41 - The Importance of Networking
07:24 - Understanding Real Networks
07:36 - Decentralized CDN Concept
08:00 - Core Technology Overview
09:05 - Live Streaming Use Case
12:55 - Transforming Passive Audiences
14:03 - Explaining the Peer-to-Peer Model
19:41 - Concrete Example of Live Streaming
20:59 - Value Attribution and Redistribution
26:25 - Supply Side and Hardware Requirements
29:43 - Blockchain Choice Discussion
30:58 - Future Use Cases Beyond Sports
32:01 - Building a Protocol vs. Application
33:38 - Token Design and Future Plans

Disclaimer: The hosts and the firms they represent may hold stakes in the companies mentioned in this podcast. None of this is financial advice.