Our series of interviews with the stellar ETHSofia speakers has so far offered valuable perspectives on the crypto journeys of Vanina Ivanova, Ingo Rübe, and Krum Pashov. Today’s fourth edition will introduce Stilyan Mitrev, a dynamic product manager at Consensys, where he oversees the development and innovation of the VillageDAO initiative. With a background that transitioned from traditional corporate environments to the cutting-edge world of Web3, Mitrev has been instrumental in leveraging decentralized technologies to enhance community engagement and support.

Can you explain the unique value proposition of VillageDAO and how it differs from traditional customer support models?

VillageDAO is a community success protocol that enables communities to support themselves. VillageDAO allows web3 brands to empower knowledgeable community members (we call them Experts) to provide support on their behalf in a structured manner.

Compared to traditional customer support models, VillageDAO puts the emphasis on the community aspect, which has proven to be vital in web3. Because of that, we foster a more personal approach where you can get help from an expert who is genuinely invested in the products they support.

On top of that VillageDAO's rewards system acts as a payment layer, breaking down traditional work barriers and bringing us a step closer to a more modern way of working.

What are some of the key technological challenges you face at VillageDAO, and how do you address them to ensure seamless operation and user experience?

One of the challenges we face is designing an experience that caters to the emotional state of the user when support is needed. Support in web3 is often an emotional journey, sometimes filled with frustration so we do a lot of research to ensure the experience provides a seamless path to getting the right level of support. Another challenge is developing an effective scoring system for our Experts. We need to find the right mix of elements that accurately reflect their expertise and contributions, ensuring fair and reliable evaluations. We have changed this so far once however as we are growing our group of experts, we are evaluating our system on a quarterly basis to make sure we have the right mix.

In your opinion, what are the most promising trends in decentralization and blockchain technology that could reshape industries beyond finance?

Personally I’m excited about how blockchain can enhance the fitness and wellness industry. There are different projects popping up across the world trying to figure out various aspects such as managing health data from wearables onchain to incentivising more people to become or stay active. Another area I’m excited about is identity. I believe most of the key ingredients are available and it’s a matter of time coming up with the right recipe.

Can you share any personal experiences or stories that significantly influenced your approach to product management and innovation within the Web3 space?

I think product management in web3 is much more personal due to the nature of the technology and the communities involved. There is an opportunity to be closer to the people and communities you are building for which can be both amazing and daunting at the same time. Personally, staying close to the communities through relevant Discord channels or on X has been great. It allowed me to engage in real-time, understand needs, and gather valuable feedback by being part of the conversation, sharing ideas, and even debating on certain topics.

Can you share any upcoming features or developments that users can look forward to on VillageDAO?

We're focused on meeting users right where they might stumble or need support, which often happens within the dapp itself. To make things even more seamless, we're exploring ways to integrate the VillageDAO concept with Discord, so it's easier for everyone to use it.

On top of that, we're constantly looking ahead at how we can innovate web3 support. Given that Consensys is quite close to the challenges people face in this space, we're exploring the convergence of LLMs with on-chain data. This could open up entirely new possibilities for how support is delivered in web3.

What excites you about participating in ETHSofia, and what do you hope to get from the conference?

I’m most excited about meeting like-minded people from Bulgaria. I don’t think I have explored enough the local web3 scene and I’m quite eager to meet all the builders here as I’m sure there is a lot of great talent and projects!

Conferences are a great place to get a deeper understanding of the challenges people are facing in the ecosystem and I hope to get a sense of that during ETHSofia. I’m also hoping to expand my network of local web3 people :)