Human connectionMarch 1, 20251 hr 42 min

The MikeyG Podcast Experience

Krish and Rektech - From Hype to Execution: How Kirsch Gave Away Millions and Still Won

KrishCo-Founder of Rektech

Portrait of Krish

Web3 is full of hype, but few founders actually deliver. Kirsch, co-founder of Rec Tech, didn’t just survive the 2021-22 cycle-he gave away millions in rewards, built real products, and played the long game. In this episode, we dive into his journey, the hard lessons learned, and his new an improved version of Internet Game - Rektech - trying to gamify the social experience with the most important thing - fun.

Web3 is full of hype, but few founders actually deliver. Kirsch, co-founder of Rec Tech, didn’t just survive the 2021-22 cycle-he gave away millions in rewards, built real products, and played the long game. In this episode, we dive into his journey, the hard lessons learned, and his new an improved version of Internet Game - Rektech - trying to gamify the social experience with the most important thing - fun.

The story of Krish

A New Jersey Kid Drawn to Fun

Krish describes himself as a kid from New Jersey who cared more about fun and people than following a perfectly studious route. Travel and his Indian family background exposed him to different cultures early, giving him confidence in global settings and an ability to connect across social groups. Creative business interested him more than a conventional finance identity. He considered film and writing, then entered technology as mobile applications began turning small teams into major companies.

Early work at an app development studio became his practical education in product design and how software gets made. At twenty-four, he joined a hotel technology startup and began taking his own founder swings. The pattern was already visible: find an experience people enjoy, understand the technology well enough to deliver it, and use personality and relationships to create momentum around the product.

Delivering Through the Web3 Cycle

Internet Game launched during the 2021 and 2022 Web3 boom with large prizes, including valuable digital collectibles. From the outside, the offer could look like the hype that surrounded many projects of that era. Krish's team nevertheless delivered the games and rewards, ultimately distributing millions of dollars in prizes. The experience generated goodwill but also revealed a structural weakness. Internet Game behaved like a traveling event: players arrived, had fun, and then waited for the next edition.

It did not create a continuous ecosystem or the durable community identity that other Web3 brands built. Krish spent the following years absorbing those lessons rather than abandoning the category. The same choices that protected the project from some token-price pressure also limited retention. A sustainable successor would need repeatable play, multiple participant roles, and value that continued between headline moments.

Rebuilding the Game as an Ecosystem

Rektech is Krish's redesigned answer to Internet Game. Instead of isolated events, the project aims to become an interactive entertainment platform with short games, participation for different kinds of players, and an ecosystem that persists between rounds. The interview describes five-minute formats, word games, rewards, passes, and ways for people with different amounts of time or capital to participate while still centering fun. Krish also refuses to pay commentators simply to create the appearance of support.

He relies on relationships earned over four years of shipping and on people who genuinely value the product. The larger ambition is familiar but improved: make a global Web3 game that anyone can enter and enjoy, while fixing the retention, continuity, and community problems the first company exposed. Rektech is not a clean restart. It is the accumulated version of the earlier work.

Three ideas

What stays with you

  1. 01

    Krish entered technology through mobile app development before taking his own startup roles.

  2. 02

    Internet Game delivered millions in prizes but operated more like an event than a lasting ecosystem.

  3. 03

    Rektech turns those lessons into a persistent interactive entertainment platform built around short, accessible games.