GRTiQ Podcast: 110 DappLooker

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Abhinav Singh (00:13):

So basically it’s like in the ocean of data you can directly look for the specific data which you want using subgraphs. So that gives us a wide freedom to develop many tools using subgraphs. And coming up like in future, if you will see substream and Firehose, it will be more faster also. So that will be very interesting to see how complete subgraph and the graph community grows in the future.

Nick (01:15):

Welcome to the GRTiQ Podcast. Today, I’m speaking with two members of the DappLooker team, Vikash and Abhi. You may have already heard about DappLooker. They continue to receive a lot of attention for their contributions both within the graph ecosystem and the broader web3 community. DappLooker started as an analytics solution that enables users to explore blockchain data and create charts and visualizations, all without needing to be technically oriented or know how to code. It’s likely that you’ve seen some of the charts and visualizations about the graph from the DappLooker Twitter account and in addition to launching an analytics solution, DappLooker recently took an additional step and launched their own Indexer on the graph.

(01:58):

During this interview, Vikash and Abhi talk about the origins of DappLooker, how it works and how to use it and then we talk about when they became interested in the graph and why they decided to join the community and launch an Indexer. And similar to other interviews we’ve had on the podcast, the DappLooker story begins with simply using the graph to get building in web3 and then developing the conviction to go deeper and join the community to become a contributor. To start the discussion, I asked Vikash and Abhi to introduce themselves.

Abhinav Singh (02:31):

Hi, this is Abhinav, co-founder of DappLooker and I normally lead the front end part and the build dev of DappLooker.

Vikash Choubey (02:36):

So hi, this is Vikash Choubey working with DappLooker at CTO and I mostly lead the technical and backend part. Thanks for having us.

Nick (02:48):

Abhinav, I just want to start with a question about the team at DappLooker. What can you share with listeners about the team working on DappLooker?

Abhinav Singh (02:56):

So basically, we are a 10-people team with different skillsets like data analyst, doctrine expert, build dev professionals. So me and Abhay, the co-founder, and Vikash combined have an experience of 25 years and we are a team, which are distributed around India and we are also a remote-first company which allows us to work anywhere from India.

Nick (03:17):

Well, Vikash and Abhinav I want to thank you for joining me and super excited to learn more about DappLooker and all the things that this team is working on. Before I ask you some of those questions, I think it’d be interesting to know about the web3 crypto scene in India. There’s a lot of activity over there. What can you share with listeners about the community in India?

Abhinav Singh (03:37):

So what we are seeing right now in web3 is like the shape of iceberg. There’s lots of things to do and there are lots of opportunity in different domain you can see like every day something new is launching, something new enhanced version is coming out every day. So it’s one of the growing tech. Blockchain and web3 is one of the growing tech right now. And for also like solving the centralized control issues we have in the current world you can say, so web3 right now allows users to connect and communicate with the need of centralized authority. Yeah, so that will in a combined you can say will help the Indian community to grow in the blockchain.

Nick (04:21):

Abhinav, I want to follow up on something you said there and I want to talk about the ways in which greater adoption of crypto would benefit the people in India. Do you have a sense for how that would help people in India?

Abhinav Singh (04:34):

There are some points, like we are the youngest workforce in the world right now. This means in the near future we are going to be involved and contribute at the highest level in web3 and we are going to be the biggest market for crypto, be it like DeFi, NFT, supply chain management or in any domain you can say. So yes web3 is going to help Indian community and for sure, it’s going to be very helpful because it’s a booming tech and young people from India want to join the web3 community and contribute as much as possible.

Nick (05:08):

Well, that’s a very great overview of DappLooker and again, every time I get the opportunity to interview somebody from India, I get a lot of excitement and energy about the future and what’s going to happen there. I want to turn now to this question about how the team at DappLooker came to know about the graph. Vikash, what can you tell us about that?

Vikash Choubey (05:28):

So basically we are web3 data driven analytics platform. So it’s kind of collecting the data correctly. We were already working on web3 development deploying contact. So we came to know about the subgraphs to get the data of that particular content. That’s how we introduced to the subgraph. Later we found about the graph and we dug deep more into what exactly the graph is, how exactly the subgraph works and later, we found out the use case, which we are currently using now and we build our complete data analytics and visualization platform on concept of subgraph, although we have extended to direct connecting our contract and subquery, but yeah, you can say 50% to 70% of our product is based on subgraph. So this is the background story. We started with web3 development, then to subgraph and to graph, then to now Indexer also.

Nick (06:27):

Well, I love hearing that it comes up on the podcast all the time. People first fall in love with the utility of subgraphs and then they fall down the rabbit hole, so to speak of, learning more about the graph and the ecosystem. If you don’t mind, Vikash can you just describe what it was about subgraphs that pulled you in? Why are they so useful for what you are trying to do?

Vikash Choubey (06:46):

Yeah, sure. So basically if you will see subgraphs is not just collecting the data. It’s like you can say a search engine for web3 community. So basically we are getting all the data and a subgraph is providing us the open API to query those data. So basically it’s like in the ocean of data, you can directly look for the specific data which you want using subgraph. So that gives us a wide freedom to develop many tools using subgraphs and coming up in future if you will see substream and Firehose, it will be more faster also. So that will be very interesting to see how complete subgraph and the graph community grows in the future.

Nick (07:27):

So then what pulls you into the graph ecosystem? It’s one thing to use subgraphs and find the utility in them, it’s something entirely different to get involved in the ecosystem and launch an Indexer for example. So what pulled you in?

Vikash Choubey (07:40):

So basically if you’ll see once, not just for the graph actually, the whole decentralized system once you start using something, you have to get involved in community to get more knowledge about those things like what’s happening behind the scene, so that you can develop more utilities over that. So basically that’s the reason when we started using subgraph when DappLooker was born, after that we realized we have to get into the community to understand it more, to give good service to our users. So that’s how we realized getting into the community is the best way to utilize the complete product and then building over that.

Nick (08:22):

So Vikash and Abhinav, we’re talking today because DappLooker has really made an impression on the graph community in two ways. The first way is with these incredible analytics that you’re providing within the community and a lot of people are accessing those and following those on Twitter and then in the other way, you’ve got this Indexer that’s also making a splash and people are interested in what you’re doing there. Abhinav, which one came first, DappLooker, the blockchain analytics or the Indexer?

Abhinav Singh (08:49):

So obviously DappLooker came first and after that DappLooker Indexer came into the picture. When we started DappLooker, we started with smart contracts like we were getting data from the smart contract, but once we knew about subgraph, we started developing subgraphs and then to understand more about it, we got into the community and then we got to know about indexes and then we thought of why not, let’s have DappLooker Indexer which will help us to be in the community more and also to know more about subgraphs.

Nick (09:18):

Abhinav, in preparation for the interview, I went online, looked up DappLooker and did some research on the team and you’re working on a lot of different things. Can you share with listeners the different projects or products that you’re working on as a team?

Abhinav Singh (09:32):

Right. So right now we are working to improve DappLooker as a product. So if I give you the context, today we launched the billing module. So we just automate the billing system completely. So anyone who being a developer or a data scientist or enterprise can get into DappLooker with this, that’s one thing. Then, we’re also working on some of the way by which we can make data easily available to the community being data scientist, developers or anyone, being non-tech people ’cause we are no code. So we have also launched the Discover page where user can see some of the popular graph, charts, dashboards on our platform. So by just giving them data, they can understand what’s going on into the web3. From that, we also worked with, as graph recently launched the billing on Polygon and then Arbitrum. So also our data centers created some dashboards about billing where like they can easily see the important metrics on graph billing.

(10:32):

So these are some of the things which we are building on and we are continuing to build on, which will make DappLooker product more good for the people and also for the community to make the data more accessible to the community.

Nick (11:49):

Abhinav, I want to make it really easy for listeners that want to understand the two different things that DappLooker is contributing, one, obviously the data analytics and two, the Indexer. So let’s spend time on each for a minute here. Let’s talk about DappLooker to start with. What is DappLooker and how does it work?

Abhinav Singh (12:08):

Yeah, DappLooker is a no-code, multi-chain blockchain analytics and visualizing platform where user doesn’t need to be a techie to do any kind of analytics. For example, someone like any biztech professional, not much techie, so if they wanted to see certain data on any specific protocol, they must have to know a skillset, but on our platform you don’t need to. You just know what data you want and with two techniques you can easily create on some chart and [inaudible 00:12:35] platform and you can also easily share with the community. So this will be very helpful for the people who are non-techie. Especially like say CEO, CFOs, marketing people, they find it very useful and if you are advanced, technical or you can write SQL queries, you can also do advanced analytics on the platform. So we also make the complete web3 data into simple-to-understand tableau format.

(12:54):

As you know, the smart contract with no data is very difficult to understand. So we make it easy. And after we connect it with subgraphs, you can do subgraph analytics on our platform. You can build some charts and dashboard using subgraphs as source and you can do analytics on the platform. Apart from that, we also support external API endpoint. Then, you can upload any JSON, KZ file and also connect with your query endpoint. So these are the source by which you can connect to dapp or networks on our platform and yeah, you can do analytics on our platform. So basically the main motto is like we want to make data accessible to everyone, be it technical, be it non- technical.

Nick (13:39):

When you launched DappLooker, especially for its use within the graph ecosystem, who did you envision using it? Did you think this would become a tool mostly for Delegators, maybe something more used by subgraph developers? Did you have any sense for who the end user would be?

Abhinav Singh (13:57):

DappLooker can be used by anyone, be it like subgraph developers. We are also a subgraph developer. We also deploy a lot of subgraph on the graph. So we are also subgraph developers, we know how it works, so it’s for everyone, for subgraph developer, Delegators, Indexers, Curators because everyone at some point they need to understand the data because for Indexer like if they want to allocate some subgraph, they need to understand the data and for that, they need data that can be easily understood. So it’s for everyone. We made it for everyone. It’s not like we’re specifically for subgraph developer or Indexers. So it’s for everyone.

Vikash Choubey (14:34):

And to add on, as we said, it is for everyone, not just subgraph developer or Delegator, Indexer. So basically anyone developing anything on blockchain, any blockchain, it is for those people. So anyone developing, deploying any contract, they can use our platform, directly connect their contract address to our platform and do analytics, get the analytics of their contract users. So it’s for everyone who is developing, or non-techie person who is not developing, just playing around the company performance you can say or anything. So the platform is open for everyone.

Nick (15:12):

Abhinav, if anyone wants to build or play around with the dashboard, they can just go to the website and what, just start building some of the analytics and play around and see what it’s like, is that correct?

Abhinav Singh (15:23):

Yeah, completely. So you just have to land on DappLooker.com. After that, you can go to Discover page and you can start analyzing the data or you want to build something, you can easily do that.

Nick (15:34):

Some fun charts that I’ve seen posted on the Twitter account are things like hours of the day in which Delegator are delegating to Indexer. So you can see in a 24-hour period when the delegations are flowing in or days of weeks, so you can get super creative using this dashboard and like I said, it’s a lot of fun to follow your team on Twitter and to see all the incredible analytics that are coming back.

(15:58):

Abhinav, is it correct that DappLooker started as a grantee? You applied for a grant with The Graph Foundation?

Abhinav Singh (16:06):

Yeah, that’s correct, but before we received the grant, we are also subgraph developer. We are working with the subgraph, understanding subgraph, how things work and as you know, subgraph is one of the biggest web3 data source right now. We are using subgraph on our platform to get the data and then we thought of how can we help with the grant and yeah, and then we applied for the grant and we received the grant.

Nick (16:32):

Abhinav, if you don’t mind, I’d love to hear about the experience you had in applying for a grant and also any advice you have for listeners that are contemplating applying for a grant for the project they’re working on.

Abhinav Singh (16:44):

The grant process was very super smooth. There’s a form, which we have to fill and so after that, within two to three weeks we get some feedback, we get one-to-one connect and it’s super easy, what I can say it’s super easy and transparent, that’s the best part. And the second question you asked, about this I can say before applying for any grant on Graph, just think about the community, how your grant can help the web3 community and with The Graph grant, how it will be enhanced to the next level. So if you have that clarity in your mind, then easily you can apply for grant and you will receive that grant because it’s super smooth, the process is very super smooth, it’s very transparent.

Nick (17:29):

What have you learned about the graph as a result of creating something like DappLooker? Abhinav, obviously these dashboards are really interesting and they shed a lot of light on the things that are happening in the graph, but by virtue of creating that tool, have you learned anything about how important the graph is for web3 and some of that?

Abhinav Singh (17:49):

Yes. So the graph is very important for the web3 community because as you know it’s still search engine for the web3 data. So what makes it more easy to get web3 data, just using the graph grid endpoint, which we call subgraph endpoint and the graph is building that subgraph more and more useful for the community and they are working with the graph client so that the community can easily access data using the subgraph endpoint. So there’s lots of utility we have found using the graph and as you know, we have one of the tested data sources subgraph, so we’re using that.

(18:27):

Apart from that, we have also built GraphLooker, which is real time web3 data visualizer. So that’s also based on subgraph endpoint. So we have lots of idea and I believe the committee also has lots of idea about the utility using the graph, what the graph provides. So I can talk a lot about this, I find it very useful.

Nick (18:49):

Before we turn our attention to DappLooker, the Indexer, Abhinav I want to ask you one last question and it’s about your long-term vision for DappLooker. What is the team’s long-term vision for DappLooker and how it fits into web3?

Abhinav Singh (19:02):

Yeah, as I told you before also, we are looking to main data accessible to everyone, be it technical people, non-technical people. That’s the main motto we have and we are moving towards that and the features we are adding, the new launches we are doing, it’s aligned with those vision we have and in future, we are onboarding more and more networks, more and more dapps so that the web3 community can have the data with them to do analytics, to understand data better. So that’s the vision we have.

Nick (20:02):

So Vikash, let’s turn our attention now to the Indexer and the best question to start with would probably be why did you decide, as a team, to launch an Indexer?

Vikash Choubey (20:11):

Yes, so as we discussed about subgraphs and this story of how DappLooker was started, so basically working on subgraph and with the graph actually we realized that it’s a good time to now do more for the community and as the data is growing, of course, we need more Indexer to index the data. So seeing all these things plus going into the community, we found it a great time to be an Indexer and index the subgraph and as we are subgraph developer, maintaining the Indexer will give us more knowledge about how things are happening. So that’s how we decided to launch our own Indexer.

Nick (20:55):

And what was that experience like? For any listener that’s contemplating launching their own Indexer, was it a difficult experience or did you find a lot of resources available to help you get started?

Vikash Choubey (21:06):

Basically, I will not say it’s difficult but anyone launching their Indexer, they should have some technical knowledge I will say. And about the resources, resources are particularly for Indexer, from The Graph we have great resource available online, documentations was good. We were using [inaudible 00:21:29] for that and we have graph of Kubernetes setups also. So if someone want to start, it’s very smooth I would say, just that they have to have the technical knowledge and the community is very good community, we can get help easily. So that’s the best part. It was a totally smooth process launching the Indexer and anyone who wants to start, for them also it will be smooth only.

Nick (22:00):

I want to ask a follow-up question about that Vikash, because one thing that always surprises me when I talk with members of the Indexer community is number one, Indexers are kind of competitors. They both want to secure delegations, they both want to serve queries. On the other hand, however, it seems to me, like you said, the Indexer community works together a lot. How would you describe that relationship between Indexers and the fact that they’re both competitors but also part of the same community helping one another?

Vikash Choubey (22:29):

Well, this is an interesting question and what you are saying is as if we are contradicting each point. So basically if you will see, it’s not about the competition, it’s about supporting the community. Of course, people can decide how they want to proceed. Not everyone is looking for delegation. People have a good amount of stake, already they have done, they can just rely on the query itself. So it’s about how you want to support the community of course. So best part of web3 is everyone wins here, it’s not like anyone losing. So basically if someone is launching their Indexer, whether it is a small or big Indexer, they are getting paid for the query fees, they’re getting paid for indexing the subgraphs. So basically that’s how they’re getting benefits. It’s about how much you can stake. Depending upon that, each one is getting their reward I will say.

(23:28):

So it’s like everyone is winning here. Someone wants to query that data, of course they can query and it will be distributed among the community. So that is actually fair thing, whatever, how much you are able to stake and according to that you are getting the reward. So I don’t feel there is any competition with each other. It’s like helping the community with whatever you have.

Nick (23:54):

Obviously, DappLooker is working on analytics and it’s producing this cool charts and dashboards and the question is, does the work that you’re doing there inform or support the work you’re doing as an Indexer? Are you able to benefit from that?

Vikash Choubey (24:11):

So it’s not directly helping us, but you can say that suppose someone has created their subgraphs and they’re using it on our platform to create dashboards. So sometimes what happens, they found some issue in their subgraph because of some problem. So because we are subgraph developer and indexing the data, we have good knowledge of subgraphs. It’s not directly helping, but yeah I can say technically it is helping much to resolve those issues faster. So that’s how these two parts are linked actually. It’s not direct relation, but yeah indirectly it is helping us both ways.

Nick (24:57):

Vikash, one question I like to ask Indexers when they join the podcast is how they go about choosing which subgraphs they want to index. How have you and the team approached that?

Vikash Choubey (25:07):

So basically currently we are the targeting high returns for our Delegators. So we actually look for subgraphs, which have good proportion currently. For that, actually we have created a dashboard on our platform itself and shared in the community also, which kind of we can enter the amount which we want to allocate to particular subgraph. So it will give the list of subgraphs with high proportion. So that’s how currently we are targeting, but going forward as the delegation will increase and our stake will increase, we will move forward towards serving the high signal subgraph to serve the most number of queries from our Indexer.

Nick (25:47):

Vikash, when you think about the role of Indexer in the future of the graph, how important are Indexers to the graph and what it can do for web3?

Vikash Choubey (25:57):

As you know, the graph is already doing a lot for web3. So Indexer is like as the subgraphs will increase, ultimately we will need someone to index those things. As the complete ecosystem will grow, we need more Indexers. So the Indexers are, you can say, a backbone for the subgraph. So you can understand it is important for graph to have more and more Indexers joining so that we can serve more and more queries going forward as the data will increase in web3 and complete the graph community. So Indexers are, you can say, a backbone for the graph to serve the queries. So the Indexers are most important thing the graph have to serve the queries actually for the subgraph.

Nick (26:52):

And Vikash, for any listeners who want to learn more about the Indexer and find out how they can get involved with the team, what’s the best way for them to do that?

Vikash Choubey (27:00):

The best way for DappLooker Indexer I would say directly anyone can connect with Discord server with DappLooker directly. As you know, how we startups work, we are available 24×7 almost. So from our side, the support is good and apart from Discord, actually we have a separate handle for our Indexer plus for DappLooker. So Twitter is also a good way to connect with us.

Nick (27:27):

Well, I’ll put notes to all of the links you mentioned there in the show notes. So for any listeners that want to learn more about DappLooker, the Indexer, any of the things we’ve discussed, just visit the show notes and there’ll be some links there. Before I end today with Vikash and Abhinav, I want to ask you both just a couple final questions.

(27:45):

The first one is about the future of web3 and Vikash I want to ask you, when you think about the future, what is your vision for web3? Is it the next internet? Does it replace web2 or does web2 and web3 sort of coexist into the future? How do you think about that?

Vikash Choubey (28:01):

Well, I feel like web2 and web3 will coexist. It’s like web2 have their own benefits and with web3 we are decentralizing everything and giving more transparency to the user. So that’s a very positive point for web3, which I feel, it’s my personal opinion, that that is the most important thing web3 is doing, making everything transparent. So I think web3, of course web3 is here to stay, but yeah with web2 coexisting. So basically we will see we are having DeFi, which is removing any centralized authority controlling anyone’s money. Plus with web3, we can have quite transparent supply chain management taking place. Currently, in DappLooker we are launching our complete uprising feature, which is decentralized and all the payment will go through contract. So that will be a transparent thing for the user who is paying. So that gives a power to user to analyze everything, whatever they are doing. That’s how web3 is going to stand. It has a bright future.

(29:16):

And as the community is growing, as we know, the [inaudible 00:29:20] was the huge success and there was a record for building most number of projects in a Hackathon. So as the community is also getting aware, people are joining web3. So it’s a bright future which we can see for web3.

Nick (29:39):

That’s a great answer and I want to ask you then Abhinav, if Vikash is right that the future of web3 is bright and there’s a lot of possibilities here. How important do you think something like the graph is for that vision of the future of web3?

Abhinav Singh (29:54):

Yeah, so I completely agree with Vikash what he said about web3 and it’s future and if you talk about graphs, so as I said before, graph is the search engine for web3 data and right now, it’s one of the tested source for web3 data we have. So with the graph, there’s lots of utility that will come in the future and it’s going to stay and it will be very helpful for the community to be the part of graph. And graph is also helping the community by making data accessible through its graphical endpoint or subgraph and they’re launching something like substream for the realtime data and Firehose, similar kind of thing. So yeah, the graph is making its effort and it’s going to be very useful for the [inaudible 00:30:43] community and for DappLooker.

Nick (30:44):

Well, now we’ve reached the part in the podcast where I’m going to ask you the GRTiQ 10. We talked before that Vikash for the group would be taking the 10 questions and I ask these questions every week to help listeners learn something new, try something different or to achieve more. So Vikash, are you ready for the GRTiQ 10?

Vikash Choubey (31:02):

Yeah, we can go ahead.

Nick (31:15):

What book or articles had the most impact on your life?

Vikash Choubey (31:18):

I have one book, which I remember was Power of Your Subconscious Mind. I exactly don’t remember the author, but yeah that was a very good book and I will recommend everyone to read. Actually, it tells about how positive thinking can help you grow.

Nick (31:34):

Is there a movie or a TV show that you think everybody should watch?

Vikash Choubey (31:38):

I don’t have any particular recommendation for TV or movie show.

Nick (31:43):

And how about this one? If you could only listen to one music album for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?

Vikash Choubey (31:48):

Well, I don’t have anything in particular, but there is one Bollywood movie song from movie actually, Yes Boss, it’s like in Hindi, Chaand Taare Tod Laon. It’s about dreaming big, in whatever situation you are, just dream big, work on your goals and achieve those things. So that’s a good song, which I would recommend. If everyone can understand, that’s a very nice song.

Nick (32:15):

And what’s the best advice someone’s ever given to you?

Vikash Choubey (32:18):

Best advice is kind of two advice I would say. Be honest with your work and respect everyone’s time.

Nick (32:27):

What’s one thing you’ve learned in your life that you don’t think other people have learned yet or don’t know quite yet?

Vikash Choubey (32:33):

Oh, I’m not sure if people don’t know about that, but what I have learned over the time is having a schedule, whether you wake up at 4:00 or 12:00, that doesn’t matter, just have a schedule and be punctual on whatever you are doing.

Nick (32:49):

What’s the best life hack you’ve discovered for yourself?

Vikash Choubey (32:52):

Life hack, so well, I’m not sure if that exactly fits this question, but yeah, I love to take breaks in between if I get stuck on some problem, so that helps me actually to get the broader view to solve the problem. So whenever in life or in any problem debugging, if I get stuck somewhere, I take a break for some time.

Nick (33:16):

Based on your own life experiences and observations, what’s the one habit or characteristic that you think best explains how people find success in life?

Vikash Choubey (33:27):

I would say it in one word, consistency. In whatever you are doing, just be consistent.

Nick (33:33):

And then Vikash, the final three questions are complete-the-sentence type questions. The first one is, the thing that most excites me about web3 is…

Vikash Choubey (33:39):

In web3, everyone has the win-win situation, whether it’s developer or user, everyone gets to what they want.

Nick (33:49):

And how about this one? If you’re on Twitter, then you should be following…

Vikash Choubey (33:52):

Of course, I will say GRTiQ because I personally listen to your podcast and those are very informative. Many great minds are coming on your podcast and other than that, of course The Graph and DappLooker.

Nick (34:06):

Thank you very much Vikash, I appreciate that. And the last question is, complete this sentence. I’m happiest when…

Vikash Choubey (34:13):

Well, there are many situations when I’m happiest, but I would say when I solve some problem on which I’m struggling to find the solution.