Anjali Young is an American lawyer, executive, and co-founder of Abridged Inc., the parent company of the Web3 community management tool Collab.Land. She is a prominent figure in the development of token-gated communities and has been an active participant and leader in online communities since 1993.

Education

Young earned a Bachelor's degree with a focus on Political Science and History from the University of California, Berkeley. She later obtained a Doctor of Law (JD) degree from the University of San Diego. ^{[1] [11]}

Career

Anjali Young's career spans over three decades and includes roles in law, academia, and technology. Before entering the Web3 space, she worked as a lawyer, served as an adjunct professor, and was an early employee at an internet startup where she taught users how to use search engines. Her extensive experience with digital communities began in 1993, where she was involved in creating, leading, and moderating various online groups.

In 2019, Young co-founded Abridged Inc. with her husband, James Young, and Raymond Fang. The company's initial mission was to develop no-code tooling to simplify the creation of decentralized applications (dApps) for developers. The genesis of their primary product, Collab.Land, occurred in the spring of 2020. The founders created a grant-giving Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) called Collab19 DAO in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and needed a tool to create a private, token-holder-only chat group. They built a demonstration dApp using their own Abridged tools, which became the first version of Collab.Land, initially for a single Telegram group.

The market showed significantly more interest in the token-gating tool itself than in the underlying no-code platform, prompting the team to pivot and focus exclusively on developing Collab.Land. Young was a key advocate for expanding the tool's focus beyond DAOs to include the burgeoning Non-Fungible Token (NFT) community. She identified NFTs as a critical mechanism for onboarding non-crypto-native users, particularly artists, into the Web3 ecosystem. In the spring of 2021, during the early NFT boom, Young personally conducted outreach via Twitter to new NFT projects, encouraging them to use the tool. This direct engagement strategy, which included onboarding early adopters like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, was instrumental in Collab.Land's viral growth.

As Chief Community Officer (CCO) of Abridged and DAO Officer for Collab.Land, Young oversees the onboarding of tokenized projects, partner relations, and the overall health and safety of the platform's user base. By March 2023, Collab.Land was being used by over 46,000 communities on Discord and thousands more on Telegram, having grown organically without paid marketing. In addition to her roles at Abridged, Young is a mentor for early-stage crypto startups at Tachyon, an accelerator backed by Consensys Mesh. She was also a founding member of the Salesforce Web3 Advisory Board, which was active until its disbandment in November 2023. ^{[2] [1] [6] [11] [3] [4] [5]}

Key Initiatives

COLLAB Token Launch

In February 2023, Collab.Land initiated a retroactive airdrop of its native governance token, COLLAB, to decentralize control of the ecosystem. The airdrop targeted approximately two million eligible wallets that had interacted with the platform prior to February 14, 2023. Young described the token not as "free money" but as a "responsibility" for community members to participate in the DAO's future. The claim process was designed for high security, requiring no wallet connection or message signing; users authenticated via their Discord or Telegram accounts, and Collab.Land sponsored all gas fees. A significant portion of the token supply (15%) was allocated to the top 100 communities on the platform, which were required to submit proposals for how they would use the funds to benefit their members. ^[2]

Collab.Land Marketplace

Young has been involved in the development of the Collab.Land Marketplace, a platform designed to function as an ecosystem of "Community Legos." The marketplace allows third-party developers to build and distribute mini-apps that community administrators can install with a single click. This initiative aims to transform Collab.Land from a single product into a distribution platform for a wide range of community tools, enabling greater customization and interoperability. Examples of mini-apps include integrations for Snapshot governance, POAP distribution, temporary "Guest Pass" access, and an AI-powered support bot named QuestGPT. ^[2]

"Let's Form Group" Documentary Series

To highlight the human and cultural aspects of Web3, Young and her team produced a seven-part documentary series titled "Let's Form Group." The series was created to counter mainstream narratives focused on financial speculation and to serve as a historical artifact of early crypto communities. Each 5-8 minute episode features a "day in the life" of various communities and creators, including PizzaDAO, artist ThankYouX, MNTGE, and SpankChain, among others. The goal of the series was to inspire new builders by showcasing diverse stories of collaboration and innovation in the space. ^[2]

Views and Philosophy

On Community Building

Young advocates for a hands-on approach to building token-gated communities. She advises prospective founders to first join and actively participate in several existing communities to understand successful dynamics. She emphasizes the importance of maintaining a public-facing entry point, such as a "General Chat" channel, to engage and onboard new members rather than making a community entirely exclusive. She also recommends hiring experienced, crypto-native moderators who understand security best practices to protect members. ^[4]

Young believes that community is the key to mass adoption of cryptocurrency, providing the "safety and identity" that newcomers need. She has stated, "that’s what’s going to bring on the next billion people is community." ^[2]

On Web3 and NFTs

Young views Web3 as a paradigm shift from a model where users are the product to one where they are participants and owners. She posits that Web3 communities have greater longevity than their Web2 predecessors because financial incentives through tokens and NFTs transform members into "vested participants." In her view, smart contracts have enabled this model of shared ownership for the first time in the history of online communities. ^[6]

She is a strong proponent of NFTs as a tool for establishing genuine digital ownership and verifiable provenance. She sees profile picture (PFP) projects as a form of self-expression that allows individuals to represent their "vibe" without revealing personal characteristics. She has also predicted the inevitable merger of NFTs and AI, stating, "Since both NFTs and AI are natively digital, they will merge... We will soon see NFT communities using AI for creative expression." ^{[5] [6]}

On Diversity and Inclusion

Young is a vocal advocate for greater diversity in the Web3 industry. She has noted the significant underrepresentation of women in leadership positions, on development teams, and at industry conferences. She has publicly called for the industry to "welcome more women, hire more women, and promote more women" to address this imbalance. She also points to Collab.Land's commitment to providing a free version of its service as a means of promoting inclusivity and accessibility. ^[6]

Public Appearances

Young is a frequent speaker at industry events. Her engagements include:

• WebX Conference (July 2023, Tokyo): She moderated a panel titled "After Elon: Why We Need DeSoc More Than Ever" and was a speaker on the panel "Why NFTs Really Are About the Frens You Made Along the Way." ^[3]
• Korea Blockchain Week (September 2025, Seoul): She is scheduled to speak at the KBW2025: IMPACT conference. ^[7]

Interviews

Creating Community with Collab.Land #01

On April 24, 2023, Anjali Young was featured on Show Me The Crypto in an episode titled Creating Community with Collab.Land. In the conversation, she spoke in her capacity as co-founder and Chief Community Officer of Abridged Inc., the company responsible for developing Collab.Land.

During the interview, Young explained that Collab.Land originated during the 2018 bear market as a social contract wallet and later shifted its focus to token gating. By 2023, the platform was being used by more than 41,000 communities and had recorded over 8.2 million wallet connections. She outlined how the project went through several iterations before establishing its current model, noting that NFTs became a central element in community engagement.

Young also compared tokenized online groups to immigrant enclaves, suggesting that both provide a sense of identity, belonging, and stability. She described token gating as a mechanism that supports community management by linking membership to token ownership, which can reduce disruptive participation. The discussion further included references to the introduction of the Collab token, presented as a coordination tool, as well as initiatives such as a developer marketplace and a docu-series designed to document community practices.

In the interview, Young conveyed her perspective that the expansion of blockchain adoption is closely connected to the role of community structures, alongside technological development. ^[12]

Interview with Somi Arian #02

On August 1, 2023, Anjali Young participated in an interview on Somi Arian’s YouTube channel in the episode “#129 - Anjali Young of Collab.Land - Token Gating and Digital Communities.” The conversation addressed the experience of developing Web3 projects during periods of market decline, the progression of online communities, and the role of token gating in digital ownership models.

Young described bear markets as periods that test the durability of projects and their founders, requiring adjustments in strategy and a focus on long-term objectives. She noted that building communities, maintaining reputation, and adapting to changing conditions are central to navigating these phases.

The interview also examined Web3 as a framework for global participation and coordination. Young observed that the industry presents specific challenges for women and emphasized that greater transparency regarding these difficulties can encourage broader inclusion.

In recounting the development of Collab.Land, Young explained its transition from a social recovery wallet initiative to a platform centered on token gating, which has since been adopted by a range of NFT and DAO communities. She presented token gating as a mechanism that establishes communities around verifiable ownership, contrasting it with the audience-based model of traditional social platforms. She further indicated that, despite reduced activity during market slowdowns, the overall trajectory of Web3 continues to resemble the early stages of the internet, marked by cycles of skepticism and eventual growth. ^[13]