MERRY CHRISTMAS, DEAR READERS đWISH YOU ALL A JOYFUL DAY AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Welcome back to Geeky. It is been a while since my latest article but I was looking for inspiration. Finally found it. Today Iâm covering how the Web 3.0 wave is determining a new way of building companies. Here my 2cents, enjoy the reading đ¤
By the way, if you are still unfamiliar with NFTs, you should learn about them right away. I already covered the topic a while ago (check the article out here to freshen up your memory). I finally got one and itâs from @WallStreetBets, go show some love â¤ď¸
Web 3.0: definition
Web 3.0 was originally called the âSemantic Webâ by World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, and was aimed at being a more autonomous, intelligent, and open internet. CoinMarketCap expanded the definition as follows: âdata will be interconnected in a decentralized way, which would be a huge leap forward to our current generation of the internet (Web 2.0), where data is mostly stored in centralized repositoriesâ.Â
Simpler? If you are active on Instagram or Facebook, Meta Inc. owns your followers, your content and everything you upload. In Web3 apps, you become the owner and will be able to move your assets from one platform to another, lowering the currently high switching cost.
As Web 3.0 networks operate through decentralized protocols â the founding blocks of blockchain and crypto â there will be a strong relationship between these three technologies. They will be interoperable, integrated, automated through smart contracts and used to power anything: from micro transactions to completely changing every company operates.
Building community-first companies
The biggest NFT/Web 3.0 projects like Bored Apes, CryptoPunks, Aku (created by former professional baseball player Micah Johnson) etc. have shown that the next evolution of companies will be created in public with early customers and supporters. Theyâll be community-owned.
Founders canât skip the community building part anymore. It is becoming essential.
As Alexis Ohanian (founder of Reddit) recently said in an interview, building products became easier with no-code options. The way to stand out is to create a Minimum Viable Community instead of a Minimum Viable Product.
And I fully agree with this concept.
The traditional logic of company building (idea, market research, talk to some customers, build and then sell) may not be enough. We are witnessing to an entirely different model of development, as everything starts with creators starting a Discord server. There might be an NFT as a item representing some principles. Then a community forms around those principles, and through engagement other products and ideas come out. There is a new relationship forming between the founders and the âusersâ, which is bi-directional and it is a natural driver of network effect.
Members of these web 3.0 communities are not only collaborating, they are also evangelizing. They are holding their NFTs as part of their digital identity. And by doing this, theyâre forming tribal network effects, and helping each other drive the value of that work.
The challenge will become keeping the community engaged and incentivize it.
Another example of community-first businesses are DAOs, the decentralized autonomous organizations. DAOs can come in all shapes and structures, but simply put, it is an internet community with a shared bank account that runs on the blockchain.
Wikipedia defines DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) as an organization represented by rules encoded as a transparent computer program, controlled by the organization members, and not influenced by a central government. As the rules are embedded into the code, no managers are needed, thus removing any bureaucracy or hierarchy hurdles.Â
One of the most famous DAOs is ConstitutionDAO, where 30+ people got together to try to buy a copy of the American Constitution. They offered others around the world the ability to donate to it using the Ethereum blockchain. In exchange, theyâd get the right to vote on what to do with this copy of the Constitution and what the organization should do in the future. And this attempt to raise money was extremely successful: ConstitutionDAO raised something like $47 million and verified enough funds with Sothebyâs to participate in the auction.
Zoom out: âCommunityâ is different than âaudienceâ
The term Community is used and abused. Creating a group chat with hundred thousand of people is not enough if they are not adding any value. Thatâs an audience and you donât need it.
Building with the community is the only way to stand out in the long run.
Start small. Engage. Incentivize. Scale.
The OpenDAO is proving the concept. Almost 200k holders in 48h, $1B in volume by airdropping $SOS tokens to anyone who made a purchase on OpenSea since day 1.
No existing product and over 40k users on their Discord channel, already making decisions on whatâs next.
Donât sleep on Web 3.0.
Alright, thanks for sticking through, hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I would appreciate it if you can share this post on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook! If not, send me any suggestions to antonio@vufund.vc. See ya đđđđ