Venture building in the web3 era
Exploring the impact of web3 to venture building.
Venture building as we know it is changing. The advent of new technologies and a novel way to organize projects will dramatically impact how we build companies, but also how we build a professional life.
The idea that your career needs to fit neatly into a company or organization becomes less relevant for those who value fluidity over the traditional milestones of success. In the web3 era, you can own your career and livelihood without being tied to an employer or office. You can create businesses that will benefit from these new technologies, participate in an exciting open finance ecosystem, and earn rewards while doing so. At its core, venture building is about bringing people together to work on projects they care about. This is what the web3 era offers us: the freedom to build careers on our own terms by working with others toward a common goal.
At Vesquad, we have been exploring the web3 ecosystem for some time now. We believe that the overall web3 approach could be an ideal fit for all the venture builders and venture supporters that are out there. The guiding principles of this internal research can be found at v3nture.xyz
What are the challenges to this?
There are a series of challenges that must be overcome to make this approach viable.
First, we’ll need to be able to build and deploy Web3 projects quickly. This might seem obvious, but it’s worth stating explicitly because it’s a big challenge: the faster you can go from idea to working code, the more likely you are to succeed (and the more fun it is!). The best teams in Silicon Valley have been fine-tuning their development processes for decades. We’re building tools that allow Web3 teams to move just as quickly.
Second, we’re going to need global teams. From a talent perspective, there simply aren’t enough people working on Web3 projects in any one location right now — no one place has a monopoly on blockchain experts or designer/developer talent that understands decentralized systems at scale. There are certainly hubs where those individuals exist in high concentration — Berlin, London, and San Francisco come to mind — but you still won’t find them all in one place yet. It’s going to take someone who is comfortable hiring remotely and managing remote teams for venture builders like us to thrive (hint: at Rarebit we’ve hired over 30 people *remotely* over the last two years). The early advantage here goes to investors with distributed networks of founders who can share resources across geographies by default rather than through formal cross-investments or acquisitions.
Third, being able to collaborate with other ventures will become critical as our companies grow and mature into specialized organizations focused on solving particular problems within Web3 infrastructures (think AWS). Right now this comes down largely to good communication between interoperable open source libraries rather than handoffs between different organizations; I expect this will change as each organization begins focusing on its core competency and collaborating less often day-to-day with other ventures they spun out of the same studio earlier on.
Finally, there simply isn’t enough talent available right now for anyone who wants it all under one roof -
What are the potential benefits of using blockchain technologies in venture building?
- Increased transparency and reduced costs. Web3 is all about the public nature of the blockchain. Because each block of data is cryptographically linked to the one that came before it, it’s impossible to cover up any misdeeds or backstabbing. This system can be utilized in a venture building team: any venture builder worth their salt would have nothing to hide from their future coworkers. Additionally, because most web3 projects are open source by default, there’s a lot less overhead in getting started with an idea, especially if you’re using pre-existing components like smart contracts or consensus algorithms in your project. Anyone can write a smart contract on the Ethereum network without having to pay licensing fees or deal with an intermediary company, just as anyone can use the code for Bitcoin’s proof-of-work algorithm without having to pay Satoshi Nakamoto (well, if he were still alive). Open-source software and public blockchains enable people to do more with less friction and cost than ever before!
- Increased trust and efficiency. With no middlemen involved in transactions made over a blockchain like Ethereum, traders all over the world can enjoy lower transaction fees and quicker settlements than many traditional financial institutions allow. Web2 solutions often involve third parties who get paid for acting as an intermediary between two people who want to transact online — think credit card companies or PayPal. While these services are important for ensuring good behavior on both sides of a transaction (and often provide fraud reduction services), they add another layer of friction and expense that doesn’t necessarily need to exist when you’re using blockchain technology. Blockchain-based transactions offer transparency into how money moves around the internet so everyone knows where it’s coming from — a potential game-changer when it comes to fighting fraud!
What can we do to realize the potential of blockchain technologies for venture building?
The potential of using blockchain technologies in the context of venture building is huge and many new applications have already been created.
However, the main challenge is to find ways to make it more accessible to non-technical people.
For example, one area where there is a lot of potential in terms of improving the experience for users is through creating better interfaces for different types of data.
Another very important area where there’s still a lot that needs to happen before we can realize this potential fully are tools for developers and designers (including startups) — such as frameworks that enable them to easily build applications using these technologies without having to learn all about blockchain programming themselves first (see section 3 on how MakerDAO’s ZeppelinOS aims at solving this problem).
The potential of using blockchain technologies in the context of venture building is very high, and many new applications have already been created.
The benefits of using blockchain technologies in venture building are numerous and varied. On one hand, it can be a great way to streamline the process and save time. On the other hand, it can be a great way to get new ideas and insights that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. The potential benefits and advantages of using blockchain technologies in venture building are numerous and varied.
While there are many potential advantages to using blockchain technologies in venture building, there are also some potential disadvantages to consider as well. One major disadvantage is that the technology isn’t yet ready for prime time yet, so there could be issues with performance or reliability if it were used on an enterprise-scale right now.
Another potential disadvantage is that while the technology might be ready today, the infrastructure needed to make use of it may not yet exist at this point in time (for example internet connectivity). If you’re looking into implementing any kind of technology within your organization then this needs consideration before making any decisions about implementing a particular solution because without proper rollout plans/policies things like security could become compromised as well as user experience being negatively impacted by slow speeds etc…
With operations in 4 countries and a presence on 3 continents, Vesquad offers an end-to-end venture platform for national and multi-level innovation organizations seeking to support venture builders globally in an agile, operational, and effective way.
At Vesquad, we believe that web3 could be an ideal ecosystem for all the venture builders and venture supporters that are out there. The guiding principles of this internal research can be found at v3nture.xyz
