OuterEdge LA 2023 - A Look into Web3
From Web3 gaming, to customer loyalty to tokenization, I take a closer look at real use-cases for the nascent technology...
While I’ve been closely following ongoing issues with our banking system, I decided to take a bit of a break from that to dive a little deeper into Web3. What exactly is Web3? I attended the OuterEdge 2023 conference in LA to learn a little more and have put together this write-up to share what I learned…
The Web3 OuterEdge 2023 conference was a great experience for me. I spent a lot of time attending panel sessions, asking questions and learning about the many specific use-cases that Web3 companies and communities are in process of building out. I have been exploring this space for a while and thought I had some idea of the real potential for Web3. But this past week really opened my eyes as there is quite a lot more going on than I realized. Now I think I know what some of you might be thinking. "Darren, you’re wasting your time. Stay away. This is just a space for grifters, scammers, rug pulls and you’re gonna lose a ton of money." And while I do agree that there is a good amount of that nonsense going on, there is also a group of brilliant developers, CEO/founders, marketers, VCs and community members who are very passionate about this space and are working diligently to bring their projects to fruition.
Before I continue, I would like to thank Joshua Kriger and the rest of the team for putting on an amazing event. I really got a lot out of it. While I learned quite a lot, the networking events also led to me re-establishing some great connections and making a lot of new ones. Thank you OuterEdge!
So what exactly is this Web3 space I’m so excited about? Well, let’s start with Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 for context. And just so you know, I’m in the camp of calling this space Web3 not Web 3.0 (the “Semantic” web as defined around 1999 by Tim Berners-Lee).
In the late 90s to early 2000s, we had Web 1.0 which was a read-only version of the internet. Most websites and users were all about looking up and reading/consuming information.
This was followed by Web 2.0, also known as the social web, which was a read/write version of the internet. Just about everyone I know is active on some social media platform (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc). In this era of the web, users are both reading and writing/creating. Many popular influencers are able to make significant sums of money monetizing their user-generated content. But where does most of this content live? A majority of this content exists on the servers of BigTech. And many of us don’t make any money at all while BigTech re-sells our data for $Billions (Google alone brought in over $280B in 2022 -- which is primarily revenue for the digital ads delivered to all of us based on our data that they have collected). Our data and content are extremely valuable to them but outside of a limited number of active/popular creators, a majority do not receive any share of the (hundreds of) $Billions of revenue realized each year.
For Web3, many have have used the term read/write/own to succinctly summarize Web3 with a big emphasis on ownership. In the current digital environment/ecosystem, do you really own anything? When I was younger, I purchased CDs, video games and movies at places like BestBuy. I could lend them out to friends, trade them or sell them if I didn’t want or need them anymore.
I love Apple products and use them every single day. I “have” countless songs, games and movies that I bought from the App store. But despite all the money I have spent to buy these digital items, do I really have any REAL ownership? I can’t lend them out to my friends. And I can’t trade them or sell them if I get bored or don’t want them. Products and services delivered through Web3 brings true OWNERSHIP. I already have purchased a small handful of gaming related NFTs and have lent them out to other users, traded and resold a few of them. I can’t do any of that with the other digital assets I bought from Apple, Amazon, etc.
So, what are some of the real use-cases that most excite me in Web3? Here are a few of the categories I saw at OuterEdge and will be following closely:
1. Web3 Gaming. Let’s be honest - many of the Web3 gaming projects over the past couple years have been disappointing. Gameplay and graphics have not been that good for almost all of the projects I’ve seen. But at OuterEdge, I saw demos from games like Gensokishi and AREALM. Both of these look like solid gaming projects that have major potential. I used to be an avid player of World of Warcraft. But with all the time I sank into that game (just like my Apple example above), I don’t really have ownership of those assets. I put in hours and hours to level up my character and to acquire rare equipment (weapons, armor, etc.). But just think if a major AAA title could utilize Web3 to bring real ownership to our digital gaming items.
2. Web3 Customer Loyalty programs — think miles, points, digital collectibles, etc. Points, miles and other loyalty rewards could become more easily tradable on-chain. Major brands like Starbucks have already started exploring this space (I recently got into the Web3 program called Starbucks Odyssey, so we’ll see where they take this).
3. Web3 Tokenization. Live event tickets, memberships clubs, and fine wine are all examples of real products being tokenized with Web3 technologies. My access to one of the side events at OuterEdge was minted as an NFT on Ethereum. There are projects to tokenize real estate, rare art, etc. and this could allow for access to smaller investors who just don’t have the capital to invest large sums of money into these types of assets.
4. Web3 Art, Entertainment and Consumer Brands. There was a really interesting panel from leaders at Paramount, CBS and WarnerBros and they spoke to us about how they’re using Web3 to better understand and engage with their audiences. Outside of this conference, I’ve listened to execs from Pepsi, Starbucks, Nike and Adidas about their plans to actively build out their Web3 strategies over the coming months and years.
There was so much content and so much to learn that it was difficult to decide what to attend. But just as important were the people that I was able to meet and connect with. I spoke directly with people involved with tokenomics at Animoca. I reconnected with Tushar C. who I worked with at ServiceTitan and found out he is now at a Web3 company called Orange Comet. I spoke with a couple of VC partners who are actively investing in Web3 projects even in the current environment. And I spoke with Antony T. who is the Co-founder/CEO at Foundry Six about AREALM, the upcoming Web3 game I mentioned above. And these were just a small fraction of the many contacts I made at this event. I so appreciate them for their patience, time and for answering my questions and helping me to understand why they’re so excited about applying Web3 to their areas of expertise.
If you’re a Web3 native, I’d love to speak with you further about this space. But even if you’re a skeptic or Web3-curious, I’d challenge you to dive in a little to better understand what is happening with Web3 before you make a final judgement. I think I may have a place here somewhere but now I need to do some more homework and networking to try to narrow down where that place is. For now, I’m off to continue the journey…thanks for reading!
#Web3 #OuterEdge2023 #CustomerLoyalty #Engagement #Community #Networking
This was a well written article! Your enthusiasm for web 3 really comes through...looking forward to your next post!!!