When many post-80s and post-90s are still confused, for fear that they will not be able to catch up with this so-called Web3 "revolutionary express", some post-00s have already "flyed". A post-00s friend said, "The revolution in your eyes is my daily life."
However, this new track has more than just "fanaticism". Some younger pioneers have begun to calm down and even reflect.
We had a detailed chat with four post-2000 entrepreneurs who "play" Web3. Their stories and experiences may reflect the other side of the industry.
01 entry, in adolescence
Fujian native Meepo was born in 2000, "financially free".
His definition of "financial freedom" is that the assets are enough to buy two houses and two cars in first-tier cities. This is his record as a Web3 "veteran" with ten years of experience.
Meepo came into contact with Bitcoin when he was in the sixth grade of elementary school. It was 2012. His parents who graduated with a doctorate in finance were trying to mine Bitcoin out of interest. In order to prevent Meepo from continuing to indulge in the game, he was encouraged to "study" bitcoin mining, and rewarded 100 yuan for every coin he dug (a bitcoin was worth $12 at the time).
At that time, from a practical point of view, Bitcoin, which was only two years old, had no social value. However, 2012 was a turning point for Bitcoin, recalls a Web3 investor who has been mining.
This matter is related to Nokia's "stepping down from the altar".
In the past, Nokia was the "top class" in the mobile phone industry for a period of time. It is very popular in China, but the price abroad is much cheaper than that in China. In order to prevent mobile phones sold overseas from flowing into China, Nokia has set up a "software lock", but someone cracked the software lock and can change the mobile phone system to a system suitable for Chinese operators. Soon, cracking methods flowed into China's Huaqiangbei. Since then, using computers to crack Nokia mobile phones "smuggled" into China from abroad has become a characteristic business of Huaqiangbei.
But it is still a bit slow to crack with a computer only. Therefore, someone invented a graphics card acceleration program that allows the graphics card to participate in cracking Nokia's software lock. This "grey" industry exploded quickly, and the profit of unlocking a mobile phone was between 200-300 yuan. A large number of merchants participated in it, forming the earliest batch of graphics card "miners".
However, since 2012, with the decline of Nokia and the involution of "miners", the unlocking fee for a mobile phone has dropped to 10 yuan, or even 5 yuan. There is no profit to be made, and a large number of "miners" are facing unemployment.
At this moment, the "savior" came - the bitcoin graphics card mining program was born. The investor recalled that there were no exchanges at that time, and Bitcoin was usually traded in forums and QQ groups. "When I entered the pit, I could dig more than a dozen bitcoins a day. At that time, it was almost 50 yuan a coin."
“The people in Huaqiangbei don’t know what Bitcoin is at all, they only want to see if mining can make money.” These people who rely on “flashing” Nokia for a living quickly turned to mining Bitcoin with graphics cards. Therefore, “At that time, a group of very professional Bitcoin mining computing power suddenly appeared in China, which can be regarded as the origin of the first batch of “miners”. "
The entry of these professional "miners" from far away in Guangdong indirectly brought Meepo's mining career to an early end. The computing power of ordinary laptops can't compete with professional graphics card mining machines. Meepo found that the coins he could dig out were getting less and less. After a year, he gave up and gave the small amount of bitcoins he dug to his parents.
"I didn't make much money at that time", but his interest in blockchain started from then on.
Like Meepo, Zohar, who was born in 2003, was also exposed to Bitcoin early. Zohar is interested in finance and economics. When he was in the first year of high school, he heard about Bitcoin from the school-related clubs, and then he taught himself the basic price of game theory in Zhejiang University online.
In addition, the family members are all in business, and they are also playing Bitcoin. "I used about 3,000 yuan to buy Bitcoin and play casually, but I basically lost money later."
Zohar now has multiple labels: the champion of the college entrance examination in a certain city in Guangdong Province, a first-year student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (who has suspended his studies to start a Web3 business), a co-founder of an art DAO, a Web3 investor, and so on.
His daily investment in NFT returns is around dozens of times. When he said that young people should not be dazzled by short-term wealth gains , as a senior "office worker", I felt a little complicated.
Emma was younger when she started her blockchain business. Born in 2006, she is only 16 years old and is studying in a high school in San Jose, California. Emma heard about Bitcoin from her parents when she was 11 years old, but had little interest.
This is the center of Silicon Valley. Last year, the Internet project created by her was shortlisted in the top 10% of the YC training camp (the famous American startup incubator that has incubated many unicorns). This year, she upgraded the Web2 project to a Web3 project, planning to attack YC again, hoping to get investment. The reason for the upgrade is simple. The project vision needs to be realized by relying on blockchain technology.
Whether Meepo, Zohar, or Emma, entering the so-called Web3 is not deliberate.
It's like, a programmer who works on a cryptocurrency exchange suddenly finds that his field of work has another name today—Web3 , and he seems to be more valuable. But even if you participate in it, you may not be able to tell clearly what Web3 is all about. I asked him why he thought Web3 was the future.
After thinking for a long time, he came up with an answer: " Isn't the future what young people like? "
02 "There is no authority here"
Whether starting a business in Web3 or in Web2, for Emma, it is just a way of learning. “The way I learn is through my entrepreneurial projects, and whenever I have a question, I just look it up or ask someone else.”
Emma said that unlike other Asian kids living in the United States who focused on test scores, she spent most of her time doing things she was passionate about. "When I find something I'm passionate about, I go after it, following what makes me happy."
Emma's father, Kavin Zhang, graduated from Tsinghua University. He told me that "most parents set their educational goals as superficial, easy to show off, and very consistent goals, such as going to an Ivy League school." But he never Require Emma to also go to a prestigious school.
Even though he is well aware of the lifelong benefits brought by the aura of a prestigious school, he values children's independent will and self-discipline more. He always asks Emma, what do you want to do?
At the age of 9, Emma started writing, and has published 4 novels on realistic subjects so far, and is writing her 8th book. In order to share this passion and love with others, in 2020, she founded a non-profit online organization to teach others to write. In this organization, she hosts writing competitions and invites other speakers to share her writing experiences.
Emma found that it was difficult for an author to make money just by writing books, and many authors did not know how to market their books.
In order to solve the income problem of writers and the problem of marketing and promotion of works, she founded a Web2 digital publishing platform called Quillmates, and re-built the project on the blockchain this year, changing its name to Cypher. Relying on tens of thousands of dollars of "angel investment" raised from relatives and friends, she hired people to write code, while she was responsible for product prototypes, business model design, operations, etc. outside of code.
On Cypher, users can publish articles, and at the same time provide readers with a "paid reading + investment" model, allowing readers to invest in authors. In this way, authors can publish their own tokens. When an author appreciates, the tokens held by readers will appreciate in value, which also gives readers the motivation to support the author and market the author.
"This will be a free market, and anything that is popular with readers will automatically have more room for investment." Emma said this when introducing Cypher to me. "What I want can only be realized on Web3."
In a Web2 world, she observes, “social media giants like Meta and Google and YouTube and Instagram and Twitter, the platforms can control whatever they want and censor whatever they want.”
Whereas in Web3, there is no central authority and everyone is a co-owner of the blockchain. "The only way to make content truly free is to build it on Web3," she said.
Many people regard Web3 as the entrance to the new world, hoping to rewrite the "outdated" underlying business rules once written by the old giants. This is also closer to the reason why young people "outside the door" are trying to enter Web3.
For example, Dinghui fell in love with DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) at first sight. This kind of business organization different from traditional companies is what excites him most about Web3. He has been an operating partner of an NFT project for a while this year. When he decided to join the "circle" of Web3 a year ago, he had no practical experience in any chain enterprise. Dinghui is from Shaanxi, born in 2003, and only went to high school, eight of which were homeschooled.
When he was in the fifth grade, his father, who was a university teacher, dropped out of school for him. The reason was that he had seen the child stay in school for several years, "staying up late every day to do homework", and "lost a lot of aura in his body". Since then, I have never experienced education within the system.
In the beginning, his family members would help him find some prices and project internships. In his words, it was "finding your own value in working with outstanding seniors and seniors in society." For example, ordinary people should be in the first year of high school. Dinghui joined a college student association, became a volunteer for the association, and began to do odd jobs for the official account of the association. Since then, she has entered the new media industry. Since then, he has been intern or working in various projects for nearly three years now.
Long before the concept of DAO appeared, Dinghui felt that he was already "practicing" DAO. During his sophomore year in high school, Dinghui created an online community that gathered hundreds of teenagers who studied at home, suspended school, and dropped out of school, "upholding the philosophy that everyone is equal and autonomous."
Later, Dinghui worked as an apprentice for an educational innovation teacher named An Zhu, and learned how to do community operations, writing, and project management. " I think the autonomous atmosphere of his team, although there is no smart contract, is also similar to DAO. In various cities, members can form branches there. They explore more in education innovation, social innovation, and organizational change. "
Entering the pit of Web3 is in 2021. During her internship in Beijing, Ding Hui found that more and more people were talking about blockchain and Web3 online. "So when I met DAO, I was very pleasantly surprised, so I fell into the pit." When he first came into contact with Web3, Dinghui spent every day in DAO. In various WeChat groups, he couldn't understand the chat content at first, but felt that he was "always learning". Because of his active speech in the community, he was recognized and invited to participate in a DAO and became the operation of the DAO, "They paid me a salary."
To some extent, among young people in the Web3 field, rebellious elements appear very frequently. Zohar, the top student in the college entrance examination, likes to call himself a "bad student" and "likes to do something different" - in the first year of high school, Zohar used various online course resources to formulate an independent study plan for himself.
"Why do teachers and schools expect everyone to study or research according to a relatively standard rhythm and requirements? I understand that after all, managing so many people requires a more unified and suitable way for most people to improve efficiency." Zohar said, "But I don't think I'm in the majority."
Before that, his grades were in the middle, and he hardly listened to lectures. Through self-study on the Internet, he acquired a lot of knowledge and experience related to the college entrance examination.
Just half a year later, he made an unusual choice again. After completing the price of the first half of his freshman year, Zohar took a leave of absence from the Chinese University of Hong Kong to devote himself to Web3 entrepreneurship: he launched an art-related DAO and participated in the planning of the first high-level cryptocurrency art exhibition in Europe; an investor.
Zohar believes that under the current environment, it is difficult for ordinary people to realize their own value, obtain considerable benefits, and even cross classes, but "Web3 provides greater imagination and hope. In this wave, every Individual influence can be magnified.”——This is mainly reflected in the fast enough transfer of wealth. No matter on the Internet or at an exchange meeting, legends about the wealth and freedom of the blockchain are circulating everywhere, making them believe that everyone may obtain excess wealth in the process of participating in Web3.
Young people are eager to subvert authority and even become so-called "authorities" . But what are the odds of being that lucky guy?
03 "Cut" and "Cut"
When Zohar talks to the project party on the phone or communicates online, if he doesn't say it, no one will know that he is only 18 years old. "This is the anonymity of Web3".
He was right.
Our interviews were all conducted over the phone, and I didn't know what the other person looked like or what he looked like. In fact, it is not convenient for me to do an interview and ask the other party to send me his ID card, household registration book, academic certificate, and industrial and commercial registration certificate to verify whether what he said is true.
I tried to cross-validate authenticity with people around them. But there is no guarantee. For example, I have no way to fully verify - they claim to talk about nearly 20 entrepreneurial projects a week at most; some people have done more than 20 internships related to securities, major companies, and exchanges during college; or, the real rate of return on investing in encryption. If the other party wants to fool me, it must be easier.
This is the norm in the Web3 startup world. A friend who works at Binance (currently the largest cryptocurrency exchange) once reminded me, "Don't completely believe what people in the currency circle say, first remove a zero from the wealth they said, and then make a 50% discount."
"There are wealth myths in this circle, but they are rare," Meepo said.
After coming into contact with the Ethereum network in 2014, Meepo participated in it and met many project parties. "Many people in the early days later became big shots in the circle." Later, he took the lead in forming a community, which gradually grew. By forwarding the project to the group for some project parties to promote, Meepo obtained some "insider information", such as a large amount of money will come in at a certain point, and he will do arbitrage, "It started almost in 18 years, slowly wealth and freedom.”
"A lot of people in the community have made money because of it. Everyone gradually trusts me and becomes my fan."
When Meepo admitted that to some extent he also achieved financial freedom by "cutting leeks", I was surprised by his frankness.
"How does the currency circle make money? It makes money from the opacity of news." He saw some VCs in China who achieved overnight wealth through all-in in the early days, and then quickly quit Web3 to invest in other fields. "What many Web 3 project parties say is based on faith and consensus to do something, these are all false. When each of them makes enough money, no one will talk about consensus."
We were silent on the phone for a while. Meepo went on to say, "Although I don't like this method, I think personal interests are above everything else." "If I want to save all sentient beings, I first need to realize some of my pursuits and goals."
Will there be guilt?
"Because I can't see who is losing money. The blockchain has such an advantage, that is, you don't know who is cutting the leeks now, so you don't feel guilty." This happens in the project.
Ding Hui once served as the operation director of a religious and cultural NFT project. After getting in touch with it for a while, he speculated that the investor is a "currency circle person" and may just want to make a profit.
"The greatest value of an avatar-type NFT should be the user's network and the wealth creation effect in the bull market. But for Tugou NFT, using some narrative and marketing methods to "empower" the project seems to be a windfall. The rise of raw water is actually just false prosperity, without real value creation. "
Ding Hui initially chose to join this project. "On the one hand, there are indeed a lot of thoughts about religion that I wish to express. More importantly, I have the opportunity to operate as a project leader, face greater challenges and gain first-hand experience."
"Based on my background, high-quality project parties will not give me this opportunity, but if I have the experience of doing it once, it will be completely different when I apply for a job." In his opinion: entering the game is always the best way to learn.
"I have quit now." Dinghui made it clear that he had obtained the experience he wanted, "I just don't want to cooperate with such an immature project party anymore. This project may not have much value, but when I was promoting I didn’t deliberately deceive or incite everyone’s desire to buy, so I have a clear conscience.”
“NFT is still essentially a field that relies on volume contribution.” Zohar said. He observed that the quality of a project and its ability to make money are two different things. Some projects are "rare" and "creative", but the team's failure to manage user expectations has resulted in the project not being recognized by the market, and the price of NFT has not been able to rise. "We call this market value management ability. In layman's terms, it's a bit like the ability to tell a story." To describe it more directly: Can you make users feel that after buying your NFT, it will appreciate in value.
A senior NFT buyer said bluntly to us, "Most NFT projects are cutting leeks." For example, in the early stages of developing an NFT project, a team will draw a picture of the future (how the NFT will appreciate). And once the project is released, after the user pays the bill, they will no longer "empower" the project (such as engaging in some community activities and inviting some bigwigs to the community to share), and the user is equivalent to buying only one picture. The project party is basically an "empty glove white wolf".
However, Meepo thinks it has a way to change that. He planned an NFT that focuses on the concept of IP secondary creation, and he is confident that it will be welcomed by the market.
"The current NFT market is a hype market. The NFTs in many people's hands cannot be sold because the holders are passive." He decided to make an NFT whose price can be determined by the players themselves - he is the owner of his NFT project I wrote a 100,000-word fantasy open-ended novel. After buying an NFT, the user will get a specific chapter in the novel and can create this passage.
"In this way, it can be realized that the value of NFT is not determined by the market, not by the project party, but by the holder itself." He called this model create to earn, and holders can increase the value of NFT through secondary creation, " If you want to sell your NFT at a good price, then you have to constantly revise it in the form of secondary creation to achieve the buyer’s satisfaction and sell it at a higher price.”
"I'm not worried that I won't be able to sell, I have my own way out." He revealed that he "has three communities with a combined number of nearly 10,000 people" and "the owner of the group is me." This is his "accumulated contacts" over the past few years. He believes that as long as he announces his project in these communities, "someone will definitely buy it." He calls it "circular marketing."
But because the cryptocurrency market is in a bear market, Meepo put the project launch on hold, waiting for the next bull market to come. Now, he has another equally important thing to do.
04 Next stop
" Actually, I am quite disappointed in this industry. Web3 should be inclined towards technology, not financial attributes or hype. I love and hate Web3. " Meepo said that he is helping Web3 in his own way-from school this year After graduating from a bachelor's degree, he turned around and joined a major Internet company. He favors the technical background of Internet giants such as AI and Metaverse, "After all, blockchain is only a part of Web3."
"If the time is right in the future, I will still return to Web3. The decentralized business culture is more attractive to me, and that will be the future."
A manifestation of the difference between the so-called decentralization and the current business culture is that in the past ten years, the best-selling books in the Internet industry have been "Infinity War" and other seemingly imminent success books, while the popular books in the Web3 field It is "The Sovereign Individual", and the tone has changed from fighting to equal rights, peace and win-win. Behind this, the underlying logic of the business is changing: emphasizing communities rather than companies, emphasizing individuals rather than companies, and emphasizing members rather than users.
However, this "decentralized" future is still far away. In July of this year, Dinghui bid farewell to her last job as a DAO operator and the operating partner of the NFT project. He wrote an article: "Chinese DAO's Great Defeat: Don't worry, we can't achieve decentralized autonomy", reviewing the current problems of DAO.
Dinghui pointed out that many current DAOs based on WeChat governance are no different from communities; the core team is centralized and ruled; meetings are cumbersome, it is difficult to reach consensus, and no one does things; there is no good incentive mechanism. In the name of DAO, it is "actually nothing."
"People often mention the belief in Web3. I think it is a kind of projection, which is to project human ideals onto such a fresh land." Ding Hui reflected on DAO, "Can it become a reality? Actually, I don't hold too much Hope." But he is still exploring better DAO implementations.
At the end of August, Dinghui served as the manager of the DAO theme camp at the "Water Cat Summer" Web3 conference hosted by 706 Dali. This 19-year-old friend planned and organized for "brothers and sisters" from all over the country. 3 days of sharing and co-creation activities.
For these young people, Web3 is certainly not the end, but more like a journey in life, a new attempt or a low-cost adventure.
Zohar said that he will return to campus one day to do more in-depth study and start the next research. "My off-campus experience and what I'm going to research on-campus will be complementary. I'm eager to progress in this area."
Before going back to school, he hopes to accumulate more knowledge about the market that cannot be seen on the bright side, and do a lot of exchanges with others to gain exclusive insights and knowledge. To increase the holdings of dealing with people, dealing with projects, as well as the logic and experience of investment. "When I feel that I have built a relatively complete framework, I will go back to school to study the framework of another system. People can't always work hard in one direction and things, and that way they may not go very far. "
The story of young people's fortune is like Shuangwen. As a group with the least social resources, their background is actually "Underdog" (in China, it can be understood as "diaosi"). If even the people with the weakest resources are successful, then theoretically everyone has a chance to succeed . Everyone likes to read the stories of young people, and they all hope that they can live a better life.
The story continues.
As the first post-2000 Web3 entrepreneurs, Meepo joined a major Internet company, Zohar will go back to school in the future, Emma will continue to hit the YC training camp in her spare time, and Dinghui is still looking for DAO opportunities: they all have a bright future.