Craigslist founder Craig Newmark plans to donate $100 million to further strengthen U.S. cybersecurity, addressing what he sees as a growing threat from

Craig Newmark pledges $100M to fight hacking by foreign governments | TechCrunch

Craigslist founder says the U.S. is in the midst of a cyberwar and "the fight is on our own shores."

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark makes $100 million cybersecurity pledge - CBS News

The latest Cybersecurity news and analysis coverage including national security, hacking and privacy.

Exclusive | Craigslist Founder Pledges $100 Million to Boost U.S. 
Cybersecurity

Hey there, job seekers! If you're cruising Craigslist for remote job opportunities, you're in the right place to uncover some great prospects. But, as with any online platform, there's a mixed bag of genuine opportunities and some sneaky scams. Here are ...

Searching For Remote Jobs On Craigslist? Here's How You Dodge the Scams.

James Harnden had been a longtime activist for cannabis legalization, especially after he was charged with a low-level felony for possession of an ounce of weed, which cost him his job and other opportunities - a situation that convicted felons often encounter.

Craigslist Alert: Cannabis Licensing Hopefuls Targeted By Scams, NAACP & Lawmakers Want Probe

State Sen. Karla May, a St. Louis Democrat, wrote a letter to the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation, following a report last week about a company that recruited social equity license applicants on Craigslist.

Missouri lawmaker from St. Louis calls for investigation into ‘fraudulent activities’ in cannabis program

After Craigslist founder Craig Newmark stepped down as CEO of the classified ads website in 2000, he began turning his attention to the nonprofit world. Two decades later, he is one of the top Jewish philanthropists in the United States. Jo Ellen Green ...

Q&A: Craig Newmark likes to put his money where his mouth is — and then keep it shut

It is disheartening to see bad actors attempt to exploit the system for personal gain, undermining the very opportunities we sought to create.” By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent A St. Louis lawmaker is demanding that Missouri regulators investigate what she called an “egregious exploitation” of social cannabis equity licenses,

Missouri Lawmaker Urges Investigation Into ‘Egregious Exploitation’ In Marijuana Social Equity Licensing Process

Craigslist

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Every great empire in the history of mankind eventually disintegrated and fragmented into smaller states. Some of those states became empires of their own, sometimes larger than the predecessors. This is equally true in the business world. Airbnb is a well-known Silicon Valley unicorn and it makes $2.9B in revenue. It's most famous for turning the hotel industry upside down as it opened up an entirely new class of accommodation previously unavailable on the market. But few people know that Airbnb is an example of a much larger and more significant process: unbundling of online platforms. Airbnb is an offspring of Craigslist,  often dubbed "the most universal answer to all problems of humanity". Craigslist has been unbundled in many platforms (Airbnb being one of them, as an unbundler of the short-term rental market), whose combined revenue is now almost 20 times bigger than Craigslist itself. These challenger platforms, however, are no way secured from being unbundled themselves. One of them, , captures 80% of the revenue, while Airbnb commission is only 6%, which makes it particularly interesting. Another one, , targets long-term stays, which makes its business streams more stable and predictable. Le Bijou Sonder Will the grandchildren of Craigslist, Airbnb rebellious offspring grow even bigger than the last disruptor? Why you should care about unbundling Investors who understand the process of unbundling well, like , taught themselves to spot promising ventures at a very early stage, long before their merits become widely recognized. Such a skill gives those investors a competitive edge. Imagine what wealth would you amass if you recognized the unbundling of Craigslist early on and managed to invest at least 100K into Airbnb, Uber, Zillow or Indeed in the first year of their existence, becoming a major shareholder. Andreessen Horowitz So what is Unbundling? Unbundling describes the process of fragmentation of an existing market into many smaller and independent components. The main dominant market player is thus under assault from an inflow of newcomers who specialise in sometimes completely new sub-segments. The key to entry and success is often technological in nature. The newspaper industry is a good example. Before the advent of personal computers (and more specifically tablets and smartphones), the newspaper was the primary medium for information exchange. But the sudden emergence of the Internet completely changed everything. The newspaper’s role as an information exchange terminal was completely replaced by a variety of different and specialised tools (see below). As a result, many papers were shut and the surviving ones had to compete for a much smaller audience. The industry as a whole remains on a trajectory of decline. In almost all cases of unbundling, technology has played a prominent role. The reason why newspapers enjoyed such a long era of dominance is due to the high barrier of entry, erected by the high professional network (a pool of journalists and reporters covering a multitude of topics across the world) and distribution (getting the paper into as many households as possible across the country) costs. The Internet completely changed this by dramatically lowering the cost of both. Many journalists, including foreign reporters, work as freelancers and can be recruited easily on a per-project basis without having to be employed full-time. More importantly, the cost of distributing content in front of viewers has practically fallen to zero as news (and, in its broader form, social media information) is now accessed via smart devices. Unbundling of newspaper industry [ ] 1 The lesson of the story is that unbundling can happen to any player in any industry, so companies and investors need to be constantly alert for emerging threats to their market (which incidentally usually comes from out of the market). The new class of hospitality business Airbnb massively disrupted a stuffy, conservative hotel industry that had not changed in decades. Their software lets users of vacant properties (or rooms) with travelers who need one. It essentially brings two related issues together and solves them in a single stroke: The supply of hotel rooms in any given city is limited and travelers are forced to pay a premium on short-stay accommodation Many existing property owners have spare rooms/properties that are under-utilized and under-monetized. This is a classic case of matching demand with supply and taking a commission from each transaction. Airbnb is now the go-to platform for short-term travelers with a huge market value of $35 billion. How is Airbnb being unbundled? Of course Airbnb is not immune to unbundling, in fact it began quite some time ago already.  So the real question is how do you unbundle a multibillion-dollar unicorn? Just like most of the blue-chip juggernauts of the past, Airbnb was always going to be ripe for unbundling.  It typically takes place when a dominant company overlooks an emerging market segment (usually inadvertently due to their sizes or deliberately as a result of their strategies) which is then served by a new enterprise that quickly satisfies pent-up demand. Here are three growing market segments Airbnb isn’t catering for. Challengers in the luxury short-term rentals segment Airbnb dominates the mass market for short-term rentals and its target audience is the budget-conscious traveler. However, it is unable to cater for the high-end luxury travel segment because it lacks qualitative value in three core areas: security, brand, and service. Firstly, Airbnb is a technology platform rather than an accommodation provider. It relies on the owner of properties (hosts) to complete the final-mile service delivery. As a result, it has very little direct influence on the quality of service. There have been numerous incidents where guests’ financial and even physical securities were compromised by disreputable hosts. This is clearly a no-go for the luxury segment. Secondly, due to the mass-market nature of Airbnb, the brand is considered generic and rather low-end. To mention one is staying in an Airbnb property is like admitting that you fly with Ryanair. This is a particular turn-off for the luxury market. Lastly, most Airbnb hosts simply offer accommodation and do not provide any bespoke services (e.g. concierge, gourmet meals). Consequently, Airbnb is never going to penetrate this meaty new market of high-net-worth travelers who demand elegance and luxury in private apartment-style accommodation, without sacrificing any of the high-end services and features they could previously only find in 5-star hotels. Here are a few of the challenger brands in the ultra-high-end travel accommodation market that are looking to unbundle Airbnb. Website: HQ: United States 1. Sonder link Sonder is a Silicon Valley company that takes on multi-year leases on prime properties in many of the major cities of the developed world. It converts them according to their own unique specification and provides travelers with high-end hotel-style services. Remote customer support is available 24/7 and amenities are freely available to ensure the comfort of guests. "Given that there was such a movement from traditional hospitality to alternative hospitality, we saw that there would be an opportunity at a really massive scale to provide a customer experience that essentially resolves the two problems of consistency for the sharing economy and authenticity and uniqueness that is lacked in the traditional hotel model," Davidson, Sonder’s CEO. The investors . says valued the company at $1B Website: HQ: Switzerland 2. Le Bijou link Le Bijou is a Swiss property technology business with a valuation north of $900M that disrupts the travel industry. By taking on long-term leases on luxury properties across major Swiss cities and refurbishing them according to its precise specification, it controls the end-to-end customer experience. It uses cutting-edge technology (e.g. virtual assistant James, a combination of artificial intelligence and human-powered assistance) and ensures the security and privacy of the guests with zero human contact, something that Airbnb misses out on. According to Moonshot, a Hong Kong-based investment firm, “Le Bijou, with its perfect product-market fit and a powerful entry barrier (scale, brand, and technology), is well-positioned to reap high profitability and deliver a significant return for investors.” No wonder it has a large fan base that Steve Wozniak, John Sculley, a couple of royal families and even Jordan Belfort. Unlike most early-stage companies, it is open for private investors. reportedly includes Website: HQ: United States 3. Luxuryretreats link Luxuryretreats is a market leader in the global ultra-luxury travel sector. By matching some of the world’s most stunning villas with high-end travelers, it solves the property under-utilization problem for homeowners and provides high-end property accessibility for travelers. With a 24/7 concierge service, it is hard to go wrong. It is therefore hardly a surprise that Airbnb decided to acquire this company for over $200 million back in 2017. Challengers in the camping segment Long gone are the days when the only camping adventures you could have involved lugging around tons of heavy gear. Welcome to the new era of glamorous camping. Every year millions of people go on camping holidays where they can relax and enjoy getting immersed with nature again. Yet the Airbnb platform is ill-suited for the needs of campers (due to its property-centric business model). Fear not, there are now many superior alternatives ready to fill its place. Website: HQ: France 1. Gamping link A Paris-based company started by a group of friends who love camping. It is a platform that matches landowners with campers (and thus taking a commission in the middle). It operates predominantly in Western Europe and aims to provide a seamless, private and yet intimate experience for campers to enjoy nature whilst taking the hassle out of camping. Website: HQ: United States 2. Hipcamp link If Gamping is the entry-level land-matching service, then Hipcamp is the premium offering that brings campers close to nature without compromising on comfort. A predominantly US-based platform, it contains thousands of luxury camping accommodations (huts, yurts, tents, RVs) in some of the most stunning locations in the world. A true getaway portal to immerse yourself deep in nature and find inner peace. Website: HQ: United Kingdom 3. Camptoo link A highly specialized niche for matching mobile camping van (e.g. RVs, caravans) owners with renters. It provides a useful portal for road trippers who do not wish to fork out on expensive equipment whilst still enjoying the freedom of being on the road. Challengers in the medium to long-term rentals segment The rental market is ripe for disruption. Millions of tenancies globally still take over a month to sign, with tons of paperwork and even the need to witness signatures, even though almost all of these tasks can be performed digitally. Airbnb, being a short-term property sharing platform, therefore won’t be of much assistance. But these contenders might help. Website: HQ: United States 1. Rentberry link A platform that covers most large cities in the US and Europe, it provides a digital experience for tenants who wish to apply for tenancy. Instead of preparing tons of paperwork to prove identity and income, this process can now all be done digitally (including signature) in the comfort of one’s home. This saves time and cost for both landlords and tenants. Website: HQ: Netherlands 2. HousingAnywhere link Predominantly a European operation (however there are a few selected cities in the US), HousingAnywhere markets itself as having a premium pool of prospective tenants. As well as automating the tenancy application and payment process, it taps into a market ill-addressed by many players, namely mid-term renting (i.e. between 1 and 11 months). Website: HQ: Germany 3. Nestpick link Nestpick is a property amalgamation platform that aggregates listings on major property platforms (e.g. Airbnb, Spotahome) and presents users with a uniform view. It has a global reach and directs users to the relevant platform once selected. It does not hold any listing inventories by itself. The narrow opportunity window Unbundling is a natural course of action as a company expands and the industry mature. It is perhaps ironic that Airbnb itself started off as a result of unbundling and now it is subject to the same onslaught from challengers in areas it neglected. Consequently, smart investors are always on the lookout for assets that have proven profitability and delivers excellent ROI, as well as being future proof. The challenge is to enter the market just at the right time - when you already can recognize the future market-makers, but before it appears on the radar of big venture firms and spoiled with cheap money. In a world where , entering the market before it’s too late becomes harder and harder. the cash is trash Sources Andreessen Horowitz fund - Crypto is financial unbundling - https://a16z.com/ https://haseebq.com/crypto-is-financial-unbundling/

Unbundling New Markets: Who is Doing What Airbnb Did to Craigslist?

Finding an rental in any city is a pain. Step in to a major city and your problems are astronomically more difficult. If you have experience with the latter, chances are you’ve shown up to an open house only to find 15 techies all vying to seal the deal. They make more money in a month than you do in a year. Their credit score makes yours look like a decrepit bum with a heroin addiction. apartment You need to approach for an apartment rental in a way that others aren’t. You need to be creative and, quite literally, . Your focus cannot be the most desirable part of town, the cheapest rent, or the prettiest building. Your focus — — is the person renting the apartment. When you exploit the latter, the former quickly falls in line. hunting treat it like hunting your prey The following 3 apartment rental tips helped me land amazing apartments in San Francisco (Lower Haight, 2013) and Sacramento (Midtown, 2015). At the time, both markets were extremely competitive and I was making $13 & $20 an hour, respectively. No one should have (logically) rented to me, but I ended up with great places to live and impressive value. Rentals with No Photos This may seem like a wild tip but take a moment to consider how you’ve been searching for apartments. In the digital age, we have become conditioned to expect photos for everything. You want to see your future digs before putting in the work to get it. I don’t blame you — everyone wants that. When you find a Craigslist apartment rental that has no photos, you will encounter: Less competition Bargaining power (less people viewing, the greater your odds to negotiate a deal) Quicker decisions In my case, both landlords were older and simply did not know how to get photos from their phone to a computer. Additionally, I was offered both apartments upon first visit (pending a credit check, of course). Not because I was the only one applying, but because I played the part. Play the Part It takes roughly for someone to look at you and make a judgment. What’s worse, trustworthiness tops that list of lousy judgment. You must counter this fact. 1/10 of a second When you show up for your apartment rental appointment you should be: Dressed professionally Tattoos covered Stupid facial piercings removed Well-manicured and not a junkie in nice clothes (even if that’s exactly what you are) One of my first and most valuable business lessons came when I was a carpet cleaner in nice hotels across the Bay Area. I took forever to finish rooms in the beginning because I wanted them to be clean, as if I had to sleep in them. That is until my boss taught me a lesson — . perception is everything When you clean carpets, you’re left with beautiful “V” shaped patterns in the carpet. Without fail, the carpet could be filthy (within reason) and the moment a hotel manager saw that pattern, they were thoroughly satisfied. They saw that pattern and cleanliness. Needless to say, I got quicker at cleaning rooms. perceived Come Prepared Remember, this is an apartment . Your sole mission is to exploit human nature and unavoidable perceptions. This does not mean be unethical or a scumbag. It simply means . hunt it’s okay to bluff a little Bring these items with you to every single appointment in your apartment rental hunt: — You’re entitled to one free copy of your credit report every 12 months from each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies. This won’t get you out of having to hand over $35 to the landlord for a credit check. Likewise, you are on your own if you have bad credit. Credit report — To be honest, these are less common if you’re dealing with someone who can’t upload photos. Call ahead of time and ask to be emailed a digital copy. A pre-filled application — If you like the rental, pull out your checkbook and a pen at the end of the walkthrough. Look the landlord in the eyes and ask how much the deposit and first month’s rent are. The reaction you get is comical, yet insignificant. This bluff is merely that will assert your dominance, intent and trustworthiness. While you should be fully prepared to write the check, no sane landlord is going to rent to someone without proper vetting. But you already knew that, Beast. Checkbook an animalistic display of bravado Conclusion Craigslist apartment rental hunting is cutthroat. You are battling a bunch of wolves for number one of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: shelter. At every step, you must . You must understand how humans think and make those perceptions work against them. identify what your competition is lacking and pounce on it I write other stuff like this @ . Nerdy Minutes

Hack Your Competition: Craigslist Apartment Rentals

Disruption eruption In the tech sector, the idea of disruption is a kind of golden calf. If your company can achieve disruption in an industry that hasn’t already been overrun with startups, you will have a significant advantage over the competition and may even come to be associated with forward-thinking methods. But as the startup era enters its middle years, the gold rush has already taken place, for the most part. The likes of , , and have revolutionized their specific industries, and as a result, the paradigm has shifted in their favor. Uber Amazon Instacart Despite our many advances over the last ten years or so, there are still many industries in desperate need of modernization. Specifically, real estate is woefully archaic, still relying heavily on word-of-mouth and often allowing for mild to moderate deception of buyers and renters in the . hopes of making a profit Unlike more specialized industries, we all have to interact with at some point in our lives. Renters, in particular, have to interact with the machinations of real estate more often than most, scrambling for new housing when their current residence experiences rent hikes. real estate is an industry In need of repair In preparation for this article, I spoke with some friends about experiences they’ve had when searching for a new apartment or home. Despite my expectations, their stories actually shocked me. One friend told the tale of finding a beautiful apartment online, only to visit the building and find that the photos on the website were actually for a different unit. The apartment up for grabs was smaller, had an outdated bathroom, and featured a view of a nearby brick wall. An old school chum explained her experience of signing a lease on a lovely one bedroom in a nice neighborhood, only to find two months later that the building had long been struggling to combat a major pest problem. She regularly encountered mice and cockroaches in her apartment, sometimes in her food. When she complained, a maintenance worker laid down a few glue traps and called it a day. Leading real estate websites have certainly improved in recent years, but there’s minimal oversight.These sites are crowd-sourced, and that means inaccuracies and even outright falsehoods can slip through the cracks. Don’t believe me? Just spend a few minutes on and observe the number of apartments listed for $1. Craigslist Despite technological advancements that have allowed for innovation in other industries, apartment- and house-hunting remains difficult for many people who don’t have the benefit of personal connections with agents who are in-the-know. The road to redemption So what’s the solution here? One larger element of the battle would be to make sure that there’s plenty of affordable housing to go around, protecting individuals of modest incomes from spending nearly all of their earnings on rent. But this will require legislative action as well as grassroots support. In the meantime, a select few entrepreneurs have decided to focus on streamlining the process of finding appropriate housing and requiring management companies and real estate agents to be completely honest and transparent with their property postings. In New York, the belly of the beast when it comes to difficult (and astronomically expensive) real estate markets, startup has pioneered a strict new model that emphasizes responsible listings and open lines of communication. Replay Listings Basically, anyone who wants to post a property on the platform needs to be verified as a licensed real estate professional, and all media for that posting, whether it be photos or videos, needs to show the exact property-- no model apartments or similar units allowed. The result is a platform, maybe even a community, where individuals can be confident that what they see online or in the app is what they’ll actually get. “So far the response has been extremely positive for both agents and renters. Renters love it because it makes their search easier by allowing them to browse unedited videos of rental apartments. Agents love it because they’re able to instantly create and distribute content in a safe way. They often end up physically showing fewer apartments and closing more deals.” These are the words of Rodolfo Delgado, co-founder of Replay Listings. A former real estate agent himself, the idea for Replay Listings came from first-hand interactions with individuals who’d been shell-shocked by their previous experiences in the world of apartment hunting in the Big Apple. “I would meet clients at my office and show them pictures and floorplans of every available apartment that met their needs. More often than not, however, they expressed mistrust in the pictures and shared experiences they’d had in the past in which the pictures looked nothing like the actual apartment.” As you might have guessed, this atmosphere of mistrust and skepticism doesn’t make for safe and satisfying interactions. Replay Listings has chosen to combat this problem head-on, and judging by customer feedback, so far the company is winning the fight. Tech shines a light For Delgado, recent advances in technology offered a clear path to innovation and disruption. Just ten years ago, built-in phone cameras were cheap and unreliable. Even worse, the phones they were attached to often lacked sufficient internal storage to save more than a minute or so of video. Similarly, internet connections were still relatively slow and every three seconds to buffer. Even then, the video quality would often take a hit, making it look like security camera footage from the 1980s. struggled to stream video content without pausing Here in 2019, it’s a very different story. It’s not only possible to stream high-quality video from an app, but in fact, most of us expect it to happen without a hitch. Given the current state of tech, there’s really no excuse for anyone to be posting inaccurate information online, especially when it comes to real estate, as Delgado noted. “Thanks to technology, consumers have access to more and more accurate information that allows them to make informed decisions. We need the real estate industry to become even more transparent and honest, as it directly affects the well-being of everyone that’s looking for a new home.” Replay Listings has made a name for itself by featuring unedited videos of apartments and homes, most of them simple, unadorned walkthroughs. This feature alone requires robust technology solutions. Delgado explained that Replay Listings utilizes . data storage solutions offered by Amazon and Google Knowing little about data storage solutions myself, I reached out to data storage expert Rohit Gupta (who has multiple patents and more than ten years of experience in data storage to his credit) for an explanation of the advantages offered by public cloud storage options like these, and how they allow young companies like Replay Listings to host large amounts of media and data. “Public cloud storage is a good IT infrastructure choice for small to medium-sized companies for whom IT infrastructure is not their core competency. These companies can take advantage of cost, ecosystem, and performance. The public cloud ecosystem also gives companies ease of use and availability of any software or services such as machine learning algorithms, analytics, databases, streaming, microservices, containers, security, and digital payments, etc.” These public cloud storage ecosystems aren’t necessarily the be-all-end-all of data storage for businesses, but for Replay Listings and other companies like it, these services guarantee that users can access media reliably and safely. For Delgado and his team, improving the platform and keeping promises to users remains the top priority, and it’s thanks to public tech solutions like these that Replay Listings can continue to focus on its central mission. The wave of the future Despite our rapid advancement in many different industries, tech leaders need to remember that stagnation is the enemy of progress. Disruption is great, but every disruptive tech company has its honeymoon period, and every honeymoon has to end sometime. We’re seeing this more and more with the biggest names in tech, enormous corporations who swallow up smaller companies and then fail to push those brands toward further innovation. Among smaller startups, it’s more common to find an attitude that doesn’t really allow for rest and relaxation. Even a great product can stand to be improved. When I spoke with Delgado, he was eager to point out that Replay Listings has extensive plans for expansion and further updates to the platform. In addition to planned trial runs in other major American cities including Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago, he mentioned that there’s also room to implement AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) into the platform. “I’m excited to see how we can make a dent by contributing to the virtual reality and augmented reality industry as well. We’re experimenting with some features that are very promising in terms of allowing our users to experience the inside of an available apartment in new ways.” If nothing else, this serves as a reminder that cross-pollination and cooperation between individuals, between companies, and between industries is not only positive but necessary for building trust with customers and increasing transparency on a massive scale. Increased profits are a byproduct, albeit an important byproduct, of improving the world we live in.

The Fight for Honesty in Real Estate

Not only did they completely revolutionize and redefine travel as we know it, but Airbnb was also one of the first-ever true “ ”, achieving a billion-dollar-plus evaluation. Unicorns They definitely haven’t slowed down over the years, surpassing over 1b in quarterly revenue, with an evaluation of over . They are nothing short of impressive. 35b It's not a surprise that startups are emulating and unpacking their business model to try to replicate their success. Let’s break down some of the main components that helped them achieve their massive success. Humble Beginnings Airbnb started out in 2008 when founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia realized there was a business idea in renting our air mattresses to travelers in their living room when hotel space for a large conference in San Francisco was sold out. The idea then evolved into a website. Other people used the website to do the same thing. Boom. Airbnb. Do Things That Don’t Scale Instead of investing in paid ads, or social media, they started manually reaching out to people who would be the perfect client for their website/platform. Every time someone posted on Craigslist that they offered their home up for a bed and breakfast or for short-term lodging. They emailed them — asking them if they wanted to list their platform. This was manual, and this was tedious, but this worked. It was low-cost, and it worked. To quote Paul Graham, “Do things that don’t scale”. The Results? After initial success, they coded up an automated tool that reached out to new Craigslist postings automatically. They refined the copy, made the onboarding and sign-up simpler and more user-friendly. This led to viral growth and was the start of the incredible story of a category redefining company. Scaling & Growth Airbnb is a masterclass in startup strategy, marketing strategy, and sales strategy. They failed multiple times before they achieved any measure of success, and the early-stage lessons, that they used to achieve their initial momentum, as well as many scaling and growth strategies they used on their way to Unicorn status we’re equally impressive (and far too numerous to properly cover in a newsletter). When researching this case study, I stumbled across a 230+ page case study that goes into post-Craigslist, Airbnb growth strategies, and insights, so if you want to read more about some impressive, innovative things that Airbnb did to scale, check out these links. The Product The Website Paid Search Email Marketing SEO Social Media Content Marketing Referral Marketing Community Offline Lessons Learnt There are a few lessons we can learn from Airbnb’s Craigslist strategy. Growth doesn’t have to be sexy. Airbnb realized that startup growth could be using very traditional, boring, and simple methods to achieve initial growth. The Craigslist strategy was essentially an outbound sales strategy for a SaaS project. I know enough developers that just want to set up an inbound machine and never type an email or chat with a customer, and just drive traffic and optimize conversions. Do boring things that work. You don’t need paid ads, fancy funnels, graphic design. You need to write a few sentences and focus on getting customers wherever they’re at. Meet customers where they’re at. Airbnb didn’t focus on targeting, retargeting, and spreading a wide net. They just met their customers where they were at. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a Silicon Valley thinking they wanted to spend their time on a platform as “unsexy” as Craigslist. But they realized that their customers were there — so they just spent time meeting the customers on the platform/medium they preferred. Be unconventional. Keep it simple, don’t overcomplicate a customer acquisition process. Just because your strategy isn’t in line with the strategy used by a CMO chatting about the latest high tech demand generation schemes on a popular marketing podcast, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Being unconventional is a good thing. Do things that don’t scale. To build out a process that will let you scale your business, it’s not going to be scalable on day 1. It won’t be automated; it won’t be available en masse. It will be slow and painful. A common trap that founders or marketers fall into is that they assume that if they build it, customers will come. This is the most dangerous mindset trap to fall into. Almost all successful businesses or strategies work because someone made it work. Figured out how to optimize it manually. This took a painstakingly long time to figure it out, and only then, once they proved that it was successful, figured out ways to scale it and automated it. Recruit users & land customers manually, and then scale that process, only once you’ve figured out that it works. Also published on . https://newsletter.roioverload.com/p/hacking-craigslist-for-viral-growth

How Airbnb Hacked Craigslist for Viral Growth

Cómo Airbnb pirateó Craigslist para el crecimiento viral

The word insane is drastically overused for everything from mild moodiness and irritability to emotional changes. That's not what this article is about; these are four stories of times I did business with people who were deeply unwell psychologically. insane Sometimes, I ask myself whether it's a degree of insanity within myself that has attracted these people and circumstances or whether it's just a matter of dumb luck that I've been quite intimately ensconced in business four separate times with people varying from unstable addicts to genuinely demented. I'm leaning more toward the former than the latter. In addition to being entertaining, I hope that these stories can educate you on how to identify the tale-tale signs of insanity in the charming, persuasive people you are considering doing business with. I hope that these stories can educate you on how to identify the tale-tale signs of insanity David David David was my best friend for four years, towards the end of that time it became increasingly evident that he was a non-violent, high-functioning psychopath. David was on the path to become a doctor, he was incredibly hard-working and more devoted to his studies than any other college student I've ever known. David, at any given time, had at least one woman intensely in love with him. He had to pay for abortions at least three times, he told me. To this day, he remains the most charming person I have ever met. David partied; he loved nightclubs, bottle service, cocaine, and occasionally smoking crystal meth. He had a contagious ability to energize any room. David had a disturbing amount of confidence in his ability to drive drunk - he would, barely able to walk, drive his truck aggressively all the way across town. I remember watching David getting caught with cocaine in a nightclub bathroom and then proceeding to successfully convince the police that it was not his. He had an uncanny talent for getting drugs for free from gay guys. I remember several nights, going to hang out in seedy apartments so he could score drugs for free. The only other passion that matched his appetite for intoxicants was his religiosity. He came from an intensely religious Mormon family (who I knew well; they were some of the classiest, most generous people I've ever known). Sometimes, in a drunken fervor, he would explain to me how he was one day going to become a god of his own earth (this is part of the Mormon religion). The only other passion that matched his appetite for intoxicants was his religiosity a god of his own earth this is part of the Mormon religion When I decided to enter the entertainment business at age 21 by organizing my first concert, David was my partner. The last time I saw David, he actually walked in on me having sex with a woman I had just met who had been admiring the brand-new Maserati I was driving. Most insane moment Most insane moment David once stole and took on a joyride a tuner fast and furious sports car during a house party. When he returned, the car's owner, drunk on tequila, ripped him out of the driver's seat and beat him up. David then hid in a room in the house with some girls while I tried to convince the car's owner not to kill him. fast and furious Ed Ed A former banker, supposedly worth $12 million, diagnosed with *dissociative identity disorder (*aka multiple personality syndrome), was the financier of an entertainment start-up I worked for. Early in my career in the entertainment business, a friend called me and told me excitedly that he had an investor who would finance whatever we wanted to do: concerts, nightclubs, clothing lines, football stadium events, etc. worth $12 million multiple personality syndrome They hired me as the second employee of the company and paid me $35/hourly to organize event marketing strategies and network with potential strategic partners (aka party). Ed had an ugly codependent relationship with my friend, the CEO of the start-up, who gave Ed's darker sides continuous excuses to blow his money frivolously. One week, they showed up with an Escalade (on 22-inch chrome rims). The next week, a brand new Mercedes-Benz SLK350, and then a new Maserati GranTurismo from Ferrari of Denver. They also sent me on all-expense-paid trips to Scottsdale and Cancun, Mexico. network party Ed had an ugly codependent relationship with my friend, the CEO of the start-up, who gave Ed's darker sides continuous excuses to blow his money frivolously . Ed took medication and saw a shrink to deal with his demons. What seemed to trigger Ed's other personalities most consistently was drinking alcohol. One was a woman, one was gay, and one was a reckless young man who just wanted to get drunk and laid. His personalities had a clever method for communicating with each other; they would call his cell phone's voicemail and leave messages. What seemed to trigger Ed's other personalities most consistently was drinking alcohol After several months of this spending, in an uncommon display of maturity and sobriety for a 22-year-old living like a rockstar, I wrote a formal letter to Ed and the CEO stating my serious concern with the spending before the business had made a cent of profit. Their response was a demotion, eventually, we ended up throwing a single event at the Denver Broncos football stadium, it lost probably $15,000 and I resigned. Most insane moment Most insane moment After a night of drinking, Ed's most malignant personality emerged while he was driving the company car, a black 2-seater Mercedes convertible, with the CEO. The personality announced to the CEO that he was going to kill him. He then proceeded to run a red light doing +50 miles-per-hour and t-boned a sedan. Amazingly, he didn't kill anyone that day, but he did destroy an almost $70,000 car. William William A mild-mannered tech start-up founder client of mine with a dark past. Early in my career operating a web strategy firm, I met a man with a great idea for an eCommerce marketplace. I agreed to develop his online platform in exchange for a four-figure payment and a piece of equity in his start-up. A mild-mannered tech start-up founder client of mine with a dark past web strategy firm In the beginning, he came across as smart and easy to deal with. He told me he had recently gone through a tough divorce. As is common in the start-up development world, we ran into all kinds of technical challenges and delays. We actually ended up having to sue a 3rd party vendor. I remember picking William up at his dad's place for a long, awkward ride to the courthouse. About a year into the partnership, William had significantly changed the project scope of what he wanted the website to do, so he released me from my development responsibilities and had me focus on business development of future customers of the service, which I did, building a list of over 100 potential customers. In the beginning, he came across as smart and easy to deal with. I had a base of small business clients ready to use the service, but William was lost in a perpetual cycle of second-guessing and redesigning the technical side of things. I urged William to simplify the development side so we could begin serving the clients and generating cash flow. He started making me all kinds of promises about increasing my equity, infusions of investment capital, licensing the business model in other countries, etc. He started making me all kinds of promises He was kind of a weird guy; he never went out to socialize or date, he lived with his dad, and he was singularly focused on his start-up. Out of the blue, one day, a woman on Facebook wrote to me, informing me of his history of domestic violence. Apparently, they had a kid together a long time ago, and he had done a bunch of weird stuff to her mother. She provided me with police and court records to verify everything. Then I did something I hadn't yet done up to this point: I Google searched my client, William. The top result for his name was a news story identifying him as the "Craigslist Stalker of Boulder," and there were other news stories about his weird and sometimes violent past. He was kind of a weird guy Craigslist Stalker of Boulder," Four years later, his website isn't even up; no investment capital ever arrived, and the customers I gathered were never served. In business, William wasted a huge amount of my time, but I'm mostly just disappointed that this smart guy, with such a good idea, worked so hard and never made it happen. From this episode, I learned that a great idea counts for nothing; even a great idea plus hard work is pretty useless without a clear way to scale into cash flow. I also learned to Google search the people I'm considering doing business with. Finally and probably most importantly, I learned that the kind of character that mistreats women is the kind of broken person who will never produce consistent results in business. I learned that a great idea counts for nothing; even a great idea plus hard work is pretty useless without a clear way to scale into cash flow Patrick Patrick My business partner of a few years displayed frequent psychopathic tendencies. Patrick should have had a revolving door installed on his bedroom; he was a classic womanizer. As opposed to embracing polyamory, he always had a girlfriend who was committed to him that he would cheat on at every opportunity. Patrick had a need for speed; he was passionate about fast, performance cars, and he always had some kind of tuned-up car that he drove like a demon. My business partner of a few years displayed frequent psychopathic tendencies a revolving door a need for speed Patrick had many redeeming qualities that made him a good partner. Any business I introduced him to, he would learn fast and do better than me. He was a master networker; he would find ways to catch the attention of people more successful than us and land them as clients. He had high standards for the business and the quality of the products and services we sold. As partners, he always made more money for the business than I did. Patrick had many redeeming qualities that made him a good partner Towards the end of our business partnership, we became roommates for a short time, and he was abusive to me, his girlfriend, and our pets. I was astounded by his ability to not understand how his insanity affected those closest to him. The last time I saw him, we took a brand new BMW on a wild test drive through the foothills of Colorado. Patrick's fast living and vices eventually caught up with him, and he died in 2016. fast living he died in 2016 https://odysee.com/@jroseland:f/Live-Fast-Die-Young:5?embedable=true https://odysee.com/@jroseland:f/Live-Fast-Die-Young:5?embedable=true Most insane moment Most insane moment Late one night, after seeing one of our favorite DJs at a nightclub, we got into an extended high-speed car chase. Patrick was drunk, driving his racecar of a Honda Accord. He pulled into a restricted parking lot near the nightclub, and security guards approached the car. But as opposed to apologizing, he screeched out of the parking lot, as he did the security guards bashed out two of the windows of the car with their batons. He clipped the fender of another car as he tore out of the parking lot, attracting the attention of two vigilantes in a white Jeep, who took up hot pursuit of us. We raced around the downtown area, running red lights, and eventually got on the highway. Usually, one of Patrick's cars could easily outrun a Jeep, but the transmission of his Accord was going out as a result of his high-speed habits. The guys in the Jeep kept trying to run us off the road. They were not cops; they were people (probably friends of the driver of the car we had hit and run) who wanted to do bad things to us. About 20 miles north of Denver, we finally lost them by taking an offramp and killing our lights simultaneously. The entrepreneur must dance with risk. The entrepreneur must dance with risk. That's the game we signed up for. And "in the light of risk, all Earthly colors meet heavenly flame" (to paraphrase my favorite line from my favorite novel), but as I would learn, doing business with insane people or those lacking in character was not a risk worth taking. There are all sorts of interesting risks you can take in business, but dealing with those who exhibit a bunch of mental health red flags should not be one of them.

This CFO Wrecked His Mercedes Trying to Kill the CEO & 3 Other Entrepreneurial War Stories

هذا الرئيس التنفيذي يضرب مرسيدس يحاول قتله الرئيس التنفيذي و3 قصص حرب تجارية أخرى

Dieser CFO zerstörte seinen Mercedes, der versuchte, den CEO und 3 andere unternehmerische Kriegsgeschichten zu töten

Ez a CFO megrongálta a Mercedesét, miközben megpróbálta megölni a vezérigazgatót és 3 más vállalkozói háborús történetet

CFO Ini Merusak Mercedesnya yang Mencoba Membunuh CEO & 3 Cerita Perang Kewirausahaan Lainnya

このCFOは、CEOを殺そうとしている彼のメルセデスと他の3つの起業家戦争ストーリーを破壊しました。

이 CFO는 CEO와 3 개의 다른 기업가 전쟁 이야기를 죽이려는 그의 메르세데스를 파괴했습니다.

Este CFO Destruiu Seu Mercedes Tentando Matar O CEO E 3 Outras Histórias de Guerra Empresarial

I-CFO I-Wrecked I-Mercedes Yayo I-Trying To Kill the CEO & 3 Ezinye I-Entrepreneurial War Stories

Big Tech Loves These 45 System Design Questions—Do You Have the Answers?

Media Slant is Contagious: What We Can Conclude From This

30 Growth Hacking Examples to Accelerate Your Business

The AI Disruptobloat: How Overproduction Dilutes Value but Accelerates Innovation

AI Disruptobloat: Как свръхпроизводството намалява стойността, но ускорява иновациите

La disrupción de la IA: cómo la sobreproducción diluye el valor pero acelera la innovación

The AI Disruptobloat: como a sobreprodución dilúe o valor pero acelera a innovación

The AI Disruptobloat: כיצד ייצור יתר מדלל ערך אך מאיץ חדשנות

AI による破壊的肥大化: 過剰生産は価値を薄め、イノベーションを加速させる

AI Disruptobloat: ການຜະລິດເກີນຂະໜາດເຮັດໃຫ້ຄຸນຄ່າແຕ່ເລັ່ງການປະດິດສ້າງ

AI disruptobloat: kā pārprodukcija mazina vērtību, bet paātrina inovācijas

AI Disruptobloat: Хэт их үйлдвэрлэл хэрхэн үнэ цэнийг бууруулж, харин инновацийг хурдасгадаг вэ?

The AI Disruptobloat: Sida wax-soo-saarka xad-dhaafka ah u milicsado qiimaha laakiin uu dedejiyo hal-abuurka

AI Disruptobloat: การผลิตมากเกินไปทำให้มูลค่าเจือจางลงแต่เร่งให้เกิดนวัตกรรมเร็วขึ้น

AI disruptobloat: qanday qilib ortiqcha ishlab chiqarish qiymatni kamaytiradi, lekin innovatsiyalarni tezlashtiradi

人工智能颠覆性膨胀：生产过剩如何稀释价值但加速创新

The internet has ushered in an era where individuals can invest like never before. A vast amount of information and trading tools are readily available online, empowering them to make informed decisions. Additionally, individual investor communities like r/WallStreetBets have utilized social media to create significant buzz around certain stocks, thereby influencing their prices. In short, the internet has radically empowered individual investors. Now, a puzzling question arises. Despite the enthusiastic adoption and utilization of the internet so far, why aren't people embracing Web3 yet? Ironically, Web3 represents the next iteration of the internet, defined as "the Internet of Money." The Web3 Adoption Gap: Users vs. Investors Despite 580 million people holding cryptocurrency by the end of 2023, the daily average of Unique Active Wallets (UAW) interacting with Web3 or dApps remained modest at 4.2 million. Since the emergence of Web3, active users have comprised less than 1% of the global population. Two primary factors typically impede the adoption of new technologies: lack of product-market fit and ineffective marketing and communication strategies. Given the sizable number of investors, it can be inferred that they are aware of the potential of Web3. Therefore, we may need to revisit the current Web3 marketing approaches. Airdrop marketing, where projects distribute free tokens for specific actions, is often associated with crypto marketing. This method has the remarkable ability to transform a project from obscurity to achieving significant Key Performance Indicators. By immediately enlivening a project, airdrops attract users, generate transactions, create liquidity, and boost brand awareness. Recipients view airdrops as potential windfalls requiring no initial investment, making them highly desirable. While both projects and users favor airdrops for the excitement they generate around Web3, it's crucial to evaluate their actual effectiveness in driving meaningful adoption and engagement. Web2 Marketing: Leveraging Rewards for Network Effects Offering rewards to attract customers is nothing new, with origins dating back to the early 1700s. Initially used to foster customer loyalty, businesses provided discounts, points, coupons, and cashbacks to encourage repeat purchases. This approach evolved to directly incentivize customer acquisition with the rise of the Internet, particularly during the Web2 era characterized by the concept of ‘the web as a platform’. PayPal's phenomenal marketing strategy, which attracted over 100,000 users within a month, set a benchmark for many startups. Elon Musk explained it in an interview, stating: “We started off first by offering people $20 if they opened an account. And $20 if they referred anyone. And then we dropped it to $10. And we dropped it to $5. As the network got bigger and bigger, the value of the network itself exceeded any sort of carrot that we could offer.”  The more users a platform has, the more valuable it becomes - this network effect has been the hallmark of web2. Traditional marketing focused on maximizing revenue and profit by targeting specific customer segments who could afford their products. However, the internet era shifted the focus to user acquisition. In particular, startups aiming for rapid scale-up coined the term 'growth hacking' for marketing strategies solely focused on recruiting the maximum number of users in the shortest time. This made the role of a growth hacker the most sought-after position in marketing. Online vs. On-chain: Calibrating Marketing for Divergent Users Based on indicators alone, it appears that a record-breaking successful growth hacking is occurring in Web3. Last February, Starknet announced the STRK token distribution worth $2 billion, the largest airdrop in crypto history, to 1.3 million eligible wallets. Blast has not launched its mainnet yet, but secured $1.1 billion worth of liquidity by promising an airdrop in May 2024. This substantial amount of deposits was collected on a network that is not even operational. As a result, there is a growing perception that the hallmark of Web3 is a pyramid scheme. Observations suggest that user engagement and liquidity sharply decline immediately following the airdrop events. In contrast, PayPal reportedly invested around $60 million in rewards marketing and ceased the program upon reaching 100 million users. Yet it has sustained its growth, currently serving over 400 million users. This raises the question: what is amiss with Web3's marketing that prevents it from fostering sustainable growth? An important distinction to make is that Web2 online platforms and Web3 on-chain networks differ fundamentally in their nature. As a result, the audiences they target are bound to diverge as well. 1. Platform vs.  Protocol: Network Effects in Infrastructure Web2 platform companies can only sustain growth by locking users into their platforms and monopolizing the market. However, Web3 represents a ‘protocol network’ characterized by ‘interoperability’ and ‘composability.’ For instance, you may have heard of Airbnb's famous growth hacking story, where Airbnb reverse engineered Craigslist's high-traffic website to acquire early users. In contrast, Web3 projects operate within a decentralized system owned by their communities and based on open source principles. These projects can seamlessly integrate with others, either by building their dApps on existing platforms or interacting with other dApps. They do not need permission from other projects to collaborate or access their users. From the perspective of integrated projects, as more projects combine with its protocol, the ecosystem expands and the token value increases, nurturing a virtuous cycle that attracts even more users and projects to join. This phenomenon, particularly prominent in DeFi, is referred to as ‘money legos,’ where each DeFi dApp serves as a building block, continuously delivering new and diverse products. In the Web2 era, the 'network effect' was synonymous with acquiring a large number of users. However, in the Web3 era, the power dynamics have shifted. A large user base no longer holds the same influence, as users are more interchangeable. Instead, the network effect at the infrastructure stage is more crucial. Marketing strategies that solely distribute airdrops to secure early users may overlook the essence of Web3. 2. Platform vs. Community: Users vs. Owners The most common definition of Web3 is the "internet of value," allowing value to be exchanged peer-to-peer without intermediaries. From a marketer's perspective, this definition only explains the features of blockchain technology and is not enough to explain user benefits. The true innovation lies in (a) that anyone can issue their own currency (b) that activities on the network establish economies, and (c) The token price can increase through the joint efforts of the community, so the community members collaborate with the common goal of growing the project. As a result, while the Web2 network is owned by the company, the Web3 network serves as a public infrastructure where users collectively own the protocol and have a vested interest in its success. To sum it up in one word, it is a community, more precisely, an economic community. While traditional marketing viewed customers as ‘consumers’ focused on purchasing products, the Web2 era redefined them as ‘users’ expected to interact with the network through actions like following, liking, and sharing. In Web3, however, customers take on a new role as ‘community members’ who actively contribute by investing in project tokens, participating in governance, and proposing and promoting initiatives. This represents a shift from the Web2 approach, where marketing efforts aimed at increasing passive user interactions. Web3 marketing should focus on engaging users to foster a sense of belonging and loyalty, encouraging their active participation in the project's development and adoption. Although the Web3 network operates as an open public infrastructure, it is not a product for everyone. To cultivate a robust community, targeting individuals with the financial means to invest, the time to dedicate, intelligence, interest in technology and the economy, and a passion for economic empowerment provided by Web3 is essential. Therefore, marketing that focuses on accelerated scale-up in the early stages does not align with Web3. Conclusion If the network effect was the driving force behind Web2 growth, Web3 is defined by the powerful community effect. In this new era, the path to growth lies not in mere user acquisition but in curating a dedicated community of quality members. Marketing efforts must be tailored to identify and invite individuals who can actively engage and contribute their expertise, ideas, and passion. Empowering these invested members with avenues for continuous collaboration and value creation is the key to unlocking the true potential of Web3 projects and propelling them toward long-term sustainability and impact. The internet has ushered in an era where individuals can invest like never before. A vast amount of information and trading tools are readily available online, empowering them to make informed decisions. Additionally, individual investor communities like r/WallStreetBets have utilized social media to create significant buzz around certain stocks, thereby influencing their prices. In short, the internet has radically empowered individual investors. Now, a puzzling question arises. Despite the enthusiastic adoption and utilization of the internet so far, why aren't people embracing Web3 yet? Ironically, Web3 represents the next iteration of the internet, defined as "the Internet of Money." The Web3 Adoption Gap: Users vs. Investors Despite 580 million people holding cryptocurrency by the end of 2023, the daily average of Unique Active Wallets (UAW) interacting with Web3 or dApps remained modest at 4.2 million. Since the emergence of Web3, active users have comprised less than 1% of the global population. Two primary factors typically impede the adoption of new technologies: lack of product-market fit and ineffective marketing and communication strategies. Given the sizable number of investors, it can be inferred that they are aware of the potential of Web3. Therefore, we may need to revisit the current Web3 marketing approaches. Airdrop marketing, where projects distribute free tokens for specific actions, is often associated with crypto marketing. This method has the remarkable ability to transform a project from obscurity to achieving significant Key Performance Indicators. By immediately enlivening a project, airdrops attract users, generate transactions, create liquidity, and boost brand awareness. Recipients view airdrops as potential windfalls requiring no initial investment, making them highly desirable. While both projects and users favor airdrops for the excitement they generate around Web3, it's crucial to evaluate their actual effectiveness in driving meaningful adoption and engagement. Web2 Marketing: Leveraging Rewards for Network Effects Offering rewards to attract customers is nothing new, with origins dating back to the early 1700s. Initially used to foster customer loyalty, businesses provided discounts, points, coupons, and cashbacks to encourage repeat purchases. This approach evolved to directly incentivize customer acquisition with the rise of the Internet, particularly during the Web2 era characterized by the concept of ‘the web as a platform’. PayPal's phenomenal marketing strategy, which attracted over 100,000 users within a month, set a benchmark for many startups. Elon Musk explained it in an interview, stating: “We started off first by offering people $20 if they opened an account. And $20 if they referred anyone. And then we dropped it to $10. And we dropped it to $5. As the network got bigger and bigger, the value of the network itself exceeded any sort of carrot that we could offer.”  The more users a platform has, the more valuable it becomes - this network effect has been the hallmark of web2. Traditional marketing focused on maximizing revenue and profit by targeting specific customer segments who could afford their products. However, the internet era shifted the focus to user acquisition. In particular, startups aiming for rapid scale-up coined the term 'growth hacking' for marketing strategies solely focused on recruiting the maximum number of users in the shortest time. This made the role of a growth hacker the most sought-after position in marketing. Online vs. On-chain: Calibrating Marketing for Divergent Users Based on indicators alone, it appears that a record-breaking successful growth hacking is occurring in Web3. Last February, Starknet announced the STRK token distribution worth $2 billion, the largest airdrop in crypto history, to 1.3 million eligible wallets. Blast has not launched its mainnet yet, but secured $1.1 billion worth of liquidity by promising an airdrop in May 2024. This substantial amount of deposits was collected on a network that is not even operational. As a result, there is a growing perception that the hallmark of Web3 is a pyramid scheme. Observations suggest that user engagement and liquidity sharply decline immediately following the airdrop events. In contrast, PayPal reportedly invested around $60 million in rewards marketing and ceased the program upon reaching 100 million users. Yet it has sustained its growth, currently serving over 400 million users. This raises the question: what is amiss with Web3's marketing that prevents it from fostering sustainable growth? An important distinction to make is that Web2 online platforms and Web3 on-chain networks differ fundamentally in their nature. As a result, the audiences they target are bound to diverge as well. Web2 online platforms and Web3 on-chain networks differ fundamentally in their nature. 1. Platform vs.  Protocol: Network Effects in Infrastructure Web2 platform companies can only sustain growth by locking users into their platforms and monopolizing the market. However, Web3 represents a ‘protocol network’ characterized by ‘interoperability’ and ‘composability.’ For instance, you may have heard of Airbnb's famous growth hacking story, where Airbnb reverse engineered Craigslist's high-traffic website to acquire early users. In contrast, Web3 projects operate within a decentralized system owned by their communities and based on open source principles. These projects can seamlessly integrate with others, either by building their dApps on existing platforms or interacting with other dApps. They do not need permission from other projects to collaborate or access their users. From the perspective of integrated projects, as more projects combine with its protocol, the ecosystem expands and the token value increases, nurturing a virtuous cycle that attracts even more users and projects to join. This phenomenon, particularly prominent in DeFi, is referred to as ‘money legos,’ where each DeFi dApp serves as a building block, continuously delivering new and diverse products. In the Web2 era, the 'network effect' was synonymous with acquiring a large number of users. However, in the Web3 era, the power dynamics have shifted. A large user base no longer holds the same influence, as users are more interchangeable. Instead, the network effect at the infrastructure stage is more crucial. Marketing strategies that solely distribute airdrops to secure early users may overlook the essence of Web3. A large user base no longer holds the same influence, as users are more interchangeable. Instead, the network effect at the infrastructure stage is more crucial. 2. Platform vs. Community: Users vs. Owners The most common definition of Web3 is the "internet of value," allowing value to be exchanged peer-to-peer without intermediaries. From a marketer's perspective, this definition only explains the features of blockchain technology and is not enough to explain user benefits. The true innovation lies in (a) that anyone can issue their own currency (b) that activities on the network establish economies, and (c) The token price can increase through the joint efforts of the community, so the community members collaborate with the common goal of growing the project. As a result, while the Web2 network is owned by the company, the Web3 network serves as a public infrastructure where users collectively own the protocol and have a vested interest in its success. To sum it up in one word, it is a community, more precisely, an economic community. While traditional marketing viewed customers as ‘consumers’ focused on purchasing products, the Web2 era redefined them as ‘users’ expected to interact with the network through actions like following, liking, and sharing. In Web3, however, customers take on a new role as ‘community members’ who actively contribute by investing in project tokens, participating in governance, and proposing and promoting initiatives. This represents a shift from the Web2 approach, where marketing efforts aimed at increasing passive user interactions. Web3 marketing should focus on engaging users to foster a sense of belonging and loyalty, encouraging their active participation in the project's development and adoption. Although the Web3 network operates as an open public infrastructure, it is not a product for everyone. To cultivate a robust community, targeting individuals with the financial means to invest, the time to dedicate, intelligence, interest in technology and the economy, and a passion for economic empowerment provided by Web3 is essential. Therefore, marketing that focuses on accelerated scale-up in the early stages does not align with Web3. individuals with the financial means to invest, the time to dedicate, intelligence, interest in technology and the economy, and a passion for economic empowerment provided by Web3 Conclusion If the network effect was the driving force behind Web2 growth, Web3 is defined by the powerful community effect. In this new era, the path to growth lies not in mere user acquisition but in curating a dedicated community of quality members. Marketing efforts must be tailored to identify and invite individuals who can actively engage and contribute their expertise, ideas, and passion. Empowering these invested members with avenues for continuous collaboration and value creation is the key to unlocking the true potential of Web3 projects and propelling them toward long-term sustainability and impact. If the network effect was the driving force behind Web2 growth, Web3 is defined by the powerful community effect.

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Stories, News & Mentions about CRAIGSLIST

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