Be Generous
AVC
1 min read·
I am struck by the difference in approach taken by the top onchain entrepreneurs and the top entrepreneurs from earlier internet eras (web1 and web2).
The earlier internet eras have been marked by companies and founders focused on selfishness:
"Your margin is my opportunity" - Jeff Bezos
"You know, one of my favorite Roman orators ended every speech with the phrase Carthago delenda est--Carthage must be destroyed" - Mark Zuckerberg
But when I look at the top onchain entrepreneurs I see generosity:
The Satoshi mic drop is the greatest entrepreneurial act I have ever witnessed. They created what has become a 1.4 Trillion economy and then just walked away. They gave it to the world and said "it is yours".
Vitalik stuck around but has taken a similar approach. He has welcomed other entrepreneurs to create systems that take value away from the Ethereum blockchain. I would say he has even encouraged it.
How can giving something away or letting others take value from you be good business?
It is all about zero sum thinking. If you think that the size of the pie is fixed, then you need to grab as much of it as you can. But if you are making a pie that can grow and grow and grow, you just take a small slice and let everyone else eat.
That is the Satoshi mic drop.
And it is the key to winning onchain.
Don't be selfish.
Be generous.
I'm a creator and curator, and I'm wicked good at figuring out the vibe to curate. It's worked well enough to build a solid audience on one of the platforms, but my particular niche and income model creates limits I can't overcome on that platform. The "everyone benefits" ecosystem that's developing in Farcaster is a delightful contrast. A page creator/curator can spend hours a day posting on Facebook and only make a couple hundred on the creator fund, and that's only if they've been admitted to it. My own model has been to encourage my audience to tip me. I've run on donations and pay what you can offers since 2019, bought my house through crowdfunding in 2020, and am just chugging away at improving my life. So the creator/curator-focused economy of farcaster is really, really appealing to me.
I call it the (de)generosity economy. Welcome! 50 $degen
I've got five years of first-hand experience seeing how generosity can be an economic model that functions well. To see a place that's experimenting with that on a broad scale is so lovely!
On Farcaster, even VCs write about generosity. https://avc.xyz/be-generous
"Take a small slice and let everyone else eat." "Don't be selfish. Be generous." https://avc.xyz/be-generous?referrer=0xe8bB2E08e6f52f11D8B65e2A3db772DaA60e117e
✅⬆️ Thanks for sharing, Catra! 20 $degen I tried finding the author on WC. Do you know the handle?
thanks ViHa nope, same cant find it yet. best article finding so far. concise, on point, and optimistic.
It just says avc.eth on Twitter and all are just links to articles posted on AVC.
That's so inspiring. Thank you for sharing 🫶
"make pie grow" is the new "do things that don't scale" https://avc.xyz/be-generous
This is how we win :)
The same applies to other emerging technologies - XR for example
thanks for the support! @zaak ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 1 $degen
Be Generous ↑
"if you think that the size of the pie is fixed, then you need to grab as much of it as you can. but if you are making a pie that can grow and grow and grow, you just take a small slice and let everyone else eat. that is the satoshi mic drop" https://avc.xyz/be-generous
Hi Casters. I wrote a post about being generous with your business model and why that's the power move, particularly onchain https://avc.xyz/be-generous
The more users win, the more we all win 🏆
Agree, it's amazing. With a chance of sounding anything but bullish on the web3. I'd like to share one consideration. This video stuck with me since I watched it 5 years ago. Anand Giridharadas discusses that a win-win can reinforce inequities rather than ameliorate them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_zt3kGW1NM
/2 It was the first time I had heard of the idea. The people supporting chains are already situated where any adoption is a boon for the creators.. and the supporters as everyone is still extremely early. There is opportunity everywhere we look.
Good thoughts, invitational models are what society is built on and is why UGC is king, law of large numbers--good stuff all around--thanks for sharing Fred.
this.
yes, *giving away things well* is a super power for web3 projects, and consistent with the goals of a fair launch and progressive decentralization. cryptopunks and squiggles are also good examples. we stumbled into this when we started giving away free cryptovenetians in venice beach.
A third of all citizens were given away, right?
1/3 were given away to local communities, and 1/3 were airdropped to existing holders of citizens
Truly is wild, even difficult to understand. Thx for sharing appreciate the essay/ thoughts
Agreed, it speaks to aligned incentive structures - hopefully entrepreneurs and participants will want to continue to think about these things for long-term reasons and games rather than short-term ones. Crypto can achieve metcalfe's law and is most bountiful when it does.
Yup. @vitalik.eth understood early on that making the pie bigger benefits everyone (including Ethereum).