Dr. Kate Withers of Functionland joined me for the most recent episode of Is This The New Internet podcast. Kate and her team at Functionland are on a mission to change the way we interact with our files in the cloud, and help usher in a world focused on private computing. This will be achieved through blockchain-attached storage, enabled by their signature FxBlox, a computer that will sit on a user’s desk alongside their workstation.
My chat with Dr. Withers covered plenty of topics - her background, experience in the crypto space, vision for Functionland, and reflections on her time as a founder. It was very evident that the team built out their grand plan on top of a few, core philosophies. This clarity is vital, because they took on the monumental task of delivering in the worlds of software, hardware and blockchain concurrently. What was most impressive is that this was done with a small team, with each member contributing in multiple phases of execution.
You can listen to my full conversation with Dr. Kate Withers at the end of this piece. For those of us looking for a quick overview, here are 5 things I learned in our conversation.
1. A world with private cloud storage is possible
I think the “cloud storage revolution” with Dropbox and Google Drive was a watershed moment - It becoming totally fine for us to just hand over our data to big tech. Like you, I haven’t really gone a day in recent memory without retrieving something from the cloud. We’ve ceded privacy for convenience for a little too long, and I think the timing is significant. With AI startups always needed more data to scrape and train their latest models, I’d like to opt my private thoughts out of that please. Yeah, I get it’s a bit of a superficial victory, considering I’m a digital native having already shared my life to the internet until this point. But the future starts now, and taking back control of my stuff in my own little act of rebellion.
If you don’t get to keep digital goods that you’ve bought, you’re paying to rent, rather than to own.
“if you stop paying and you lose access to your Google photos or your Dropbox files, it could be gone forever. And then also, like I said, you're a boiling frog and that they could keep raising the prices. Or making the amount of storage you're given access to smaller and trying to squeeze you from a subscription point of view.”
2. Open-source no longer needs to (solely) rely on philanthropy for its survival
Crypto and Web3 prides itself on being permissionless, i.e. anyone can use any open-source code, and deploy an idea globally. For some, this idea might seem outlandish - why should I give away my hard work for free, or, at best, tips? But for those who have lived a life online, and used open-source technology, we know how important these contributions to technology have been. The reason that it’s possible for a single person to deploy a world-changing software is because others before them paved this way. Functionland has used open source, and all their software and hardware remains open source, with a standing invitation for people to build on top of these rails. They are looking to pay it all back through their $FULA token. Here’s a quote from Kate breaking it down.
"Nearly 40 percent of our token goes to all the open source developers and downward dependencies that contributed to the development of that application.”
3. Mobile continues to be the driver of adoption
Designing solutions for people using top-end computers, in big cities, with the best possible connectivity is fine I guess. But more users than ever before, especially outside the West, are getting online first through mobile devices. Even in the developed world, we are always on the move, and our lives will continue to rely on server or cloud-stored data. The capabilities of the glass & metal rectangle in your pocket are becoming increasingly impressive, with more power and efficiency than ever before. Services are optimised for mobile. If we fix data retrievability, would it be possible to one day build using mobile? Functionland is showing we can do this with files. How far away is a future where we can do this with heavier programs and computation? With AI assistants, it could be much sooner than we ever anticipated.
“We wanted to be able to be on a beach somewhere with maybe limited internet access far away from the world and be able to open up your phone and show someone a photo of your family."
“we've always built with retrievability in mind first, not how do we store it and then worry about retrievability later.”
4. There’s so much infrastructure yet to be put in place
Some call them “killer apps,” some call the sector “consumer crypto,” but the core belief is the same - we are expecting growth in this space similar to the explosive onboarding that Facebook, Twitter and Instagram saw in their heyday. Anyone who has been in Web3 for a few years has seen how cycle peak traffic grinds blockchain networks to a halt. No network seems to be immune to this, despite plenty of claims to the contrary. Our figurative roads and highways are woefully under-equipped for traffic that, for example, Instagram experiences in a single day.
Yes, on-chain applications are more complex due to their decentralisation. And yes, many people will remain on traditional social networks despite their abhorrent privacy practices. Even if Web3 social becomes significantly more appealing to users, it’s faced with the catch-22 of new tech - it requires a mass buy-in from the public for the infrastructure to be built, but people will only really use it more if it’s polished and ready thanks to solid foundations.
Functionland circumvents this completely, finding another path by incentivising users to set up this system. Once something as vital as decentralised storage is abundant, with files effortlessly retrievable, we can really start building.
“Crypto adoption is going to be sold through a file management app”
5. However high-tech our ambitions, building a company is a human endeavour
Building companies is beyond difficult. Even successful companies had moments where they may or may not have made it. Those stressful moments can really bring out the worst in us, and losing our cool with harsh exchanges of words can do undue damage. Tough times and even companies can come and go, but your team can absolutely outlast the organisation that you have assembled.
Many people love to say that your competence at work actually isn’t as important as your ability to just be a good team-mate. Not too sure about the former, especially in the cutthroat world of Web3, but I believe there’s some truth in the latter. Kate doesn’t disagree.
"I was hard on them sometimes. I didn't show people enough grace. So in this founding journey, I think I've come a long way as a teammate.”
Final Thoughts
My chat with Kate reaffirmed my own beliefs in a few ways; decentralisation, and the ability to opt-out of the influence of big tech, will take on a more prominent role in everyday discussions. We ceded privacy for convenience, and this convenience has effectively snared us to the whims of big tech.
Blockchain-attached storage is a small way for us mere mortals to wrestle back this control, and I think if enough people do this, companies will simply opt-in. Think about end-to-end encryption, it’s now a standard feature on so many applications. What we thought would be a nightmare for advertisement-funded platforms like Facebook turned into an essential feature, and a way to (albeit performatively) earn back some user trust.
If you found this conversation thought-provoking, consider checking out Functionland’s website and socials. Whether you're a tech enthusiast looking to experiment with your own FxBlox or just someone tired of paying monthly subscriptions for access to your own files, their approach represents an interesting alternative to the big tech status quo.
The future of the internet needs hype to ascertain market appetite, but the solving of real problems will ensure its longevity. We need to make privacy sexy again, and then make it possible for even the most lazy and aloof among us to benefit from its widespread implementation. I believe Functionland could get the ball rolling.
So for those of us who are on-chain, you can listen to the podcast ad-free at the embedded Pods link below. This article is also collectible, every mint goes right back into the system to help me make better stuff for you. Do share it with your network!
Episode 6: Blockchain-Attached Storage with Dr. Kate Withers of Functionland
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