I've been meaning to start this blog for a while. I was getting ready to drop some big-brained think-pieces on you all, but realized that honestly, that's not what I care to do. Instead, I want to talk, in plain language, about what I'm working on and why it matters.
Right now, I'm obsessed with collaboration, especially using blockchains to create new projects that might someday resemble "sustainable business models." I know, “sustainable businesses,” how boring! Believe me, I'm all about art, culture, impact, and philanthropy. My 20-something-year-old self would probably be disgusted at what I've seemingly become: a dirty capitalist! But Clayton M. Christensen’s book The Prosperity Paradox got me thinking differently. An environment in which small-to-medium businesses are able to get started and thrive creates a lot of good for society. And I believe this currently emerging tech shift might be able to help create such an environment.
Back in late 2022, I connected with Ting and others during Radar’s Futurethon over a shared desire to help founders succeed in the web3 space. Craabit kept working on Otherstate, and Ting and I started a podcast interviewing founders a year into building—after they had a live MVP but before they hit anything resembling "success." We dug deep into their stories: the challenges, the joys, what keeps them going. In our next series, we wanted to explore what it takes for someone on the sidelines to leap into founding and move from idea to MVP. We searched for onchain tools to support our vision but couldn't find them, so we decided to build them ourselves. So far, what has emerged is just the first baby step toward that vision: "Open to the Public" (OTTP), the open collaboration protocol.
We have no direct financial incentive in OTTP's success, and I really don't want anyone to. This protocol will thrive by being open, permissionless, and free to use. Even if it doesn't succeed, I want something like OTTP to exist. I both want to build apps on top of the protocol, and I also want to be an enthusiastic user of other apps built on top of it. I want to work in an environment where something like it is widely used. Why? I want to browse open projects, see what people are building, and help out where I can. I want my work record to be verified by those I worked with, lending onchain credibility to my resume and portfolio. I want open-source public goods to have a good way to build in public, and for contributors to get recognized and compensated retroactively for their impact. I want to see new business models emerge (if you would even call them “business models.” Maybe "economic engines"? "Value-creation flywheels"?). I imagine entities like "the firm" or "the nonprofit" becoming more flexible and programmable. Blockchains don’t just let us program money and build things with money-legos; they let us program business structures and economies, putting together business-legos to see what works.
I'm writing this now because the CollabTech Gitcoin round is live, and I want you to check out the projects there and start imagining what’s possible. Yes, OTTP is there, and it would be great if you could donate so we can compensate the developers pushing the protocol over the starting line. But more than anything, I hope you get involved. I hope you become a believer. I want you to see what I see. My hope is that once you start using the first basic frontend for the protocol, it will help you imagine what’s possible, so together we can build a much more collaborative internet.
