Welcome to Vrbish #002, where we debate the important question; "Can we onboard the masses with free tacos?"
Once we exhaust philosophical questions we can move on to our regularly scheduled programming:
This Week in Vrbs
Builder Spotlight with ZAM
1. This week in Vrbs
Vrbs Homepage gets major upgrade
Let's be honest with ourselves, okay? People really do judge a book by its cover. The recent changes to the Vrbs website provide a much needed quality of life improvement, providing an excellent snapshot of everything going on in the DAO!
So what's new? Rocketman (interviewed in Vrbish #001 in case you missed it) breaks it down in the post below:
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These two changes have one important goal. Get people talking about Vrbs. Distribution continues to be a key focus for the DAO, amplifying reach and impact.
Salary Cards provide Vrbs Builders a live look at what they've earned, what they stand to earn in a year, and prompts them to build in public and share updates.
Trending and recent casts taps into community conversations on Farcaster and incentivizes ongoing discussions!
"Hey... you promised me free tacos, what gives?"
Goyabean, creator of the Based Nouns project joined the DAO this week, stating he's excited about the potential for Vrbs to scale positive impact in the world. One unique experiment that Goya wants to try is using free tacos as a means to onboard people to Vrbs.
Goya, please let me know when this "free taco" idea takes shape, I'm in.
Check out the Story below
Speaking of Stories, while not a new feature, there has been a definitive uptick in activity this week.
Here are some other new Stories this week:
Content generation and Vrbs amplification
The quality and quantity of Vrbs content has greatly increased over the last week, and it's not by chance...
The Grants Program is scaling content generation exponentially, and therefore expanding reach! Below are the two key reasons you're seeing Vrbs content everywhere you turn:
Adding new Vrbs Communication Channels, and funding efforts through the Grants Program: In addition to the updates listed in the Stories section above, two Grant applications have been approved to run the main Vrbs X account. These builders have hosted weekly spaces and begun to really push Vrbs content!
Artist Residency Content Boom: This Grants program has the strategic goal to "Attract and support highly talented and innovative artists who can amplify the reach and impact of the Vrbs brand and culture through their artwork." Below are examples of this boom, from just this past week!
2. Builder Spotlight - ZAM
I had not met or spoken to ZAM before Vrbs launched, but he quickly caught my attention. ZAM won the Art race for Vrb #001 and quickly launched cupofvrb.com, giving the community a physical product to rep their favorite Vrbs.
It wasn't a cash grab either, profits on each sale are split with the creator of the artwork through a splits contract. cupofvrb's mission statement supports this philosophy of giving back: "Our goal is to share Vrbs' art and vision, to create a spark of joy and positivity in your morning ritual, and to help grow the Vrbs movement to reach more people and communities."
ZAM's early support of Vrbs and willingness to experiment piqued my curiosity. Tune in below to learn more about the Builder behind cupofvrb!
[Curtis] You were the creator of Vrb 01, and the first Grant submission outside the core team of Vrbs architects (http://cupofvrb.com). What attracted you to Vrbs initially?
[ZAM] I minted a t00b containing a y00ts noun, so by way of y00ts, I was looped into the Vrbs launch. When the Vrbs site was going live, I tuned into some of the spaces with Rocketman - the protocol design around art race and vote distribution sounded fun and different than anything else I had seen in crypto. Initially, it was mostly curiosity to see how some of the protocol designs like Art Race would unfold that pulled me in. Designing some Vrbs leading up to the launch of art race was super fun, and ignited a bit of competitive spirit, which pulled me in further.
[Curtis] Why have you spent so much time towards sharing the Vrbs mission and creating Vrbs art?
[ZAM] The short answer is because it has been fun - Participating in the art race, bidding on art race winners, voting, testing new features, participating in contests, shipping coffee cups, have all felt like creative outlets that I’m happy to spend time on. With respect to art, I think the art and Artists of Vrbs are next level. I still find the evolution of Art Race fascinating to watch; some of the innovative approaches to the Vrbs design constraints have been seriously creative. And in terms of mission, the quality and speed of execution by the architects and protocol team, along with the quality of initial proposals and grants that have been funded, make me optimistic about where the project will go long term to harness crypto to do good in the world. The thoughtfulness behind the initial proposals and grants that have been funded has been exceptional - this makes me personally very excited to keep building with Vrbs.
[Curtis] How did you come up with the idea for cupofvrb?
[ZAM] I have a coffee cup that my little brother made for me 10+ years ago as a gift, with a really funny looking frog on it that he drew in art class. It has brought me a lot of tiny moments of joy. So I have this personal experience of a coffee cup that can positively nudge my day. Vrbs have a similar feeling to me, in that every one has a really personal connection to the artist and art. So I think that similarity, and at the same time, chatting with Rocketman early on about splits and the intent/opportunities of Vrbs with physical products connected as one idea for http://cupofvrb.com .
[Curtis] Any upcoming plans or surprises in store?
[ZAM] yes, absolutely!
[Curtis] Speaking of cool ideas, a few weeks ago you introduced the Mystery Mug Auction as an experimental sponsorship model for the Vrbs Art Race. What lessons did you take away from the experiment, and can we expect a new version soon?
[ZAM] From a product perspective - I still really like the idea of a Mystery Mug, as a fun way to surprise/delight folks that are interested in that kind of experience. And will likely build on this concept from a product perspective. As a sponsorship model, I think it might be unnecessarily confusing in the sense that other models like the artist residency can more directly support Vrbs artists. This concept was a quick launch and didn’t get a lot of traction - so I would say the concept didn’t work based on the initial framing, but the experiment was a success in that it taught me something about the idea.
Thank you for reading!
Vrbish has one mission: To amplify Vrbs and the builders and creators that support it.
Please share this with a friend and do your part to amplify our voice. Every new community member helps Vrbs do more good in the world
