Mission
Fund a more democratized, user governed, and user focused future for social networks.
SOCIAL LANDSCAPE RESEARCH
As social media platforms become more engaging and more embedded into our digital lives, many ponder “what’s next” in the space.
Tiktok (which started as musically) is currently the kingpin of mobile video and is the fastest growing social platform over the past few years.
Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, and Triller all followed in TikTok’s footsteps, creating successful short form video models shadowing Tiktok’s success.
Already, Facebook, now known as Meta is expanding towards an even more engaging experience. [VR]
We think there's still awhile before we have a headset on more than we use our phones, until then mobile video will be the most engaging way to download information from the internet to our brain. Which is why the focus is on the next generation platform for our phone rather than our headsets.
The mobile-video web is the new era of engaging with digital information which will last at least the next 5 years.
With Tiktok at the forefront of mobile video, and so many startups focusing on new ways to allow users to engage with mobile video, we look towards the web2 era for patterns that may remerge in this new era. We think this quote is perfect for our ideas about the future of web2.5 and web3 social.
We believe the opportunity to invest in web3 social platforms that will bring web2 users to web3 to be the biggest opportunity in the space.
Why?
Cryptocurrencies are highly attention based, and social media platforms is where a majority of online user attention goes. Surfing the web has changed, people don't “surf” the web anymore, they surf social media platforms. As surfers, we tend to move towards the biggest wave. By this I mean the wave whose crest represents the amount of dopamine released in our brain.
We are investing in platforms that will not only conduct the onboarding of web2 to web3.
We already saw one platform achieve this in a small way. Nader AKA DiamondHands built a platform called Bitclout. Besides being a Twitter clone with less features, a key feature that made it stand out was allowing users to invest into the creation of tokens of any person on the platform. After amassing 300,000 users the price of the native $clout token went to over $800 million dollars.
With a user value of $2,666 it goes to show how early web3 social is.
We dont just see this with Bitclout, it’s a constant thing across the board in crypto startups. People are betting on the future, and while some would say it’s a bubble that seems to be a reoccurring theme, when does it become not a bubble but a new financial model? Sure, theres startups which are overfunded with ideas that seem finicky at best, but being in the space I believe the future of this market is even bigger than we are imagining.
And when it comes to web3 social the merging of finance and the social sector means a brand new opportunities for capitalization. Crypto wallets are our new banking solution for the web3 world. Web3 social is going to skyrocket through the glass ceiling of user LTV open because of the intertwining of the finance world with social. We believe the largest wallet (banking solution), NFT marketplace, (Digital Ownership Buy / Sell), and Token Swapping (Web3 Stock Exchange) will collectively stem from the social network which manages to not only bring web2 masses from incumbent platforms to web3 one, but which has high stickiness in usability and user-attention. The majority of web2 users will onboard to web3 via social rather than gaming. This social platform will be the main portal of discovery to the Metaverse. The biggest web3 social will be the biggest wallet provider, the platform that has the most transactions and swaps, and the largest NFT marketplace.
Its a network effect thing.
So, what does the next 5 years of mobile social platforms look like?
Today, with 83% of social media use happening on our mobile devices, full screen mobile video offers the most engaging format and convenient way to interact with the digital world.
Many startups see this and the lack of the ability to sort for niche content, so they are creating these niche “micro-social” apps.
The problem with these micro-social apps is always the network effect. To reach a community critical mass is too high a cost versus the LTV of consumers. Now, with social platforms having their own token, the growth of their financial capabilities can rise directly with their user growth, allowing compounding interest of network effects to take hold faster, and more efficiently. With our internal team we will be helping our portfolio companies scale using vampire attacks, smart tokenomics, and ensuring a focus on building a strong community.
OUR WEB 3 SOCIAL THESES
Thesis 1:
Web3 Social won’t be a page of different apps, it’s still going to mainly stem from one main market force.
Thesis 2:
Web3 social is going to skyrocket user LTV open because of the intertwining of the finance world with social. We believe the largest wallet (banking solution), NFT marketplace, (Digital Ownership Buy / Sell), and Token Swapping (Web3 Stock Exchange) will collectively stem from the social network which manages to not only bring web2 masses from incumbent platforms to web3 one, but which has high stickiness in usability and user-attention.
Thesis 3:
The majority of web2 users will onboard to web3 via social . This social platform will be the main portal of discovery for the web3 world. We believe the front page of the web3 internet is being created.
Thesis 4:
The Web3 Social platform that wins the market, would have worked as a web2 social experience.
PAIN POINTS OF THE LEADING SOCIAL PLATFORM
Social Like-Ability (Currently Tiktok is massively used, but public perception is negative for a multitude of reasons.)
Good Support System (Colty, Taite, Sanzone and Myself have been banned from Tiktok 22 times, yes 22 times while following the rules. After weeks we have all gotten our accounts back. This problem is rampant on Tiktok, and with no options Colty who has 10 million followers actually drove to the Tiktok headquarters to try and fix it, and was still unable to do so.)
Monetization Opportunities (Colty (an influencer in our house) is in the top 100 Tiktokkers, and has over 10m followers but cannot support himself from their monetization opportunities)
Direct Messaging Openness (DM’s on Tiktok are basically not used because unless a person is being followed by someone, they cannot message them)
Allow More User Creativity (Right now scrolling on Tiktok, variety comes from new filters and dances, we believe adding deeper ways to interact with content will have users constantly coming back for me)
Healthier Ways To Engage (With only one main “ForYou” page with a walled engagement algorithm many have to delete the platform because of its Toxic nature on their lives. While they love the format of mobile video, they are unable to just watch content they are interested in that is sustainable and conducive to their lives)
Larger Sense Of Community (Community on Tiktok is nonexistent besides memetric trends in comment sections and video trends)
LTV of people who take ownership in a platform they use is insanely high.
Cryptos Price Is Based Firstly On Attention:
Factors: Quality of Attention (How Much Potential Capital To Put In) x Quality of Project (How much capital user is enthralled into putting in)
This is why the Social platforms where people spend their time will be the most valued Crypto's out there.
To Pitch Your Startup Email:
Submissions@Web3SocialFund.com
