Chris Dixon, who leads the A16Z crypto fund, and has been an entrepreneur, VC, and good friend of mine for over twenty years, has written a e-book known as Learn Write Personal that’s accessible for pre-order now and can begin delivery on the finish of the month. Chris gave me a duplicate proper earlier than the vacations and I learn it during the last week.
I requested Chris why he wrote the e-book and he had two solutions, one private and one sensible. The non-public one is “I’ve centered my profession on investing in blockchain networks. In the course of the current downturn, I felt a must rearticulate to myself why I’m doing that.” The sensible one is “I need to clarify blockchain networks to younger adults who’re fascinated by the place to begin their careers, to the mom of the software program engineer at Coinbase who desires to grasp what her baby is engaged on, and to lawmakers and regulators in DC who want to grasp why they’re essential.”
What Chris calls Blockchain Networks, I name Web3. The time period Web3 is essential to me as a result of my investing profession first took which means in the course of the preliminary part of the net, which I consider as Web1. It took off in the course of the second part of my profession which many name Web2. And I’ve spent the final decade of my profession imagining what a greater model might be, which I name Web3.
Chris takes the identical journey however he calls these phases Learn, Write, and Personal. The preliminary part of the net, when the net browser arrived, was principally a studying expertise. Then within the early 2000s, the net turned two-way and we may Learn and Write. What Blockchain Networks have unlocked is the power to personal issues on the net. You possibly can personal your identification. You possibly can personal your social media posts. You possibly can personal your cash. You possibly can personal your artwork. You possibly can personal your music. And so forth and so forth.
Chris’s e-book has three components. The primary half is a historical past of the net and the way we bought to the place we’re proper now. The second half is an in depth description of what makes Blockchain Networks work and why they’re essential and highly effective. The third and ultimate half is a sequence of descriptions of latest sorts of purposes which are being constructed on Blockchain Networks.
Whereas I loved all three components of the e-book, I used to be energized by the ultimate part. Chris imagines a future that may be very completely different from the place we’re immediately. It’s one I very a lot need to see emerge. I believe you’ll too.
You possibly can pre-order Learn Write Personal right here.I encourage you to try this. I count on you’ll flip that final web page and be excited, like I’m, about what’s coming now that we will personal the Web as an alternative of it proudly owning us.