Deflationary Ethereum
And an inside look at the economics of cohort-based courses
If you're ready to build the next big thing, it’s really never been easier to learn, create, network and hire across borders and oceans, so what are you waiting for?
The online world is ready for you. Just watch out for those big data and privacy shifts that keep changing things up.
Is the Internet the next Silicon Valley?
From Erik Torenberg’s Thoughts
There have been various attempts at recreating Silicon Valley, but none were very successful. Most failed to incorporate all the elements that make SV work, for example, fixating only on building an office complex next to a university or focusing only on networking, etc etc.
According to Erik, the next attempt at a new Silicon Valley should simply be on the Internet. The Internet is a perfect vessel for both the spirit of collaboration and mix of different ideas that leads to true progress. For such a move to happen, it’s important to examine what truly made the first Silicon Valley so unique. Aside from bringing together the best talent, capital and culture, what continues to help Silicon Valley thrive is its mindset.
Silicon Valley is different to most work environments as huge risks and bizarre ideas are encouraged.
Failure is accepted and your career is not ended by it. Big missteps alongside grand leaps are understood and used to teach the next generation.
The mindset is geared towards collaboration, with most people never seeking anything in return for their help.
There is less toxic competition. Just because your friend’s startup was funded does not mean you don’t also have a shot.
There’s no work 'your way up' culture. Any age, skill or background can build the next big thing.
Thanks to Twitter, AngelList, and founder communities you don’t have to be in Silicon Valley anymore to be part of it. You can now learn to run your company, find talented employees, network, build your expertise and fundraise from anywhere in the world and the online tools helping you in these areas are improving year on year.
Your user or everyone’s user?
From 1729, by Jon Stokes
Every online software business from the big right down to the small is going to face some major disruption thanks to blockchain.
The most important data table for any social network or *aaS product is the ‘users’ table. Most importantly, this table gives a business a way to track network effects (the more people use the platform and gain some value from it, the easier it is to bring in new users and stop others from leaving).
Currently, everyone’s user data lies behind an API that a third-party must ask permission for in order to gain access. So there is a web of isolated tables linked by access-controlled API’s and the relationship between different points in this web have varying points of access to each others’ data.
“More generally speaking, the pervasive leverage/risk dynamics that swirl around the users tables of the tech megaplatforms are the dark matter that gives shape to all the visible aspects of the Internet as we currently experience it. When that dark matter disappears, everything is going to fly apart.”
Blockchain can use public cryptography to create a user table for the entire internet. There would no longer be a network of parts, but a decentralized data store.
“My guess is that the temptation to take advantage of blockchain-sized network effects will be so great, that companies will default to putting data on-chain rather than keeping it siloed.”
Say Github, LinkedIn and Reddit all transfer their user tables to this centralized table. Then, suddenly every user of Github is also a user of LinkedIn and Reddit. A new data entry on your user table will not automatically mean you have someone new actually using your software, only that there is an account.
The numbers behind Shaan Puri’s writing course
Shaan Puri just made a little over $100K last month after launching his first ever online course. “That's what I used to make in a year. Now I can make it in a month! As a side hustle!” After bringing in $127K from 316 signups, he had to only deduct fees from the platform (Maven) that he used, his illustrator, and payment processor.
While Shaan was worried about being seen as just another fake ‘guru’ expert he is also a strong advocate of learning skills or as he puts it: “skills drive results, learning builds skills.” And so, after some wisdom from his mentor “...keep it real. People won't ever learn by just watching videos of you. They'll learn by doing it. Make them do it”, he set out to make his course.
The course ended up being all about learning by doing. Every lesson would start with students having to do one thing, then learn the 80/20 of getting good at it and then re-do it, meaning after each class you had a before and after shot. This method really worked. The completion rate was over 70% (around 10x higher than the average online course). As for financials, Shaan didn’t spend a dime on marketing. He simply used his audience who already trusted him and were willing to pay.
The down side? Mainly time. It took so much longer than he expected (ca. 50-70 hours just on content and then more on teaching and feedback). He also struggled with the demand for networking opportunities from and within the group — he hadn’t expected this and didn’t have infrastructure set up to support it.
What's next? Shaan will teach this course once more in August and then probably move on to a different topic (eg. a DeFi for Dummies crash course).
I love Shaan’s transparency — it’s interesting to get a behind the scenes look at this new era of online courses.
Ultra-Sound Ethereum
From Almanack, by Nat Eliason
The question being asked by many is this: is there even a need for Bitcoin or most other cryptocurrencies when everything can just be done on Ethereum?
Enter the ‘Ultra-Sound Money’ thesis.
Sound money: “money not liable to sudden appreciation or depreciation in value: stable money… specifically: a currency based on or redeemable in gold.” (Merriam-Webster)
But can Ethereum really be more sound than Bitcoin? Here’s how it may happen:
Implement EIP-1559 (an upgrade to Ethereum which alters how miners are incentivized and proposes that Ethereum can (potentially) become deflationary). It essentially destroys the base fee given to miners, causing a downward pressure on Ethereum.
Transition of Proof of Stake (altering how the Ethereum network is secured and allowing it to play a part in becoming deflationary). There will no longer be miners but instead, stakers. And stakers don’t need to regularly sell the Ethereum they’re making in order to buy new mining gear. As such, there will be less Ethereum in circulation and if it creates a fixed supply then it should fit the sound money definition. Then, if the Ethereum supply starts to shrink it could confirm the “ultra” sound idea.
Problems
No guarantee that Ethereum will become deflationary.
It's possible that stakers discard their Ethereum on the market for income meaning less gets secured in staking contracts.
Ethereum was changed to make these things possible, maybe it will be changed again in the future. The idea of Ethereum altering its monetary policy to turn into something immune from monetary policy is somewhat contradictory.
“A more interesting future to me is one where Bitcoin continues to be a reliable, durable, store of value. Something you can hold and not want to do much else with. Ethereum can be the financialization layer: handling everything from peer-to-peer transactions to options and mortgages.” - Nat Eliason
The privacy roller coaster
From The Pull Request, by Antonio García Martínez
Radical changes in how we interact with our own data are just around the corner. Massive shifts from cloud to on-device data will lead to sizable chain reactions on the business, legal and engineering fronts. In this post, Antonio talks us through the engineering challenges we could face as well as some solutions, more specifically, how differential privacy will change how your data is used.
Privacy isn't a binary switch anymore but, instead, a variable parameter. "By turning the noise knob on our differential privacy, we can essentially ask the user: so how much privacy do you want? Or more realistically...how much accuracy are we willing to sacrifice in our models for how much privacy offered to the user?"
Differential privacy is engineered to harmonize with how we really view our privacy: not something utterly untouchable that will never ever be given away or the result of some weird logical lead governed by law, but rather as something malleable - a "blob of privacy I’m willing to trade here or there in exchange for some amount of convenience, security or community."
The context in which we view our privacy radically changes from one year to the next. For example, when Facebook shipped Newsfeed in 2006. A year after huge initial outrage, they could not have shut it down without riots.
When it comes to privacy, "we're still making it up as we go along."
We still need the debate around privacy measures to increase and improve. Differential privacy will soon leave the academic world and head in the same direction as specialized privacy law, which led to a sea of activists, research and regulators.
Extra Reading:
How to get back to your creative work (Superorganizers)
Pinduoduo: Bull vs Bear (Chinese Characteristics + Not Boring collab piece)
How to recognize 10 cognitive biases (The Curiosity Chronicle)
Culture is about to get liquid (Digital Native)
How to build serendipity into your community (The Backstage Pass)
The SaaS org chart, defined (Bottom Up)