ETHDevner is a festival for builders. No matter your age, nationality, occupation, or whatever is, as long as you are for Web3 or a decentralized future, here you go. Wei, the founder of Adot, attended ETHDenver this year and he had “a lot of thoughts and observations”. I tasked him with some questions on his flight leaving Denver, and below are his answers.
Is Web3 Cracked?
No! Yes, the market is bad and a lot of scandals were here, but when bubbles are gone, the belief remains and spreads.
When I arrived at the registration desk on the first day, I even could not find the end of the line. The line was at least 100 meters long. People still believe in the core spirit behind the industry — decentralization, open-source, privacy, etc. Belief is belief.
Another observation is Web3 is a world for the young generation. I met a partner of an investment group, and guess what? He just graduated from college one year ago. This is also why I love Web3. When you are young, you are not restricted. You are idea-ful, you are open-minded, and you want to talk and discuss. Where there are young people, where there is the future.
A fun fact. The most popular way to social at ETHDenver is to add each other on telegram and send a selfie to the chat. Very straightforward and efficient.
Is Web3 only About Speculation and Money?
No! Most attendees are engineers or at least have some engineering and technical background. The overall vibe is very technology-driven. As an engineer, I have to say, I love it! We understand each other and we know how to communicate with each other.
I know many people might feel Web3 is a place full of speculators and money laundry. But I believe Web3 is heaven for technical builders. We are building a technical network together. AI is another hot topic recently. However, AI technology is heavily based on the dataset size and computing power. Tech giants are leading in both two and very few big players are capable of launching their own models. Most companies are applying models that are trained by giants in niche markets or making some minor modifications. Thus, most AI startups are more product- or design- or marketing-driven. It is very hard for them to be a big player from a technology perspective.
Is Booth Necessary to Get Attention?
No again! Adot did not have a booth this year, but I was wearing a hoodie with the logo, slogan, contact information, and product demo of Adot. I was a mobile booth myself. Some people who I once chatted with online previously stopped me when they saw my hoodie. At the same time, people were pretty open-minded and willing to discuss. Most teams sent their core teams or even founders/ co-founders to Denver. Thus, it was very easy for you to exchange thoughts with other teams and see whether there might be a potential collaboration or partnership. For example, I caught Sam Williams, Co-Founder and CEO of Arweave, told him what Adot was doing, and reached a verbal collaboration.
Some tips for people who want to make use of your time:
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Pick up the right side events and social with other attendees. For example, I met the team of ar.io and Hansa at the Arweave event, and multiple SocialFi teams at social house.
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Make use of your connections. Ask your friends to introduce you to other people. Don’t be shy. Just ask.
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Look around different booths, read their introductions, and introduce yourself when you feel there is a match.