I’ve always prided myself on my ability to add more value than I take from the web3 community. in practice this looked like doing work for free, not releasing or commercializing too much of my own work, and generally helping people because I wanted to.
but it quickly devolved into a sense of martyrdom. to believe that my values were uncorrupted by profit. that my friendships were pure and my perspective untainted.
to believe that I was somehow less biased.
it’s true, I haven’t put out a pfp collection and rugged my friends. I haven’t pumped my bags or used my followers for exit liquidity. In fact, quite the opposite. aside from selling art, I spent my first year in this ecosystem without making $1 off web3 - not from consulting, advisory positions, etc. I had several great jobs outside the ecosystem, and wanted to protect myself from the trap of chasing returns (I’m also an objectively terrible trader)
in other words, I hadn’t profited off of my interest in web3. and I felt good about that. and still do to an extent. I’ve made friendships based on truly valuing others opinions, I’ve used products because they solved my needs as a participant in this ecosystem. I’ve used what little social proof I have to support others where I can - and tried to share the realities of operating in web3 by learning in public and unlearning what it means to be successful.
and my am I aware of what a privilege that is.
but in avoiding all the traditional traps of corrupted incentives I found myself in an entirely new predicament. one that almost vilified money, the pursuit of making money, and inadvertently placed money and virtue at opposite ends of the same spectrum.
deep down, I believe that money is both freedom and obligation. much like the premise of freedom itself, which always comes with strings attached, money complicates things.
→ you need resources to help others
→ valuing your time is a form of healthy prioritization
→ you have to decide what you are willing to support, not just what you’re not willing to support
assigning positive or negative values to a thing renders you powerless (often conveniently so) when the real harm comes from inaction.
I still struggle a lot with the concept of mixing extrinsic motivators like financial reward or return in with the very intrinsic needs that power strong communities. shared vision, value alignment, stories, shared experiences and rituals.
but what I struggle with even more is this harsh reality that the people doing the most valuable, impactful work tend to be the ones least rewarded. it’s the double edged sword of doing work you believe in because you want to, and not because of the associated reward.
but when we talk about aligning incentives, about a true opportunity to make “doing the right thing” synonymous with “doing the most valuable thing”, it means a few things in our current ecosystem need to change: