This is a brain dump of what I think is a good overview to get started learning about web3.

Let start by looking at why web3 matters. Below is a really good tweet thread by Chris Dixon, a partner at a16z, who is focused on web3.

Why web3 matters: https://future.a16z.com/why-web3-matters/

Quick summary:

Web1 (roughly 1990-2005) was about open protocols that were decentralized and community-governed. Most of the value accrued to the edges of the network — users and builders.

Web2 (roughly 2005-2020) was about siloed, centralized services run by corporations. Most of the value accrued to a handful of companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook.

We are now at the beginning of the web3 era, which combines the decentralized, community-governed ethos of web1 with the advanced, modern functionality of web2.

Web3 is the internet owned by the builders and users, orchestrated with tokens.

Here’s how I view the web3 landscape:

1. Tokens
2. Wallets
   1. metamask, rainbow, coinbase wallet (these are all self-custody wallets meaning you control the private keys/seed phrase
3. NFTs
4. NFT Marketplaces
   1. Opensea ($10b valuation and largest marketplace)
5. Centralized exchanges
   1. Coinbase, Binance, FTX, Gemini, Crypto.com
6. Decentralized exchanges (Uniswap)
   1. Allows people to swap tokens (i.e. swap ETH for $GALA)
7. Staking protocols
   1. OlympusDAO (overview article), Time Wonderland (overview video)
8. DAOs
   1. FlamingoDAO, FWB
9. Play-to-earn games
   1. Axie, Gala, Wolf Game
10. Metaverse
    1. Sandbox, Decentraland
11. Software Dashboards to track holdings
    1. Zapper.fi 
12. Taxes
    1. CoinTracker, ZenLedger, TokenTax, Koinly
13. Liquidity Protocols
    1. Stake crypto and earn interest or borrow assets
    2. Aave, Compound Finance, Yearn Finance
    3. Rari Capital - They also offer their Fuse pools product which allows anyone to lend, borrow, and create isolated lending pools (community created pools)

Good Readings:

• Coopatroopa DAO landscape
• Why NFTs are a generational innovation
• Gaby’s web3 reading list

Interesting projects I like right now:

• Royal - a music tokenization platform that incorporates music royalties into tokens (NFTs) that anyone can buy or trade. They raised $55m in Nov 2021 from a16z, chainsmokers and others after previously raising $16m just 3 months prior ($71m total raised).
• Flyfish Club (check out this youtube overview video here) - Gary Vee’s new NFT membership restaurant in NYC. Think of this like a membership club similar to Zero Bond or Soho House where you have to have the token (NFT) in your wallet to gain access.
• IndexCoop / TokenSets - Create, manage, and grow your own index fund of tokens
• Pallet - Job boards that allow you to curate roles for your community and connect
  members with businesses you support (ex. Gaby’s Web3 Job Board)

DAO Tools / Resources:

1. Governance: @AragonProject (https://aragon.org)
2. Voting: @SnapshotLabs (https://snapshot.org/#/)
3. Token gating: @Collab_Land_ (https://collab.land)
4. Treasury: @juiceboxETH (https://juicebox.money/#/)
5. Community: @discord
6. Multi-sig wallet: @gnosissafe (gnosis-safe.io)

Other tools recommended by @coopahtroopa that are acting as the defacto standard for most DAOs today:

Discourse - Forum commonly used to discuss governance proposals.

Coordinape - Coordination game to determine which contributors(s) deserve token rewards.

Parcel - Treasury management to easily track and send payments.

SourceCred - Instance to track community participation and reward active members.

Mirror - Finance creative projects through tokenized crowdfunds.

Tally - Governance dashboard to track on-chain voting history across different protocols.

Boardroom - Governance hub for tokenholder management to empower key decision making.

Sybil - Create and track on-chain governance delegation.

RabbitHole - Reward tokens for completing specific on-chain tasks.

Together, this stack allows anyone to spin up a treasury, introduce governance, reward key contributions and engage communities in ongoing discussions.

People to follow on Twitter:

1. Beanie
2. Hunter Orrell
3. Kevin Rose - Partner at True Ventures and podcast host
   1. Modern Finance podcast - all things crypto / blockchain
   2. Proof NFT- NFT interviews
4. Gaby Goldberg - Investor at The Chernin Group Crypto (TCG)
5. 3lau - DJ and founder of Royal (platform to buy ownership in songs via royalties)
6. Alexis Ohanian - founder of 776 ventures / founder of reddit
7. DCInvestor
8. Blake Robbins
9. Jacob Martin - NFTAttorney who launched NFT Tax Guide
   1. This is really cool. He created a “Tax Guide” document that you purchase as an NFT for .08 ETH (around $300).
10. Coopahtroopa - venture partner at Variant Fund
    1. Good tweet on starter DAOs

There’s many, many more people to follow on Twitter such as the people on this NFT list created by my friend jsunderulo.eth. I’ll add more people to my list later on but for now it’s a good start.

I’m also excited about more projects than I listed above but want to do more research on them before I commit to adding them to this list.

As I learn about more things in web3 and find them interesting, I’ll also add them here. DM me on Twitter if you think I left anything out.

My twitter: @ryanashank