What are the platforms, programs and communities for web3 founders?
Where do web3 founders & creators hang? Calling on the community to add their two cents, so we can guide new creators and founders coming into the space.
I have taken a bit of a break from writing NFT memos during the last few months focusing on The Divergents (NFT collection), Playgrid (Steam for blockchain gaming), and attending conferences NFC, NFT.NYC or UTXO (spoke at NFT use cases panel) evaluating my position in the NFT space.
Instead of the usual NFT market analysis, this time I have decided to put together a list of communities and platforms that could be valuable for founders & digital entrepreneurs dedicated to building in the web3 space. As an NFT founder & advisor, I continuously search for supportive and resourceful collectives and platforms, that would help me in my web3 journey. Whether it be knowledge, tools, network, advice, or investment opportunities. Especially in the bear market and potential incoming recession, these collectives may now be more important than ever. I love this picture from Nathan Valadares [内森] Ξ - the builders, who build during bear markets GMI.
Due to the fast-paced environment, use of gate-keeping mechanisms, and fragmentation into a large number of communities, it may be hard for a newcomer but also an experienced participant in this ecosystem to have a good overview of these communities & platforms. I have therefore decided to call on the web3 community to throw two cents on what space was most helpful on their journey and why.
Are you a creator or founder? I would be grateful for your opinion on what community or platform helped you on your journey (click here).
Below I provide a list of communities, platforms, initiatives, DAOs or IRL events that I know of and could be a good starting point. I am not in all of these, so I will always appreciate a second opinion. With a background focused mainly on NFTs, I may be leaning more towards NFT-focused spaces but will do my best to keep the list balanced.
Communities
Crypto Packaged Goods (CPG) - a collective that runs on two token-gated Telegram chats - for Genesis and Pop NFT holders. CPG runs also its own incubator for POP members that opened applications on 23rd May and consulting arm managed by CPG members. (Public Telegram)
Midnight labs - is a web3 collective for collectors and builders created by Giancarlo, who a few months ago opened member applications. You can apply if you hold at least one of the recognized NFTs. (Discord)
Admit one - is a private group created by Gmoney for 1000 web3 enthusiasts, builders, and thought leaders token gated by Admit One NFT. If you want to dig deeper here is the manifesto. (Discord)
Arc Community - people of Arc are meant to unite passionate builders and culture-pushers. From what I heard the team has good attention among top communities. You can apply and upon being allowed listed you can mint Pyxis, your key to the community. (Discord)
Origamasks - upcoming NFT project that wants to help onboard builders to web3 such as consultations, education, Learn2earn etc. You can apply here. (Discord)
HUG – is a community for collectors and web3 creators (HUGHub). Its original project is groupHUG - a creator accelerator program for post-mint NFT projects and up-and-coming 1/1 artists. The platform also runs an advisory program for early-stage pre-mint NFT projects. (Discord)
Y00ts - one of the most awaited projects this year made by frankdegods, a name that stands also behind DeGods, a sort of SOL-based version of BAYC. To be able to mint you had to apply for a y00t scholarship. (Discord)
DAOs
Orange DAO - a collective open only to YC alums supporting founders of crypto startups. Part of Orange DAO is also Orange Fund - a web3 venture fund. You can apply for funding here. If you are not YC alumni, you can apply to get informed if Orange DAO decides to extend their web3 community.
LobsterDAO - an OG collective of DeFi & NFT degens and whales. Might be worth exploring for those with DeFi focus - DeFi research chat, general NFT chat, and NFT-gated chat, for which you need LobsterDAO NFT.
Friends With Benefits (FWB) - a social DAO that describes itself as “a worldwide group of cultural creators, thinkers, and builders who convene digitally and IRL to collaboratively shape Web3´s future”, you can apply to join here. I have attended their events, but still, have a pending application, so would be happy for an opinion on this one. (Discord)
For those looking for application designers and devs, VectorDAO could be of interest - a “collective of application designers & developers contributing work to crypto protocols in order to accelerate their mainstream adoption.“ You can apply to join here.
Accelerators & launchpads
Seed Club - social token incubator, that helps developers launch successful social tokens. Seed Club operates an accelerator to provide support to and bring together exciting new social impact projects. You can dig deeper by checking out their intro article, Notion, applying as a community member or into their next cohort. (Discord)
Alliance DAO - web3 accelerator and builder community running 10-week programmes in 3 cohorts per year. You can apply for the next cohort of a join all 10 programme by 16th Jan 2023. The graduates can join the DAO community, which certainly could bring an interesting network of buikders.
Base Camp (Outlier Ventures) - web3 accelerator by Outlier Ventures running usually 12 weeks. It offers several tracks based on the startup focus from sustainable fashion to DeFi. Outlier Ventures is a known name in the space and next to helping with tokenomics, governance, community building etc. the next cohort could also provide an interesting community of founders & devs to newcomers.
Forefront Studio – a launchpad for web3 founders that want to create a tokenized community that is behind Terminal - a dashboard for DAOs. Part of Forefront is Canon - a curated list of resources for digital communities, FF Labs which throws workshops and aims to execute the best ideas submitted by the community. (Discord)
Launchpad by Magic Eden - for NFT-focused projects and collections a good call could be to apply for launchpad by NFT marketplace Magic Eden, where you can receive marketing and technical support. Magic Eden was behind some mints such as Ezu - a sister wear2earn project of Psychadelic Anonymous.
Launch House - a paid social club supported by a16z for founders, engineers, and investors. You can apply to different cohorts based on your background - web3 founder residency (Launch House), Investor residency (Venture House), or Design house. This may make sense for mainly CEOs get reach to a greater network, investors and help with raising investment.
If you work on NFT project or are building NFT community, a lot of alpha groups or NFT collections have launched their own launchpads, an example of this is Angel Labs - web3 accelerator from Meta Angels NFT managed by Cheryl Kellond to support the next generation of NFT projects. The accelerator so far had only one cohort in early 2022. (Discord).
In real life (IRL) events
IRL events might be sometimes the best way to make meaningful relationships with founders and creators. A good overview of blockchain events you can find here.
NFT.NYC (US) - NFT.NYC is the biggest global NFT event. From my experience, if you do not plan to catch speakers right after their talks, it is better to focus on the satellite events themselves. Most of the listed communities throw events on their own during the conference. Next event is NFT.London on 3-4th November 22.
EthCC - heard only good things about Ethereum Community Conference that took a place on 19-21 July 22 in Paris. Whereas the event has a wider focus on the Ethereum ecosystem, you can meet plenty of devs, VCs & founders. Same as in case of NFT.NYC, usually the conference is surrounded by high-quality side events.
Veecon (US) – the first Veecon, a conference organized by Gary Vee, took a place on 19th-22nd May in Minneapolis. Ticket NFTs for Veecon were airdropped to Veefriends Series 1 holders as this is a core utility of the NFTs. I heard only good things from friends that have attended. Let´s see about next year.
Non-Fungible Conference (EU) – I consider NFC the biggest NFT event in Europe. It took a place in Lisbon on 4th-5th April. I met some founders there but to a limited extent. I share my experience from NFC here. Next year NFC is taking place on 24th-25th May.
Other
Premint Creator key - a good tool for NFT projects. As this tool is intended primarily for core teams, it is likely that at Discord you will run into and can DM other NFT founders. From my experience, it is way more likely they actually reply than writing them on Twitter. You can join without buying the key, but you will not be able to see hidden channels for collaborations etc.
NFT Avenue - general NFT chat on Telegram created by LobsterDAO open to the public. One can occasionally catch there some interesting updates or projects.
Wrap-up
I hope this list was helpful. If you do not see a community or platform in here that you have personal experience with and would recommend for web3 founders and creators, please share it here with the community.
I will be continuously updating this list and asking OGs, founders, devs & degens this very same question so that we can together provide a guide for navigating founders, creators, and digital entrepreneurs that decide to embark on the web3 journey.🚀
Bonus: If you are a starting founder, you might want to check out START by a16z.
Have an opinion on the above? Are you interested in/building something in NFT and web3 space? Drop a comment or message me on Twitter or Telegram and let’s chat.