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Greetings all,

In this week’s episode of Ventures, I (https://www.linkedin.com/in/wclittle) continue my Product and Code series to discuss first - on the product side - why and how blockchains can be used to create digital products. I also show - on the code side - how to instantiate a variable in a Ruby on Rails controller to display it in an associated view file. In the product section I discuss Yuga Labs’ https://mdvmm.xyz/ and explain why you - as a Web3 product manager - should be following Yuga’s strategies carefully to learn how to apply similar principles for your own products.

Check it out: Product: How to use public blockchains and NFTs. Code: How to instantiate a controller variable

OpenAI

We learned this past week that OpenAI has likely hired 1000+ contractors to - essentially - attempt to eliminate the need for junior developers. This fits the general direction we’ve been noticing ever since products like GitHub Co-Pilot have been released.

My spin is different. I think this tool will level up junior developers faster into mid-level and senior-level developers in terms of productivity.

Still - these developers may not know what is actually going on under the hood, which can create problems if the AI is incorrect. However, this is what standard code review and senior developers on the team can be responsible for catching.  

Yuga

It’s been fun to play https://dookeydash.xyz/ by Yuga Labs. By owning their NFTs, I’m able to get access to (i.e. “mint”) a couple Sewer Passes which allows me to play the game. I have no idea if it’s better to just sell the passes and let someone else get a chance at the future drop(s), or if it’s better to just try and get the highest score I can and see what happens.

This mystery and participation in games/lore in an NFT community, however, is a hint of what’s to come for brands around the world. It’s no surprise to me that Meta, Starbucks, Reddit, etc… have been rolling out NFT plays in the past few months; harnessing a public ledger for digital goods/collectibles is so enormously valuable (and still poorly understood) that if large brands don’t get ahead of it, they will fall significantly behind.

If you are following along with the Product and Code series and interested in leveling-up your Web3 product skills, Yuga is an important brand to follow closely. While they are an example of an early NFT company that started with a profile-pic mint and later started throwing big parties and building games, I can guarantee that other brands that already have games/parties will start minting NFTs - and releasing associated lore/stories - to acquire even more users, revenue, and marketing attention.

For the new Web3 entrepreneur building a brand, you don’t need to wait. You can start storytelling and entertaining/engaging your audience right away. I’d be interested to hear from you if you are spinning something up; I’d love to help in any way I can.

Have a great rest of your week!

~Will