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From YouTube: Gavin Birch (Figment) - Finding signal in the noise
Description
You're new. And so is everyone else. And everyone is trying to convince you to buy their tokens. It's confusing and full of moonshot promises. Some people are getting wildly rich, while others are losing everything. Welcome to Web3. There's a lot more going on under the surface, and the opportunity space is vast. Let's find the signal in an otherwise noisy space.
A
So
yeah
hi
everyone.
I
wanted
to
talk
a
little
bit
about
finding
some
funding
signal
in
a
otherwise
noisy
space.
It
kind
of
dovetails
on
what
connor
said
about
there
being
you
know
a
lot
of
distractions
in
the
space,
a
lot
of
things
that
are
competing
for
your
attention,
and
this
can
be
hard
to
know
what
to
pay
attention
to.
But
there
is
a
lot
of
opportunity.
A
A
Okay,
perfect
thanks
vanessa
yeah!
That's
that's
great!
That's
what
I'm
that's
what
I
was
hoping,
I'm
I'm
glad
to
know
that
yeah.
So
so
I
would
say
that
I'd
say
that
we're
we're
in
the
sort
of
pioneering
phase,
fueled,
mostly
by
speculation,
about
what
a
decentralized
future
looks
like
it's
a
it's
a
bit
of
a
wild
west.
There's
not
a
lot
of
regulatory
clarity,
there's
a
lot
of
noise
and
I
think
that's
because
there's
a
lot
of
money
flying
around
and
at
the
core
there's
a
pretty
strong
and
tight-knit
group
of
builders.
A
But
if
you've
just
wandered
in
it
can
be,
I
think
it
can
be
worse
than
a
tourist
trap.
There's
a
lot
of
there's
a
lot
of
mid-level
like
multi-level
marketing
type
stuff
going
on,
and
you
know
everyone's
trying
to
get
you
to
buy
the
tokens
that
they
hold
in
all
the
speculation.
You'll
likely
find
a
high
degree
of
risk
and
reward,
and
a
lot
of
that
revolves
around
you
know
potentially
cutting
edge
technology.
That's
supposed
to
disrupt
the
status
quo
of
the
internet
as
we
know
it
finance
and
how
we
coordinate
in
society.
A
Broadly
so,
web3
promises
us
that
we'll
have
full
control
over
what
we
own
and
how
we
interact
with
one
another,
but
the
reality
is
that
the
developer
experience
is
pretty
rough,
and
so
is
the
user
experience
and,
while
they're
well,
socially,
there's
a
lot
of
exuberance
in
the
space.
There's
also
a
lot
of
confusion,
and
one
thing
I'm
fairly
certain
about
is
that
the
promise
of
web
3
appears
to
be
gradually
unfolding.
A
A
I
was
I
was
hired
from
twitter
yeah.
You
can
you're,
probably
you
know
most
likely
everybody
who's
listening
now,
you're
all
listening
through
twitter
spaces,
so
you
feel
free
to
follow
me
on
twitter.
I'm
ether
underscore
gavin,
but
yeah.
A
lot
of
the
activity
happens
in
the
space
on
twitter.
Figment
is
a
staking
service
provider.
A
A
A
A
It's
it's
good
to
get
oriented
and-
and
just
the
caveat,
like,
I
kind
of
think
of
myself
as
a
the
one-eyed
guy
in
in
the
in
the
land
of
a
lot
of
a
lot
of
blind,
and
there
are
a
lot
of
other
people
like
me
as
well,
that
are
that
are
also
one-eyed.
People,
so
take
what
I
say
and
what
others
say
with
a
grain
of
salt
because
yeah
it's
it's
a
weird
and
wild
space.
B
Gavin
one
of
the
things
that
I've
really
enjoyed
about
getting
to
know
you
at
the
different
events
that
we've
been
attending
is
that
you
always
push
people
to
continuously
evolve
and
learn
in
the
space,
and
so
every
time
people
go
to
an
event.
You
always
ask
them.
What
did
you
learn
there
and
I
think
kind
of
helping
people
with
this
mindset
and
approach
to
crypto
could
be
useful
like
what
what
other
tips
for
growth
would
you
give
to
people
entering
the
space?
A
A
A
There
are
lots
of
ways
in
which
you
can
engage
at
your
own
comfort
level,
but
always
with
that
kind
of
openness
to
learn
and
to
kind
of
push
yourself,
and
actually
one
of
the
biggest
things
I
think
is.
That
is
that
you
will
feel
stupid.
We
all
do
constantly
and
that's
because
we're
literally
making
this
up
as
we
go,
everybody
is
making
all
of
this
up
as
we
go.
A
A
A
Telegram
is
useful
for
one-on-one
conversations
and,
for
you
know,
focused
group
chats,
but,
like
the
you
know,
the
public
telegram
channels
are
can
be
cesspools
like
they're,
not
there's
a
lot
of
noise
there.
I
wouldn't
recommend
them.
Discourse
forms
are
good,
for
you
know,
kind
of
working
on
research.
Eath
research
is
a
really
popular
famous
one
for
really
in-depth
technical
research
and
that's
you
know
paved
the
way
for
a
lot
of
development.
Well
beyond
ethereum
itself.
A
There
are
two
things
to
really
pay
attention
to
in
this
space.
I
think
that
are
very
valuable
and
that's
decentralization
and
reputation.
There
are
two
things
that
I
really
want
to
push
here
about.
Decentralization
one
is
that
it's
you'll
hear
people
talk
about
it
like
it's
a
philosophy,
but
it's
a
lot
more
than
a
philosophy.
I
think
it's
a
very
concrete
thing.
It's
and-
and
the
other
thing
is
it's
not
the
goal
of
the
space.
I
think
it.
A
It
supports
our
goals,
which
is
that
I
think
we
want
strong
guarantees
that
whatever
solution
it
is
that
you're
building
will
operate
without
being
corrupted
and
by
corruption.
I
mean
that
it
won't
be
captured
that
that'll
may
be
able
to
sustain
its
properties
of
of
being
open
and
permissionless,
and
and
and
that
your
solution
will
be
reliable.
A
So
you
need
to
be
able
to.
I
think
you
that
that,
when
one
p,
like
the
people
who
are
building
in
this
space,
need
to
be
able
to
demonstrate
that
the
solution
that
they're
building
is
has
these
guarantees
and
that
there
were
and
that
this
solution
is
worth
switching
fro
away
from
kind
of
the
the
alternatives
or
they're,
not
the
alternatives,
the
more
dominant
solutions,
the
other.
The
other
element
is
reputation.
A
So
you
probably
will
see
a
lot
of
people
temp
and
project
teams
tempted
to
take
shortcuts
on
decentralization
as
a
means
of
of
trying
to
get
a
stronger
user
base
and
it'll
look
like
they're
winning,
but
I
actually
you
know
I'd
submit
that
sacrificing
decentralization
is
is
not
how
to
win
the
long
game
in
web
3.
and
there
are
different
kinds
of
decentralization.
A
You
know
token
distribution,
because
tokens
can
often
be
synonymous
with
ownership
of
the
network.
So
if
you
only
have
a
few
a
handful
of
individuals
who
own
the
tokens
and
subsequently
own
the
network,
then
it's
they,
they
control
it
and
so
that
those
properties
of
openness,
permissionless
might
might
be,
might
suffer
as
a
result.
There's
infrastructure.
So
you
know
those
who
actually
run
the
network.
A
How
distributed
that
is
that
can
really
affect
with
the
reliability
of
the
network
and
then
there's
those
who
are
actually
building
and
maintaining
these
these
decentralized
applications.
So
is
it
just
like
one
team,
a
lot
of
them
start
out
that
way,
but
gradually
it's
good
to.
I
think
it's
good
to
have
distributed
contributors
so
so
because,
essentially
like,
because
decentralization
is
hard.
A
It's
it's
kind
of
resulted
in
a
a
bit
of
a
painful
development
and
user
experience,
but
but
we
see
it
as
essential
on
the
reputation
side
in
such
a
you
know.
We
we're
in
such
a
vast
and
interconnected
trust,
minimalized
space.
So
our
reputation
is,
I
think,
it's
as
as
valuable
as
as
the
work
is
that
we're
doing
so
building
a
reputation
for
yourself
and
staying
committed
to
the
things
that
you
value,
I
think
is,
is
probably
paramount.
A
A
There
are
a
lot
of
open
questions
and
it's
just
a
really
great
way
to
to
start
and
initially
developing
connections
with
other
people
who
are
interested
in
a
lot
of
the
same
things
that
you
are
and
then
you
know
you
can
get
into
you
can
get
into.
I
can
ask
questions
in
discord
for
specific
projects.
You
can
get
involved.
You
can
tinker
with
things
yourself.
A
lot
of
this
is
open
source
most
of
it.
A
Is
people
really
value
that
and
it's
a
great
way
to
meet
other
people
that
you
didn't
even
know
existed,
that
might
have
common
values
or
things
to
add,
or
you
know,
relationships
that
are
worth
building
and
then
to
get
right,
get
out
and
really
meet
people,
especially
with,
as,
as
things
start
to
open
back
up
things
were
really
shut
down
with
cove.
You
know
prior
cover,
there
were
crypto
conferences.
A
Ethereum
events
are
really
great,
even
though
it's
even
even
if
you
of
interest
outside
of
the
specifically
the
ethereum
community,
it's
just
very
it's
a
very
open
community
and
you'll
find
that
a
lot
of
the
other
ecosystem
contributors
show
up
at
even
even
outside
of
the
ethereum
community
are
joined.
The
ethereum
events
to
host
their
own
events.
So
so,
there's
there's
also
a
lot
of
funding
in
the
space
for
for
development.
A
There
are
really
big
treasuries
and
and
everybody's
hiring,
so
foundations,
dows
community
treasuries,
they're,
all
looking
to
give
away
they're
almost
looking
to
give
away
funding
for
dedicated
attention
to
solving
various
problems
and
contributing
to
their
network.
Conor
talked
about
get
coin
grants
as
well,
even
outside
of
you
know,
even
if
even
if
the
thing
that
is
that
you
want
to
work
on
doesn't
seem
to
fit
in
to
the
mandate
of
existing
sources
of
funding
there's,
there
are
always
like
bitcoin
grants
as
well,
and
it's
more
than
just
developers.
A
People
are
looking
to
hire
and
and
looking
for
contributions
from
you
know:
project
managers,
product
builders,
infrastructure
providers,
community
builders,
marketers
and
there's
so
many
other
roles,
like
I
said
things
are
pretty
rough
around
the
edges.
People
are
building
this
kind
of
weird
and
crazy
tech.
That
is,
that
kind
of
that's
kind
of
isolated,
but
now,
as
it
all
starts,
to
connect
together
and
form
a
bigger
entity
called
web3,
there's
still
a
lot
of
there's.
I
think
there's
still
a
lot
of
distance
to
be
bridged.
A
To
take
it
from
this
really
unfriendly
technology
to
being
used
seamlessly
in
our
day-to-day
lives,
so
we
need.
We
need
people
from
all
kind
of
walks
of
life
and
all
different
kinds
of
interests
and
expertise
to
be
able
to
to
to
make
to
to
make
that
bridge
happen,
and
actually
what's
interesting
is
that
I
think
a
lot
of
these
treasuries.
Like
I'm
talking,
you
know,
tara,
for
example.
A
A
There
are
all
these
great
big
treasuries
that
are
that
are
just
waiting
to
be
spent
that
actually
aren't
being
spent
and,
and
maybe
part
of
the
reason
is
we
might
want
to
look
at
like
who's
building
in
the
space
right
now,
and
so
so
right
now,
I
I
I
see
like
a
diverse
set
of
builders
with
a
diverse
set
of
values
which
is
really
attractive
and
exciting.
There
are
a
lot
of
like
creative
and
visionaries
and
polymaths,
so
you
know
working
in
the
space.
A
It's
a
great
way
to
get
connected
with
a
with
a
group
of
really
talented,
unique
people.
But
if
you
were
thinking
about
building
in
the
space
yourself,
you
might
think
yourself
like
do
I
have
to
be
a
creative
polymath,
visionary
to
be
building
and
and
historically
yeah
kind
of,
and
even
the
people
who
are
are
kind
of
fit
this.
A
This
description,
like
andre
cronier's
kind
of
famous
for
writing
about
how
building
in
d5
sucks-
and
you
know
he
would
be
considered
one
of
the
more
successful
innovators
in
the
space
and-
and
I
think
that's
I
think-
that's
because
there
are
a
number
of
reasons
why?
But,
but
you
know
there,
the
space
being
a
little
bit
strange
and
a
little
bit
dangerous
to
build
in,
because
there's
it's
hard
to
build,
secure
applications
and
there's
a
lot
of
people
with
a
lot
of
money
at
risk.
A
And
sorry
pardon
me
for
a
second
yeah.
So
so
there
there's
there's
a
lot
of.
There
are
a
lot
of
there's
a
lot
of
risk
involved
in
building
and
a
lot
of
people
can
lose
a
lot
of
money,
and
you
know
the
emphasis
on
things
being
very
trust.
Minimalized
you've
got
and
all
this
competition
for
attention
so
that
people
can
make
easy
quick
money.
It
means
that
there
are
a
lot
of
people
on
the
lookout
for
grifters
and
scammers,
and
so
you
know
sometimes
they
can
assume
that
see.
A
People
building
in
the
space
are
potentially
grifters
and
scammers,
and
so
that's
what
I
really
like
about
with
what
agorax
building
is,
that
is
that
there's
you
know
if
you're
a
web
developer,
you're
likely
used
to
using
javascript
and
solidity
is
one
of
the
most
one
of
the
more
well-known
programming
languages
in
the
space.
But
it's
really
unfriendly.
It's
like
known.
A
A
So
what
I
really
like
about
igorik
is
that
you
know
the
ability
for
people
to
work
in
an
environment
that
they're
familiar
with
javascript,
but
in
a
secure
way
to
have
these
walled
gardens
and
these
modular
reusable
battle,
tested,
d5
building
blocks,
which
I
think
will
be
really
important
to
accelerating,
accelerate
the
development
and
to
onboard
new
developers.
So
you
know
if
you
are
a
developer
or
if
you
are
thinking
about
finding
a
you
know
a
project
in
space.
A
There's
this
this
new
potential
that
just
wasn't
there
before.
I
think
a
lot
of
the
other
people
had
to
really
tread
in
areas
where
there
be
dragons,
but
this
makes
it.
I
think
the
space
a
whole
lot
more
accessible,
so
just
want
to
wrap
up
here
with
a
some
of
the
considerations
like
why
I
work
in
web3
and
I'd
say
that
it's
because
the
opportunity
space
is
vast,
you
know,
if
there's
something
you
don't
like
about
the
status
quo
in
finance,
the
internet
et
cetera.
A
You
know,
there's
an
opportunity
to
to
build
something
to
disrupt
that
here,
if
you're,
a
tinkerer
and
you'd
love
to
learn.
This
is
a
great
space
for
that.
It's
a
short
path
to
working
with.
You
know:
smart,
like-minded
con
any
and
complimentary
people
there's
a
lot
of
freedom
and
diversity,
and
it's
a
global
community.
It
pays
really
well
and
there's
a
lot
of
potential
upside.
A
You
could
be
at
the
forefront
of
what
I
think
will
be
the
next
wave
of
public
infrastructure,
and
you
can
start
you
can
contribute
in
a
lot
of
different
ways.
Like
you
can
you
can
found
a
project,
you
can
work
for
a
dao
which
I
don't
know.
If
you
know
what
that
is,
you
can
work
as
an
independent
contributor.
A
You
could
work
as
an
employee
and
there's
actually
a
really
like
quick
path
that
a
lot
of
people
I
know
who
started
as
employees
are
now
becoming
founders
and
then
the
last
thing
that
really
comes
to
mind
is
that
you
know
you
might
think
yourself.
Is
it
even?
Is
it
a
stable
or
earning
environment
because
crypto's
so
volatile,
but
a
lot
of
a
lot
of
these
projects
they
raise
in
us
dollars
so
and
they
raise
vast
sums
of
money.
A
So,
there's
a
very
there's
a
lot
of
runway
to
these
projects,
to
be
able
to
experiment
and
pay
people
to
be
parts
of
the
part
of
those
experiments
and
to
develop
these
these
products
and
projects.
So
yeah,
like
just
final
final
thing,
is,
is
that
I
really
want
to
reiterate
that
mindset
that
conor
identified,
like
willingness
to
learn
and
have
conversations
so
find
thoughtful
people
on
twitter
and
follow
them,
ask
questions
and
go
deeper
tinker
and
try
committing
to
a
contribution
and
attend
events
in
real
life.