Those who left big companies to BUIDL in Web3

Author | Nianqing, Chain Catcher
Editor | Demian, Chain Catcher

As more preachers, explorers, and experimental products emerge, Web3 is transforming from an abstract concept into something concrete.

On one hand, the infrastructure and market education of Web3 are becoming increasingly sophisticated, coupled with an attractive wealth effect. Products like StepN and Bored Ape Yacht Club have attracted a significant amount of user interest and attention. On the other hand, nearly a hundred billion dollars in venture capital has flooded into the Web3 space, with giants like Facebook and Google following suit. Developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan have also expressed strong intentions to develop the Web3 industry.

Soon, amidst skepticism like "Can someone really spend so much money on worthless little images?" and "Here comes another Ponzi scheme," capital and new entrepreneurs rushed into the NFT, metaverse, and GameFi craze, and the slogan "All in Web3" was quickly shouted.

Traditional internet professionals, who have been in the game for years, are also starting to stir. Under the immediate social media topic of "Web3 Research Institute," one often sees employees from leading internet companies like Alibaba (referred to as "Donkey Factory") and Tencent (referred to as "Goose Factory") observing, learning, and testing the waters. They express that they are currently researching Web3 and considering entering this field, as seizing Web3 means capturing "the next era of the internet."

However, with the recent collapse of Luna/UST and the total market value of crypto assets dropping to a two-year low, the market has returned to a state of calm, and the momentum behind the "All in Web3" slogan has weakened.

People naturally come and go with the bull and bear cycles. But as many who still remain in the circle have stated in recent days, now is truly the time for BUIDL (a crypto slang term referring to long-term builders) to start doing things.

1. "At least don't miss out"

Li Xiaowa is the founder of the NFT subscription platform Slash. He learned about the concept of Web3 during last year's NFT boom. However, what truly prompted him to engage with this field was a conversation with a client. That day, a client who is an internet celebrity actively mentioned wanting to try NFTs. Previously, Li Xiaowa had spent over a decade in product roles at companies like Alibaba and Meituan, where he was always the one to identify needs before clients, but this time he passively learned about a client's needs.

This small incident stimulated Li Xiaowa, and he began researching NFTs. In his view, compared to Crypto Natives (referring to those who entered the industry in 2017-2018), entering the market now is slightly late, but "at least don't miss out."

Kronus, who switched from Amazon's core business unit to Chia Network, also stated that his choice to transition now is related to his judgment of timing. He believes that the "singularity" of Web3 will arrive in three to five years at most. Just like artificial intelligence, where people believed early on that it was the future, once it truly explodes, outsiders will find it hard to squeeze in. Kronus wants to bet on Web3 before the "singularity" arrives, not wanting to miss this opportunity.

Kronus had started engaging with the blockchain industry a long time ago and had tried quantitative trading and "mining." In April last year, there was a wave of Chia mining frenzy in the circle. Initially, Kronus approached it with a mindset of "here comes another scam," but after looking into it, he found it to be a decent project. Besides researching technology, Kronus is a video blogger, and his videos about Chia were seen by the only Chinese member of the Chia team, leading to an olive branch from Chia.

At that time, Kronus had been working at Amazon for about six years but increasingly felt that his work had become boring—most of the code was written over a decade ago, and his daily tasks involved fixing bugs. This stability might be what many people dream of, but he wanted to pursue something newer.

Kronus believes that the foundational infrastructure and technical logic of blockchain have begun to take shape compared to ten years ago, but it is still not mature. He plans to accumulate well during these years and wait for the singularity to arrive.

Zheng Xiaoyue, founder of MetaNotey, believes that more and more people like him are entering this circle because the worldview of Web3 has taken shape, and this temperament has a clear distinction from Web2.

Zheng Xiaoyue has over ten years of experience in traditional internet, having worked at companies like Microsoft and NetEase. Before founding MetaNotey, he created an information aggregation platform that achieved a million daily active users by the end of 2020. However, as a content tool product, there were very few monetization models in the domestic ecosystem.

The team also attempted to monetize through traffic ads. But in 2021, the domestic ecosystem had changed significantly, and the traffic dividend was continuously diminishing, which objectively prompted Zheng Xiaoyue and his team to seek transformation. Coupled with his long-term attention to Web3, Zheng Xiaoyue discovered that concepts like NFTs provide new possibilities for the relationship between products and users, and are much more interesting than ad monetization.

Thus, in the second half of last year, he began leading his team to "All in Web3," refining a Web3 content aggregation product. MetaNotey is a Web3-based content aggregation community product, somewhat like a decentralized Weibo, aimed at traditional Web2 users, designed to lower the entry barrier to the Web3 world through fully automated account management.

Zheng Xiaoyue also believes that it is still timely to enter Web3. In his view, as long as one is willing to enter Web3, it is never too late. Even for those already in the circle, everyone is constantly learning new things. Facebook was born after the internet experienced a new round of bubbles, and valuable products often emerge after the market returns to rationality. During this period, more "regular troops" and builders are needed to come in.

2. Web3 has no technical barriers, only conceptual barriers

What does it feel like to transition from a traditional internet company to Web3?

Li Xiaowa is someone who constantly seeks new challenges. He self-taught programming in college and worked on web games at AirNet, app stores at NetEase, and incubated Fliggy at Alibaba. In 2013, he joined the rapidly growing Meituan, where he incubated Meituan Takeout and Meituan Flash Purchase until Meituan went public. After Meituan's IPO, he switched tracks again, targeting the emerging Southeast Asian market.

His ability to adapt to change allowed Li Xiaowa's transition to be swift and decisive. In February of this year, he began focusing on NFTs, and just a month later, he decided to "All in Web3," adjusting the company's direction by shutting down all unrelated business lines and completing a subscription system based on NFTs. By April 11, the team had already released the Beta version of the Web3 creator tool.

For Li Xiaowa, the obstacles encountered during the transition mostly stem from mindset and perception. Many around him believe that NFTs are just a way to exploit people, and GameFi is a Ponzi scheme, etc. Even many internet "big shots" merely apply past thinking to judge a new phenomenon. "In fact, many times, it's personal vision and mindset that limit you. I won't approach problems with prejudice; everyone has their own ceiling of thought."

In the world of Web3, Li Xiaowa sometimes feels "sandwiched" by the arrogance of Web3 natives, receiving criticisms like "you're not Crypto enough." In the face of such doubts, he feels that his Web2 experience is not a bad thing; it helps pull him back a bit during the particularly frenzied moments in this circle, allowing him to calmly think about the business cycle of projects and more sustainable planning.

Like Li Xiaowa, Zheng Xiaoyue has indeed encountered many people with negative views about this industry. For instance, he disagrees with many labeling StepN as a Ponzi scheme. After seeing some similar analytical articles, Zheng Xiaoyue would directly "fight back." He believes that such products will definitely emerge in Web3, as the Move-to-earn economic system breaks the traditional closed model of games and connects with reality, thus inevitably leading to more short-term fluctuations. Balancing short-term profit users with long-term systems in game design is a challenge faced by many Web3 applications, but this issue is certainly solvable; games like StepN have merely blazed a trail.

In addition to conceptual barriers, the collaborative style of Web3 companies, which differs from large firms, is also something that some transitioners need to adapt to. Kronus's new colleagues are highly capable individuals, but because they haven't "sacrificed" in large firms, they lack that efficient collaborative experience, leading to lower team collaboration efficiency. Moreover, project management is not as strict, and project progress can feel somewhat casual.

However, compared to the gains in Web3, the issues of mutual adaptation in collaboration can almost be disregarded. When Kronus first joined Chia, what impressed him most was the interview style. Unlike the algorithm questions that are not particularly useful in large firms, he learned much more during the interview at Chia. The interviewer informed him that Chia uses a new programming language that few can master, and this "new challenge" excited him. Additionally, unlike other blockchain To C (customer-facing) products, To B (business-facing) project experience is also more valuable. Now, having worked at Chia for nearly six months, Kronus finds that his current work allows him to find a sense of value and self-identity, no longer feeling like a dispensable cog.

Some people choose to jump out of large firms to start businesses in Web3, but others align their personal ambitions with their company's direction and choose to incubate projects within their internet companies. Liu Zhiqiang is the head of Web3 at Inke. He researched Bitcoin and Ethereum white papers a long time ago and was amazed by the innovation of blockchain technology. However, when the ICO boom in 2018 brought too many "scam" projects, the industry's reputation plummeted, and Liu Zhiqiang paused his research. It wasn't until last year, when he helped a friend write an NFT contract, that he began to pay attention to Web3 and blockchain again.

After conducting thorough industry research, Inke determined its strategic direction for developing the metaverse this year, believing that Web3 and the metaverse are trends that cannot be missed. In May of this year, Inke officially launched its first Web3 brand, Hoot Labs, and on June 12, it launched the INKPASS series of NFTs. INKPASS is the core rights token of Inke's metaverse and serves as a key to enter the metaverse. Soon, on June 15, Inke decided to rename itself "Inkeverse Group Limited" to better reflect its current business development and future direction.

3. "The current Web3 is somewhat like the early Web2"

Those who entered traditional internet early find that the current environment and community atmosphere of Web3 resemble those of early Web2.

Li Xiaowa recalls the "Symbian Forum" when he sees today's Web3, which makes him very nostalgic. The "Symbian Forum" was a smartphone discussion community that gathered a group of geeks concerned about the development of mobile operating systems. At that time, the number of mobile users was small, and the TPS speed was only in single digits, with most people still browsing the internet on PC pages. However, many people in the Symbian Forum, including Li Xiaowa, already believed that mobile internet would definitely be the future. This atmosphere and expectation are very similar to the current Web3 community. "Young people are starting to enter Web3 to pursue technology, research, and experiment. I think this is a very good sign; young people are giving birth to a new internet," said Li Xiaowa.

0xSea.eth, co-founder of NextDAO, is also pondering similar questions: What are the underlying structural differences between "mobile internet XXX" from ten years ago and today's "Web3 version XXX"?

As a seasoned product manager, 0xSea.eth has keenly captured the development trends of Web3 products through the iteration of social tools. He previously worked at publicly listed internet companies, accumulating considerable startup and operational experience in community and social products.

In May of last year, while learning about and purchasing NFTs, 0xSea.eth discovered an interesting phenomenon: the previous generation of Token-related projects primarily used Telegram as their platform, while this wave of NFT-related projects has mostly shifted to Discord, reflecting that NFTs, supported by consensus, require more complex and flexible community management methods.

Revisiting traditional internet, he found that the biggest factor from PC to mobile internet was the proliferation of smartphones. The narrow definition of Web2 was born in 2005, but applications like Douyin, Kuaishou, and Bilibili, which are also based on "user-generated content," only brought a billion-level increase in connected devices in 2017. Now, no one is talking about the old concept of Web2, but it is indeed still thriving. The core element from Web2 to Web3 is not the increase in user numbers, but the upgrade surrounding "asset trading."

0xSea.eth summarizes: "Looking back at the history of Web2.0, we can see that popularizing the expression awareness and ability of 'user-generated content' was a very tortuous process. But with the proliferation of smart hardware devices, that day will eventually come. The underlying logic of Web3, 'users own assets,' is the same."

Liu Zhiqiang also realizes that the community atmosphere of Web3 is more friendly and inclusive. Compared to the high cooperation costs of Web2, competition in early Web3 is not intense. Additionally, compared to Web2, ordinary users gain rights at an earlier stage, allowing them to influence project development and trends, thus participating in the construction of Web3.

4. Reality cools down, how much faith remains in Web3?

After the momentum of "All in Web3" has cooled with the market cycle, let's talk about faith and whether the internet industry is truly experiencing a "great migration" from large firms to Web3.

Headhunter Ranran has indeed sensed that the trend of Web3 is coming, especially as mature companies have been hiring extensively since February of this year. However, for most employees of large internet firms, there is still a generally cautious attitude towards Web3, due to concerns about compliance and limitations in their understanding of Web3. Relatively speaking, employees from large firms with study abroad backgrounds are more accepting of Web3 companies. Moreover, leading Web3 companies also have high recruitment standards, and not all "large firm employees" can easily transition; only a small handful truly meet the criteria. However, in recent days, the cooling of the crypto market has led many blockchain companies to close their hiring quotas.

Another viewpoint suggests that the trend of employees from large firms seeking transformation and new opportunities has existed for some time, making it difficult to determine whether "All in Web3" is entirely due to the allure of Web3.

Mr. Ye, a headhunter from Ruishi Fangda, stated that those who have recently left or are preparing to leave large firms do not limit their expectations for new opportunities to Web3 companies; rather, very few are willing to return to internet companies. Additionally, due to economic downturns and the COVID-19 pandemic, many job seekers are placing increasing importance on stability, with some worried that Web3 companies may not be stable enough. Furthermore, in a generally poor economic environment, Web3 companies cannot offer higher salaries. Relying solely on concepts to attract people is indeed still too flimsy.

However, for those we have encountered in this article who have already left large firms and formally entered Web3, they are indeed carrying the flag of Web3, moving forward step by step.

Without faith in Web3, Li Xiaowa would not have resolutely cut off unrelated business lines this year. One morning after deciding to start a business, he posted in his circle of friends: "a16z said this industry is still in the 1993 of the internet, and after calculating the time, I feel I can still stir things up," "Then let the music play on."

Zheng Xiaoyue also feels that the best decision he made in the past year was to lead his team to embrace Web3. "The beauty of the Web3 system lies in the fact that data, ownership, and economic value are all distributed; everyone has the opportunity to participate and initiate. The deeper I understand this industry, the more I love it, and the more I believe it is a place with great opportunities."

What can Web3 and blockchain rely on after the boom of NFTs, the metaverse, and GameFi to attract the next wave of a billion users? Few can make a judgment. How many projects will falter in the tide of the times, no one can say for sure.

But things always need people to do, and there must be a psychological readiness to sit on the sidelines. Perhaps many people still cannot recognize Web3, but at the very least, we must acknowledge that many Web3 builders are already on the road.