A decade of ups and downs, the transition from Web2 to Web3

Author: TinTinLand

Web3 is the next generation of the internet based on underlying technologies like blockchain, which will address issues such as data abuse, platform monopolies, and privacy violations currently present in the internet industry, creating a high-dimensional digital world that is truly owned by users, characterized by open collaboration, privacy protection, and ecological co-construction. According to a survey report by Rapid Innovation, 94% of executives from Fortune 500 companies indicated plans for Web3 projects, and 89% believe that Web3 innovations in the next decade will determine business activities for the next 100 years. The development of the Web3 industry is an inevitable trend.

Image source: Research Hubs

"To enter the narrow gate, it is a path that few walk."

The Web3 industry is like this "narrow gate," with a path that is narrow and arduous, and it will experience a long and winding journey, but beyond the narrow gate lies a bright future. Currently, the era of traditional internet dividends is nearing its end, and the "Matthew Effect" of winner-takes-all has become a constraint on industry development, while the Web3 industry is emerging with various possibilities. In this window of opportunity for development in this emerging field, how can one find the entry point into Web3? How can one seize the first-mover advantage in this new field? Escaping the "old wine in new bottles" thinking trap and truly understanding how to join Web3 seems to have become the biggest dilemma.

TinTinLand aims to widen this "narrow gate" for everyone and is committed to helping people understand and enter Web3. We will invite outstanding Web3 practitioners who are highly representative in the industry to conduct a series of interviews and reports. The goal is to provide guidance in direction, reference in experience, and insights into successful paths in Web3 through the experiences and advice of excellent practitioners for newcomers and teams wanting to enter the Web3 space.

From "old internet people" who have given up high salaries in Web2 to dive into Web3, to native Web3 Gen Z, to tech geeks who leverage a single effort to disrupt a track, to developers who have participated in multiple hackathons and hold dozens of projects in DAOs… Follow TinTinLand as we continue to explore the life experiences behind Web3 practitioners. Listening to diverse perspectives may reveal that the next successful Web3 practitioner could be you.

In this issue, we invite DFINITY GM @Herbert. Without further ado, let’s delve into his journey through over a decade of ups and downs from Web2 to Web3.

Highlights of this issue

From Web2 to Web3, industry development knows no bounds

Don’t follow the trend; seek a foothold in the tide of the times through independent thinking

Revealed! Several mindsets to abandon in the Web3 world

Bear market survival guide: survive, huddle for warmth, plan wisely…

What learning methods are available for newcomers entering Web3?

Guest Introduction

Herbert,

GM of DFINITY Foundation Asia

Herbert graduated from the National University of Singapore and Stanford Business School. A serial entrepreneur in China and the U.S., he has over twenty years of rich management experience in TMT multinational corporations, investment firms, and startups.

Before joining the venture capital circle, Herbert led the Startup division of AWS in Greater China, building an ecosystem for internet startups in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, collaborating with VCs/PEs, accelerators/incubators, and discovering future unicorns.

Herbert was responsible for digital innovation, financial analysis, and restructuring management in the Asia, Europe, and U.S. divisions of GE Capital. He also served as CFO for China Mobile's "12580" and Zhang Yimou's "Impression Series," CEO of the educational animation IP "Baodi" under Hong Kong's Eagle Group, founder of Silicon Valley's fashion big data company Linkqlo, and mobile social site Beijing Qunyi Chuangxiang, as well as a director at Yunfeng Capital.

As early as ten years ago, Herbert became aware of the Web3 field and was impressed by the disruptive economic models in white papers. Over the years of investigation, he witnessed many Web3 projects evolve from theoretical concepts to practical developments. In 2018, Herbert encountered DFINITY, which was in the research and development stage, and waited for the right moment to join when DFINITY's mainnet launched last year. He is now the GM of DFINITY in the Asia-Pacific region, responsible for building the developer ecosystem for IC and incubating Web3 blockchain companies.

The Exciting Journey from Web2 to Web3

Opportunities for Web3 Transformation

Industry transformation is not achieved overnight—transitioning from traditional internet giants to the "niche" Web3, Herbert has spent nearly a decade from first encountering the crypto space, investigating Web3 projects, to discovering promising Web3 projects. Three key moments facilitated his transformation.

The first opportunity arose in 2012 when Herbert, while working as CFO at a company in Beijing, came across the white paper of a Web3 project. With a background in business, he keenly sensed that this was a disruptive economic model, and that the technology in the crypto space could bring groundbreaking changes to economic development. He then began to continuously follow developments related to finance and economic models in Web3 projects and even tried mining himself.

The second opportunity came around 2015 when Herbert was starting a business in Silicon Valley. A friend working at Facebook participated in a project that could directly use De-coin for payments. He realized that decentralized finance had transitioned from concept to reality, moving from "niche" to "mainstream," and that practical applications had, in a sense, already achieved success.

The third opportunity was when Herbert's entrepreneurial partner, tech guru Paul, joined DFINITY in 2018. Paul is currently also a course mentor for the IC introductory course co-created by TinTinLand and the DFINITY Foundation. Out of curiosity about what kind of project could attract such top developers, he began to learn about DFINITY. The slogan "Disrupt Amazon" shocked him, and he immediately thought about wanting to join. However, considering that DFINITY was still in its early development stage and needed more developers, he felt the timing for entry was not yet ripe.

In May 2021, DFINITY's mainnet launched, and the project's vision was gradually being realized. In July of the same year, Herbert joined DFINITY, hoping to enable more developers to understand and join the ecosystem.

How to Enter Web3?

We live in an era of information explosion, with Web3 news flooding in, and hot keywords like blockchain, NFT, and metaverse rapidly emerging. The internet media generates one "industry hotspot" after another with a vast amount of information. For individuals, blindly following trends is unwise. So when and where is the right opportunity for Web3? Drawing from years of industry experience, Herbert offers his thoughts and advice from three levels.

L1: The quality of information conveyed by the media varies. Taking traditional industries as an example, every three months the trend changes. Today it's AI, and a few months later it's fresh e-commerce, following every wave of hotspots without seriously exploring on one's own, ultimately leading to missing out on all opportunities.

L2: The influence of friends and social circles. The subjective choice of what type of people make up one's social circle can also affect personal development opportunities and choices. However, one should not simply follow others; instead, start from one's own situation and seize networking opportunities.

L3: Focus on oneself. One should possess a strong internal driving force, not be misled or disturbed by external voices, and be able to learn new knowledge independently, placing oneself in the tide of the times to find a foothold.

Unlike the broad road of traditional industry development over a century, Web3 practitioners are bravely at the forefront of historical development amidst the tide of the times, filled with opportunities but also facing greater challenges, with most practitioners transitioning from Web2 and encountering differences in thinking and culture. Herbert, who has worked in both Web2 and Web3 for several years, mentioned that the biggest challenge after entering Web3 is "it's almost impossible to judge what is right and what is wrong."

In traditional industries, with a complete business process system in place, judging right from wrong seems to be a non-issue; many existences are reasonable, having been validated by time and events, requiring no debate, and no one questions them. However, in the Web3 space, every project and every choice cannot be judged as right or wrong, and future developments cannot be accurately predicted. Nevertheless, Herbert believes that the economic models in the Web3 field do exist, encompassing social relationships, resource allocation, social culture, etc. What we need to do is choose a good track or public chain to realize our ideals.

At the same time, we must learn to reflect. The ideal state of reflection is to examine whether what we are currently doing is "correct" from the perspective of an "observer," assessing whether it can generate value from a productivity standpoint and whether it can provide value to users. Based on a strong consensus and belief in the project, one should maintain clarity and rationality.

Essential Qualities for Web3 Practitioners

Web3 is a diverse and inclusive field where developers, product managers, operators, designers, etc., can find a space to showcase their talents. To help everyone enter the Web3 development more smoothly, Herbert offers several suggestions:
Bottom-up autonomy. Unlike the top-down management model of traditional industries, the Web3 field grants individuals high autonomy, allowing everyone to fully exert their initiative and make decisions from the ground up.

Continuous learning of new knowledge. The knowledge to be learned in the Web3 industry is endless, requiring a high level of learning ability. Herbert has worked for many years in traditional internet "big companies," and the knowledge he needs to learn now in the Web3 industry is not even on the same level, allowing him to learn a lot of cutting-edge new knowledge.

Optimistic spirit. To achieve something that seems impossible requires a certain level of optimism and romanticism, being able to accept various challenges and embrace a plethora of emerging new things.

Web3 Proposition: Data Ownership

Through the industry's evolution, Herbert believes that "data ownership" is the core proposition of Web3. Around 2006, Herbert began to reflect on the traditional internet industry and believed it had reached a bottleneck in development:

Firstly, independent developers are finding it increasingly difficult to start their own businesses; the closed ecosystem hinders innovation from independent developers. Secondly, we are currently in an era of data explosion, yet the data we generate as individuals does not belong to us; internet giants control most user data and advertising revenue. Thirdly, internet development is becoming increasingly difficult, with front-end languages updating rapidly, leading to an overwhelming amount of content to learn, which contradicts the original intention of the internet era's development.

The economic interests of internet platforms are not well-aligned with their contributing users. He proposed that we need to fundamentally change the current state of industry monopolies; Web3 will enable the data generated by individuals to serve those individuals, which is a very meaningful endeavor.

Supporting DFINITY's Development, Opportunities and Future

DFINITY is known as the "Internet Computer," an open-source general computing platform aimed at establishing a new internet based on decentralized technology that can support applications of almost any scale, addressing challenges faced by today's traditional internet, such as poor system security, monopolized internet services, and the misuse of personal user data.

Herbert is now the GM of DFINITY in the Asia-Pacific region, responsible for building the developer ecosystem for IC and incubating Web3 blockchain companies. Herbert mentioned that the main goal now is to attract more developers to join the ecosystem. He hopes to serve as a bridge between the Asia-Pacific region and the Swiss headquarters, allowing the headquarters to better understand the influence of Asia, especially the potential strength of Chinese developers. He is also working on promoting community ecosystem development, integrating community developer groups, and developing a community culture unique to DFINITY.

DFINITY Grant Program

To help creative developers advance project development and maintain ecological sustainability, the DFINITY Foundation offers a rich Grant program for developers and newcomers to Web3, and Herbert disclosed relevant details.

The DFINITY Developer Grant Program is a total of 200 million Swiss francs in ecological grants launched by the DFINITY Foundation last year, aimed at promoting the development of the IC ecosystem and making it more accessible to global developers. The grant amounts range from $5k to $25k. The number of funded projects has reached 180. For more details, visit:
https://dfinity.org/grants

Connecting with traditional Web2 investment institutions. The bear market is the best time to establish relationships with investment institutions, allowing for the cultivation of relationships and letting them deeply understand the project's value and prospects. Once the market rebounds, the rest will fall into place. DFINITY will help seek more connection resources to assist in better developing valuable projects.

DFINITY Global Community Recruitment Program. Herbert mentioned that there will soon be a new Grant program for the ecosystem. In addition to technical developers, individuals in operations, product management, design, etc., who wish to join the DFINITY ecosystem and are willing to grow and progress together can join. Specific recruitment details are still in planning.

Bear Market Survival Guide

In the current bear market, there are both challenges and opportunities. The DFINITY Developer Grant program provides support and assistance for contributors to the ecosystem and participants in the community to develop smoothly and accumulate technology even in a bear market. Additionally, drawing from his experiences through several cycles of bull and bear markets in the crypto space, Herbert offers some development advice:

Survive. When designing the project's business model, teams should strive to ensure their products can bring value to users and generate cash flow; do not rush to expand, but wait until the bear market passes before considering expansion. Surviving the bear market is essential for rising in the bull market. Maintain patience; the bear market will eventually pass.

Huddle for warmth. Find partners with similar beliefs, and help and support each other to persist. Projects that can endure the bear market will reap the greatest rewards in the next bull market. Traditional internet development has seen this as well; for example, leading internet projects like Ctrip and Airbnb were born after enduring bear markets.

Set a Timetable. Project teams can set small goals to assess project development progress. For instance, if they set multiple goals for project development, achieving those goals allows them to continue; if they consistently fail to meet them, they need to consider whether to continue. Experiment more and prepare Plan B.

Future Outlook for DFINITY

As the third-largest innovation in the blockchain field, DFINITY's IC mainnet has been live for over a year, with significant progress in cross-chain technology and steady ecosystem development. Especially during this year's Supernova hackathon, the growth of ecological data has achieved a leap. Herbert believes that decentralization is the guiding principle and eternal mission of DFINITY. There are five areas that require relentless effort:

Decentralization of community governance (currently, the foundation holds too much voting power)

Decentralization of node admission mechanisms and edge nodes (domain names can be chosen independently)

Diversification of token distribution, hoping to attract more investors

Decentralization of code management and upgrades (currently, the vast majority of work is done by foundation engineers)

Decentralization and diversification of ecological projects, providing users with more diverse choices

Herbert hopes that DFINITY can leverage its technological advantages in the future to expand the infinite possibilities of the Web3 world together with ecosystem builders.

Conclusion: The Future Belongs to…

The potential hidden within individuals is endless; what they are capable of is unknown to others. If they do not take action to try, they will remain ignorant of their own abilities. Believe in yourself! This call resonates with every soul.

------ Emerson

No one knows where the Web3 revolution will lead. Finally, for those young people hoping to enter this industry, Herbert offers his advice:

Be a Gamer: The development of the future world is inseparable from games. Gamers are more perceptive and exploratory, able to quickly absorb new understandings, and through the gaming world, they can meet many like-minded individuals in Web3.

Be a Coder: The problems in the internet are becoming increasingly difficult to develop, while IC lowers the development difficulty for developers, providing an excellent learning platform. This is the era of learning coding languages; lacking a coder's perspective makes it hard to explore the true Web3.

Be a Writer: The ability to express one's viewpoints concisely is a core skill. Everyone can maintain deep thinking, cultivate and share their knowledge, leaving their narrative in this world.

Read Science Fiction: Science fiction has a certain foresight, and I hope everyone can read all the domestic and foreign science fiction novels they can find.
Discern information sources: We are in an era of information explosion, yet the quality of individual pieces of information is not what it used to be. Therefore, learning to search for quality information is crucial, and being adept at selecting and utilizing platforms like Twitter is essential.

The Web3 world is not just a celebration for developers; it belongs to everyone who is passionate and believes in the future of the internet. Any transformation is a spiral process; you may encounter unimaginable obstacles, or you may feel lost and uncertain about the industry's future. However, regardless of the work environment or life situation, maintaining a critical and questioning mindset, along with constant self-reflection and learning, will give us more confidence and rational decision-making during the transitional and turbulent periods of the industry.

As Herbert said, "Believe in what you are doing, and continuously review and reflect on what you have done." Perhaps the determination that follows doubt and criticism is the greatest driving force for you to forge ahead in this industry. The future, a more fair and reasonable Web3 internet era, will be created by idealistic and hardworking individuals like you.