Readying Your Business for the Web3 Wave with Vishal Lugani

Interest in Web3 is increasing dramatically. While volatility remains reliable within cryptocurrency and Web3, consumer, business, and regulator awareness is skyrocketing. Over the last year, Google searches for the term increased 530 percent. There are more than 18,000 developers actively working on open-source crypto and Web3 projects, and this number is growing fast. Anecdotally, the talent exodus to Web3 is happening, as well.

“The consistent question that comes up with a lot of the businesses with whom we work is: ‘does Web3 apply to me and if so, how should we be thinking about integrating Web3,” says Vishal Lugani, a founding partner at Acrew Capital, a multi-stage venture capital firm.

On June 2, 2022, Lugani hosted a webinar for Founders Network members where he provided the ways startups can incorporate Web3 concepts and innovation. The event will give startup founders the opportunity to brainstorm ways that their business might, or might not fit within the Web3 ecosystem.

To learn more about the ways startups can incorporate Web3 concepts and innovation, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from June 2.

“We know there’s a lot of noise, but we also see loads of opportunity for both native Web3 companies as well as those that are early movers in opening themselves up to the ecosystem,” Lugani says.

What is Web3?

When most people hear the term Web3, they think of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. The term was first coined in 2014 by Gavin Wood, founder of Polkadot and co-founder of Ethereum, a leader in the cryptocurrency market. The term is used to describe a decentralized online ecosystem based on blockchain. Essentially the technology is built on the idea of a decentralized, open Internet where users are in control of their data and can decide how their data is used. 

“Big tech companies own a lot of consumer data.  And they are monetizing that consumer data incredibly efficiently,” Lugani says. “So at some point, everyone woke up and was like, wait a minute, why are we giving it up?  Our data is worth something. With Web3, you can shift around profit pools and give value back to users.”

Benefits of Web3 for startups

This technology has numerous applications in the worlds of fintech, consumer internet, payments, social media, gaming, and more. 

In gaming, for example, it’s being used to incentivize players and give them more ownership over in-game and virtual assets. As a result, Web3 gaming is starting to see real momentum. There are currently more than 400 active blockchain games and that figure doubled over the past year.

“Web3 offers incentive alignment between a business or platform and their end users and consumers,” Lugani says. “If you’re a gamer, you’re contributing your attention, your time, and your energy.  It’s been hard to really monetize that directly. If you assume Web3 game play gets to parity with the existing offerings, why wouldn’t you want to be able directly monetize your attention as a gamer?”

Benefits for investors

As Web3 continues to generate buzz, startup investors are increasingly interested in funding startups with a Web3 component. According to one report, 438 startups that offer services and technologies associated with Web3 have received a combined total of more than $4.5 billion in investment funding. Acrew Capital has been investing in cryptocurrency and Web3 since 2017. 

“We follow where talent goes. We’re seeing a lot of really high quality talent in the industry want to go into Web3,” Lugani says. “What makes it interesting for investors is the breakneck speed of innovation.”

In his webinar, Lugani covered:

• Web3 and cryptocurrency applications
• What to do when investors ask if you’ve considered this technology
• How to determine if it is a good fit for your startup
• A framework for incorporating the technology into existing businesses 

To learn more about the ways startups can incorporate Web3 concepts and innovation, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from June 2.