Let's Build! The tools helping build the future.
The incredible building stack in Web 3
Went to the Farm Aid festival this weekend in Raleigh, NC. Great music. Highly recommend. Anyways, let’s talk about some incredible companies. Subscribe now if you want to see more!
Read the TLDR at the bottom of this article for a quick summary.
No, this isn’t about a conspiracy theory about how the pyramids were built. But, It is spectacular to see how great inventions were built throughout mankind. The pyramids, the Colosseum, Mount Rushmore, and then you have your more technological advancements like the internet, the first computer, and web 2.0.
Both ancient inventions and modern inventions were made possible by the tools created by previous inventors. People who built ropes and ramps allowed for the Pyramids to be built. Web 2 was made possible by people who built the infrastructure and servers behind the scenes.'
The next great invention?
Web 3 has the ability to become one of these great inventions, but like the ones that came before, web 3 will need the tools that make building easy.
Today, I want to talk about some of these tools, which happen to come in the form of early-stage startups. Coherent, Thirdweb, and Slide, have all built the backend to this greater vision we call web 3. These companies have built the tools required to build great consumer-facing web 3 products.
Essentially, it’s kind of like getting an entire box of legos, now you just have to fit the pieces together to build something awesome.
Let’s talk about these companies.
Thirdweb:
Thirdweb is, at this point in time, feels like the go-to place to build apps in web 3. They recently just closed a $24 million Series A and have built out one of the easiest no-code-like experiences for web 3. Obviously, there is still a lot of technical background required, but the range of products they offer can help you build almost anything in web 3. See the photo below.
I think of them like the lego blocks of web 3. They have provided the blocks needed to build out anything, you just have to have the mind to do it. I would be particularly interested to know what their vantage point is on the amount of building going on in this space right now. Everyone says crypto winter is for building, while if anyone is going to know if that’s true. It’s Thirdweb.
Slide:
On a similar note, Slide is a company that just recently came across my radar after a $12 million seed round. It feels like they are building similar products to Thirdweb, but staying in a different realm. While Thirdweb builds products that make building in web 3 easy, Slide builds products that make using web 3 easy, even for non-crypto natives. Actions like instant wallet creation, card payments for NFTs, and a fiat-friendly UI are all a part of Slide’s offerings. I have had a bunch of recent conversations about what bringing the next generation of users onto crypto looks like. I wrote a while ago about how my belief is the tools for onboarding need to be better. There need to be universal processes so that new users aren’t confused by a different process on each website.
This is where I feel Slide can slide in (ha, get it?) and really take a position in the market as the default option for many repeatable actions in the crypto market.
Coherent:
This one goes a little over my head, but Coherent is looking to build “the core infrastructure that provides web3 application layer data”. Right now when developing web 3 applications, there is a lot that has to be done both on the backend and frontend side. On the frontend, you have to develop the UI/UX and the functionality of your dapp (Decentralized App). On the backend, you then have to compile and work with thousands of lines of data that are pretty hard to read most of the time.
With Coherent, this backend problem goes away. Using Coherent’s API stack, all the data becomes readable and easy to understand. This gives dapp developers more time to focus on the frontend for the consumer instead of focusing on all the nitty gritty on the backend. As Coherent says best, “We cut the cost and complexity of developing web3 apps so that you can launch your creation in minutes or days, rather than weeks or months.”
Final notes:
I only talked about three companies today, but you can bet there are many more out there that have a focus on building the tools required to build web 3. These are just some of the companies I would personally place bets on and are already doing great things.
The TLDR:
Web 3 is being built. With how technologically advanced most of the industry is, the builder space has been limited for a few years. Luckily, we now have startups that have built the tools that make building in web 3 10x easier (maybe even more). Now we just need some creative and motivated minds to come in and build the best consumer products we have seen in a while. There is no doubt in my mind that some of the best products built in the next few years will be built on the backs of the companies mentioned above.
Signing off for this week.
Happy fall!
Tom