This weekend, I sent out a classic, out-of-left-field, El Prof tweetstorm about hustleporn culture, privilege, and the exciting advantage that capital as a commodity resource in web3 will have on the future of economic development. Per usual, nobody paid attention. Tweeting out your life story in Internet shorthand and self-help jargon again and again is a tried-and-true content strategy, but the Internet is fickle, and since my Twitter audience didn’t bite, I’ll subject you all to it here.
In short, I recommend my personal path to success.
- Enjoy your childhood and don’t do shit until you turn 16,
- Spend the next 10 years mastering 3 to ∞ unrelated, seemingly useless talents,
- Kick it into gear building a career that somehow taps into all three, because well-rounded and developed passions give the inside track to quality work.
(And it’s especially effective if you’re a rich white guy. Pro tip.)
Historically marginalized communities have always had to work harder to access capital, and that becomes increasingly true the further removed from capital you are. But, because capital is a commodity, or a function of web3, rather than a requirement to enter it, it is retained by quality projects that deliver on their promises, rather than hyped up projects with deep war chests. As always, the latter model will still work in the short term. But, on the blockchain, it’s far more likely to end badly, because brands are the moat in web3 and quality is the backbone of said brands. And quality is something that those among us who already have to work harder to access capital today are (un)fortunately predisposed to focus on, because they can’t afford to fuck up like I could, basically.
TL;DR: not only is DeFi more accessible and attractive to marginalized communities, but it is more likely to reward the quality of work they’ve been historically forced to bring to the table. Which, in an ideal world, will empower diverse creators and inspire mediocre white guys to rise to the challenge. An entitled little bitch can dream.