GSF Web 3.0 Academy - Why are we doing it?

GSF recently announced our GSF Web 3.0 Academy and opened applications for the program. It's basically a virtual Web3 Masterclass, wherein early stage Web3 founders as well as enthusiasts who are dabbling with the idea of building in Web3 can join and learn. We have been overwhelmed by the response from  founders, mentors, funds and volunteers. Thanks a lot Indian Web 3 community - GSF loves you <3 all!

A lot of Indian community members have messaged to ask about the program, to join and to contribute to its success. As it is one of the first of its kind Web3 masterclasses in India, a lot of folks have also asked us why GSF is doing it? Why a 12 week long virtual program with masterclasses by Web3 experts? Why not simply do a series of meet-ups in Bangalore, Delhi  and Mumbai?

Before I answer that let me first set some context. GSF is long on Web3 and has already made half a dozen Web3 investments so far. We evaluate close to a dozen Web 3 startups every week. 

Let's get back to why we’re doing this. What we have observed is that the Web3 world is very different from Web2 in almost all aspects. Let's take a closer look to understand what I mean by that:

1) Founders in Web 3 are much younger and a lot of times still in college while they are building a new world changing Web3 protocol. Or maybe 1-2 years into the real world after college. These young Web 3 founders need real mentoring as they lack market experience. And per our  understanding it is more pragmatic to give market and operational advice and exposure to web3 native founders than to teach web3 nuances to experienced Web 2 folks. 

2) Stage of Project at the time of fund raise is also very different in the case of Web3. Most of the projects that are raising funds don’t even have a working product at the seed stage. There are many reasons for that - the most common told and untold reasons are it’s the norm in Web 3 space! The trend was started during earlier cycles when projects with Whitepaper and a landing page could raise millions of dollars in ICOs. The market has matured since then but still has a long way to go. 

The practical reasons for the early stage of these projects is development in Web3 is a lot more complex and expensive compared to Web 2. Even to get 1-2 blockchain developers and designers a team needs to raise a round. Then of course to test things out you need to spend gas fees, while getting the contracts audited again is a significant cost. 

Once smart contracts are audited and deployed, the scope of iteration is severely limited and hence projects need to really think through and even simulate the behaviour before they can deployed and go live. However, it is a double edged sword. The common attitude is that post your first fundraise you need to move very fast and demonstrate execution capabilities of the team to be able to excite the next round investors. While also capturing the market which in Web 3 largely goes to early movers.

3) Regulation is a big task head in the Web 3 project and demands proper planning. Engaging legal professionals quite early-on is not a luxury. Options of forming companies in crypto friendly jurisdictions like Dubai, Singapore, US, Cayman Islands, BVI etc. further add complexity due to multiple fund raise instruments available in Web 3. A significant chunk of funding (10-15%) goes towards legal and compliance costs.

4) The market is global, but not easy to capture and build moats. Reaching this global crypto native audience is an uphill task. GTM for a crypto project starts with the community and working with other relevant communities. Like communities of blockchain you build your project on. You can't just spend the money on Google and Facebook and build a brand and traction as in Web2. It requires a nuanced approach and active involvement of founders.

5) Funding in Web 3 is not as straightforward as in web2. There are multiple options like friends and family, crypto angels, institutional investment against SAFE or SAFT with or without side letters etc, and of course founders can also go the IDO, NFT sale routes to raise capital.

6) Valuations are very high at the early stages in comparison to the web2 world. The valuation thus needs to be justified by founders with strong Web3 understanding and proof of work.

Founders are expected to navigate these range of issues in the dynamic space of Web3 with the help and support of a bunch of friends and advisors. Backed by a strong Web3 knowledge base. Building this network and knowledge base takes a lot of time and effort. GSF Web3 Academy aims to solve just that. 

In addition to working through these larger questions, GSF Web 3.0 Academy will deep dive into Web3 topics like which blockchain to choose for your project, how to design tokenomics, how to structure the company, how to raise against token etc. 

GSF Web 3.0 Academy aims to give the right decision framework in the most critical areas of building a Web3 company such that founders can then evaluate advice received from advisors, peer group and even investors. And also respond to the ever changing landscape of Web3. 

We really believe that GSF Web 3.0 will be a transformational journey for the founders. 

GSF Web 3.0  Academy applications are open and can be accessed using the link  https://gsfindia.com/academy.