Guiding Principle 1: Aggregation Theory
Imagine this: you want to bake an apple pie. However, you’re in a terrible alternate timeline where Google & supermarkets don’t exist. So, what do you do?
Well, you’re going to need eggs, flour, apples, sugar, cinnamon, and a bunch of things I don’t know because well, I’m in this timeline and Google and supermarkets DO exist and this is my thought experiment.
To get the flour, you’ll need to know of a miller. Hopefully they’re reputable. You’ll need to visit them, request what you need, pay them, and then transport it safely back home.
To get the apples you’ll need to go to an orchard and hopefully they’re open and the apples are at the right ripeness (or if they’re absolutely brilliant at business, they’re canned). You’ll need to visit them, request what you need, pay them, and then transport it safely back home.
To get the sugar and cinnamon, you’ll need to know a sugarcane plantation owner & spice trader respectively and really really really hope they’re both ethical. Again: you’ll need to visit them, request what you need, pay them, and transport it safely back home.
At this point you’re exhausted, it’s been 6 months, you’ve been scammed twice, the flour has worms in it and you get my point. Want apple pie? Google a recipe and visit your local supermarket. Networks of suppliers bring together data, goods, and services together in a trustworthy manner to turn a complex endeavor into a few simple clicks, a short round trip, and a delicious end result.
Supermarkets and Google are a manifestation of aggregation theory. Outlined by Ben Thompson in his article Aggregation Theory , it’s a framework for understanding the massive disruption caused by the Internet in industry after industry.
It’s also super useful for understanding what might happen to Web 3.
Let’s update the baking apple pie metaphor a bit. Instead of baking a pie, let’s bake a project: an NFT project to be more specific, although it could be any Web 3 project.
To get started we’ll need quality art & design, a Web 3 compatible website, Contract devs & auditing, Discord setup, Mods, CMs, Marketing resources, server security, collab hunters, and influencer assistance…plus utilities to stay competitive in an ever-evolving and highly competitive space…and money: lots of it if you want to do well.
Oh, and you had better make sure everyone is reputable: not only so you yourself don’t get scammed, but also so your eventual holders don’t get scammed, and also so you & your holders aren’t associated with any scams and therefore perceived as a scam.
All this needs to be executed on in 6–8 weeks. Otherwise the project grows “stale” and your audience is on to the next big thing. It’s an incredible amount to keep track of as a project founder. And expensive.
The Solution? A network that aggregates a project’s needs to smoothly and safely develop a project from inception to mint so that a creators focus is applied where it works best: on turning an idea into a quality end product.
Founders Factory aggregates all this and more for incubation projects to set off with the best path to success. Read all about how we do it in our various Medium articles!
