When Friends With Benefits burst into crypto consciousness in 2020, it was the form of FOMO-inducing mission that instantly had individuals speaking. With a wink-wink, horny title and members together with musicians Erykah Badu and Azealia Banks, it was a membership that many needed to be part of.
Rising at a time when everybody was locked down and hankering for connection, it stuffed a void and confirmed that crypto may carry individuals collectively for actual. About 6,000 purchased into the token (turning into members) and chapters sprouted up all around the world, centering on hipster-tech hubs like LA and New York Metropolis.
The New York Instances, because it tends to do with crypto, gently mocked the thought. A 2022 profile opened with an anecdote about members creating a “flavored, sparkling yerba maté” with a espresso firm. “It makes your soda $6 instead of $2,” stated one member. The inference was clear: this was crypto youngsters with concepts, disposable revenue, loads of time on their arms and never a lot to indicate for it.
Nonetheless, the New York Instances hit on what was positively new about FWB. It known as the group — which was largely fashioned on Discord — a “decentralized Soho House” and “a V.I.P. lounge for crypto’s creative class.” It was tokenizing a neighborhood (with a DAO) in a approach that proved that you may create one thing worthwhile IRL as a lot as on-line. The NYT stated the group had raised $10 million from traders and that, after a funding spherical led by Andreessen Horowitz, it was valued at $100 million.
It wasn’t clear what FWB did precisely. Certain, it was good at organizing cool occasions around the globe. It was good at constructing neighborhood, producing FOMO by means of the media and boosting its token value. However after that? TBD.
“The original model was just a group chat with a token. The benefits at that time were just alpha,” CEO Greg Bresnitz stated in an interview.
Quick ahead to 2025, following FTX and The Crash, FWB appears to be like like a extra severe outfit. At present, it’s centered on constructing merchandise that individuals truly need to use and has hopes to broaden Web3 past specialised monetary merchandise. Much less yerba maté, extra in-the-weeds innovation in music, movie and tradition.
“This is a good inflection point for the industry. We have the opportunity to encourage a new wave of builders to the space. Making that vision and the pie bigger is incredibly important,” stated Bresnitz. “We’ve done really well in the physical world. Now we’re focused on the revitalization of the online world and bringing that value back.”
This week, FWB introduced Friends With Builders, a cohort-based constructing program that’s partnered with AWS, Alchemy, ThirdWeb, QuickNode, Akave, Filecoin, Base, World and a number of other others. The thought is to ask inventive technologists to work collectively quarter-by-quarter on early-stage initiatives, utilizing instruments offered by the companions. The primary cohort (utility deadline: April 28) can be centered on creating merchandise round AI brokers.
Bresnitz stresses that Friends With Builders is unquestionably not a hackathon.
“The general model of the hackathon doesn’t work. You get eight hours at a conference, 48 hours to build it and then get the prize money. That only speaks to a certain type of builder who can work intensively over 48 hours,” Bresnitz stated.
With Friends With Builders, the reward is the developed product, not the prize and gong given out by the hackathon organizers. It’s additionally centered on merchandise the place the Internet 3 expertise is beneath the hood, relatively than the factor itself.
“Someone could come in and build the 700th DeFi platform and we’re not going to stop them. They totally can. That’s great. But, for me, personally, what I believe the industry needs is to bundle all this up into something that feels totally normal,” Bresnitz stated.
He factors to initiatives like Blackbird, the restaurant loyalty app, for instance of the kind of product Friends With Builders needs to incubate. Blackbird is beneficial and has mainstream enchantment, and the crypto aspect (it has a cryptocurrency known as FLY) is de-emphasized. The purpose is utility, not that it’s crypto.
“We need a new type of person in this space,” Bresnitz stated. “The persona of FWB has always been creative technologist. These are people who understand what people want and they’re looking for technology to support that. That’s different from what we see oftentimes [in crypto], which is ‘we built a hammer that’s also a screwdriver, who wants it?’”
Bresnitz argues that crypto has created nice tooling infrastructure for builders. Now it must develop merchandise that de-emphasize the expertise. Builders in his program can have entry to founders on the companion teams through Discord and meetups. They’ll obtain developer credit and be capable of faucet intensive DevRel (developer help).
Friends With Builders will run in quarters 1, 2 and 4. Quarter 3 can be left for FWB’s annual FEST gathering in California, the place the builders will showcase their work. Final yr, Base, a key FWB companion, held its annual get-together, Base Camp, on the identical location (close to Idyllwild) shortly earlier than FEST started.
As a pilot for the brand new program, FWB lately organized a cohort with World (beforehand Worldcoin). FWB/World obtained 140 purposes and the collaborating builders created 40 new mini-apps. The builders flew to Buenos Aires to participate in Crecimiento, and now some will participate in a demo day in New York on Might 21. Two of these initiatives have already got time period sheets from traders.
Bresnitz is a robust advocate for his initiative. However he additionally shows a humility towards crypto that isn’t at all times evident in conversations with different founders. He believes Web3 has but to indicate what it will possibly actually do for the world.
“We haven’t cracked the code yet. This to me is about saying ‘can we try something different?’”
