growth

number of successful web2 companies that needed an airdrop to boostrap their network:

0

thot leadership at /opacity --
host of vibe check podcast 
▶️ https://pods.media/vibe-check
❄️ icebreaker.xyz/dawufi

your mom's favorite farcaster (probably), building /quidli 🦑, casting in /justinahn, daoing in /🍊 & /🟪

i'd apply the same for freemium tbh.

don't mean to nitpick, but not super different in Web 2.0 venture. you'll get similar logic and rhetoric thrown back to you by indie & non venture software cos when you're a vc backed software startup.

easier to "acquire users" in general when no one has to pay, and a lot of internet companies and their usage continues to be heavily subsidized.

you add lambo upiside you get users wanting lambos not users who love your product

and users who are using u 4 lambo aren't users

not disagreeing completely, but i feel like freemium is conceptually similar to airdrops except without the potential for significant lambo upside

Developer ecosystem @farcaster, co-founder @bountycaster. Previously: co-founder of Scalar Capital, product at Coinbase, co-producer @ethereumfilm

speculation ruins this unfortunately and pumps vanity metrics over retention

IMO airdrops if done a certain way e.g. guiding users to an action are pretty close to standard user activation methods

Pi-chi.eth (she/her) Artist /animeoutcasts
Hosting: /sakura /kyoto /momiji  /anime-manga /farcasterunion

https://portrait.so/pichi

Absolutely true. But I can't tell you how many meal service things I signed up for because of free food and then canceled ;)

Isn't it just the web3 version of that?

if you're first 1000 users are coming for the promise of financial gain and not to use your product you have no idea whether or not you're reaching your actual audience or not

I think if the airdrops are used to power the app it could be a cool way to get your first 1,000 users. 

But it definitely feels like a whole new ball game.

its the exit promoting nature of tokens that are the problem - airdropping credits etc. works in web2 and should work in web3 as well

I run marketing at Alloy Partners | We co-create startups with F500 corporations | Founder Holder.xyz | /jump /purple | Fmr. Salesforce, ExactTarget

Yeah, that’s my point. At the core, it’s subsidized engagement. It’s a different order of magnitude if it hits and has been gamified to extreme proportions, but from a base level, it’s paying someone to use your product, right? 

Granted, many of those examples may have had pmf already to a slight degree and weren’t seeding the initial network with it. But the underlying mechanic is not necessarily new. Lots of cold start problems of the past solved in similar underlying dynamics.

none of these are speculative, all airdrops are (even if they're not they are because narrative)

completely obfuscates pmf and ooda loops

dying on this hill

But there are a few parallels in my mind to web2 “airdrops” or airdrop-like mechanics: 

- PayPal, Coinbase, Robinhood, etc. free $$$ on signup or referral
- Dropbox free storage/$$ on referrals 
- Grubhub subsidies: selling $10 burgers for $8 
- Zynga’s gamified rewards, daily bonuses, & referrals

𝘺𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳.

Airdrop is a feature of web3 although  not always necessary, traditional web2 doesn’t want to pay the average user, most airdrops reward users who have been loyal