Learning in Community
Insights from our first Boys Club dinner in NYC on Nov. 3, and how we’re thinking about nurturing an online and IRL community of crypto curious people from here.
Our inaugural Boys Club event was a huge success by every metric. Major fun, shared learning and community bonding served with a side of falafels and hummus.
The energy. The level of crypto literacy in the room varied, but everyone came to the table with a palpable eagerness to support one another at any stage of their journey. The feeling like we were all truly rooting for one another was the defining vibe in the room, and that felt so good. This authentic positivity and support feels like the critical ingredient to a successful onboarding event, and a healthy community foundation to build upon.
The lightbulb moment. This happened for different people at different times of the night. We figured that the ‘way in’ to crypto would be different for everyone, but seeing it in real time was huge. Also not surprisingly, stories of real life impact of crypto/web3/DAOs was more effective than concept or theory. Designing for both by providing a breadth of real world experiences is key. Breakout groups and interest-focused content planning (eg. DAOs for creators) is something we’re thinking about for the next event.
The conviction. The surprise of the night was the level of excitement that beginners were feeling about crypto/web3/DAOs after just a basic onboarding. We had prepared our hearts for lukewarm feelings — however multiple women came up to us afterwards talking about career pivots. Where do they go from here? We’re able to support these conversations individually, but there may be an opportunity at scale for this intention.
The generosity. Our panelists @blakefinucane @0naama @ismeralgmi are ballers. They’ve got these incredible careers and are doing major things in crypto. Despite this, they committed to doing ~the work~ of helping to onboard a room of beginners. This is special! They are special. Credibility is needed for the panelists to deliver their messages effectively in a room of beginners, but so is this sense of giving.
Follow up & accountability. This is going to be huge. We developed a V1 of an online curriculum that we’re hoping helps people continue their journey, but honestly we’re very much still testing this out. We’ll see how it’s used and continue to refine. We’re also testing out a Telegram chat, and surveying attendees about which online platform feels best. Getting this right is crucial to making the evening’s content and conversations actionable.
The goal. We’ve set ourselves a goal to onboard 5,000 women and nonbinary people to crypto this year. We can’t do this alone, and are very much looking to the community and our wider networks to help us plan for this level of impact. If you’re interested in this too, please reach out. Particular areas of need & ideation include DAO tooling/set-up and strategic partnerships, though we’re open to any and all conversations.
A note on gender. Boys Club is designed for women and nonbinary people, but we are truly welcoming all. Come on in!
