Oct 28, 2021
Our Strategy for “Blockchain Weaving” & Social Accountability
Honā’s strategy to weave in blockchain technology as the market matures over the next decade or two
The buzzwords of today are Blockchain, NFTs, and Web 3.0, which are all on the rise right now in the tech space. I would say even more so than crypto itself, especially as NFTs steal the spotlight for its more relevant “utility” (social status flexing — something that has always existed for human beings).
Unfortunately, as of 2021, only 3.9% of the world owns crypto. And although it equates to ~300 million people worldwide, it’s still a small percentage of the wider global population.
It’s been around a decade since Satoshi Nakamoto released Bitcoin to the world, but it may take 10–20 more years until we see true global adoption. Why? Well, if you look back at history, any significant technological innovation has taken roughly (on average) 30 years to be fully adopted by the mainstream.
There’s certainly a caveat to this — consumption of digital goods itself is accelerating.
But since technologies like Bitcoin are digital infrastructure-based, this portion itself may take a bit longer. Other innovations on top or around may accelerate.
Situation
So how does this relate to Honā, and what actually is Honā? Honā is a social accountability platform I created during the wake of the Covid pandemic in 2020. It was birthed out of a productivity accelerator and community called The Pack, which has been running since 2016.
Below is a post I made on LinkedIn in October, 2021, which gives a bit more insight into what my team and I are trying to build with Honā:
I first stumbled upon Bitcoin in 2013, and experimented with “crypto” at the height of the ICO craze in 2017. As I studied more, and even started building my own applications, I realized just how much crypto is still a barrier to entry for the average user. Unless there’s a strong motivation (like making money), most will not touch a product that requires setting up a digital wallet, buying money off an exchange in order to participate, and then worry about tax implications.
Honā is a hybrid solution that leverages blockchain-based elements, but isn’t fully blockchain-based… yet.
Letting The Ecosystem Mature
As a result, we’re building like a normal startup, but intentionally setting things up to weave in blockchain features over time as the ecosystem matures.
The reason we’re building this way is because we’ve seen too many startups focused on early adopters only, and not enough on the average person. Early adopters have their place, but the average person is still not interested in touching crypto until they’re more widely accepted or given an official government stamp of approval (the reality).
Here’s a visual representation of what we’re aiming to do:
Again, why are we doing it this way? Well, under the hood, we’re already capable of going fully on-chain. Users can actually access select groups and experience Honā fully on-chain (and then some — but more on this later). It’s just about the front-end experience for all new, non-crypto users that we’re catering to first.
Timing
Bill Gross from IdeaLabs gave a very famous TED Talk about why ‘timing’ may be the single biggest reason for startup success (or failure). And as someone who’s been involved in this space over the last decade, I’ve seen ventures come and go. Many may have simply been too ahead of their time.
With this timing aspect, also comes how far into the future you’re looking. Using the 30 year estimate for mass adoption, we’re leveraging the hybrid model to reduce barriers to entry, then nudging our users with blockchain-based features as they get more and more used to the product. For those who are already familiar with the technology, they have the option to start putting their data on-chain already.
Now, you could make an argument that a lot of opportunities could be missed by taking such an approach. We’re not worried about missed opportunities — we’re focused on the long game and fundamentals. All of this is like an exercise in practicing the seemingly elusive art of timing in our modern, hyper-digital society. And since Bill Gross has already mentioned how timing impacts the success and failures of startups — why not take on his advice and apply it to real life?
Governments & Regulation
There is also the issue of regulation. Since blockchain-based projects are challenging incumbent financial structures, governments will be regulating the market. And as per the timing argument, it’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when.
So as we let the ecosystem mature, we’ll be more than ready to switch what we want over when the time comes. Until then, our core focus is on users seeking to accelerate their productivity, increase accountability, and improve success rates — with honor.
