VCs, angels and other early investors help to bootstrap web3 networks by providing funding for research, development, marketing, community building, operations, treasury and more. In return, those early investors are granted token ownership of the networks for their risk capital. At the same time, the teams are granted tokens for their direct effort in creating, innovating and building projects, protocols & networks.

Typically, those token ownership stakes are significantly less concentrated in the hands of capital (investors) and management (team) than in traditional web2 models. In most cases more than half of the network, sometimes much more, is reserved for users of the protocols and for treasury and future growth efforts.

Furthermore, the public is often offered a direct opportunity to purchase tokens prior to any public listing on centralized or decentralized exchanges, unlike in traditional companies, where the public rarely has the opportunity to purchase ownership in an entity prior to it going public on an exchange like the NYSE or NASDAQ.

Web3 and crypto offer a model for greater direct participation, governance and ownership in the app layer of tomorrow’s internet. We are certainly not at the ultimate end state of web3; in fact there are fewer than 100 million people globally utilizing these networks, according to most estimates.

However, the growth in 2021 has been relentless – and the democratizing force of decentralization has inspired millions to build, use and participate in novel communities, product and networks that simply weren’t possible in an age of closed, proprietary development, ownership and algorithmic manipulation of the web2 internet.

Is today’s version of web3 perfect? Hell no! Is it thrilling, fun, inspiring, profitable and opening up new opportunities for many? Hell yes!