Ethnography of a cultural remix
Insights from Chiang Mai, more IRL events and refining BD processes
Hello everyone!
The last two weeks were very hectic, as I am still learning to balance serendipitous IRL meetings, learning, sharing, and deep work. Please forgive me if I fail to respond in the next two weeks. I will attend several IRL events and workshops, which you are more than welcome to join!
Colin and I recorded a podcast but a lot of the content involved very personal information and other people. If you want to listen to it, please let me know in a DM.
Recent internal updates
Sascha and I started working on the org structure of the LongCovid BioDAO (by Molecule).
We’re still finishing up the KAON pitch deck. Due to the nascent stage, the team frequently updated its positioning and required more iterations than planned. A note for the future would be to strictly schedule all sessions with user feedback to conclude a cycle of work.
On Tuesday, we started a session with our friends Jack and Sharmini from Influence Media to improve our BD, sales, and marketing processes. More details below.
Justina and I are currently in Chiang Mai, meeting up with old friends and making new friends from the non-web3 space.
I am also starting research on a low-level peer-to-peer skill attestation protocol.
Total Treasury Balance: $8,225.40 (0.12 BTC)
Impressions from 14 pop-up villages in Chiang Mai
Culture of the remix
After a few weeks in an environment with constant activities from many different places, I find peace by hiding away to get work done. It’s a great setup for exploration, discussion, and sensemaking. However, it is also very noisy and I haven’t seen any proactive intentions to work on solutions yet. Which is not a bad thing, it seems like that would be the natural next step.
I have met a lot of people with different backgrounds, surprisingly many from a non-web3 background:
Experts on different domains of expertise from web2
NGO representatives interested in blockchain solutions
Developers, builders, web3 tech people
Hippie-ish web3 people
Dialectic synthesis of social transformation
The conversations here feel very free and open-minded. Most coalesce around specific social challenges and the precision in articulating those significantly increased in my observation, compared to a few months ago.
While in August/Tokyo for example, I often heard “How might we use DAOs in local communities?“, the granularity of the challenges has become more specific: “We are missing productive capacity at a local level, and there is a lack of tech to manage complexity at a scale.“ Many are interested in learning how to manage communities and coordinate people around work, which excites me to share what we have learned in recent years.
I highly recommend listening to the recordings of Michel Bauwens’ lecture on the topic in the list of resources below.
Describing Deep Work’s concept
Talking about Deep Work’s theory of value and surfacing specific information about skills, compensation, and collaboration is helping me articulate some of the solutions to discussed social challenges. However, it also seems like involving people in experiences/workshops that encapsulate our unique framework is sometimes more effective.
One example was a session I facilitated (photo above) about a note-taking system to learn faster, retain information better, and progressively improve and adapt as an individual. It applies Deep Work’s principles on an individual level.
Strategic sessions with the Deep Work community
Having validated a BD and sales process that works for Deep Work we now need to start balancing our efforts and time. As we work more together, we should review who is interested in which parts and update our org structure.
Decentralising BD and sales
On October 29th, we met to discuss our sales and business development process (meeting recording here) and set up the first version of a collaborative process. If you want to contribute, please join this Telegram group for details or DM me.
Review of collaboration opportunities
To explore how we can collaborate more, I am planning online (IRL optional) sessions based on the structure of my client-work. If you are interested in joining, please share your availability here!
The session will be open to anyone, I will also duplicate all relevant meetings onto the Deep Work community calendar.
Accelerator for real-world problems
Since August we have been thinking about an accelerator concept for real-world problems. The aim is to leverage our knowledge to connect experts from different fields to challenges they can solve and sponsors interested in funding them. From my conversations so far, there is a clear demand for this kind of event, so I am pulling together experts and resources to structure it.
Upcoming Events and IRL workshops
The following are events where Justina and I will be present and facilitate workshop sessions.
Oct 21. — Nov 3. Seapunk.asia in Chiang Mai
Nov 6.-8. Funding the Commons in Bangkok
Nov 10. DAO Summit
Nov 11. Parallel Societies Congress
Nov 12.-15. DevCon in BKK - Join our Adoption Hub!
What I learned this week…
A Pattern Language - Christopher Alexander
Apparently a well-known book in Web3 circles, it’s an interesting compilation of “patterns“ in architecture. I was recommended to read it as a reference for describing the different “patterns“ in organizational design.The Construction of the Post-Civilizational Civium Has Begun - Michel Bauwens
Michel Bauwens is working with Daniel Schmachtenberger in the Civilization Research Institute and was the founder of the Peer-to-peer Foundation. The recent issue of this newsletter is a more elaborate description of where we might be moving as a civilization and why the current events in Southeast Asia are most likely where we can observe the emergence.“Un-college lectures”
Recordings of two lectures on Michel Bauwens’ current observations from Southeast Asia and how the web3 movement relates to the proliferation of new forms of human coordination. They have been recorded by Dev, who also runs the Digicnx project (you can also follow them on Twitter: @digicnx)Anthro-complexity and Obliquity
Not books, but interesting terms I learned.
Detailed business report for October
Treasury & Finance
Not much has changed since last month. In November we will likely spend some money on an IRL event in Bangkok and design/implementation of the new website.
Treasury Balance: $8,432.73 (0.13 BTC)
Revenue: $0
Profits: $0
Internal payments: $0
Operational costs: $614.51
BD & Sales
I deprioritized sales to use this opportunity to establish deeper relationships with new people, learn about where I lack historical knowledge, and which parts of my understanding resonate. This will help navigate the complexity of the shifting market environment in the coming months.
Show rates: 6 conversations
Schedule rates: 3 calls and proposals sent
Close rates: 1 workshop scheduled but not paid yet
Thank you for your patience and interest, see you in two weeks!
Andrej
Love reading these!