Friends With Benefits Grows Up

When Friends With Benefits burst into crypto consciousness successful 2020, it was the benignant of FOMO-inducing task that instantly had radical talking. With a wink-wink, sexy sanction and members including musicians Erykah Badu and Azealia Banks, it was a nine that galore wanted to beryllium a portion of.

Emerging astatine a clip erstwhile everyone was locked down and hankering for connection, it filled a void and showed that crypto could bring radical unneurotic for real. About 6,000 bought into the token (becoming members) and chapters sprouted up each implicit the world, centering connected hipster-tech hubs similar LA and NYC.

The New York Times, arsenic it tends to bash with crypto, gently mocked the idea. A 2022 illustration opened with an anecdote astir members processing a “flavored, sparkling yerba maté” with a java company. “It makes your soda $6 alternatively of $2,” said 1 member. The inference was clear: this was crypto kids with ideas, disposable income, plentifulness of clip connected their hands and not overmuch to amusement for it.

Still, the New York Times deed connected what was decidedly caller astir FWB. It called the radical — which was mostly formed connected Discord — a “decentralized Soho House” and “a V.I.P. lounge for crypto’s originative class.” It was tokenizing a assemblage (with a DAO) successful a mode that proved that you could make thing invaluable IRL arsenic overmuch arsenic online. The NYT said the radical had raised $10 cardinal from investors and that, aft a backing circular led by Andreessen Horowitz, it was valued astatine $100 million.

Still, it wasn’t wide what FWB did exactly. Sure, it was bully astatine organizing chill events astir the world. It was bully astatine gathering community, generating FOMO done the media and boosting its token price. But aft that? TBD.

“The archetypal exemplary was conscionable a radical chat with a token. The benefits astatine that clip were conscionable alpha,” CEO Greg Bresnitz said successful an interview.

Fast guardant to 2025, pursuing FTX and The Crash, FWB looks similar a much superior outfit. Today, it’s focused connected gathering products that radical really privation to usage and has hopes to broaden Web3 beyond specialized fiscal products. Less yerba maté, much in-the-weeds innovation successful music, movie and culture.

“This is simply a bully inflection constituent for the industry. We person the accidental to promote a caller question of builders to the space. Making that imaginativeness and the pastry bigger is incredibly important,” said Bresnitz. “We’ve done truly good successful the carnal world. Now we’re focused connected the revitalisation of the online satellite and bringing that worth back.”

This week, FWB announced Friends With Builders, a cohort-based gathering programme that’s partnered with AWS, Alchemy, ThirdWeb, QuickNode, Akave, Filecoin, Base, World and respective others. The thought is to invitation originative technologists to enactment collectively quarter-by-quarter connected early-stage projects, utilizing tools provided by the partners. The archetypal cohort (application deadline: April 28) volition beryllium focused connected processing products astir AI agents.

Bresnitz stresses that Friends With Builders is decidedly not a hackathon.

“The wide exemplary of the hackathon doesn’t work. You get 8 hours astatine a conference, 48 hours to physique it and past get the prize money. That lone speaks to a definite benignant of builder who tin enactment intensively implicit 48 hours,” Bresnitz said.

With Friends With Builders, the reward is the developed product, not the prize and gong fixed retired by the hackathon organizers. It’s besides focused connected products wherever the Web 3 exertion is nether the hood, alternatively than the happening itself.

“Someone could travel successful and physique the 700th DeFi level and we’re not going to halt them. They wholly can. That’s great. But, for me, personally, what I judge the manufacture needs is to bundle each this up into thing that feels wholly normal,” Bresnitz said.

He points to projects similar Blackbird, the edifice loyalty app, arsenic an illustration of the benignant of merchandise Friends With Builders wants to incubate. Blackbird is utile and has mainstream appeal, and the crypto constituent (it has a cryptocurrency called FLY) is de-emphasized. The constituent is utility, not that it’s crypto.

“We request a caller benignant of idiosyncratic successful this space,” Bresnitz said. “The persona of FWB has ever been originative technologist. These are radical who recognize what radical privation and they’re looking for exertion to enactment that. That’s antithetic from what we spot oftentimes [in crypto], which is ‘we built a hammer that’s besides a screwdriver, who wants it?’”

Bresnitz argues that crypto has created large tooling infrastructure for builders. Now it needs to make products that de-emphasize the technology. Builders successful his programme volition person entree to founders astatine the spouse groups via Discord and meetups. They’ll person developer credits and beryllium capable to pat extended DevRel (developer support).

Friends With Builders volition tally successful quarters 1, 2 and 4. Quarter 3 volition beryllium near for FWB’s yearly FEST gathering successful California, wherever the builders volition showcase their work. Base, a cardinal FWB partner, holds its yearly get-together, Base Camp, astatine the aforesaid determination (near Idyllwild) soon earlier FEST begins.

As a aviator for the caller program, FWB precocious organized a cohort with World (previously Worldcoin). FWB/World received 140 applications and the participating builders created 40 caller mini-apps. The builders flew to Buenos Aires to instrumentality portion successful Crecimiento, and present immoderate volition instrumentality portion successful a demo time successful New York connected May 21. Two of those projects already person word sheets from investors.

Bresnitz is simply a beardown advocator for his initiative. But helium besides displays a humility toward crypto that isn’t ever evident successful conversations with different founders. He believes Web3 has yet to amusement what it tin truly bash for the world.

“We haven’t cracked the codification yet. This to maine is astir saying ‘can we effort thing different?’”