Re:Start

Hey there! Welcome to the second edition of Re:Block. Shoutout to the 32 subscribers who are here early. I love you with all my heart 💙

This week, I’ll be breaking down web3 starter packs (AKA what you send your friends when they ask “WTF is crypto”). Whether you run a blockchain club and are looking for advice on what to share with your crypto newbies, or are an early crypto-explorer yourself, I’ve scoured the internet to find and evaluate different guides. Nonetheless… my takes:

1. Know your audience

When building your starter pack, it is important to know who you are writing for. Are you onboarding individuals with a technical background? Or are you aiming for a well-rounded piece of content made for anyone interested in crypto?

It is important to acknowledge that your onboarding guide is not going to take someone from 0 to 100. You need to assume the baseline of your audience and write to improve their knowledge, slightly. Think 5 to 10, or 10 to 15.

TL:DR Don’t burden yourself with teaching everything there is to know about crypto!

2. Keep it open

That brings us to an important question…what should you include in your onboarding guide?

I think the best guides include the basics: a definition of web3, how blockchain works and a quick overview of the four big opportunities in the space (NFTs, DAOs, DeFi and dApps). I would then suggest diving into the area your target audience is most interested in.

For a technical approach, this would include an introduction to solidity and some links to courses. Building a more “liberal arts” type guide can be difficult. Deciding which opportunities to introduce to your audience can be difficult. That’s why I would include as many links as possible and showcase a diverse set of opportunities. Share that web3 PR firm. Showcase a protocol for social graphs. Give a taste of tokenomics. Skim the top of as much as possible (reasonably), and let people ask questions about what they are interested in.

Showing people there is a space for them in web3 should be the goal of your onboarding, and will get them more excited!

3. Always be iterating (and communicate updates)

Web3 moves fast. There are always new projects popping up in the space. That’s why it is important to frequently update your onboarding guide and communicate new projects. Running a Twitter and sharing the new things you find is a good place to start. If you stumble across a new experiment that might attract a new person to web3, share it to your network. You never know who it will inspire.

4. Be Creative

Hate to break it to you, but staring at a 40-page Google Doc is not a fun way to learn about web3. In order to engage your audience, you need to get creative. I’ve seen a lot of cool ways to onboard people to crypto. From NFT purchasing simulators (which I built in my school’s journalism and comp sci lab) to courses for badges, keep it interactive! Make sure people are learning and absorbing the information.

5. Balance the Scales

Finally, it is important to find the balance between quantity and quality. You want your guide to be concise, but inclusive of the vast array of opportunities in the space. Unfortunately, there is no hard definition of balance, but keep in mind a couple of factors when building your guide:

• Attention

• Interest

• Detail

Final Thoughts

Explaining web3 is hard. Getting people to engage is, unfortunately, even harder…especially if they aren’t innately curious about the technology. But matching an individual's pre-existing interests with web3 can help. Building inclusive and concise onboarding will help you effectively communicate the fundamentals of the new internet.

💡 Student Thought-Leadership

Each week, I'll be featuring student-written pieces from Blockchain clubs across the world. Feel free to submit your work to our Twitter.

🎒 Illini Blockchain web3 Starter Pack by Luke Clancy

⏪ Last Week In Blockchain by VCU Blockchain

🪙 Is Bitcoin Worthless? by Clemson Cryptocurrency

🗃 Jobs + Bounties

📕 Create a Community Management Playbook for Uniswap

✍️ Write an Article for GCR

✨ Solana Ventures is hiring an Intern

Have an opportunity to share? Message us here!

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