If you were in New York around 2012, you’d remember the city experiencing a tech boom. The Flatiron district was abuzz with venture capital activity, and startups like Etsy, Tumblr, and Foursquare were hosting lively rooftop gatherings and distributing promotional items. This period also marked the rise of Kickstarter, a prominent crowdfunding platform that supported projects such as Veronica Mars and the Oculus Rift VR headset, promising to revolutionize the realms of art and entrepreneurship—until it faltered.
Fast forward to today, Kickstarter still exists but has lost its former allure, becoming as trendy as cronuts or relics from that bygone era like Lena Dunham. What led to this decline in appeal? Primarily, the startup stumbled due to its overly idealistic ambitions that coexisted with a laid-back work environment. As highlighted in a recent Fortune feature:
The office boasted amenities like a rooftop garden, solarium, and movie theater, where employees would socialize even late on a Saturday night. However, this seemingly idyllic setup fostered a lax work culture, resulting in stalled projects and some staff members putting in minimal daily hours. While it may sound appealing, this approach didn’t prevent the emergence of a unionization effort.
Another misstep was the misguided shift towards cryptocurrency. The Fortune article delves into how, in 2021, Kickstarter attempted a brief pivot to blockchain in collaboration with VC Chris Dixon and his a16z crypto fund, injecting $100 million into the endeavor. This move, aimed at reorienting Kickstarter’s platform around the less conventional blockchain technology and the Celo project, didn’t directly cause the startup’s downfall but certainly didn’t aid its cause. As detailed in Fortune, the attempt to impose crypto on Kickstarter’s altruistic staff and community was met with resistance akin to serving steak tartare at a PETA event.
Although the ephemeral crypto pivot didn’t sink Kickstarter, it did contribute to the startup’s internal turmoil and strategic uncertainty. While Dixon’s gamble may seem ill-advised in hindsight, his belief in Web3 as a catalyst for reshaping the creative economy through grassroots technology experimentation warranted the attempt.
This narrative underscores the nature of innovation—where for every triumphant breakthrough akin to Kitty Hawk, there are numerous setbacks and challenges. While blockchain technology may eventually soar into the mainstream like the Wright brothers’ aircraft, for now, it seems unlikely to find its launchpad on Kickstarter. Nevertheless, the platform continues to host a variety of unique projects, such as a clock generating a new poem every minute using AI.
Jeff John Roberts
@jeffjohnroberts
DECENTRALIZED NEWS
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Binance faces scrutiny in Nigeria as one of its detained agents, former IRS agent Tigran Gambaryan, becomes a scapegoat amid a currency crisis. ( WSJ)
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Paradigm is leading a $200 million funding round for Monad Labs, a project aiming to enhance Ethereum’s speed, supported by ex-Jump Crypto executives. ( Fortune)
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Eclipse Labs, functioning as an Ethereum Layer 2 solution atop a Solana virtual machine, secured a $50 million Series A investment led by Hack VC and Placeholder. ( The Block)
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A high-ranking official at the FDIC urged the U.S. to adopt a more supportive stance on digital assets to bolster blockchain initiatives in the country. ( Bloomberg)
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Bitcoin surged past $72,000 fueled by continuous ETF investments. ( Fortune)
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