One of the most promising aspects of web3 is the open participatory nature of projects. Yet at the same time, most token holders of protocols and DAOs are speculators, not contributors. Zooming out one step further, the number of crypto users (~300m) and DeFi users (~5m) are mere slivers of the world’s ~5b internet users. We view the onboarding (not just acquisition) of the next 1b users as one of the most interesting areas of opportunity across web3.
While there is no shortage of content, perspectives, and pontification on emerging web3 projects, the best way to learn crypto is by doing. And in the same vein, the best way for protocols to find contributors is by assessing what they’ve done, much of which is moving on-chain. But for both users and protocols, getting started is an increasingly daunting task.
Enter RabbitHole. Immediately in our first meeting, it was clear that Brian had made it his life’s work to be a sherpa for those looking to go deeper into web3 — and scale this as far as possible. He regularly published thoughts on topics like on-chain curation since 2018, becoming a trusted friend to many who are now building notable DAOs and crypto protocols. He held early roles at Opensea and Dapper Labs, but is an independent thinker, infinite learner, and steadfast in his mission.
So what is RabbitHole? For new users, it is a way to learn by doing, earn crypto along the way, and build credentials to become a contributor to emerging protocols. For protocols, it is a way to identify, acquire, and engage quality contributors based on their capabilities. For the broader crypto ecosystem, it is a way to make web3 more meritocratic via an on-chain credentialing mechanism.
At Greylock, we’ve spent much time over the years on reputation systems and growth loops within networked businesses. RabbitHole is unique in its role in strengthening the network effects of protocol partners while also building its own protocol network effect. Partner projects love RabbitHole for its delivery of quality contributors, and those contributors in turn invest more time into RabbitHole as the ecosystem comes to trust these credentials. And it’s not just theoretical — this is working already, with partners like Polygon, Aave, ENS Domains, Graph, Uniswap, Lido, and more allocating token incentives to RabbitHole and its contributors.
RabbitHole is also at the forefront of “thoughtful decentralization” — it has a core full-time team working on product and an attached DAO (Pathfinders) to accelerate scaling, while aligning incentives of core contributors and partners. And RabbitHole has taken this a step further by launching metagovernance, with protocol specialists designated from the DAO actively engaging with specific protocols whose tokens are in RabbitHole treasury.
I’m thrilled to announce that we’ve co-led the Series A in RabbitHole alongside our close friends at TCG Crypto. We’re honored to work more closely with (and learn from) Brian, as well as friends around the table at Electric Capital, Chapter One, and others. If you’re interested in what RabbitHole is building, we are hiring! More from Brian here.
