Taste is all over our internet. The Substack read “Taste is Eating Silicon Valley” by Anu Atluru went viral across tech and crypto twitter last week. The title invokes the 2011 pronouncement by our venture capital edgelord, Marc Andreesen. But the previously unifying truism of “software is eating the world” is more than a decade old. What Atluru’s viral essay demonstrates more than anything is that we’re ready for a fresh, sexy innovation narrative.  

The crux of Atluru’s argument can be summarized by this line, “In a world of scarcity, we treasure tools. In a world of abundance, we treasure taste.” We have an abundance of tools in crypto: L1s, L2s, wallets, DEXs, block explorers, secondary markets, etc. Every product hails efficiency, scalability, abstraction and other decidedly un-yummy features. Our industry-wide struggle for adoption makes clear that proprietary technology and network effects were never going to be enough to make sticky or even remotely interesting products. 

The role of taste in tech was a throughline across the FEST24 lectures, headlined by Dirt CEO Daisy Alioto’s prescient talk, “The Taste Economy.” “For the past 10 years, taste couldn’t be monetized. Soon it will be one of the only things that can be.” Alioto’s talk predicted Atluru’s take. Taste has finally arrived to take the mantle from software as the next memetic to eat the proverbial world. 

We sit at “the intersection of culture and crypto” at FWB. The two are ostensibly at odds – while culture is concerned with gatekeeping and trend subversion, crypto is obsessed with scale and trend hacking. Taste and tech are no different, and yet (not not sexual) tension and its bedfellow desire are what make this internet interesting. 

In May, we published “Designing for Desire,” which explores the concept of ontology within the context of product design. Our 10 rules for web3 builders feels more resonant than ever:

If this resonates with your company, reach out.

FEST24 Lecture: "How Long Gone Live with Trevor Mc Fedries”

How Long Gone is a bi-coastal elite podcast from old friends and podcast professionals, Chris Black and Jason Stewart. CB and TJ deliver their takes on pop culture, fashion, music, and more.

Trevor McFedries is the founder of Friends With Benefits, as well as the creator of virtual pop star Lil Miquela and founder of technology startup Brud, which Dapper Labs acquired in 2021. Since its inception in 2017, Brud has raised funds from Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, and SV Angel amongst others. Friends With Benefits pioneered social tokens and counts Andreesen Horowitz, Spark, Pace Capital, and Kindred Ventures as investors.

Before creating Brud and FWB, Trevor was an artist who worked as a DJ, producer, and director for acts including Ke$ha, Azealia Banks, and Katy Perry. McFedries has performed at music festivals like Lollapalooza and Coachella, served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Bad Robot, and was an early employee at Spotify. He currently serves on the board at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and Rhizome (New Museum, NYC) and is one half of SoFTT alongside his partner Karen Freire.

Get your FEST $BENEFITS via Bend!

FEST Quests participants qualify for a share of a 500,000 FWB $BENEFITS token drop happening 🔜

To see if you qualify:

Head to FEST Quests and enter your Bend wallet address. You’ll be able to view completed Quests and your overall Point balance. $BENEFITS will be proportionally distributed based on your Points relative to the total Points earned by all participants.

Important: $BENEFITS is not natively supported in the Bend wallet. To receive your airdrop, you’ll need to connect an external crypto wallet to your Bend account using the ‘External Wallet’ connect feature. Your $BENEFITS tokens will be automatically dropped to that wallet. Due date to connect your wallet is October 1st.

Connecting an external wallet to Bend:

1. Open your Bend wallet on mobile or desktop

2. Click ‘Account’ on the side menu

3. Click the ‘External Wallet’ button below your username

4. Click ‘Get Started’

5. Follow the prompts to connect any external crypto wallet (MetaMask, Coinbase, Rainbow etc…)

6. If you have any questions or need help feel free to email [email protected] or ping @Dave | Eco in the FWB Discord

7. Qualifying wallets that are not connected to an EOA by October 1st will be removed from the participants list.

TAKE OUR MEMBERSHIP SURVEY!

FWB is looking to evolve our membership program to better serve our existing community and new members.

Your input is crucial in shaping our future. Please take a moment to help us & complete this survey (whether you're a member or not!)

TAKE OUR FEST SURVEY!

Will you take 5 minutes of your Monday to tell us what you think of FEST? Link to the FEST gallery at the end (600+ photos 🥵).

Q4 BUDGET PROPOSAL IS ON THE WAY

Ok, it’s really about to be October (!!!) so we’re officially entering Q4 of the 2024th year of the Common Era. It also means we’re queuing up our Q4 budget proposal which will be shared in Discord for discussion next week followed by a vote the following week. Stay tuned for the budget which will cover a recap on Q3 along with the most important takeaways for October through the end of the year.

⧞ ELSEWHERE ⧞

🗝 DETROIT Event Key 🗝 Thursday, Sept 26

Hosted by FWB member John Gulbronson

📢 As MCON comes to Detroit, join us at The Digital Renaissance hosted at The Stu in the Russell Industrial Center! 🎨✨ Dive into conversations about blockchain, DAOs, and how we can build a stronger creative community. 💡

🍕 Pizza & 🍻 beer (while supplies last) 🎶 Live music 🎨 Live painting + creative materials to get involved! 📅 9/26/2024 📍 The Stu, Russell Industrial Center

Let’s connect with the local art & DAO community!

⧞⧞⧞⧞⧞⧞

🗝 BALI Event Key 🗝 Friday, Sept 27

Hosted by FWB member @0xjiminal

After a busy week in Singapore, let’s kick back, sip on a Barong Zombie or Kookaburra, and let @hidden.spheres take you to paradise with his selection of Balearic beats as the Balinese sun sets over the Indian Ocean.

We’ll enjoy a few drinks at the iconic Desa Potato Head before indulging in authentic Indonesian flavors together.

Afterwards, we’re off to experience one of the best sound systems in the world at DJ Harvey's new - and already legendary - KLYMAX Discotheque.

Spots are very limited.

⧞⧞⧞⧞⧞⧞

BROOKLYN Artist Meetup: Training AI Models and Earning on Base Thursday, Oct 3

Come together with fellow artists and creators to learn how to train your own AI models, use within your practice, and earn from them onchain.

An informative + interactive event featuring:

• What The **** is a LoRa and why should I make one? by Derrick Schultz

• Contribute to a collaborative collage for collective model creation!

• Strategies for artists to earn from their models on base by JuuJuuMama

Thrown together with friends from Refraction, The Hug, TITLES, Base, and AAWH.

CALL FOR PARTNERS AT SCOPE ART FAIR

FWB is partnering with SCOPE Art Show during Miami Art Week. We’re exploring the theme of interdependence and the power of collaboration. SCOPE is not just a venue for art but a dynamic ecosystem where gallerists, artists, collectors, curators, and enthusiasts converge, each playing a vital role in the collective experience. The focus of SCOPE’s large-scale installations will be on artworks that explore the interconnectedness of individuals, communities, and the wider world.

FWB is hosting the web3 hub for us to convene, trade ideas, put our toes in the beach, etc. We know that you probably haven’t sorted your Miami plans so we got you — if you are looking to do something impactful with all your frens, then come work with us and SCOPE. Reach out to us to scheme.

ADD CULTURE TO YOUR TECH STACK WITH FWB

Friends With Benefits is a new type of cultural institution driving the adoption of emerging tech. Forged on the internet, FWB is a group of 5,500+ global members with a combined, cross-channel audience of 100K+ cultural producers, emerging tech builders, and early adopters. We partner with infrastructure companies, consumer brands, protocols, and communities to build user adoption strategies, craft cultural positioning, and deploy product launches.

What We Do: 

• Content & experiential marketing

• Solving cold start problem

• User acquisition & retention

• Community building

• Strategic advisory

How We Do It:

• URL → IRL Activations

• FWB FEST

• Incubators

• Strategic rollouts & marketing campaigns

• Thought leadership

Our Edge:

• Solving the Cold Start Problem: Our crypto-native community are the right first adopters paired with a custom rollout plan to drive early traction.

• Beyond crypto: We help you break out of the web3 bubble, ensuring your product resonates with a broader audience.

• A Community of Culturalists: Partner with us to access a global network eager to bring your vision to life and drive cultural relevance.

• Solutions for Newly Funded Companies: Our tailored approach maximizes your investment, delivering impactful results for your growing business.

More Than A Social Network

FWB was founded as a new kind of social network. Four years later, our network has evolved to produce cultural go-to-market solutions leveraging our 5,500+ global membership and wider emerging tech ecosystem.