PART 1: THE INTERNET IS HAVING A KODAK MOMENT

But some cracks are starting to form, and people are beginning to wake up. Facebook and its founder are increasingly viewed with negative sentiment. Google is increasingly under the microscope for anti-trust & monopolistic behavior.

Netscape’s popularity was synonymous with the internet itself – which is to say, it exploded virtually overnight. In 1995, Netscape went public, reaching a then-unprecedented valuation of $2.9 Billion on the first day of its IPO.

But while in many ways more limited, the early web also provided a far more level playing field to its early settlers. As there were no “cities” yet per se, the most valuable virtual real estate hadn’t yet accreted to a small cabal of gatekeepers.

And as such, both Google & Facebook have become the “IQ test” for customer acquisition – you’d have to be insane not to use them.

The fact that you can count on one hand the number of CEO’s who effectively control 95% of the internet experience as we know it is pretty astounding.

Also, much like a small homestead on a hundred acres, websites were closed ecosystems and isolated. There were no social networks or marketplace platforms to tap as a firehose channel for building an audience, and there was no real mechanism for ‘going viral’.

You had to grow your traffic the old fashioned way – by asking your digital neighbors for ... See more

Kodak, after having literally invented the digital camera, failed to recognize that digital was quickly becoming the inevitable future of photography.

For the most part, Web 1.0 was a fairly lonely experience – both for homesteaders & visitors. There was a lot to see, but there wasn’t that much to do.

Fast forward to today, and it’s become increasingly clear that the crypto ecosystem – specifically, its blockchain infrastructure – will fundamentally change the way we use, build and benefit from the internet.