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- Builder Buddies #5
Builder Buddies #5
Friendly advice from Tom Husson, from Impactbilli
Hey hey friends with a love for building stuff,
We hope you've survived yet another very long January and are also having a great Valentines day.
We are back with some more web3 building inspiration and a few actionable learning to help you along your career. Even though we promised you a weekly publication, we have been struggling to find the best interviewees and that's been keeping us from successfully meeting that promise. So, first of all, our apologies, sirs and, second and most importantly, if you'd like to be featured in this newsletter, let us know! (More on that by the end of today's email).
No onto what really matters: a new story by Tom Husson ✨
One Story
Tom Husson, Impactbili, Eden, @ Metaverse, sometimes Brussels
Builder Buddies (BB): How would you define the current point of your career life cycle?
Tom Husson (TM): Keeping my learning curve as steep as possible: Beginning of 2022 I sold my first relatively successful company. Much to the dismay of my grandma because it was only in the last 6 months that I started to make good money. She didn’t understand why I had worked so hard to then sell at the moment it was starting to gain traction.
A big reason was that I felt my learning curve was stagnating & the growth & Impact I could have from building that business was capped. At 25, I didn’t take that as a good sign. Somebody once talked to me about “learn - earn - return” periods in your career. And usually they say that from 20 to about 35 it’s “learn”, from 35 to 50 its “earn” and from 50 to 65 it’s “return". That’s the general cycle I intended to follow for my career so for now I prioritize keeping my learning curve as steep as possible.
BB: When and why did you start exploring web3 as a career path?
TM: I have this thesis around “breakthrough entrepreneurship”. Basically it states that if you want build something that has the potential to impact a billion people’s lives positively, you have to leverage important inflection points on three different layers: technologically, socially & regulatory. Web3 embodies all 3.
As I have a life goal to impact a billion+ people’s lives positively it was a no-brainer to jump into the space head first & start figuring out what needs to be built that can potentially impact a billion+ people’s lives.
BB: What were your main struggles while entering web3?
TM: Access. A lot of the online communities feel gated. It’s not until after I did my first conference, joined & tried to add value to a couple of DAOs, that I developed some meaningful relationships with “insiders”. I felt very much like an outsider in the beginning.
BB: What's your biggest professional accomplishment?
TM: Landing my first big client in my previous company on nothing but willpower & conviction lol. I had nothing but some un-grounded confidence & ideas.
BB: What was your biggest web3 mistake?
TM: Sending Polygon tokens to an ethereum address 🤷🏼♂️ - I suggest we use different pre-fixes for each chain. Let’s leave the 0x for ETH & all the rest can use others.
BB: What resources and/or skills would you recommend to someone entering web3?
TM: Go to any of the “ETH” conferences - you’ll learn and make connections in a week that will take you 6 months to make online.
BB: Who have been the most influential people in your web3 journey?
TM: Other founders. Such WAGMI energy in the web3 founders’ community.
BB: What would you do if you were at the start of your career today?
TM: Read Naval Ravikant’s almanack & then create a strategy around those ideas. I gave up, sometimes unnecessarily so, great friendships in the name of “building big” in my career. Sure, there’s sacrifices to be made, but Naval has some great ideas on how to achieve & balance both.
BB: What investment (of time, energy or money) brought you the most return?
TM: Reading & writing.
BB: How can people support you and what you’re building?
Follow Eden on Twitter or on Lens or ping me directly if you want to learn more or just chat: https://t.me/impactbilli.
2 Tips
🤙Join a Community Call
Web3 is all about participation. Many web3 projects are built in public and in collaboration with their community members in order to achieve better and faster outcomes.
Community calls are a best practice for all of those building in the space. They are accountability moments but also great places to share feedback, vote on proposals, interact and much more. Join one now and thank us later.
🐦Follow web3 folks
There are several lists out there that let you know whom you should follow to get a better picture of what's going on the space. Find your tribe and your inspiration with web3 OGs, thought leaders and overall pioneers. Click here and here to see some of those lists.
3 Opportunities
2. Designer/UX/UI - Chelo - See More
Builder Buddies is looking for talented builders who'd like to share their web3 stories: the good, the bad and everything in between while launching their careers in this new world.
If you want to share everything you've learnt along the way, send an email to sara@talentprotocol.com