Follow along as I explore Web3 & the #metaverse
The Matrix, Warner Bros.
Hi, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Amy. I'm the founder of the Launch Box where I serve as a Fractional CMO, Advisor and Mentor to startups of all shapes and sizes. I'm also an aspiring millionaire (aren't we all) who is constantly on the lookout for new opportunities to both grow my business and help more people! Which brings me to the point of this blog ... sort of ... in that I've suddenly become obsessed with the idea of taking the Launch Box into the metaverse (#tlbmeta) to see what opportunities exist. And, while I mostly think this is a grand idea, I also feel a bit like Neo before he took the red pill - which is to say it's all a bit outside of my realm of understanding right now.
I am however committed to following the white rabbit, which is the real point of this blog: to share the story of what I / Neo / Alice get up to while exploring wonderland. I will undoubtedly make some mistakes as I try to figure this all out, so I hope everyone is as excited about getting lost inside the matrix as I am. Please keep your arms inside the vehicle and get ready to laugh with (and resuscitate) me as needed. See you on the other side!
Side note - I'm also a film and TV junkie and I've just decided to see how many pop culture references I can fit in one blog. Apologies in advance for the really bad ones.
Chapter 1 (Stardate 03.16.22): I have to do what now?
I've been hearing about Crypt, NFT's and Web3 virtually everywhere lately, so I decided to accept an invite that just showed up in my inbox to join a group of tech angels on Discord. Upon getting my account set up, I took a quick look at the page, realized I didn't have the mental bandwidth to commit to the platform just then, and logged out. I clearly started in the wrong place.
Sometime a few days later I decided to take a peak behind the cryptocurrency curtain and opened an account on Coinbase. I went through a few tutorials, got some free coin and went back to my day job. Why I went with Coinbase is beyond me - they probably came up first in my google search.
Shiny object alert. My new friends on Discord were back and they gave me the greenlight to mint a new NFT. I couldn't resist! After about an hour of figuring out how to do just that, I unfortunately didn't make good on their offer, but I did learn a few things: 1) I was in no way ready to buy the amount of Eth (form of cryptocurrency) needed to purchase the newly minted NFT they were offering, 2) A Coinbase account is essentially the same thing as a stock market account in that it is a place where people can invest their money by buying and selling 'virtual stocks', aka cryptocurrencies, and 3) To spend cyptocurrency on things like NFT's, I needed to open a Crypto Wallet and essentially withdraw crypto (cash) from the bank (Coinbase) to fill it. So, if you haven't guessed it already, I opened a Coinbase Wallet account and said hello to the new app on my phone. I've completely forgotten about the NFT I was trying to mint by this point (and apparently the work I need to get done IRL) and am now watching a video about how to create a Metamask Wallet. Why you ask? Because I apparently need a metamask wallet to get the free NFT one of my business groups is giving away to new premium members (because a free NFT is better than an expensive one at this point, right?). And, just like that, I now have 2 new apps on my phone!
"I've completely forgotten about the NFT I was trying to mint by this point (and apparently the work I need to get done IRL) and am now watching a video about how to create a metamask wallet."
As nothing annoys me more than setting up a bunch of random new accounts and passwords, I'm officially over it at this point. Will be back when I (hopefully) get my new NFT.
Time Spent: Way to Much
Cash Invested: $5
Portfolio Value: $26.55 ⬆️
I hope I've grabbed your interest. If so, please bookmark this page and come back to see how I fare as I continue down the rabbit hole!
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Augmented Reality: Augmented reality (AR) is an enhanced version of the real physical world that is achieved through the use of digital visual elements, sound, or other sensory stimuli delivered via technology.
Blockchain: A blockchain is a distributed database that is shared among the nodes of a computer network.
Cryptocurrency: A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend.
Metaverse: The metaverse is a digital reality that combines aspects of social media, online gaming, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and cryptocurrencies to allow users to interact virtually.
NFT: Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other.
Virtual Currency: A virtual currency is a digital representation of value only available in electronic form.
Web3 / Web 3.0: Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 refer to successive iterations of the web, compared with the original Web 1.0 of the 1990s and early 2000s. Web 2.0 is the current version of the Internet (a term often used interchangeably with the web) with which we are all familiar, while Web 3.0 represents its next phase.
