The Web3 Entrepreneurial Journey of Generation Z: From Frenzy to Rationality

While those born in the 80s and 90s are still puzzled about whether to catch the "revolution express" of Web3, some from the 00s have already "taken off". One 00s individual said: "The revolution you see is my daily life."

However, this new track is not only filled with enthusiasm; some young pioneers are beginning to think calmly. We interviewed four "post-00s" entrepreneurs who are "playing" in Web3, and their stories may reflect another side of the industry.

Entering the Game of Adolescence

Meepo, a person from Fujian, was born in 2000 and has already achieved "financial freedom". His defined standard is to have enough assets to buy two houses and two cars in a first-tier city. This is his achievement as a "veteran" in Web3 with ten years of experience.

Meepo was introduced to Bitcoin in the sixth grade. It was 2012, and his parents were trying Bitcoin mining out of interest. To prevent Meepo from getting addicted to games, they encouraged him to "research" Bitcoin mining, rewarding him 100 yuan for each coin he mined.

At that time, Bitcoin had just been born for two years, and its social value was not significant. But 2012 was a turning point, as a group of merchants in Huaqiangbei who originally made a living by "flashing" Nokia phones turned to Bitcoin mining, and suddenly a batch of professional Bitcoin mining power emerged in China.

The entry of this batch of professional "miners" indirectly brought Meepo's mining career, far away in Fujian, to an early end. He found that the coins he could mine were becoming fewer and fewer, and he gave up a year later. "At that time, I didn’t make much money," but his interest in blockchain began from then on.

Born in 2003, Zohar was exposed to Bitcoin early on. When he was in his first year of high school, he heard about Bitcoin from a school club and self-studied game theory. His family was also involved in Bitcoin, and he spent around 3000 yuan to buy some "just for fun," but later he basically lost it all.

Zohar currently has multiple identities: a provincial college entrance examination top scorer, a student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who has taken a leave of absence to start a business (, a co-founder of an art DAO, a Web3 investor, etc. His investment returns in NFTs are around several dozen times.

Emma started her business at a younger age, only 16 years old this year, and is attending high school in San Jose, California. She heard about Bitcoin from her parents when she was 11, but wasn't very interested. Last year, her internet project made it to the top 10% of the YC training camp. This year, she upgraded her project to a Web3 project and is aiming for YC again.

For Emma, both Web3 and Web2 entrepreneurship are ways of learning. "My way of learning is through entrepreneurial projects; whenever there is a problem, I look up information or ask others for help." Her father never insisted that she attend a prestigious school, but valued her independence and self-discipline more.

![Young People Diving into Web3: Curious, Fanatical, and Rational])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-674dd211d49ab3a75407eb97ba6e27fb.webp(

"There is no authority here"

Emma found it difficult for traditional writers to earn money through book writing, so she founded a Web3 digital publishing platform called Cypher. On the platform, users can publish articles, and readers can "pay to read + invest" in authors. Authors issue tokens, and when an author appreciates in value, the tokens in the hands of readers will also appreciate, providing readers with the motivation to support the authors.

"This will be a free market, and anything that is popular with readers will automatically have more investment space." Emma said, "What I want can only be realized on Web3."

She observed that in the Web2 world, social media giants can control any content they want to control. In Web3, however, there is no central authority, and everyone is a co-owner of the blockchain. "The only way to truly achieve freedom of content is to build it on Web3."

Dinghui fell in love with DAO at first sight; this organizational form, which is different from traditional companies, is what excites him the most about Web3. He was born in 2003 and only attended high school, with eight of those years being homeschooled.

In the fifth grade of elementary school, his father, a university teacher, withdrew him from school, stating that the child was "staying up late doing homework every day" and "losing a lot of his spirit." From then on, Dinghui no longer experienced education within the system, but learned through various projects, internships, or jobs.

In his second year of high school, Dinghui created an online community that brought together hundreds of students who were learning at home, taking a break from school, or dropping out, "upholding the concept of equality and self-governance for all." He felt that this was "practicing" a DAO.

Zohar, the top student in the college entrance examination, likes to call himself a "bad student." In his first year of high school, he utilized online course resources to create an independent study plan for himself. "Why do both teachers and schools hope everyone learns at a relatively standard pace and with standard requirements?" Zohar said, "I don't think I belong to the majority."

He hardly attended classes, but gained a wealth of knowledge and exam experience through self-study, eventually becoming the top scorer in the college entrance examination in the city. Six months later, he made an unusual choice again: he suspended his studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and immersed himself in Web3 entrepreneurship.

Zohar believes that it is difficult for ordinary people to realize their value in the current environment, but "Web3 offers a greater imaginative space and hope, and in this wave, everyone's influence can be amplified."

![Young People Diving into Web3: Curious, Enthusiastic, and Rational])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-297635ecd95b9067960cca473158591e.webp(

"Cut" and "Being Cut"

"How to make money in the crypto world? It’s all about profiting from the lack of transparency in information," said Meepo. He has seen some VCs become overnight millionaires by going all in, only to quickly exit Web3 and invest in other fields. "What many Web3 projects claim to do based on faith and consensus is all false. Once each of them makes enough money, no one will talk about consensus anymore."

Meepo admits that to some extent he has also achieved financial freedom by "cutting leeks." Will there be a sense of guilt? "Because I can't see who is losing money. The blockchain has this advantage, which is that you don't know whose leeks are being cut, so there won't be a sense of guilt." But he will not allow such a situation to occur in his own projects.

Ding Hui once served as the operations head for a religious and cultural NFT project. He speculated that the investors might want to "make a quick profit and leave." "The greatest value of a profile picture NFT should be the user's network and the wealth creation effect in a bull market. However, for the 'mud dog' NFTs, empowering the project through some narratives and marketing tactics may seem to be thriving, but in reality, it is just false prosperity and does not create real value."

Ding Hui chose to join this project "to operate as the project leader, facing greater challenges and gaining firsthand experience." He has now withdrawn, "simply unwilling to cooperate with such an immature project party anymore. This project may have no value, but I did not deliberately deceive or incite everyone's desire to make purchases while promoting it, so I have a clear conscience."

"NFTs are currently essentially a field that relies on contribution from hype," Zohar said. He observed that the quality of a project and its ability to generate profit are two different matters. Some projects are "very rare" and "creative", but the team's management of user expectations is poor, leading to the project not being recognized by the market, and NFT prices remain stagnant. "We call this market value management capability; to put it simply, it's a bit like the ability to tell a story."

An experienced NFT buyer candidly stated, "Most NFT projects are just a way to harvest investors." The project team initially paints a bright future, but once the project is launched and users make their purchases, they no longer provide "empowerment" to the project, meaning users essentially just buy a picture.

Meepo believes he has a way to change this phenomenon. He has planned an NFT featuring a concept of derivative creation based on IP, and he is very confident that it will be welcomed by the market. He wrote a 100,000-word fantasy open-ended novel for the project, and after users purchase the NFT, they will receive a chapter from the novel, allowing them to create based on that text.

"This allows the value of NFTs to not be determined by the market or the project parties, but rather by the holders themselves." He referred to this model as create to earn, where holders can increase the value of their NFTs through secondary creation.

Meepo is not worried about not being able to sell, because he has three communities with nearly ten thousand members in total, "I am the group owner." This is his accumulated network, and he believes that as long as he promotes the project within these communities, "there will definitely be buyers." He calls it "layered marketing."

Next Stop

"Actually, I am quite disappointed with this industry. Web3 should lean towards technology, rather than financial attributes or hype. I have a love-hate relationship with Web3." Meepo said he is helping Web3 in his own way - after graduating from undergraduate studies this year, he joined a major internet company. He favors the technological foundation of big companies in areas such as AI and the metaverse, "After all, blockchain is just a part of Web3."

"If the timing is right in the future, I will return to Web3. The decentralized business culture attracts me more; that will be the future."

The difference between decentralization and current business culture is reflected in the following: In the past decade or so, the bestsellers in the internet industry were success-oriented books like "The Infinite Game" that appeared to be aggressive, while the popular books in the Web3 field are "The Sovereign Individual," where the tone shifts from conflict to equality, peace, and win-win cooperation. Behind this, the underlying logic of business is changing: emphasizing community instead of companies, emphasizing individuals instead of companies, and emphasizing members instead of users.

However, this "decentralized" future is still far away. Dinghui wrote an article titled "The Great Defeat of Chinese DAO: Don't Worry! We Can't Achieve Decentralized Autonomy" which reviewed the current issues of DAOs. He pointed out that many DAOs governed through WeChat are not much different from communities; the core team exercises centralized control; meetings are cumbersome, making it difficult to reach a consensus, and no one is taking action; there is also no good incentive mechanism. "Using the name of DAO to gain attention, but in reality, it is nothing."

"People often talk about the belief in Web3, and I think it's a projection, projecting human ideals onto this fresh new land." Ding Hui reflected, "Can it become a reality? Actually, I don't hold out too much hope." But he is still exploring better ways to implement DAOs.

For these young people, Web3 is not the destination, but rather a journey in life, a new attempt, or a low-cost adventure.

Zohar said that one day he will return to campus for deeper learning. "My experiences outside of school and what I study inside will complement each other. I am very eager for progress in this area." He hopes to accumulate more understanding of the market, engage in extensive communication with others, and gain unique insights before returning to school. "When I feel that I have built a relatively complete framework, I will return to school to study another system's framework. One cannot always limit oneself to one direction or one thing; otherwise, one may not get very far."

The success stories of young people are like feel-good narratives. They are the group with the least social resources, and their underlying theme is "Underdog." If even the most resource-deprived individuals can succeed, then theoretically everyone has a chance at success. Everyone loves to hear stories about young people and hopes to live better.

The story continues. As one of the first post-00s Web3 entrepreneurs, Meepo joined a major internet company, Zohar plans to return to school in the future, Emma is using her spare time to continue pushing for the YC accelerator, and Dinghui is still looking for opportunities in DAOs: they all have bright futures.

![Young people diving into Web3: curious, enthusiastic, and rational])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-8ed05214f66844be3396855cbabd4f09.webp(