Experience the future of work with Layer3
How Layer3 is unlocking talent, and making it easier to work in web3
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Read Time: ~10 minutes
One of the promises of web3 is that it’ll give us more freedom to choose what we do for work, and who we do it with.
Packy McCormick calls this Liquid Work (source: The Cooperation Economy). It’s a nature of work that’s highly fluid. You could be working for yourself, freelancing on the side, and/or working for multiple companies simultaneously. While Liquid Work isn’t exclusive to web3, decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), the web3 version of companies/communities, do make it easier to find Liquid Work; especially as our world becomes increasingly digitised and globalised.
For some helpful context, Packy has a very concise definition of DAOs:
Packy McCormick: More simply, DAOs are a new way to finance projects, govern communities, and share value. Instead of a top-down hierarchical structure, they use Web3 technology and rapidly evolving governance and incentive systems to distribute decision-making authority and financial rewards. Typically, they do that by issuing tokens based on participation, contribution, and investment. Token holders then have the ability to submit proposals, vote, and share in the upside. (source: The Dao of DAOs)
One of the key advantages of DAOs is that they’re global by default. This lowers the barrier for people all over the world to contribute to products being built. However, right now, the experience of becoming a DAO contributor is clunky and complex. For example, the use of Discord and other tools can be messy and overwhelming, it can be hard to find suitable work (particularly on a part-time basis) and there may be delays in compensation.
Brandon Kumar: You're not going to spend the time and effort to actually figure out what the contribution process is. Like I often will say that contributing to a DAO is the virtual equivalent of climbing through barbed wire. (source: Brandon Kumar - Layer3 | The Inquisitive VC)
Every point of friction is a problem because it means that:
individuals who want to contribute, may never actually contribute
web3 communities aren’t able to attract and activate the talent they need to push their mission forward
So while DAOs are a step in the right direction - for Liquid Work to happen at scale, it needs to be easy for anyone to start contributing.
That’s where Layer3 comes in.
What is Layer3?
Layer3 is a marketplace connecting web3 communities with contributors. On the platform, contributors find and complete work, and are then compensated with tokens. It was co-founded by Dariya Khojasteh and Brandon Kumar.
The ambition of Layer3 is to create a world where anyone, anywhere can contribute to web3 in an intuitive way. It's built upon the belief that the next big wave of web3 users will be onboarded through participation (by using their time and skills), not speculation.
Here’s a high level overview of how it works:
web3 communities post tasks in the form of:
bounties - a limited number of instant rewards for small tasks, e.g. performing an action on a web3 application
contests - crowdsourcing work that’s typically less than 3 hours of effort, e.g. creating analytics dashboards, writing Twitter threads, creating videos, designing marketing material, building web apps, and much more. Note: only the best submissions are rewarded
projects - 1:1 matching for longer term work which requires more time & effort, e.g. writing 4 short, educational blog posts
Contributors hop onto the Layer3 platform and complete bounties, submit work for contests, or apply for projects. For their contributions, they receive experience points (XP) on Layer3, and may be compensated with tokens.
The magic of Layer3
With that context in mind, let’s dive a little deeper to understand some of Layer3’s guiding principles, which are reflected in the design of the product & user experience.
We’ll talk about:
open & earn - Layer3 makes contributing to web3 frictionless & flexible, so that anyone can hop onto the platform and start earning
reward with ownership - Layer3 helps web3 projects build and deepen engagement with their communities
gamify work - Layer3 turns contributing/working into a game-like experience, letting users earn points, gain new skills & unlock new experiences over time
1) Open & Earn
Layer3’s goal is to become a platform which anyone can open and then immediately start using to contribute their time & skills to web3 communities, and earn income/ownership.
It doesn’t matter who they are or what their background/experience is. The only thing that matters is the work they do, and the outcomes they provide.
Layer3: Our guiding star is the idea that everyone has something to offer. We believe that a 16-year old coder in Mumbai should have equal access to the opportunities available to a 27-year old FAANG engineer in Silicon Valley. When traditional industries gate-keep purely based on education or pedigree, they lock out a potentially competitive talent pool and bar them from contributing skills that can significantly advance projects. (source: Layer3 Guidebook)
There are 3 key things Layer3 does to create an “open & earn” experience:
a) Focus on the work that matters
One of Layer3’s key insights is that the majority of the highest-impact work for web3 communities doesn’t happen on the blockchain. Instead, it’s done “off-chain” using existing web2 tools/platforms - like writing an article on Google Docs, creating a design in Figma, or publishing a video on Youtube. That’s why Layer3 is built to enable contributors to submit their off-chain work (e.g. a link to a Google Doc), have it verified by web3 communities, and be rewarded.
b) Remove friction
Layer3 aims to tear down the virtual barbed wires in the current process of contributing to web3, and instead make it frictionless, easy & intuitive. By doing so, they want to “transform passive interest into active contribution.”
Brandon Kumar: On one side you have shit posters who just spend their time on Twitter and they're kind of evangelizing the brand, but they're not really getting anything out. And then on the other side, you have core contributors who maybe are paid on a quarterly or monthly basis from the DAO itself. And I think there is a lot of idle human capital that sits in the middle… where you're a passive investor in these communities. You're sophisticated enough within crypto to understand what it is that they're trying to accomplish, but you just don't have the tools to participate. (source: Brandon Kumar - Layer3 | The Inquisitive VC)
In general, Layer3 is quick and easy to use:
Want to view available tasks? Hop onto the Layer3 homepage, and you’re a few clicks away from viewing everything you can do
Want to create your Layer3 profile or login? Since it’s built on web3 tech, there’s no sign-up process. All you need to do is connect your wallet
Want to submit your work for a contest? Go onto the contest, hit Enter, provide the link to your submission and hit Submit
Want to claim your reward if you win a contest? You don’t need to do anything or chase anyone! Your reward will come through instantly once the winners have been selected
c) Enable Liquid Work
Layer3 makes it easier for individuals to find Liquid Work since it’s designed with flexibility in mind.
Contributors aren’t obligated to do any work, aren’t locked into specific types of work and aren’t told how much to do. It’s entirely up to contributors themselves to decide when and how they want to contribute, and how much time they’re willing to commit e.g. doing a writing contest on the side while having a full-time job vs committing to a long term data analytics project as a part-time gig.
This lets Layer3 cater to the needs of a broad range of users. More importantly, contributors can earn a meaningful amount of income/tokens from their work, making it more viable for individuals to contribute to web3 communities part-time.
This is great for individuals, but it benefits web3 communities too. In the long term, Layer3 will build up a broad network of high quality contributors with diverse skills & experience. This means web3 communities will have a broader reach for talent. Not only will they be able to tap into their existing community, but they can also find talent within the Layer3 community.
2) Reward with ownership
Unlike web2 freelancing platforms like Upwork, Layer3 often rewards contributors with ownership through tokens.
It’s a great way for web3 projects to expand their communities, but it also allows them to tap into the passion & talent of their early users & supporters. Layer3 removes the friction of turning them into contributors, and then by rewarding them with tokens, they become owners with aligned incentives.
Layer3: Turning users into contributors introduces a powerful virtuous cycle:
Because they are users, they know the product as well as anyone and can contribute effectively
Because their contributions helped make the product what it is, they are more inclined to share it with friends
Because they are paid for their contributions in native token, they want to see the project continue to grow
Bounties are an interesting example of this. They allow web3 projects to incentivise certain actions from new or existing users/community members. But, unlike traditional web2 advertising where companies pay platforms like Google and Facebook for running ads, web3 projects can pay the users themselves and even choose to reward them with ownership.
Here’s Dariya talking about the potential of bounties:
3) Gamify work
Packy talks about how we’re living in a world that’s increasingly like a video game. He calls this The Great Online Game. The idea is that people all over the internet are playing a game online, as themselves, with real-world implications. In this game, you’re rewarded for your online contributions - like learning, sharing and collaborating with others, or helping and teaching them something. As a result, you can:
earn points, as all your online interaction helps to build your reputation
gain new skills and attributes, like improving your writing skills or your ability to think for yourself
unlock new levels over time, by earning yourself new opportunities or meeting new people
Layer3 is tapping into that concept, by gamifying the experience of work:
you literally earn experience points (XP) for using Layer3, but you also build up a profile overtime, which showcases the work you’ve done
you can choose the work you want to do, that lets you develop and improve whatever new or existing skills you want. As Dariya says: “You get to play in web3 your way. That means you get to identify your skills, interests and preferences for work and only contribute to projects and missions that align with them.” (source: The Internet is just a big game. Shouldn’t we get paid for playing?)
your profile becomes a signal of what you’re interested in, and what you’re capable of, potentially unlocking new work/career opportunities
Closing Thoughts
I’m excited for the future of Layer3 because I want to live in a world where Liquid Work is possible at scale. More than that, I’ve personally experienced the pain of figuring out how to contribute my skills in web3, and the ease of doing so via Layer3. I need what they’re building because it makes my life better. And plus, since web3 projects are so community-driven, I can imagine how for them, tapping into a platform like Layer3 would be a no-brainer.
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