Reflections on Ecosystems
Hi frens,
It’s now three weeks before Lunar New Year, I’d like to briefly reflect on the current status on three “ecosystems” I’ve been involved in.
Mobile App
Firstly, I’ve been in mobile app ecosystem for over a decade, mostly in the consumer market. Before my career life began, I was inspired by Steve Jobs’ opinion:
“...What I love about the consumer market, that I always hated about the enterprise market, is that we come up wtih a product, we try to tell everybody about it, and every person votes for themselves.
They go YES or NO, and if enough of them say yes, we get to come to work tomorrow.
Thats how it works. It’s really simple.
As for the enterprise market, it’s not so simple. The people that use the products don't decide for themselves. And the people that make those decisions sometimes are confused!”
Years later, I still resonate a lot with it. The mobile app ecosystem has been pretty mature and competitive, and I’m quite familiar with it. I haven’t launched any new apps for over two years, and I hope to crystalize some ideas and release them this year.
Web3
Secondly, the web3 ecosystem, which still struggles coming up with great products that make our lives easier. Recently I’ve read the opinion below and resonated a lot too. We could do better either in B2B or B2C field, but it takes efforts and visions — without being blinded by the “Lord of the Rings” of tokens.
Digital Identity
Thirdly, the Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) or digital identity ecosystem. Or, will the ecosystem ever exist?
...Consulting in SSI is a good way to make a living. But hand-to-hand combat is insufficient to get VCs adopted. The only way to scale something on the magnitude needed for SSI to work is a product with product/market fit. That, or regulatory obligation.
from Why Verifiable Credentials Aren’t Widely Adopted & Why Trinsic Pivoted
In the nature, a true ecosystem is complicated. And for an ecosystem to work, it can’t be built with pure consumer or enterprise perspective. We need both. We need to design and construct the ecosystem with visions...
…visions that ultimately “start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology.”
Otherwise we’d get lost in years, like many other “experts”.
Your friend,
Denken