I Am Charlie Graham

I Am Charlie Graham

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Create Products People Will Hate

Create Products People Will Hate

Imagine a world where entrepreneurs deliberately set out to create products that people despise. A world where the goal is to make customers' lives miserable, to solve problems in the most infuriating way possible. Sounds crazy, right? Hear me out, as this counterintuitive approach might just be the secret

CSS Genie

I wanted to share a mini side-project I built this month as it gave me many new insights on AI, where it is going, and where/how it will succeed. While I normally focus on product, strategy, and company building (I am currently working on Second Coffee, an AI-first incubator)

IRS Section 174 is Crushing Innovation

IRS Section 174 is Crushing Innovation

A flaw in IRS Section 174, as written, will crush small bootstrapped startups by requiring them to pay up to 75% of the revenue they make in taxes.

Another Party Like It’s 1999? What we can learn about GPT and AI from the Dot.com Bust and Boom.

Another Party Like It’s 1999? What we can learn about GPT and AI from the Dot.com Bust and Boom.

I've been observing and using Language Learning Models (LLMs) for almost a year. It’s been super exciting but the more LLM-based apps I see, the more this era eerily reminds me of internet startups in the late 1990s. In the 1990’s the first web browsers Mosaic

Web3 Gaming Mechanics Pt 2: The Breeding Game

Web3 Gaming Mechanics Pt 2: The Breeding Game

As we explore the mechanics of successful web3 gaming, another exciting model has emerged: the "Breeding Game". In this model, games have devised a complex (and sometimes opaque) method for two tokens to breed a third one. The Excitement of Breeding Breeding isn't a new concept

Web3 Gaming Mechanics Pt 1: The Allure of the "Diamond in the Rough"

Web3 Gaming Mechanics Pt 1: The Allure of the "Diamond in the Rough"

The future of Web3 gaming has been a hot topic this year. Everyone is trying to figure out what types of web3 games will leave a lasting impact. My philosophy has always been that successful web3 games must offer something important and enjoyable that their web2 counterparts cannot. In other

How To Value Web3 Gaming NFTs

How To Value Web3 Gaming NFTs

In my previous post, I explained how floor prices for an entire NFT collection do not make sense for games. This begs the question, if the floor price for an entire NFT collection does not matter, how should someone value game tokens? Investment Tokens Before we go into details on

Why Collection Floor Prices Do Not Matter For Games

Why Collection Floor Prices Do Not Matter For Games

For Web3 games, the absolute floor price of a token should not matter and in fact, should go to zero. Here's Why...

Hawku Raises $4M From Top Crypto Investors to Build the Premier Gaming and Utility NFT Marketplace

Hawku Raises $4M From Top Crypto Investors to Build the Premier Gaming and Utility NFT Marketplace

I am excited to announce that Hawku, the company I founded earlier this year, just received $4M in seed funding! Please read more about it here. https://blog.hawku.com/announcing-hawkus-seed-round/

The future for collectible NFTs

The future for collectible NFTs

Given the background on Collectible NFTs, what does the future hold? Here are my predictions for the collectible NFT space. 1) There will be a huge proliferation of Art We are in the midst of a gold rush of speculation in NFTs. Tens of thousands of new artists and companies

Utility NFTs Part II: As Revenue Producing Assets

Utility NFTs Part II: As Revenue Producing Assets

In previous posts I have talked about how NFTs provide social and emotional benefits for collectibles [collectible-driven-nfts] as well as access [utility-nfts-access-keys]. NFTs also can provide functional utility by producing a constant revenue stream. Revenue Producing Virtual World Assets We are seeing our first successes in revenue-producing NFT assets via

Utility-Driven NFTs - part 1: NFTs as Access Keys

Utility-Driven NFTs - part 1: NFTs as Access Keys

Unlike Collectible NFTs, Utility NFTs produce value beyond just emotional and social acceptance (or speculation). For the most part, these functional NFTS serve two purposes: 1) they act as “Keys'' that give the owner exclusive access to things (i.e. like a private concert or secret Slack/Discord

Collectible-Driven NFTs

Collectible-Driven NFTs

The vast majority of NFTs discussed in the media today are what I call Collectible-driven NFTs (aka Collector NFTs). Although there are some exceptions, Collector NFTs for the most part do not provide any functional value on their own (like royalties or access). Instead they are primarily items that bring

NFTs Today And Tomorrow - A new Blog Series

NFTs Today And Tomorrow - A new Blog Series

I have been spending the two months taking a deep dive into NFTs specifically into what they are and, what needs they are serving today and how they may be used in the future. While 90% of NFT value today is hype, I'm pretty bullish on their long-term

Prediction #14: Sports Betting Is Going To Explode.

This particular prediction might seem strange as right now very few sports are on and even ESPN is struggling with what material to air. However, with the launch of the MLB season, we are starting to see a lot more live sports via TV in the US. And as we

Prediction #13: The No-Code Movement Is Going To Have Its Moment In The Sun

The last few years have seen a huge increase in companies providing “No-Code” platforms. A No-code platform is an environment that lets people create working applications by linking blocks of components together without needing to know a coding framework. Nocode developers build these blocks and build out a workflow and

Prediction #12: The Rise Of The Bootstrap Entrepreneur

We are in the early stages of a new era and type of entrepreneurship. The Covid situation has opened up a whole new set of needs in terms of managing remote workforces, sanitation, telehealth, and other areas many of which will not fully go away. In addition to these new

Prediction #11: VCs, Startups and the Great Covid Business Divide

Covid is, has been, and will continue to affect the startup space. The onslaught of Covid has divided startups into two drastically different buckets depending almost completely on their vertical. Companies who are in spaces negatively affected by Covid (think tools to help retail, restaurants, gyms, in-person excursions, hospitality, concerts,

Prediction #10: Obsession with Tracking and cleanliness will lead to entirely new industries.

As we continue lifting the shelter in place and open up more venues and businesses without a vaccine, companies are going to become more concerned about maintaining a safe and clean environment. Consumer demand is going to drive the businesses’ success and consumer fear of catching Covid is going to

Prediction #9 - We will see new models of long-distance “connection” and interactions that will last longer than Covid.

As we have been under restrictions for such a long time, people have started getting used to connecting and chatting from far away. Pre-covid, people would primarily use the phone, email, and social media to bridge times when they connect in person. Now meeting in person is more difficult and

Prediction 8: Dine-in “Experiences” will be significantly curtailed as 30% of restaurants go out of business.

NOTE: this was written in May but I got around to posting it now. Still, much of it is relevant. Currently, approximately 3% of restaurants have closed down due to the pandemic. Expect that to grow to 20-30% by the time we are done. As restrictions open up, restaurants are

Prediction #7 An Explosion in BioPharms innovation

The Pandemic has unleashed a world-wide “Manhattan Project” across all biochemical and pharmaceutical companies to find vaccines and treatments. Companies across the world are streamlining and improving their processes and technologies to quickly find cures and vaccines. Biopharmaceutical companies are learning agile techniques that they will use to speed up

Prediction #6: Group indoor exercise is going to be much different for the next few years

Assuming we need masks and 6 feet of separation in indoor spaces, in-person group exercise places are going to have a major shock. Gyms and Basketball Facilities With recent reports showing the spread of the virus in exercise areas, expect a huge decrease in the number of gyms, basketball facilities,

Prediction #5: We may see a great unraveling of location-based company workforces and an even bigger shift-to-remote

As companies now have the capability and experience to do work remotely, they will start realizing they can attract talent way far away. Outsourcing (to other parts of the US and the world) will start becoming much more normal. Inexpensive cities, remote talent will become attractive initially for the cost.

Prediction #4. Commercial Office Space Glut, the end of the open workspace, and the beginning of rent-a-conference room booms.

If the workforce is working from home at least 2 out of 5 days, we are going to see a huge decrease in commercial real estate – including something like a 10-20% vacancy rate. Not all of that will go vacant as companies will need to reshape their office-space to get