Hey. Hi. Yes. I know. It’s been an awful long while since I have given an update. Why? Well, it’s been a mixed bag. The main culprit is the expectation of news and changing circumstances. For example, I would begin writing an update and then may receive news that changes the details of said update. I would then wait for a definitive outcome. The result of this is that I would delay or just not share the update. It looks like things have calmed down now. When writing this I thought about ways in which I can review the year, and my lessons and catch up on all that’s happened over the last couple of months. Obviously, that is going to be impossible in one article, so the purpose of this is going to be a wrap-up of the year. I will periodically drop specific updates and other articles up to the new year.

This is wrap-up is going to have a different look and feel when compared to my traditional updates. But let’s dive straight in!

Year Highlights

• Raising 15 ETH (200%) of my goal in my Initial Eniola Offering. I honestly didn’t know whether the raise would be a success or not and didn’t expect the experiment to get any eyes or traction outside of my immediate network.

• Launching a scholarship for Black students looking to study Computer Science degrees at University College London as part of a consultancy engagement.

• Dining, drinking, living and building with strangers in the United States as part of Launch Houses’ New York cohort this summer.

• Ideated, hired for, built and shipped early.fans with Okori and Pedro. The project garnered a lot of interest; being accepted onto an accelerator and pitched to some of the worlds leading VCs.

Community

• In total there were 7 snapshot (governance) votes which touched on these areas

  • Personal life 

  • The sharing of monthly updates

  • Running of early.fans

  • Personal growth

• My favourite and probably the most interesting mini-project(?) was the *“vlog your valentine’s day” *proposal which narrowly passed. It had the highest amount of engagement with snapshot voting and discord activity being the parameters. I could write a whole article about my thoughts as a result but I will save that for a different day. I guess the silver lining is that I am now in a relationship with the woman I took out (if you care lol).

• I can only speak for myself, but there was value exchange in the community outside the scope of the experiment. I personally build friendships, made introductions to investors for those building projects and gave advice to individuals (personal or relating to their projects).

• The $ENIOLA community have kept me accountable, asking me for updates when I forget to upload them, taking delight in my wins, sharing words of encouragement when things don’t go my way, and having empathy in the moments in which I am vulnerable with them. I love them, for real, for real (yes, I typed it twice on purpose).

Lessons Learnt

There are going to be community-focused, my founder (early.fans) based lessons will come in an article I am dropping in the near future.

• Hype alone =! Good signal. This experiment was launched at the beginning of the bear market. On a macro level, we have seen protocols and projects without concrete moats and value props run into the ground/become insolvent/stop operating. On a micro level, we have seen that it has become difficult to rally and engage with communities, especially because financial incentives as a means of growth hacking are not as common as they used to be. Anyone looking to build in web3 should think about the ways in which their project creates true value for the groups they are looking to serve. Additionally, builders should focus on testing hypotheses and finding product-market-fit (or community-market-fit). 

• Constantly engage with your curiosities wherever you can. I understand and appreciate the fact that most individuals are not risk-loving as I am. I also appreciate that many people are not privileged enough to just do what they enjoy. There are responsibilities, priorities and depending on other factors, expectations and pressures to chase stability. Over the course of the year, my knowledge and network base has expanded as I have taken opportunities, contributed to projects, asked for intros, met people, absorbed content and more. Engaging with my curiosity and childlike fervour has allowed me to grow in many ways and I am grateful for the opportunity and privilege to be able to do so. 

Wrapping it up

It has been an interesting year of ups and downs. There is a lot that I have to share but that will come in the next article. Parts of that article will be redacted and only visible to $ENIOLA holders. Generally speaking, I am excited for 2023, for myself and the community.

E ✌️