You can’t escape the news of tens of thousands of people being retrenched from Meta, Stripe, Lyft, Twitter. All big Bay Area technology companies. Your LinkedIn feed is most likely populated with personal stories from friends and colleagues commenting on posts of folks that are dealing with a range of emotions after being let go from these companies. With tech stocks down about 65% in the past year, the cost cutting axe has fallen hard.

I have one piece of advice: Do things you’ve not done before. Yes, that’s right. Turn off the computer, go outside and do things you’ve not done before. Sounds easy right? It is. And most importantly while you’re doing things you’ve never done before, talk to people. That’s the oldest form of idea generation and motivation. And as Max Ehrmann wrote in his 1927 poem ‘Desiderata’ … “listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.”

I rode the California Street tram car in San Francisco for the first time ever last week after 20 years. And I spoke to the person sitting next to me (instead of getting an Uber by myself). I took time on a plane from Phoenix recently to speak with a lady who I noticed had books about embroidery and knitting. Who knew it was a good stress relief for Carolyn, the head of sales for this national agricultural grain wholesaler!

It’s not always what we think that opens up new opportunities. So be brave and do things you’ve not done before and talk to people. Therein lies the first step towards your next unexpected opportunity.

At the Andaz West Hollywood Hotel this week, a team of First National Real Estate members from Australia heard from myself and Assaf Igell about the future of technology and impact on real estate. Here’s a brief summation of the round table held:

Real Estate 1.0  > The Information Revolution (1990s to 2000s) portals made it easier / faster to find and buy a new home – to democratize access to information.  Think Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Redfin, Apartments.com, RealEstate.com.au, Domain.com.au, etc. Pictures, maps, sold prices, neighborhood stats, etc. This was revolutionary because it democratized real estate knowledge.

Real Estate 2.0 > The Transaction Revolution (2015 to present). Streamlining and removing friction from the core “buy-sell” real estate transaction. The majority of the industry is still in this transaction revolution. The majority of home buyers and sellers could easily find homes online – but they were subjected to a complicated, costly, and slow transaction process. Opendoor.com and Offerpad.com  (started in 2015) are also working to speed up and clean up the selling process. 

Real Estate 3.0 > Transaction Revolution (2020 to 2030). Rise of web3 technologies – blockchains, NFTs, crypto, smart contracts, tokens and more. The idea to simplify bureaucracy of property buying / selling. Web3 is generally communicated as products and services that turn internet users into owners, thenReal Estate 3.0 will increase access to entirely new kinds of ownership ( Rent-to-own, Lease-to-own,  real estate as a digital financial asset to trade, co-ownership).

The MetaVerse > Assaf spoke about the metaverse ‘digital twin’ of a property that exists as physical asset. Imagine if Meta (aka Facebook) decided to create locations for ‘digital twins’ of property addresses in the metaverse. It isn’t that unrealistic right?

Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) > Assaf displayed the power of an NFT by showing one of the First National Real Estate members sporting an original one of a kind Batman Cowl NFT. The power of NFTs for branding, loyalty and collectibles is real and Hollywood Studios like DC Comics are showcasing this as an entree to the Web3 space with a sizeable NFT undertaking entitled The Bat Cowl.

The Bat Cowl collection, launched in April 2022, highlights unique headpieces that have been important facets of the superhero’s 83-year-old history. Bat Cowl NFTs presented collectors with the chance to both own a piece of Batman’s legacy as well join the Web3 iteration of DC Comics: DC Universe.

Watch the video below to see the amazing effects of the Bat Cowl NFT.

The term ‘dark social’ is doing the rounds in Silicon Valley. It’s not as sinister as the literal meaning suggests. We’ve all heard of ‘first click’ & ‘last click’ attribution and now there’s “self reported attribution” which is basically asking folks to count inbound leads / demo requests, etc about on which social channel they saw (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc) or heard (Podcast, talking to a friend / colleague) about your business. So, we’re back to unbranded / branded awareness questions …. It’s a good graph below atleast to make you think. Note the graph is based on n=128 self reported high intention leads.

In 2007, I posted this pic of Al Gore and me at Paragon restaurant on 2nd Street & Townsend in San Francisco. A few weeks back I was enjoying a coffee with friends before the San Francisco Giants ballgame when I noticed this tow truck removing the Revel scooter from 2nd Street.. It’s a local rule to clear traffic around the ballpark on game days for obvious reasons.

Having had my car towed from the Sansome Street in the city years ago, I know the $350++ fine awaits as per SFMTA. What is interesting is that the on demand economy sometimes doesn’t interact with the offline economy. I’ve seen Lime Bikes in trees and one in a creek in Menlo Park!

Some more work to do for the engineers at these companies …

Each year we donate to a charity and our team collectively decides on which charity. We like to support organizations who have helped advance the world and deliver on the change for good promise the Internet has and will continue to bring to the world.

Every person on the planet deserves the chance to educate themselves. Wikipedia offers free access to knowledge and wisdom. We cannot think of a better organization to donate to that embodies the power the Internet and makes for a brigther future for mankind.

Today is the official launch of Apprenticeship.com.au inspired by the words from the Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie ‘Let There Be Light’. I quote from words of Andrew Carnegie:

“I spoke again at Dunfermline, July 27, 1881, when my mother laid the foundation stone there of the first free library building I ever gave. My father was one of five weavers who founded the earliest library in the town by opening their own books to their neighbors. Dunfermline named the building I gave “Carnegie Library.” The architect asked for my coat of arms. I informed him I had none, but suggested that above the door there might be carved arising sun shedding its rays with the motto: “Let there be light.” This he adopted.

From working in a mining pit without light as a kid after emigrating from Scotland at age 12, he built the Pittsburgh Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for $303 million. It became the U.S. Steel Corporation. After selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American for the next several years.

He became a leading philanthropist in the USA and  British Empire, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education, and scientific research giving away 90 percent of his fortune.