“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

— Peter Drucker

At Friends With Benefits, we’re building a future where our technology and culturally-informed ethics are inseparable. As a global group of culturalists in search of better tech, our activities advance the adoption of emerging technology

This is how we do it:

• Community Building
• FWB FEST
• Partnerships
• Tent-pole Events & Event Keys
• Editorial
• Thought Leadership
• Shitposting

This essay–the third in an ongoing series–addresses the need for our larger industry to build products people want to use. The deluge of projects that are funded without viable audiences needs to stop in order for us to grow outside our current bubble. In an almost historic lack of awareness, we are confronted with the ongoing inability to answer the question, “how does web3 make this better”?

This is an industry wide call to take a step back to look at what is the fundamental throughline missing in most projects to date. The simple answer is culture. The hard work is ensuring it is integrated into your tech stack from the start.

What Is Culture?

For our purposes, we define culture as the collective manifestation of human intellectual achievement, encompassing shared beliefs, values, and practices that define a society. It represents our quest for meaning and identity, reflecting our rational and imaginative capacities while shaping our perceptions and interactions. Through culture, we interpret and navigate our reality, continually reconstructing it to find our place within the broader tapestry of human existence.

The Missing Element: Culture

Most onchain companies build tools first, then try to source culture, making finding PMF an even steeper challenge. Authenticity cannot be retrofitted; it must be embedded from the start. Incorporating culture from the outset for the end user is not just a design preference, but a necessity. In our essay "Decentralization & Desire," we argue that bringing the next 100 million users onchain and the bonds between the final product / audience will require shared cultural values, not just financial incentives.

In May 2024, we developed a framework for product design grounded in ontological design, which posits that as we design our world, in turn, our world designs us back. This approach creates robust feedback loops, ensuring products evolve with user input and real-world interactions. Upon reflection, we realized how often the critical missing element in any given tech stack are simply shared cultural values. Without a strong foundation, new technology, no matter how robust or complex, lacks depth and stickiness.

Embedding culture from the start challenges and transforms the development process for the better. It moves us beyond aesthetics and utility to address the universal human experience. By starting with building something people want, we ensure products not only function but resonate with people, driving higher adoption and stronger emotional bonds. This makes it possible for technology to be fundamentally meaningful in peoples’ lives. This also ensures you do not have to be a tryhard when pushing your product - by tapping into and understanding people’s desires, they will come to you to fulfill them.

Simply stated, don’t build something that doesn’t already fulfill someone's existing needs.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of onchain ecosystems, prioritizing cultural authenticity is not just advantageous—it's imperative. As builders grapple with the challenge of large-scale adoption, they must recognize that meeting people where they are is the key to relevance and growth. This means looking beyond functionality to create products and experiences that resonate with people's daily lives and values. By embedding cultural considerations from the outset, onchain products have the potential to be more than just tools. they can become socially enriching platforms that connect with what truly matters to users. The most successful projects will be those that value culture and, in turn, create products that people don't just use, but ecosystems they actively want to be a part of.

How Has Culture Impacted Industries?

The Walkman: Before the Walkman, portable music was confined to bulky tape players and radios. The Walkman transformed personal music consumption by making it an individual experience, revolutionizing how people engage with music.

Boutique Hotels: The shift from standardized rooms like Hilton's to the culturally rich environments of Ace Hotels illustrates the power of cultural integration. Ace Hotels create unique, immersive experiences by embedding local culture into their design, transforming hotels into vibrant community hubs.

Air Jordans: Before Air Jordans, basketball shoes were purely functional, designed solely for athletic performance. What transformed them into cultural icons was not just the shoe itself, but the powerful combination of Michael Jordan's influence and the groundbreaking ad campaigns that tapped into the burgeoning basketball and street culture. Nike’s marketing genius elevated the Air Jordans beyond sports, making them symbols of status, style, and aspiration. The success of Air Jordans was fueled by a narrative that connected deeply with fans, turning the shoes into a cultural phenomenon that redefined the athletic footwear industry.

Political Campaigns: Traditional campaigns once relied on structured messaging, but the rise of social media and meme culture has revolutionized this approach. Meme culture, as a modern expression of shared beliefs and values, has become a powerful tool for shaping public perception. Kamala Harris’s campaign embraced memeification, using culturally relevant, shareable content to resonate with the zeitgeist and connect with a broader audience. This shift didn’t just communicate policies—it transformed political communication, proving that meme culture is a vital force in forging meaningful connections.

Why Culture Should Be Part of the Tech Stack

• Drives Innovation and Differentiation: Everyone is eating everyone else's roadmap, and differentiation is flattening. A culturally attuned tech stack fosters creativity and innovation by incorporating diverse perspectives, making products more distinctive and appealing in a competitive market.
• Enhances Connection and Adoption: Integrating culture into technology ensures that products resonate with users' beliefs, values, and lifestyles, leading to higher adoption rates and stronger emotional connections.
• Ensures Long-term Relevance and Adaptability: Embedding cultural considerations from the start allows technology to adapt to evolving social norms and values, ensuring sustained relevance and success in a dynamic environment.
• Furthers Business Goals: Culture drives status, which drives desire, which in turn drives spending. Even if you don’t believe in it, it’s just good for business.

How to Embed Culture into Your Tech Stack

Similar to our Rules for Ontological Design, these basic tenets can support your decision making process. If this feels foreign or new to you, that’s ok. Even a solid attempt will put you far ahead of your competition. It also ensures the conversations are there from the start, giving equal value to the rest of your business.

For the greatest success, we encourage you to think about embedded culture as mission critical as your choice of chain, tokenomics & infrastructure.

1. Embed humanistic values and ethics at every stage of tech development.
2. Design intuitive, enjoyable user-first technology.
3. Create compelling stories to deepen engagement.
4. Innovate by incorporating user and stakeholder feedback.
5. Stay agile and adapt to evolving cultural norms.
6. Incorporate cultural artifacts that speak to or enhance people’s daily lives.
7. Design inclusively to meet diverse needs.
8. Highlight practical and emotional benefits.
9. Build strong communities with a sense of belonging.
10. Ensure consistent messaging and practices to build trust.

Conclusion

New technology often misses the mark by ignoring the core of human experience and desire. It's time to demand more. Embedding cultural authenticity from the outset is not just an option; it's a necessity for real innovation that solves problems and changes lives. At FWB, we've proven that when technology embraces our values, it resonates more deeply and powerfully. There’s no reason to settle for the superficial when it’s possible to build things that connect, inspire, and endure. Join us in shaping a future where technology serves humanity in its most profound form.