Introduction:

• Lukas is  a leader in the builders program for IPFS and Filecoin.
• Learn about Protocol, Filecoin, and IPFS, and how they contribute to Web3 technologies.

Lukas's Background:

• Lukas briefly shares his current role leading the builders program for IPFS and Filecoin.
• Highlights the open-source nature of IPFS and Filecoin, both initially developed by Protocol Labs.
• Mention of Lukas's conventional business career at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and BCG Digital Ventures.
• Insight into Lukas's previous work incubating businesses for corporations and his toolkit for building businesses.

Transition to Web3:

• Lukas explains his transition from Web2 to Web3, fueled by a desire for innovative business models beyond traditional ones.
• Discussion on the limitations of Web2 data models and the need for collective ownership and monetization in Web3.
• Lukas's interest in data ownership and the potential of Web3 to enable collective monetization of datasets.

Antimicrobial Resistance Project:

• Lukas shares his experience working on a project addressing antimicrobial resistance, emphasizing the challenges of monetizing such data.
• The role of Web3 in solving collective data ownership and monetization challenges.
• Lukas reflects on his entry into the crypto space, initially driven by curiosity and later inspired by the potential of Web3.

BCG's Exploration of Blockchain:

• Discussion on Lukas's experience at BCG, where blockchain was explored as a buzzword, but with varying success.
• Lukas's observation that BCG did not deeply dive into Web3 at the time due to the novelty and challenges of shifting business models.

Protocol Labs and Filecoin Journey:

• Overview of Protocol Labs as an open-source research and development lab dedicated to improving the internet.
• Introduction to Filecoin as the world's largest decentralized storage network, with 18 million terabytes of capacity.
• Lukas outlines Filecoin's mainnet launch in October 2020 and its ongoing development, with more than 4,000 storage providers.

Filecoin Initiatives:

• Lukas mentions upcoming Filecoin initiatives, including the development of Filecoin Virtual Machine, retrieval markets, and Filecoin Green.
• Emphasis on Filecoin Green's goal to provide verifiable proof of sustainable energy usage in storage.

IPFS:

• Explanation of IPFS as a P2P version of HTTP, addressing content by what it is rather than where it is.
• Analogy of referencing a book by its title instead of specifying its location.
• Discussion on IPFS providing an immutable and eternal reference to a piece of content.

Combining IPFS and Filecoin:

• Explanation of how IPFS and Filecoin work together, with IPFS providing an eternal reference and Filecoin ensuring verifiable storage.
• Lukas highlights the flexibility of using IPFS with various decentralized storage solutions and the modularity it offers.
• Encouragement for NFT owners to use IPFS to address content and consider spreading storage across multiple solutions.

Founders and Innovation Process:

• IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) was founded in 2014 by Juan Benet, a computer scientist with an interest in securing academic papers and ensuring their immutability.
• The initial motivation for IPFS was to address the problem of securing academic papers, preventing tampering with results, and ensuring the integrity of research.
• The innovation process involved a small team at the beginning, with a focus on first principles and addressing fundamental flaws in the centralized internet model.
• The team at Protocol Labs, where IPFS was developed, engaged in extensive research and development to solve complex problems in cryptography and distributed systems.
• Over time, the project evolved into Web3, challenging the traditional internet model by adopting a content-addressed approach instead of location-based addressing.

Evolution and Community Involvement:

• The IPFS community has grown significantly, with thousands of contributors collectively maintaining and developing the project.
• The beauty of open source is highlighted, emphasizing the collaborative efforts of a diverse community rather than relying on a small group of individuals.
• The decentralized nature of the community aligns with the principles of Web3, promoting trustless interactions and knowledge distribution across the network.Role of IPFS in Web3:
• IPFS is characterized as a Web3 technology that breaks free from a centralized internet model, promoting decentralization and trustless interactions.
• The shift from location-based addressing to content addressing is identified as a fundamental change that addresses issues related to data gatekeeping and monetization.
• The development of Filecoin (FCO network) is explained as an extension of IPFS, addressing challenges related to pinning and trustlessness.

Community Building and Education:

• The interviewee's role is to build a community and onboard developers for IPFS-related products.
• The challenge lies in making complex technologies accessible and exciting for a broader audience.
• The strategy involves finding use cases that resonate with people, such as NFTs, art, gaming, metaverse, and decentralized science.
• The goal is to inspire developers to dedicate their time to building innovative products and services using IPFS and related technologies.

IPFS Programs for Developers:

• The interviewee mentions several programs aimed at developers:
  • Hackathons: Around five hackathons per month to encourage hands-on learning and prototype development.
  • Grants Program: Providing resources to hackathon participants to further develop their projects.
  • Accelerator Programs: Collaborating with partners like Techstars to help participants turn their projects into pitch-ready startups.

Building a Welcoming Ecosystem:

• The IPFS program aims to be inclusive and welcoming, providing a rich path of opportunities for developers.
• The ecosystem includes pathways for starting businesses, contributing to existing projects, or transitioning into the broader blockchain and Web3 space.

OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

PRESENTED BY DRAPER UNIVERSITY

HOSTED BY CHRIS JOANNOU