During our conversation, we discuss where Sonder fits into the hospitality ecosystem and why design is so key to their offering. Francis launched Sonder in 2013 as an alternative to traditional hotels and rentals with a specific focus on technology and design. My guest today is Francis Davidson, founder and CEO of the hospitality brand Sonder. How they’d build and construct an ETF with metaverse Interesting pockets of opportunity that could benefit the metaverse ecosystem Pros and cons of today’s speculative digital asset valuations Digital asset ownership and digital trustless exchanges in the metaverse Why removing friction and centralizing financial structures can help growth and thoughts on play to earn gaming and user spending Why cryptocurrencies and blockchains haven’t produced experiences akin to the virtual Travis Scott concert Key differences between games and platforms and the role of purpose Simultaneously crossing the digital chasm and the uncanny valley What Discord has taught them about aggregating people digitally Defining what the metaverse means to each of them today Why Unity isn’t more adopted by creators and players like Minecraft What was most exciting about creating it and it’s early-stage potential Was technology a rate limiter to success in such an early version of the metaverse? An example of early entrepreneurship and user-created IP in Second Life The interface between the in-game currency and its function for players How many people were playing Second Life at its peak, the in-game economy and its growth trajectory The origin story of Second Life and why they created it Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit /episodes. Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. Step into the collector’s circle at /patrick WatchBox’s global team of expert client advisors is ready to help you find the watch you’ve always wanted. Visit /patrick to learn more.Īt WatchBox, the world’s finest watches are at your fingertips with an ever-expanding collection of luxury timepieces, all certified authentic and collector quality. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Affirm, Teladoc, Roblox, or almost any company of interest. With Tegus, you can learn everything you’d want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform.
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Please enjoy my conversation with Phillip and Bill.įor the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. If you’re curious about what the metaverse might become, these two experts have seen much of this already and are kind to share their lessons with us. Bill and Phillip share their key learnings from the experience, including the importance of usability, their views of the current metaverse opportunity, and what excites them most about the current focus on virtual realities.
During the conversation, we cover the fascinating story of Second Life and the billion-dollar economy that persists through to this day. Frequent listeners will recognize Bill, who was an investor in Second Life via Benchmark Capital.
Philip created Second Life in the early 2000s and helped build it into the largest virtual 3D world ever created at the time. My guests today are Philip Rosedale and Bill Gurley.