An Open Letter to the Avium Community: Building a stronger Web3 Future

24 May 2023

TLDR; 3 new developments, we’re still here, addressing concerns.

Dear members of the Avium Community,

Today, we announced the launch of 3 new developments/initiatives:

1. For AFP Holders - Partnership and access to a US$[redacted]m fund to support true builders, entrepreneurs and founders in the Web3 Space

2. For Origins Holders - Project Lyra, developments of our integration of Origins IP and assets under Unreal Engine x Fortnite (UEFN)

3. For All - A US$100k community budget, led by the community and for the community

More details can be found in our discord exclusive for our holders as well, and we’re excited to develop them further together with you.

But first, there’s also some stuff that needs to be addressed:

Elephant in the room — since the full launch (art reveal) of Origins in late February and then our focus to gaming in March, the last 2 months have seen some rough patches for the Avium community.

Let’s address some of that.

1. Gratitude + commitment

First things first.

There are many of you who have reached out personally, whether to relay concerns or well-wishes for the team.

Know this - I have deep, deep gratitude for you and your continued support and unwavering belief in what the team is trying to achieve with Avium.

With our first batch of founding members, we had the chance to speak personally to each and everyone of you.

We may not have had the pleasure to do so with all, but along the way, I’ve shared genuinely about how and why I am building Avium.

Thank you, for continuing to believe.

I want to assure you that our commitment to making the Web3 space a better place remains crystal clear as ever.

People like you make the difference, and a lot of things worth it.

2. “Contrarian” - hence unfamiliarity, hence FUD

We started Avium in late 2021, with research/ideation about the NFT space.

In the furore of the rising NFT wave, where others saw the pure financialisation of assets and profiteering, we saw that the potential of building some great together in a shared journey.

So we wanted to build that way. We:

• doxxed ourselves

• started with a free mint to give access

• spoke personally to each and every AFP holder for the free mint

• signed on real partners to build prior to mint

and a whole bunch of other stuff, which really, not many people did then.

Methods and strategies will change and evolve, but we continue to look for the magic in Web3 - ie. what exactly it is, and how it can be used as a positive force to make things better.

We don’t seek to do things differently for the sake of it - but it is precisely because we have set out to improve the space that we cannot simply do what others are doing.

Multiple projects have failed in simply “following the meta”.

We’re going to get things wrong at times, and we’ll have to refine, improve, adjust accordingly like every other business.

But doing things contrarian also means this - unfamiliarity, which naturally leads to fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

Aka, FUD.

The bane yet lifeforce of every project is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that comes along when you build together with a community.

The lifeforce becomes it comes genuinely from people who care deeply about your project. The bane because some people simply thrive in negative attention.

Which leads me to two points about being contrarian:

• communication to reduce FUD

• testing to reduce uncertainty

3. Addressing FUD - Communication

Not knowing puts people in a place of FUD. When you don’t know “what is happening”, especially when real money is on the line, understandably people can get worried.

I am painfully aware of this, amidst the balance we try to strike - suspenseful excitement, non-disclosure legal requirements, and obviously spending the time building.

I’m still trying to work out the balance.

But when we do have stuff, we will share. And we continue to build and lay the foundations so that we can move Avium forward, which we are always excited to share about.

The team sorely wants to share more when we can, and when it is appropriate to do so. We also want to vibe with a community that understands us, and builds with us.

The recent elephants have made it hard to do so - some people genuinely want to listen, while some people just want to find fault regardless of what you say.

But I’m committed to one thing - fixing this so we can share appropriately, communicate properly, so people have sufficient assurance that we are committed to building this.

Thank you for patiently waiting this period, while we worked on the developments shared above the past 3 months. There’s much more cooking in the pipeline.

4. What you don’t see - Reducing uncertainty

Time and speed in web3 is a double-edged sword. It is exhilaratingly fast, and at the same time, unreasonably demanding.

Some of you may question, “why did XXX take so long”. Is the team really working? Are they enjoying their cocktails in Bali? I want to address some of this squarely in the face.

Which is that, a lot of the work behind actually involves throwing out ideas and proposals. You don’t see a lot of this.

In the rift-raft of what Web3 has to offer, there are multiple mechanics, ideas, possibilities and things that can be implemented. Everyone has a “good idea” that will possibly work, usually based on “this project did this and it worked, why aren’t you doing it too”.

We go through multiple iterations of this.

I probably don’t communicate this enough (or explain it), but a fair amount of the work involves really drilling down on an idea, really understanding how it works, and then making a judgment call on whether it works.

Multiple factors are at play - is this the right market, right audience, right mechanic, right timing etc etc.

We don’t have the answers to everything, and in an uncertain market, it bears on us to use mint funds prudently to truly build to return value.

So, please do not take it personally when I do not adopt certain suggestions or ideas. I can promise you that we genuinely read and consider feedback. But when we don’t implement something (or do something else), it is based on a thorough consideration of options we have.

It is our job to succeed in an evolving space, so that we can succeed together.

Which brings me to another point: timeline

5. Timeline

When we started Avium, we’ve always emphasized that we are laying the foundations for something bigger. I’ve said many times that we want to pave the way for a multi-year journey.

The phrase “Long-term” alone is not enough, because when building together, it is a reality that short-term initiatives must be part of a longer-term strategy.

I know this is the game - and we continue to consider the best options for this.

At the same time, it bears on my to build the right foundations for the project. If you truly want to turn 1x into 10x or 20x, you need the right foundations to scale.

If we are really looking to build better in Web3, we must do things that truly bring value to the space.

We’ve shared that strategic vision with many of you, and by adopting a foundational approach, I firmly believe that it will sustainably benefit our community.

Finding the right partners, building in the right way will lead to greater value creation and more significant returns for our community in the future.

We will continue to incrementally launch shorter-term initiatives as we steady the ship, but the real value we are building towards is a 1 year, 2 year, 3 year journey at the very least.

Which leads me to my penultimate point - what Avium is doing.

6. Creating real value in Web3

To create value, you must create real things. And to create real things, you must invest in building them out.

Building the AFP community to be a trusted business network, and Origins to a flagship content/IP will take multiple initiatives to grow them into something real.

We firmly believe that both directions positively benefit the Web3 space, because these are real things we have seen withstand the test of time.

Network and connections follow you through your life.

Real IP, built out properly, last for generations.

But Mickey Mouse, Super Mario, and Pokemon were not built overnight (or in 3 months). Nor are real connections built over a casual discord DM.

Our three initiatives launched above represent our efforts to continue to invest in these, knowing that in the test of time, these will prevail.

We may be gloriously wrong in our thesis, but we have always openly shared how we see building Avium out. It is your bet, as much as it is ours, in building this out.

The counterpoint is - in that case, why not just build in “Web2”?

You have probably heard me say the phrase “gamified experience” multiple times. While others think it merely means “a game”, what it really means is the gamification of risk, reward, thrill, and excitement.

What this does is to make things more exciting, more engaging, and more compelling - used correctly, that has the potential to “make things better”.

After all, if we believe that this is the way forward, then we need to launch initiatives considering how best to “use” Web3 mechanics. And this is something we continually refine on.

More in pipeline, to be shared when appropriate. Get that.

Summary

This has been a long open letter, and if you’ve gotten to this point, thank you for reading this. A TLDR:

1. Gratitude + commitment

2. Contrarian, hence unfamiliarity, hence FUD

3. Addressing FUD - communication

4. What you don’t see - reducing uncertainty

5. Timeline - longer term strategy with shorter term initiatives

6. Creating real value in Web3

I hope some of this clarifies some of the fog of war the last 2 months, and provides some insight as to the journey forward.

And now, finally, a question that has been on everyone’s mind:

I won’t reveal much, but remember that you are talking about a person who conquered the odds in his personal life, built up the largest esports organisation in SEA, and has given his all to make Avium work.

The short answer is that he is 100% around. I shared earlier that he had to work on a number of initiatives on the backend.

He WILL appear periodically when time allows, but we’ve got lots to move forward with and build as well.

In any case, maybe the question you should ask is not where is Alphakongz, but WHEN?

I’ll leave you to figure that out in your own time and space, along with the theme of where Avium is headed to 😏

Thank you for the support and belief, and we’re looking forward to continuing building Avium, together with you.

Niteheart