By: Brian Zwerner, Founder and President W3 Studio
Published: March 27, 2023
We created W3 Studio as a non-profit to support Black, Latinx, and Women founders in Atlanta building in web3. You can read more about my experience working with diverse founders and how it led to the idea for W3 Studio here. I was inspired by organizations like ConstitutionDAO, LinksDAO, Krause House, Seed Club, and more that we could bring together a community of people that believed in our mission and wanted to support us.
To tap into this source of funding for our mission, we are excited to announce the launch of the Pre-Sale of our Premium Membership Passes. W3 Studio’s Premium Membership Passes allow buyers to support diverse founders in Atlanta, and they unlock access to our community.
Our Mission
First and foremost, buying a pass will support our mission at W3 Studio. The proceeds will go into our non-profit entity, fully used to support our grant program. Once we achieve our funding goal, we will select 4-5 founding teams each year for our studio. These diverse-led startups will be given $200,000 grants to replace the difficult to raise friends and family capital round. Diverse founders really struggle to find their early supporters. They waste too much time chasing investors and not enough time building. We will take that burden away with our grants. We will also help founders by bringing them vetted resources in technology development, marketing, finance, legal, HR, and more.
If we achieve our goals, we will fund 50 diverse-led startups over the next decade. As those companies grow, we will create a large group of diverse millionaires in Atlanta that will be the next generation of angel investors, VCs, and startup founders. We can make a huge impact here. Passholders will be a big part of this success.
Access
Membership passes will also allow holders exclusive access to our community. Holders will get early access to meet the amazing diverse founders in our program. Holders get the opportunity to try their products or partner with them with your own business. We will also host in-person and virtual events exclusively for our members. Our community will be building products at the cutting edge of web3, and passholders will gain many benefits from being in the know.
The Art
Each pass will have unique, generated artwork from the amazing Ashley Bella of ArtzyBella. I met Ashley back in early 2020 at the Georgia State University Main Street Entrepreneurs program. When we decided to have art on our membership passes, Ashley was our first choice.
Ashley Bella is a visual media maven, artistic entrepreneur, and community figure dedicated to making fine and commercial art accessible, affordable, and applicable as a tool for bettering mental and emotional health. Ashley has painted murals for companies and spaces across Atlanta, and she operates a studio in the College Park area.
Support
To maximize the proceeds to our non-profit organization from this sale, we partnered with a great sponsor who covered the cost of the art creation. The artwork for this project was funded by the generous support of the Techstars Foundation. Many thanks to the team at Techstars for their support!
Your Vote
We believe in the important web3 ethos of progressive decentralization. Our organization started with a small group of dedicated individuals that believe in our mission. These membership passes are the beginning of a journey to decentralize the leadership of W3 Studio over the next few years. Each pass will carry voting rights for community decision making. Over time, we aim to give our community the power to shape the direction of W3 Studio. Eventually, we want our community to decide which founders get into our studio program and how we deliver this support. A pass allows you a voice in our organization.
Pre-Sale
We are creating 5,000 Passes with just over 40% available through the Pre-Sale. During the Pre-Sale period, which we expect will last about a month, passes are bought on a simple Shopify online store. Purchases can be made with credit card, or even with Crypto using Coinbase Commerce at checkout.
There are three levels during the Pre-Sale. Legendary passes are the top level. Holders get to personalize the artwork on Legendary pass with exclusive, legendary features. Each Legendary pass also carries 25x voting rights in the community. These cost $5,000 each, and only 20 are being made available during the Pre-Sale.
We are also offering 100 Rare passes during the Pre-Sale. Rare asses will have at least one rare art component. They get 5x voting rights and are priced at $1,000. Our lowest entry price level can be found with the Main passes. We have 1,000 Main Passes available for $200 each. You’ll want to get your membership during the Pre-Sale as it is likely the Public Sale period will have a higher entry price.
Minted as NFTs
These membership passes will be minted as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain, so that holders can verify ownership and show off their artwork. Buyers don’t need to have an Ethereum wallet, as we will be using a solution that creates one with a magic link via email for anyone that needs one. It’s very easy.
We hope passholders will keep their passes forever. However, these will be fully tradeable on Ethereum NFT marketplaces like OpenSea. In line with current market conditions, we will not be asking for a secondary market royalty on future transactions.
Final Points
Holders of Passes will have full commercial rights to the artwork on their passes. See Terms &Conditions for full details. As a nonprofit corporation, funds must be used to support our charitable mission. This project is not about making rich people richer. It’s about supporting diverse founders who need our assistance to achieve their dreams. Please note that purchasers will not receive a donation receipt, these are goods of value.
Wrapping Up
We would appreciate your support for W3 Studio via the purchase of a Premium Membership Pass here. Every dollar helps us get closer to our goal of funding 4-5 diverse founders annually. After your purchase, we’d love it if you shared this on your social media accounts.
If you have any questions or need more information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. We hope you’ll join our community and help us empower diverse founders to build the future of web3. Thank you!