Our big idea: Web3 education platform EasyA

 Hi Phil and Dom! What's your elevator pitch?

EasyA is Duolingo for blockchain. One of Web3’s most popular apps, we make it easy for anyone to learn Web3, right from their phone. Our mission? To bring the next 1 billion people to Web3. We already have a million users and are scaling rapidly. Startups coming out of the in-person hackathons we’ve hosted are now valued at $2.5bn, and they’ve been backed by the world’s best VCs, anywhere from a16z to Founders Fund to YC. Launched by brothers Phil and Dom Kwok, top grads from Cambridge University and The Wharton School respectively, EasyA is rapidly accelerating the world’s adoption of Web3.

Why does the market need it?

Web3 has massive potential, and alongside AI it’s one of the core technologies that is set to change the world as we know it. But there’s a problem. Growth is being stunted by a severe talent shortage. There simply aren’t enough top top builders coming into the space. People need to be inspired, and EasyA is the inspiration for them to leave everything behind and start afresh with Web3.

These new builders themselves then need to be guided through the ecosystem. Once they’ve been inspired by the EasyA app, they then come to our in-person hackathons to launch their projects on demo day and raise the investment they need to grow into real startups.

Our mission is to bring the next billion people to Web3. And that all starts with inspiring people about why they should be learning about it in the first place.

Where is the business today? 

We’ve hit some incredible milestones. We recently surpassed 1 million users, with 500,000 monthly active users primarily across the US and Europe. We’ve partnered with over 20 leading blockchains and are integrated with 300+ top universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and MIT. And all those numbers are growing rapidly, every single day.

Our hackathon alumni have founded companies valued at over $2.5 billion, with those projects receiving backing from top VCs like a16z, Founders Fund and YC. 

We’re laser-focused on achieving our mission, but the speed of our recent growth has even taken us by surprise.

What made you think there was money in this?

I first got into blockchain in 2013 through Bitcoin mining, when barely anyone knew about the technology. From the start, Bitcoin has always been about money. That’s why it was created: as peer-to-peer electronic cash. But that’s not why I (and my generation in 2013) joined the space. I joined because of the mission - to bring power back to everyday people, and protect us from institutions which were too big to fail. 

Flash forward a decade, and what had started as just a handful of enthusiasts contributing towards a wider mission, had spawned a worldwide movement. In many respects, blockchain had become overhyped and oversold, with many new blockchains being started as so-called ‘Bitcoin-killers’. However, many of these new blockchains genuinely had new features and brought new innovations which Bitcoin simply didn’t have. There was just one problem: nobody knew how to build on them. 

That’s why we built EasyA into the app we all know today - to teach people about how they could tap into the potential and opportunities brought by these new blockchains. Dom and I leveraged our own networks at Wharton and Cambridge respectively to get the best and brightest people, and this seeded the global community of gigabrains that makes up EasyA today.

What's your biggest strength?

Being mobile-first. When we first started out, everyone criticised this decision. “How can developers learn on mobile? How can you code on a phone? Who’s going to use this in an app? Developers just use their computers - not their phones”. In hindsight, it was the best decision we could ever have made. We defied the naysayers, and EasyA has today become the de facto place where people start to learn about Web3 development - all because it’s never more than a tap away, right in their pockets on the device they use most and our secret sauce. We’re the only platform where people can go from zero all the way to building their own decentralized application, all without ever leaving their smartphone. 

Plus, our combination of education with creating real startups and opportunities – through hackathons, funding and VC connections – creates a complete ecosystem for developers and budding entrepreneurs. We have it all at EasyA - we’re the full package.

What is the secret to making the business work?

[What's the main challenge? We love hearing solutions that other entrepreneurs can learn from. It's the whole point of Business Age]

Our secret sauce is the EasyA app. And most of all, it inspires people. We don’t just teach dry, technical facts. We actually tell the story of why it’s important. We narrate the history of why these technologies were developed, and why they are important. We like to say that we never teach developers how to write ‘Hello World’. Instead, we teach them how to build actually cool and useful stuff. Like launching your own Kickstarter, or building your own bank - all powered by blockchain. We then invite the best of these builders to our in-person hackathons, where they meet industry leaders, get even more inspired, and raise investment post-hackathon.

And, on a personal level, as founders we also have another secret advantage: we’re brothers. We share a brain. But we’ve also combined my legal and computer science background with Dom’s experience in finance to create the ultimate startup founding team.

How do you market the company?

Our growth has been largely organic through university partnerships and word-of-mouth. But events and social media have poured fuel on the fire.

We focus on hosting high-impact events like our flagship in-person hackathons. In fact, we recently hosted the largest-ever blockchain hackathon at Harvard. These events create a huge buzz, and bring in more users who get FOMO and want to get involved.

Alongside this, we’re super active on social media where we share fun and engaging videos and reels into who we are, our experiences and advice to entrepreneurs and other young people looking to enter Web3. Youtube, Instagram, TikTok - we’re on all of them every day,l so we can reach our gigabrains wherever they are.

Tell us about the business model

The app is 100% free for users, making Web3 education accessible to everyone. We work closely with the blockchains to fund this, and in the near future we’ll also be investing in the teams coming directly out of the EasyA community. With EasyA startups now valued at over $2.5bn, it’s an absolute no-brainer.

What were you doing before?

Before EasyA, I studied law at Cambridge University and was one of the youngest people ever to pass the New York Bar – an achievement I’m very proud of. I also have the privilege of being a guest lecturer at Cambridge University and mentor to students at my old college (Pembroke College), where I’ve been able to share what I’ve learnt along my journey. I’ve been active in blockchain since 2013, when I first got started in Bitcoin mining. Over a decade later, I know pretty much everyone in Web3, and what makes the industry tick. Dom has also had an impressive career in finance, graduating from The Wharton School and working in the fast-moving sector in firms such as the Blackstone Group and Goldman Sachs where he learned invaluable lessons about leadership. He’s a serial hackathon winner and has a wealth of experience building strong Web3 communities which he brings to EasyA today.

Are there any technologies you've found useful?

Alongside our own app, EasyA, we’ve worked closely with Google and Amazon over the years to grow to new heights. Google and Amazon are both partners, and their tech frameworks as well as expertise has been invaluable in helping us scale so quickly. 

What is the future vision?

We’ve never been more excited about the future, and our vision has never been clearer. Our mission is to bring a billion people to Web3. Just like the internet, that all starts with developers - they’re the ones who will build the applications and startups that will reach millions of people each. That’s why we focus so strongly on them today. 

What’s on the horizon? We’re launching the world’s first university dedicated to blockchain education, in collaboration with leading institutions like Harvard, Cambridge and MIT. We haven’t announced this publicly yet, but we’re also launching a programme to give $1 million to students to start their own startups.