Reality Platforms and Decentralized Mapping in the Metaverse with Alex Chung
Fresh out of the studio, Alex Chung, founder and CEO of Reality Platforms joined us in a conversation and share the backstory of his company and his perspectives on decentralized mapping in the metaverse. Alex dived deep into the weeds into how decentralized mapping works and the use cases that Reality Platforms are targeting on. Last but not least, he elucidates the key trends in the current dynamic web3 market and the mental models that builders need to have in order to navigate an uncertain and difficult market ahead.
"My version of success here is to build the most valuable data set in web3. Hopefully, if we do our jobs right, it'll probably be just one of the most valuable data sets in the world, period. When we look at Google Street View, this is an ecosystem, a platform, where there is probably so much low-hanging fruit - gems that can be extracted to build really great businesses, unlock new experiences, to advance the human condition. When it comes to computing, I fundamentally believe it has not been innovated even close to that first inning in terms of like, the baseball, I want to create that data set. I want to then generate the Metaverse maps of the world from it, and then I wanna be able to push them into different use cases that just make new things possible." - Alex Chung
Introduction
- Alex Chung, CEO from Reality Platforms (@alxchung, Linkedin)
- How did you start your career?
- What are the essential experiences you have learned from working in Facebook and Amazon Web Services?
- In your career journey, what are the interesting lessons you can share with my audience?
Reality Platforms & Decentralized Mapping in the Metaverse
- Reality Platforms (Apple iOS, Google Android)
- I want to start by talking about. What are you building exactly?
- What is the problem that Reality Platforms are solving and what makes it better than what is already out there?
- What are the use cases that Reality Platforms seek to do for the users and who are the customers that you are targeting?
- How did this concept of a decentralized 3D metaverse map of Planet Earth come about and link to the metaverse?
- How does this tie into digital real estate?
- Can you talk about the current mapping systems on our planet Earth and how the mapping industry's layers are organized?
- Reference: Reality Platforms Documentation
- What is the mission and vision of Reality Platforms?
- Which is the blockchain protocol that you are currently building on and are you planning to expand into other chains? What is the thinking behind the selection of the chains?
- How does a user get access to Reality Platforms through your products and start their journey to map the areas around them? [Can you describe your products and how users gain access to them?]
- Can you talk about the digital ownership aspects of RealityBlocks? How does the platform incentivise people to take photos to get credits and miners spend the credits to own digital real estate?
- How many people do you need to map a region?
- There have been several web3/P2E companies that have done well initially but then fizzled significantly over time. Why do you think you will be different?
- Can developers build on reality platforms?
- Based on the hype going on with the Metaverse, what are the interesting trends that are taking us from our physical world into the digital realm?
- Given that the web3 industry is in its infancy, what is the mental model for bringing a billion users into web3?
- How do you advise founders in the mental model of valuation in Web3 and adopting either equity, token or a mixture of both?
- What does great look like for Reality Platforms?
Closing
- Any recommendations that have inspired you recently?
- Alex's recommendations: Digital Body Language by Erica Dhawan
- How does my audience find you?
Editor's note: This interview is done before the FTX implosion. The discussion does not take into account what has transpired in the past 2 weeks.