When you hear Founding President of Vayner3 Avery Akkineni sharing her insights about the web3 space, she comes across as exceptionally confident and compelling.
Describing herself as a ‘proud leader of 50+ web3 experts, NFT enthusiasts, and blockchain believers,’ Avery is highly respected as a proactive innovator in pioneering web3 projects and communities.
This personable Miami-based groundbreaker says Vayner3 (previously called VaynerNFT), is a ‘consulting company built to usher the world’s leading enterprises and IP owners into navigating the ever-evolving world of web3.
Launched in July 2021 with serial entrepreneur and CEO Gary Vaynerchuk, Vayner3 aims to guide the world’s largest enterprises and intellectual property (IP) owners in ‘the next iteration of consumer behavior and web3.’ This entails advising and partnering with Fortune 500 corporations (including Budweiser, Pepsi, L’Oréal, and crypto exchange Coinbase), on strategic web3 initiatives across cryptocurrency applications, NFT program development, and immersive digital experiences.
With Avery’s conviction – ‘you need to do things right if you are unlocking the potential of one of the biggest technology shifts of our time .’ At Vayner3, Avery is building a diverse, forward-thinking team, partnering with incredible organizations, and working hard to drive thought leadership.
Web3 is changing how consumers interact, engage, and express themselves digitally. “Web3 unlocks the ability for digital identity, for ownership. We strongly believe the opportunities ahead for both brands and consumers are BIG .” The Vayner3 website reflects Avery’s go-getter mindset and enthusiasm about actively creating the future. With no interest in shortterm thinking, it’s promoting blockchain-based enterprise to take clients beyond NFTs. This underlies Vayner3’s focus on ‘developing strategic NFT projects that provide ongoing or longterm value beyond just a quick asset sale.’
Social media posts echo Avery’s pragmatic approach – tweeting about often thinking ‘trending NFT mints may be the topic du jour, but the real opportunity is in right-sizing the economics of the internet.’
With a presence expanding further than Vayner3, she’s also an active advisor and board member on various tech platforms, including the Web3 Advisory Board for Salesforce, Meta Creative X Council, and OneOf.
Discussing how brands should approach NFTs and web3 in a Decrypt article (17 June 2022) – Avery remarks that last summer, the consultancy firm was “so far ahead” of the NFT brand boom that companies “had no idea what we were talking about. While everyone wants to launch an NFT today, what is essential to be successful is having a long-term strategy.”
She remarks, ‘while a brand NFT drop or collaboration can be fun and potentially alluring for customers, many successful NFT projects grow or maintain value through expanding utility or perks for holders, and brands should consider that approach.’
Avery notes a broader movement has emerged amid the past year’s dramatic growing interest in NFTs. She predicts that enterprises will move towards web3 by ‘building virtual events, through experiences via metaverses, crypto-currency acceptance, and DAO participation.’
Avery views the Metaverse as ‘a convergence of our physical and digital realities ’ Witnessing growth in web3 and the Metaverse in the last 18 months. In a recent online panel discussion on the value of NFTs (19 July 2022 on Crypto Bloomberg), she describes seeing a ‘ton of activity in the space, including much speculation and hype, flipping and trading that has cooled off tremendously in the past couple of weeks.’
However, she believes it’s ‘healthy for the space to take out some of that over financialization that scares away mainstream consumers and makes them think crypto is incredibly speculative and risky’.
With Avery’s assertion – that ‘Web3 represents one of the most significant technology shifts of our lifetime,’ it’s clear why fellow digital revolutionaries laud her ‘unparalleled ability to stimulate cutting edge thinking across the brand organization through compelling evidence and deep consumer understanding.’
Despite education, scale, and trust possibly hindering mass adoption, web3 will ‘offer a massive opportunity for brands, clients, IP owners and consumers.’ Avery says working in the NFT space is thrilling, but it’s ‘time to change the stat that 81% of today’s crypto community identifies as male.’
She’s excited to collaborate with leading web3 technology and marketplace development partners – whether on loyalty integration programs, immersive consumer and digital experiences, meaningful philanthropy infrastructure or adopting crypto-currency acceptance.
And with her sights already set on new projects, Avery’s upbeat quip – ‘there’s SO much more to do –, indicates it’s obviously just the beginning for her!
AVERY AKKINENI’S METAVERSE & WEB3 TIPS AND RESOURCES
Website: vayner3.com
