StarStake Log #1: Technology with a Purpose | The Values that Drive the Platform
Introduction
Welcome to the Founder’s series, a backstage all-access look inside the mind and methods of what StarStake is, why StarStake is, and how StarStake is poised to revolutionize the creator-fan economy. Each article is from the Co-founder and visionary behind the StarStake platform, Chris Hawk, and delves into different aspects of the mission StarStake is here to accomplish.
In this article, Chris Hawk shares an overview of the StarStake philosophy and the values that drive the platform.
In his own words:
The StarStake Philosophy
“I just wanted to talk to you today about a concept that I think will help you understand what we’re doing. And in an effort to help you understand what we’re doing, it’s also going to give you the confidence of where we’re going and what we’re about to do, and give you some insight into what our perspective is; and when we’re building this monster of a platform and it has all these cool features and functions and does the things that we’ve been talking about this whole time, there’s a reason — there’s a method to the madness.
Technology With A Purpose
It’s never a feature for feature’s sake or some cool function just out of the blue. There’s always a purpose in everything we do. And either that purpose comes from the original vision of how we get to our destination or how we solve a problem.
A lot of the functions came through overcoming problems, whether that be problems that brands, companies, creators, and artists have in the existing real world or in the landscape that is blockchain, Web3, NFTs, etc. We did not go about building StarStake or take the approach of saying, “Hey, we just need to build an NFT platform because those are cool”, or, “Hey, they’re doing it so we should do it, too.” That was never the approach.
The approach was, hey, this technology exists. Well wait, let’s think for a second. How can that make our lives better? How can that give us more opportunities? How can that change the status quo as far as, “Hey, maybe there’s just a better way to do this stuff?” That has been our approach and that has been the painstaking process of learning and creating and revising and getting to the end goal which is releasing the product for everybody to enjoy and thrive and have fun building with.
The 3 Design Philosophies At StarStake: 1. Usable By Everybody 2. Accessible To Everybody 3. Works Better, Faster, and Easier Than Anything Out There
Firstly: everything we do at StarStake has to be usable in the real world. It has to be usable, can’t just be flashy new technology or, “This sounds good.” We made sure that everything that we’re creating is usable. It’s useful and usable in the real world.
Secondly: it always has to be accessible to everybody. Everybody needs to be able to access this technology without the friction of having to learn blockchain. It’s all about being accessible to everybody, regardless of skill, knowledge, or anything that has to do with Web3 or blockchain.
Thirdly (which is probably the most important thing): it has to work better, faster, easier, and simpler than anything that they’re (creators and fans) currently using. If somebody is going to use this; it has to be better, faster, easier, quicker, cheaper, all those things. These are the three design philosophies that we follow.
We’re Here To Deliver A Quality Product
When we’re building this — and it’s a high order to adhere to this — because it’s easy to go down the rabbit hole of building something that’s just flashy and cool and different. But technology as a lot of you probably know, it’s expensive to build. It’s insanely expensive and difficult to pull off. It’s why a lot of technology companies don’t profit. It’s why a lot of technology companies don’t make it, they don’t ever launch actually, in fact, just because they run out of money or whatever the case may be.
It’s really important that you always have a grounding framework for you to follow in a standard as well. It does you no good to launch a product that just doesn’t work. We’ve all been down that road of whether it was the “super-duper phone” that was supposed to be “the best” but it dropped calls every five seconds. Or it was the “next great game” that was supposed to be published and it was just riddled with bugs that consumers just wanted their money back. Or that just wasn’t even worth playing, to begin with. No matter the hype, I’ve seen Triple-A production companies bomb games that took 12 years plus to build, because they launched it too early or they didn’t test it enough, or they just didn’t do the work ahead of time. And in fact, the fans had to pay for it with their time and their money. We’ve always had this core philosophy and that was where we came from.”
Written by a human, for humans.