The.com 🧑🏾‍💻

launching into the web3

a note from us

  • the web3 is a hot topic that has broken into mainstream news

    • web3 is the next evolution of the internet where our digital footprint belongs to us rather than the Googles and Amazons of the world running the web

  • a quick overview of the evolution of the web:

    • web1: beginning days of the web; an intro to browsing but no clear organized structure

    • web2: platforms emerged to create more order to the internet through social interactions and transactions

    • web3: decentralization and widespread ownership of the web

  • before we dive into this week’s company, The.com, can we acknowledge how incredible their domain name is? and it was given to them; let’s see if they can live up to it

in a sentence

The.com is a low-code website building platform that simplifies the process of creating, remixing, and launching websites and allows creators to earn credit for their work

  • create: make atomic units (website samples) called cells and blocks that can be reused on any future website made on the platform

  • remix: combine and/or edit multiple blocks from different creators to make a unique product of your own (in lego terms: one can use an overlap of pieces to build that spaceship and skyscraper)

  • launch: release fast and custom websites while giving credit to block creators at the bottom of the page

bulleted version: just like how Timmy Thomas gets a royalty every time we hear his song sampled in Drake’s Hotline Bling, developers make a royalty every time their work is reused for another website 

the basics

  • industry: internet, software

  • year founded: 2019

  • company size: 9 employees

  • price: member - $199/month; high volume - $1,499/month

  • user base:  web designers & anybody in need of a website

  • investors: Chad McDaniel, Bill Mushkin, Darren Kelly 

  • amount raised: $1.2m

due diligence

what we like

  • focus on the individual creator: allows creators to earn credit and monetary reward; there is a clear focus on widespread ownership in website building

  • reduce, reuse & recycle: our future will have fewer single-use plastics…and websites; every block created can be easily remixed between users of various skillsets for specific needs; no longer necessary to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of hours on a website from scratch!

  • blocks are in, templates are out: templates undermine creativity; with user-created cells and blocks, websites builders can build truly custom websites by combining blocks

potential risks

  • target audience: while the target audience is broad (anyone between full-time engineers to those with no coding experience), it may be difficult to market and cater to every potential customer

  • pricey: the free/freemium platforms may win low- to no- code website builders

  • crowded market: just about everyone has used a website builder before; The.com will have to market their strong points in order to draw creators to the platform

founder profiles

comps

why The.com: The.com is trailblazing the low-code revolution as the first website builder to substantiate themselves in the web3