What’s Possible: 12th August, 2022

We hope you enjoy this week's hand-picked selection of important and interesting stories from the frontiers of tech.

Possible Ventures joins Sifted’s list of most active seed-stage VCs in Europe

Beyond the headlines about crashing cryptocurrencies and NFTs, there are a group of Web3 investors that still think the sector has the potential to transform life as we know it. VCs invested $30bn into crypto companies last year, and investment into crypto and decentralised finance (DeFi) startups grew six times in 2021, according to Sifted Intelligence’s crypto briefing. (read)

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Team Possible, from left to right: Tom Orben, Will Anderson, Simon Leicht, Thyra Seitz, Chris Hitchen, Simon Betschel

‍Killing Time at Work

Qatalog partnered with GitLab to understand knowledge workers’ experience of asynchronous work, the barriers to adoption, and its growing importance in the modern workplace. (download the report)

How to build a content model for successful podcasting — focus on your listeners!

The number of podcasts on Spotify doubled between 2020 and 2021 to 4.4 million shows. But what determines content quality in 2022? Podimo’s Kirsi-Marja Takala defines the core elements of podcast content by introducing the Glaft Model. (read)

The Glaft Model: "why" and "who" (Goal and Listener value), "what" (Attraction), and "how" (Format and Technology).

Challenges & Opportunities in Scaling Precision Fermentation

Komal Patel breaks down the precision fermentation tech stack and highlights opportunities for advancements in science, technology, and business models to unlock the future of precision fermentation at scale. (read)

In defence of stablecoins

a16z crypto’s general counsel and head of decentralisation, Miles Jennings, tells us that the culprit behind recent crypto tumult was not technology but a concept familiar to traditional finance — bad collateral. (read)

The Dawn of A.I. Mischief Models

Mischief models often underpin the rapidly developing world of deepfake technology. But intentionally built mischief models aren’t the only threat. Typically benign A.I. applications can be easily coopted for nefarious uses. (read)

Interesting adjacencies

• CryptoTaxCalculator: Solana-hacked crypto could be claimed as a tax loss (thread)
• Longevity biotechnology is gaining prominence and credibility in the pharmaceutical industry (link)
• Crypto roundtable with Vinny Lingham and Sunny Madra (watch)

If you'd like to see more of what we’re exploring at Possible Ventures, you can follow us on Twitter.

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