Early Inspiration

We were driven to start profile.io because of a few things. I have been close to the social space since I first signed up to Friendster, so before Facebook or Myspace were even conceived (which partly shows my age). Somewhere in a drawer is my napkin diagram from the early 2000s of what an ideal online social network would comprise - maybe I can dig that out from the loft one day. These early utopian ideals received a reality check over the last 20 years through working with and alongside the highs and lows of the now incumbent social media platforms. web2 was great when it was driven by open APIs but as these have locked down, the need to reinvigorate an alternative paradigm has become greater.

The internet's technical backbone, driven by web3 and opensource technologies is now reaching a point where some of those ideals can be executed, learning from incumbents but offering more utility. Hence, profile.io.

Practical and Utility Drivers

Profile.io is a product of another UK based tech startup called Tabled Technologies - initially a workflow automation and AI platform, that moved into onchain identity assets through working with governments putting permits and licences onchain for verification purposes. This highlighted the massive potential use cases of onchain identity assets for both verification and as standardised encryption keys to unlock value - DIDs, soulbound nfts, verifiable credentials are all in our toolbox but need a user friendly home - one that does not come with the complexity of crypto wallets - and account abstraction provides us with that framework. More on all these technologies later.

As a web3 startup, we were struggling to find great people to build with - the incumbent social / work platforms were simply littered with fake profiles, or real people claiming fake credentials. We needed a better way to find skills, to maximise individual and collective contribution - profile.io.

We were also seeing how value on the incumbent platforms was not deriving to users and organisations. We all know the saying that if a service is free then you are the product, but with Web3, we can empower users to own their own data, to build their own products and value. Incumbent platforms have limited or no ability to export our data, integrate services or make use of the richness of the internet - we wanted to create something completely programmable, and in future, with open source components to let the community build - profile.io.

Mission - Sovereignty, Building Trust and Uniting Users

The web3 community of builders and creators, and its leaders like Vitalik, driven by cypherpunk values, are also a huge inspiration. Proof of personhood and trust is a key missing link to enable decentralised and self-sovereign management of your online / onchain self and trusted interactions with others - and profile.io is here to help address this lacuna. Crypto wallets don't yet make this easy either.

The web3 community has long championed and respected privacy and anonymity, for example, using nft pfps instead of a personal photo. Other communities are happy to interact and transact in the full light of day using real names and images. Our vision is to unite these users and cater to them all. Zero-knowledge proof protocols can now take us on that mission - letting people and organisations verify their online self - either revealing who they are, or not.

Our mission is building profile.io to provide programmable, user-owned profiles, that can be used anywhere online and housing granular, verifiable identity assets to unlock untold future value to holders while enabling trusted, non-intermediated payments. It is not a short journey, but we invite everyone to join us and help us shape it.

Thanks for reading!

Paul, co-founder, profile.io

Early Inspiration

We were driven to start profile.io because of a few things. I have been close to the social space since I first signed up to Friendster, so before Facebook or Myspace were even conceived (which partly shows my age). Somewhere in a drawer is my napkin diagram from the early 2000s of what an ideal online social network would comprise - maybe I can dig that out from the loft one day. These early utopian ideals received a reality check over the last 20 years through working with and alongside the highs and lows of the now incumbent social media platforms. web2 was great when it was driven by open APIs but as these have locked down, the need to reinvigorate an alternative paradigm has become greater.

The internet's technical backbone, driven by web3 and opensource technologies is now reaching a point where some of those ideals can be executed, learning from incumbents but offering more utility. Hence, profile.io.

Practical and Utility Drivers

Profile.io is a product of another UK based tech startup called Tabled Technologies - initially a workflow automation and AI platform, that moved into onchain identity assets through working with governments putting permits and licences onchain for verification purposes. This highlighted the massive potential use cases of onchain identity assets for both verification and as standardised encryption keys to unlock value - DIDs, soulbound nfts, verifiable credentials are all in our toolbox but need a user friendly home - one that does not come with the complexity of crypto wallets - and account abstraction provides us with that framework. More on all these technologies later.

As a web3 startup, we were struggling to find great people to build with - the incumbent social / work platforms were simply littered with fake profiles, or real people claiming fake credentials. We needed a better way to find skills, to maximise individual and collective contribution - profile.io.

We were also seeing how value on the incumbent platforms was not deriving to users and organisations. We all know the saying that if a service is free then you are the product, but with Web3, we can empower users to own their own data, to build their own products and value. Incumbent platforms have limited or no ability to export our data, integrate services or make use of the richness of the internet - we wanted to create something completely programmable, and in future, with open source components to let the community build - profile.io.

Mission - Sovereignty, Building Trust and Uniting Users

The web3 community of builders and creators, and its leaders like Vitalik, driven by cypherpunk values, are also a huge inspiration. Proof of personhood and trust is a key missing link to enable decentralised and self-sovereign management of your online / onchain self and trusted interactions with others - and profile.io is here to help address this lacuna. Crypto wallets don't yet make this easy either.

The web3 community has long championed and respected privacy and anonymity, for example, using nft pfps instead of a personal photo. Other communities are happy to interact and transact in the full light of day using real names and images. Our vision is to unite these users and cater to them all. Zero-knowledge proof protocols can now take us on that mission - letting people and organisations verify their online self - either revealing who they are, or not.

Our mission is building profile.io to provide programmable, user-owned profiles, that can be used anywhere online and housing granular, verifiable identity assets to unlock untold future value to holders while enabling trusted, non-intermediated payments. It is not a short journey, but we invite everyone to join us and help us shape it.

Thanks for reading!

Paul, co-founder, profile.io