The hallmark of a lasting innovation is when businesses outside of its immediate industry leverage that technology as a core component to their customer offering. Consider when companies adopted telephone at scale by outsourcing customer service to call centres. Or when physical retail started selling goods with e-commerce as a channel. That technology became irrevocably woven into those businesses.

We're beginning to see startups from non-web3 industries become web3 native - folding blockchain into their core business. Grow Your Own Cloud (GYOC) is one such example. GYOC is a fascinating case of a business operating at the intersection of a few different, seemingly disconnected fields.

This post will use GYOC to illustrate a trend that could define the next generation of businesses and value creation. We’ll cover what GYOC is solving, how we’re solving it, why existing funding models don’t work and how web3 opens up new possibilities.

Data storage, but not as you know it

Grow Your Own Cloud is a green biotech company that stores digital data in plant DNA, building clean data storage solutions by working with nature as a technology.

What do we mean by storing data in plant DNA? Consider that DNA stores our genetic data. In fact, it’s the highest density of data storage in the known universe. DNA is a thousandfold denser than flash memory. In theory, a mug full of DNA would be able to store all the world’s digital data. Which is a lot - about 10 trillion gigabytes worth has been created by humans, with an increase of another 2.5 million gigabytes per day.

This volume of data becomes a problem because to store that data, massive data warehouses are needed. These are facilities that house nothing but servers. It’s estimated that there are 7,500 data centers in the world, with the US running 2,670 of those. They’re enormous in size, cost upwards of $1 billion to build and maintain. They also require huge amounts of energy. Exactly how much is debated, but estimates land around 200 terrawatt hours per year. That’s more than the energy consumption of many of the world’s nations, including Iran, South Africa and Argentina. The warehouses also produce more C02 than the entire aviation industry annually. In addition to energy consumption, the water usage is remarkable. For one single facility in Texas, Google requires 1.46 billion gallons of water a year.

With the rapid expansion and adoption of various digital tech, it’s not that surprising that we’re creating a lot of data. However, the future projections are really quite alarming. Considering an increase in high definition digital experiences (e.g. Generative AI, VR, metaverse, 8k video), exploding population growth and higher rates of device usage, you can imagine how these projections might come to be.

When we compile all of this context, the outlook is bleak. Especially in the face of climate change. The GYOC founding team sought to tackle this problem from a different angle, bringing the challenge back to first principles. Could there be a better way to store data? As it turns out, yes.

GYOC’s purpose is to make the exponential increase in the world’s data positively contribute to the environment. A world where storing data isn’t extractive, where it’s more than ‘sustainable’ — it’s regenerative.

It’s a lofty ambition and perhaps one that doesn’t have an immediately clear pathway, if you aren’t familiar with what GYOC is doing. So what does it look like in practice? It starts with storing data in plants and trees — limited amounts at first, then scaling up large. The ultimate objective is to transform data warehouses from carbon creators to carbon absorbers: replacing server farms with data forests. There’s a long road between now and then, but at GYOC, we’re not playing by traditional rules.

It’s already happening

The first question most people ask is “is that even possible?”. The answer to that is a strong “yes”. We know that, because we’re already doing it today, although at a modest scale.

Here’s how.

Digital data uses binary code: sequences of 0s and 1s. As you might remember from your high school biology class, DNA stores everything in 4 molecules: A, T, C and G. The key to storing data in DNA is a translation between the two binary digits and the four DNA bases. Once the translation is set, strands of DNA molecules are created that match the binary sequence.

At a high level, this is the way it works. The process includes encoding (uploading) digital data in plants and decoding (downloading) digital data from plants. DNA sequencers like Nanopore MinION are important for this process. The Nanopore is just a small piece of hardware that looks like a hard drive and is connected to a computer via USB. To decode data that’s stored in a plant, a sample is taken from the plant, some DNA is extracted and then read via the DNA sequencer. The sequence is translated back into 0s and 1s and then to the required file format e.g. a JPEG or MP3, accessible on your computer. Et voila, you have access to digital data in plant DNA.👌

https://twitter.com/_GYOC/status/1554431754148118529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.notion.so%2FWeb3-breathing-life-into-high-complexity-tech-5e576c7177044c48b3c51f727beb01e9

If that wasn’t cool enough, this is where it starts getting really interesting.

An evolving landscape

Hard problems take a long time to solve. Deep tech, pharma, biotech, quantum computing - you know the types. The playbook until now has been for deep pocketed VCs and institutional investors to front up with a fat cheque to give the team an extremely long runway. The team then go behind closed doors for a number of years, (hopefully) reappearing with a working, market-ready solution. But in today’s market landscape, this playbook is starting to change. Some LPs are demanding earlier returns in their standard 10-year funds. Investors are becoming more risk averse, eager to see revenue and value accrue earlier rather than waiting for a big risky bet to materialise. For GYOC specifically, DNA data storage doesn’t have a tried and tested process to rely on (like pharma, for example) and the time horizon is long.

At GYOC, we’ve seen a glimpse of a better future, so we’re finding a way to make it happen. Web3 is how.

From Web3 to WebTree

Web3 is showing that we can disrupt that traditional model by building evolution into the product roadmap. It’s not just about sourcing funding from the community, it’s about opening up new revenue streams and growth opportunities.

For GYOC, it starts with a DAO. A community of diverse, engaged and incentivised professionals working on a shared mission. For attracting talented community members, it certainly helps that the company’s purpose is a lofty one, leveraging new technologies in a creative way. The DAO structure allows GYOC to access talent it wouldn’t otherwise be able to attract as a traditional startup.

In addition to the mission, the incentives for contributors are rewards through social tokens and NFTs. The DAO also infuses GYOC with community direction from day one. The DAO has different layers of involvement, from active contributors to supporting members who are less involved in the day to day. The community will be NFT-gated, meaning that to gain access to discussions and benefits, you’ll need to have minted or purchased a GYOC membership NFT.

With a functioning DAO in place, next comes the evolution of products that GYOC can create. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t start with the data forests mentioned earlier… Not for a decade, maybe more. So what then? This is where GYOC starts to leverage web3 as part of its core business.

NFPs: Non-Fungible Plants

It’s fair to say that NFTs have entered the mainstream awareness, but they’re riddled with accusations of scams (fair) and adverse environmental impact (also fair). GYOC has a fresh take: NFPs.

NFPs are plants, encoded with a digital file within their DNA. NFPs come in the form of plants and seeds (that can be grown).

What data goes into NFPs? For that, GYOC is tapping the creator economy, working with high caliber and globally renowned musicians, artists and brands (an exciting announcement will be coming on this soon, so stay tuned!).

Each collaborator will launch their own ‘collection’, consisting of physical plants & seeds, each of which are paired with digital NFTs (environmentally friendly, naturally). These collections live digitally in an ‘NFP garden’, essentially a community-centric platform that houses all the collections, connecting the various collaborators to their fans.

The content within the plant is created bespoke by these collaborators, especially for the NFP collection. It’s a unique creative exploration for creators and one where they can share handsomely in the proceeds.

The beauty of this business model, is that it leverages the inherent scarcity in the number of NFPs we can create and the inherent scarcity of storage volume within each plant. As multiple collections will be dropped each year, this gives GYOC a recurring revenue model, reaching a new audience of highly engaged fans with each collaborator.

The roadmap is a fascinating one, with different dynamics at play. The maturity of the tech today is rudimentary — we can store single files. In five years, that should increase to storing megabytes. In ten years, the expectation is gigabytes and with DNA data storage we’re talking petabytes eventually. All this is helped drastically by decreasing DNA synthesis costs and an evolving acceptance of the technology by various customers.

As the technology develops, different revenue streams become possible. For example, through partnering with flower and houseplant retailers, customised offerings can be made available to a wider, non-crypto base:

• Imagine storing a photo album or video in a seed of a loved one who passed away, which you could grow in your backyard into a magnificent tree

• Or encoding a couple’s wedding song within the bride’s bouquet

• Or for corporate partnerships, a brand with a rich heritage could archive their treasured data in plants (this has happened already with LVMH)

A workhorse revenue driver, this business model plans to fuel R&D for the long-term objective: building a clean data archival service at the intersection of DNA Data Storage and Carbon Capture. AKA Data Forests.

The future will be a remix

It’s fair to say that without the aid of web3, GYOC would not be able to generate revenues for a number of years. You could make the argument that such an endeavour would be unfundable and therefore impossible to realise.

In the world of data infrastructure, creativity and design are foreign. But creativity has been a necessary element in thinking different about data storage and fundamental to how the business will grow. Grow Your Own Cloud will be one of many startups that look at completely new ways to go to market in surprising industries. Companies may start to breach the boundaries of what’s easily defined and categorised. It’s through that remixing that we’ll see some great strides forward for humanity.

If you’d like to join our mission as part of our WebTree community - you can get early access at our Discord server here:

https://t.co/FI1Kj9rIDZ

Grow Your Own Cloud (GYOC) has been developing green data applications since 2018. Our mission is to make the exponential rise in data benefit the planet. So we combine DNA data storage technology with plants and trees, to enable regenerative data storage.

https://growyourown.cloud/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Version-B_3.mp4?height=480&width=854&autoplay=true&loop=true&muted=true

And it works

We’ve created proof of concepts that demonstrate we can store and retrieve digital files from plants. We’ve won international awards from the UN and EU. We’ve showcased GYOC across the world at places like SXSW, WSJ Future of Everything and Telefonica Foundation. We’ve worked with leading companies including LVMH. We’ve even been featured on Netflix.

Our team is a squad of technologists, creatives and scientists building with an ethics and environment first mindset. To help us enable the next step in our growth, we’re supported most notably by Ginkgo Bioworks, a leading biotech company, David Kong from MIT, our senior scientific advisor, Seed Club, with whom we completed the SC04 Web3 accelerator program and Polygon Studios.

Now we’re looking to take our idea further

DNA data storage technology has the potential to revolutionise the way we store data and regenerate ecosystems. Just think about it for a second:

You might think of DNA as the language of life. It’s also a system for information storage. In fact it’s the most dense, most durable and cleanest technology for long-term data storage that we know of.

Best of all, it’s compatible with organisms like plants and trees that make their own energy and absorb CO2. So what might happen if we can start to store some of our carbon emitting data in the DNA of plants?

• Could we build data storage that absorbs greenhouse gases?

• Could we create an economic rationale to plant forests that are also data centres?

• Could storing data also generate carbon credits?

• Could storing data encourage us to take better care of other organisms and ecosystems?

While our work triggers many evocative questions and unlocks a vision of green data futures, it is based on scientific reality.

Imagine if we could replace server farms with data forests

For the past 4 years we’ve been researching how we can store data in plants and trees. We’ve actually managed to do it. We can store data like photos, and songs in the DNA of plants. We’ve even figured out how to retrieve the data. This work was recently recognised by Falling Walls and named amongst the scientific breakthroughs of the year for 2022.

Our long-term goal is to develop data infrastructure that is carbon negative, based on DNA data storage technology. For example data forests replacing server farms, with the potential to bring new value to nature. Forests which not only carry an environmental value, but an economic value through data storage, natural capital and carbon credits.

To get there will take time, but through incremental steps of product development and research, we’ve mapped a path to build data systems that work in harmony with living systems for maximum impact.

Where Web3 meets WebTree

GYOC sees Web3 as an enabler for community led growth. By running more decentralised and distributed operations, we seek to gradually transform into something which more closely resembles a public good than a traditional tech company.

To enable our vision, within Web3 we are forming GYOC DAO: an internet native organization dedicated to accelerating the transition to truly green data storage. Together we can create a future where server farms could be replaced by data forests. A world where the exponential increase in data production positively contributes to the environment.

Our approach is rooted in DeSci (decentralized science), as we seek to develop and fund an unconventional idea through a community led approach that serves the public interest. We combine this with a ReFi (regenerative finance) spirit, developing regenerative applications that will boost natural capital, enhance biodiversity and improve the quality of life for all beings.

The organization we are building is a community of reflective, regenerative and strategic thinkers and doers. Members will collectively make decisions, ultimately sharing in the benefits as GYOC DAO develops new projects, products and initiatives.

So how can we make this a reality?

This all begins with a first product. A unique Web3 offering we call Non-Fungible Plants.

Non-Fungible Plants or NFPs for short are physical plants with data encoded within their DNA. Data like JPEGs and MP3s. They’re the first truly plant-based NFTs ever created.

We’ll be working with major artists and luxury brands to select the most precious artworks, musical creations and more to be encoded within our first generation of NFPs. To help us do this, we’re supported by Ginkgo Bioworks, scientists from the University of Washington, MIT, and Cornell. We’re also working with our partners at Seed Club.

We will grow NFPs on a new platform called NFP.Garden - a creative space where artists and creators can launch and preserve works in the data format of the future: DNA. We link their works to the greenest technology out there: plants.

More details on NFP.Garden will follow in a dedicated post.

A Seed Round that is literally a Seed Round

We intend to grow from the ground up. Planting the first seed. Which in our case means a very literal community-led seed round.

It will feature the release of GYOC Seeds: Membership pass NFTs that take the form of beautiful animated seeds. The artwork is created by the highly talented and renowned 3D artist Chris Golden.

Owning a GYOC Seed NFT means:

• You’ll be a founding member of GYOC DAO.

• You’ll have priority on future launches ft. major artist and brand collaborations.

• You’ll be involved in governing the future of GYOC DAO.

• You’ll be eligible to receive exclusive Airdrops.

• You’ll have access to a members only community at the intersection of Web3, biotech and regenerative futures.

And much more - full details to come in a dedicated post.

A GYOC Seed in your wallet means you are helping to power the green data revolution. Benefits will evolve over time with GYOC. As an early member, you are supporting the degen regen vision of GYOC as we assemble the human, technical and economic capital necessary to grow clean, biological data storage.

Rooting for this idea? Get involved:

Through GYOC DAO we can align incentives so that everyone shares in the success and growth. We can create an organization that is oriented around a collective mission, but that can grow from various sources. What will this look like?

We think it looks a lot like a living ecosystem such as a garden. For a garden to thrive, the relationships planted must be symbiotic and mutually beneficial. We see our community growing in this way, guiding the future of GYOC DAO by facilitating precious collaborations with scientists, ecologists, artists, technologists, like-minded organisations and anyone who wants to encourage and enable truly green futures.

As a community we will collectively work towards the long-term dream of rebuilding data storage in a regenerative way, working with nature as technology.

Join us on this adventure and help grow a global decentralised community committed to building the next evolution of a regenerative internet.

We hope to grow our garden with you.

https://t.co/FI1Kj9rIDZ