While I was mostly in it for the ice cream that was my reward for not breaking anything (note: I‘m still conditioned to walk with my hands behind my back in shops), I actually learned quite a bit about history, design and craftsmanship. Though I didn’t have words for it at the time, I also came to recognize the facets of behavioral economics within (that old musty segment of) consumer culture. But the most impactful lesson from those days was around the lifetime value of goods which has since captivated my imagination and had a profound impact on my behaviors and views around consumerism.

While those in the SaaS world are very familiar with customer LTV, this same concept carries over into the physical world to capture the idea that physical goods (have the potential to) hold value well beyond their initial value (i.e., purchase price). For example, let’s take a Bianchi bicycle that was first bought for $750 in 1995, resold for $400 in 2010 and resold again for $300 in 2021. This same bike that was initially valued at $750 has actually had a lifetime value of $1,450 (let’s ignore inflation for argument’s sake). Theoretically, this bicycle will continue creating value for its owners until it’s usable life is over.

As another example, let’s look at a good with a finite usable life, such as a concert ticket. A fan buys a ticket to Phish’s NYE run at The Garden for $65, which subsequently sells out (we’ll talk ticketing fees sometime soon). Their VW bus breaks down on route from Vermont and they decide to sell their ticket, which I buy for $145. Again, the ticket was initially valued at $65 but had a lifetime value of $210. Maybe in 20-years, if I kept that ticket stub, I could sell it on WeBay (nod to @WilderWorld nation), but that’s about all the economic value it will create. Now that you get the basic concept, you probably see where I’m going with this…

Recontextualizing this for web3, I’ve been thinking a lot about the lifetime value of digital assets (e.g., NFTs). It’s pretty straightforward for physical goods…at some point in time that bicycle’s frame welds will fail and its usable life will end. But in a web3-based community-owned world, I posit that the lifetime value of a digital asset has the potential to be infinite (Infinite Lifetime Value or ILV). I certainly don’t believe ILV is a universal truth or given, merely a potentiality. Anyone who’s active in the web3 space realizes that 98% of NFT mints that have happened in Q3/Q4 2021 will eventually trend to 0.0001 ETH. But ILV is uniquely enabled by the dynamics surrounding blockchains, community ownership and digital depreciation (I’ll explore this concept in the near future). For those paying attention, the lessons learned over these past and future months will help inform what it might take to build an infinitely sustainable community via shared digital ownership. I’ll definitely be watching, listening and actively playing along!

This initial post introduces the basic premise of ILV but there’s more to explore around this topic, such as how to add value to a digital asset and community members in perpetuity, digital depreciation, supply/demand dynamics, scarcity and exclusivity (i.e., FOMO), etc.

Thanks for reading…now go create the future you want to see!