FWB FEST 2025

Abstract

Curated and produced by Friends with Benefits, FEST is an industry-defining cultural gathering for emergent tech in the mountains of Idyllwild, CA. Conceived as a temporary network city where attendees engage with culture, technology, and groundbreaking new ideas, FEST has emerged successful for three consecutive years. Now, we’re coming back to the FWB community with a plan to do it all again, with several key refinements, particularly around strategy. Vote “yes” on this proposal to help make an even more pluralist and collaborative FEST happen from July 31-Aug 3, 2025.

Evolution of FWB FEST

See full proposal for details on FEST 2022 and FEST 2023. Proposal here abbreviated due to length.

2024: FEST as the Industry’s Platform

In 2024, FEST cemented its position as the industry's definitive platform event, achieving remarkable growth and strategic refinement that transformed it into an industry defining cultural event. Through a focused approach on high value partnerships and strategic programming, FEST delivered unprecedented financial success while elevating the overall attendee experience.

Key Financial and Operational Achievements:

• Generated $1,573,442 in total revenue (51% increase from 2023)

• Secured $1,497,067 in partnership revenue (128% increase from 2023)

• Streamlined partnerships from 36 to 11 strategic partners, focusing on larger, more integrated collaborations

• Managed expenses while introducing new high-impact activations such as BaseCamp

Strategic Innovation:

• Early closure of sponsorships (3 months pre-event) enabled deep partner integration

• Introduction of $FWB token for ticket sales established new use cases for the community currency

• Curated audience through strategic ticketing approach for KOLs, VIPs, and notable attendees

• Expanded programming to include more diverse offerings across industries

Operational Excellence: The lean but mighty team structure proved highly effective:

• 3 Full-Time Core Team Members (CEO, CMO, COO)

• 2 Key Contractors for Production and Programming:

• Festival Director, Paul Tao, brought extensive music and cultural expertise

• Programming Director, Kaitlyn Davies, ensured thought-provoking content curation

While demonstrating impressive results, this streamlined approach's success highlighted opportunities for future growth through additional resources and expanded operational capacity.

FEST's evolution into "the industry's platform" in 2024 set new standards for cultural events in web3, proving that a decentralized, community-driven approach could deliver both financial success and meaningful cultural impact. This transformation established FEST as the premier gathering for those shaping the future of web3 culture and technology.

FEST 2024 by the Numbers:

• Sold Out

• 11 Partners/Collaborators

• 40 mainstage speakers

• 33 discussion and workshop facilitators

• 34 musicians

FEST 2025

The Emergent Tech Festival

Through our focus on human connection and creative technology, FWB FEST has successfully created a new category of subcultural emerging tech festival. FEST is the platform where technologists, artists, and cultural leaders converge to demonstrate, debate, and define accelerating technological advancements. As such, we’re expanding our focus to include the broader emergent technology ecosystem while maintaining our commitment to decentralized principles and community ownership.

FEST's evolution mirrors the broader transformation happening at the intersection of technology and culture: the new internet won’t be built on blockchain alone. While crypto remains our origin story, we believe in the power of interoperability–within our industry and beyond. Previously unimaginable experiences materialized when parallel technologies intersect.

Evolving the Platform Model

In 2024, we demonstrated the power of our platform approach by enabling deep, meaningful partner integrations that elevated the overall FEST experience. For 2025, we're expanding this model further, inviting emergent tech industry leaders to create distinct, ownable moments within the FEST framework that align with their vision while enriching our collective gathering.

This evolution moves beyond traditional sponsorship to true co-creation, where partners develop signature experiences that become integral parts of the FEST ecosystem. Whether it's intimate founder breakfasts, specialized technical workshops, creative laboratories, or curated evening programming, these partner-led moments will be thoughtfully integrated into the broader FEST experience, maintaining our high standards for quality and cultural relevance while allowing for authentic brand expression.

Key aspects of this expanded platform approach include:

• Dedicated spaces and time slots for partner-curated programming

• Collaborative planning processes that begin months ahead of FEST

• Integrated storytelling opportunities across FEST's media channels

• Custom activation frameworks that align with partners' strategic objectives

• Opportunities for year-round engagement through FEST's growing media platform

Nurturing Our Core: The FWB Member Experience

The 2024 Members Day, expertly curated by our Community Council, proved to be our most successful yet, creating an intimate space for genuine connection and collaboration before the wider festival began. The day featured peer-led workshops, deep-dive discussions, and casual networking moments that reinforced the special bonds within our community. This demonstrated that as FEST expands its reach, the power of our core membership becomes even more vital.

For 2025, we're doubling down on creating meaningful touchpoints for members throughout the festival - from exclusive morning programming and special access to speakers, to dedicated spaces where members can gather, collaborate, and find respite during the festival's peak moments. These aren't just perks; they're intentional spaces for our community to strengthen existing relationships and forge new ones, ensuring that while FEST serves as the industry's platform, it remains, at its heart, a gathering of friends.

$FWB: FEST's Native Currency

Our 2024 partnership with Bend delivered a breakthrough moment for on-site crypto payments, with 78% of all transactions occurring through our Preferred Pricing system. This real-world validation of digital currency adoption at FEST opened our eyes to the possibilities ahead. When $FWB's migration to Base completes, 2025 marks a pivotal moment where we can fully realize our vision of $FWB as FEST's native currency.

Building on this momentum, we're implementing a comprehensive $FWB payment strategy throughout FEST, including:

• Preferred pricing across all ticket tiers with significant savings for $FWB payments

• Exclusive merchandise and experiences only available for purchase in $FWB

• Partner integrations that prioritize $FWB transactions

• Seamless point-of-sale systems for food, beverages, and vendor purchases

• Real-time reward mechanisms for $FWB usage during the festival

The technical efficiency of Base's infrastructure enables us to provide instant, low-cost transactions that make using $FWB not just possible, but preferable. This transition to $FWB as FEST's primary currency creates a natural alignment between token utility and real-world value, while demonstrating the practical applications of web3 technology in a festival environment. By making $FWB the cornerstone of FEST's economy, we're creating a model for how community tokens can drive genuine utility in cultural spaces.

FEST 2025 Access: A New Model for Community & Culture

We’re excited to introduce a new ticketing approach for FEST 2025 that prioritizes intentional curation and accessibility while preserving the magic that makes our gathering unique. This new system represents our commitment to fostering deeper connections within the FWB ecosystem while opening doors for curious newcomers. This hybrid system represents the next evolution in FEST's growth, combining the best aspects of traditional festival ticketing with crypto mechanics.

Why We're Evolving:

1. Financial Support and Accessibility: FEST 2024's strong financial performance enables us to reduce reliance on ticket revenue, allowing us to offer significantly reduced or no-cost tickets to qualified applicants.

2. Curating a Diverse and Engaged Community: Like our membership model, this application system prioritizes diverse interests, demographics, geographies, and professional backgrounds.

3. Preserving the FEST Experience: As our reputation grows, this approach helps maintain the unique atmosphere and culture that makes FEST special.

4. Balancing Openness and Community: This selective system enables effective management of free/low-cost tickets while ensuring high attendance rates.

Key Structure:

• Total Capacity: 1,000 attendees
• Purchasable Tickets: 500 tickets
• Application-Based Tickets: 500
• Partner Allocations: 200
• Benefactor Tickets: 100 ($1,000 each)

Strategic Benefits: Our strong financial position from 2024 enables this innovative approach, allowing us to:

• Reduce dependency on ticket revenue
• Offer significantly reduced or no-cost tickets to qualified applicants
• Maintain FEST's intimate atmosphere while scaling thoughtfully
• Ensure high engagement through stake-to-participate model
• Create pathways for new voices while honoring our community