Ben Wylie and Yamen Sader, former founders of Sixtree, have left their senior positions at the Big Four consultancy and rejoined the startup world to create Lab Eleven, a new web3 and blockchain investment and engineering enterprise.

"We aim to partner and co-invest in a handful of Web3 projects each year and, as a result, grow a stake in web3 businesses we are proud to have helped build," Wylie says.

"We'll be working more with web3 founders and investors to offer a Solana delivery partner that co-invests to bring innovative web3 ideas to market.

"With the crypto world being a little turbulent, anonymous and unpredictable at times we hope we'll be seen as a safe, proven and invested pair of hands."

Both Wylie and Sader say they are taking a calculated risk in leaving the comfort and safety of partner-level roles at Deloitte to move into the blockchain and web3 space.

"As a developer and as an end user, I was impressed by how far blockchain technology has come," Sader says.

"With the speed and low cost of modern blockchains, it is possible to create the experience users expect these days.

"This was a lightbulb moment, and we were only able to see opportunity from there.

"I'd love to see web3 making a real-world impact and for Lab Eleven to have played a role in that.

"Our secondary goal is to give back to the blockchain community and to be leaders in educating and building hundreds of blockchain careers."

The pair hope to also play a role in contributing to Australia's strong standing in the world of blockchain and web3.

According to Sader, Australian enterprises are largely putting off thinking about it "as the technology is still nascent and adoption is low."

"But like with other breakthrough technologies, adoption is slow until it's fast, and when it arrives for web3 it may be too late to respond. It's time to start thinking about this potential future now," Sader adds.

"We're putting our own effort, heart and soul behind this movement, and we are thrilled to now be part of accelerating towards a web3 future," Wylie adds.