So much of the coverage of NFTs is around digital art, profile pics but for the 4th Crypto Curious session curated by VIDA for Soho Works, we wanted to explore some of the more commercial applications and businesses being built around NFTs.
So we spoke to Sandra Tusin, VC at Outlier Ventures and co-founder of Mindstream AI and NFT Soho, and Robin Janaway NFT Drop lead at Outlier, and co-founder of Tradefighter.
Robin kicked off by talking about his experience in the fintech revolution in Nigeria, and the similarities with what’s happening in Crypto right now. In short, in the past the money being created by new financial opportunities used to flow to the existing wealthy. But the potential for Crypto is different - and huge - because it creates new, democratic opportunities for the ‘unbanked.’
For those with a business idea in this space an early mover advantage still exists. Outlier are seeing “around 20-30 decks per week - many of them ideas on the page that haven’t reached MVP stage.
As with any area of innovation technical capability and knowledge are significant barriers to creators making money (what are smart contracts?) and selling NFTs (How does minting work?). But the bigger issue is that most people don’t yet know what’s even possible in Web3 as an artist, a creator
However for learning, insights, data, support, “Crypto Twitter” has a strong feeling of community; it’s not unusual to find 10 or more BAYC owners giving advice, support in response to questions people are asking.
On what investors are looking for…
Sandra spoke about what catches VCs eye with a Web3/ NFT project, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s pretty clear that the main rules haven’t changed:
An idea that’s category defining
That has the opportunity to be market-leading
The track record of founding team
A clear roadmap
And possibility over polish
There are two specifics to consider though:
What’s the real utility of your token / application?
What’s your community / following - size, growth, momentum, interaction - because this is your market and will determine how quickly your products can scale
On the Metaverse…
Facebook’s corporate rebranding to Meta has definitely driven up interest in the Metaverse, grown understanding and made it more mainstream. And ironically, given that this was an implicit move to “own the Metaverse’ this has increased the understanding that the future will most likely see a number of interoperable ‘worlds,’ ‘spaces;’ ‘realms,’ or metaverses being created.
Widespread adoption is realistically a long way off, given that Sandbox, Decentraland and even Roblox are not great user experiences, but brands are starting to experiment in this area and this may accelerate the improvement in user experience. Indeed Robin’s view is that in the future we won’t ‘go’ to the Metaverse, in the same way that we no longer ‘go’ on the internet; we go to specific places, brands, media and communities.
But from a commercial perspective, early metaverse events look promising. For instance, attendees spend much more money; there’s no queue for the merch stand in the metaverse.
On Crypto as an asset class…
Crypto assets are of course the most risky of all, especially given the risk of legislation change in China and the US.
But the question is do you believe that the interest in and adoption of the Metaverse, Decentralised Finance, NFT’s and further blockchain-enabled innovation will grow over the long term?
One way to answer this is to look at Gen Z, where heavy usage of video gaming means that the principles of web 3 are innate, and the behaviours associated with the Metaverse are natural.
We used to talk about Millennials being digital natives; GenZ are emerging as Web3 natives…
And finally, on NFT’s as an asset…
Robin’s advice was ‘buy three’ - sell one immediately to cover your costs, sell one when price rises and they are on the up, hold one for the longer term.
The next event
The next instalment of the VIDA x Soho Works Crypto Curious series is a deep dive into all things Metaverse with Tom Salmon from The Bakery.
See you on Tuesday 18th May at Soho Works, Royalty House, Dean St, Soho 5pm-6pm.
Book via the Soho Works app or us email hello@vidamedia.co.uk to join us, all curious types welcome.
