On week 15 of Coffee with Captain we had a lot of discussions around NFT IP. Does it even matter? How do you build a business around it? Both are good questions. We also had the opportunity to interview team members of companies building utilizing NFT IP. We sprinkled in some exciting news about ApeFest and questions about Solana’s future to make for an interesting week of conversations.
In case you missed any of the shows, below is a small recap of each day with links to the podcast on Apple and Spotify. Links to other streaming platforms can be found on our buzzsprout page. Check out the timestamp if you want to catch the specific interviews.
Monday
Building a Business with NFT IP + Project Gray from Doodles
The Bored & Hungry team recently closed their Long Beach, CA location and people on X tried to trash the company. Little did they know Bored & Hungry also signed a deal to expand the franchise into an Asian market. The reality is most people within web3 haven’t even built a business, so they really can’t speak too intelligently on the topic. Web3 is a novel industry and NFTs are a new concept. In any new market risk is inherently high, but so is the potential upside.
The Coffee Crew was joined by Julian, CEO of Doodles, to discuss Project Gray. Media content is saturated and it’s difficult for brands to reach new fans. Doodles aims to start with short form content and then push for bigger media. The Doodles team made an exciting announcement early April about the groundbreaking, storytelling experience. Dullsville and the Doodleverse will be an animated special with a soundtrack featuring Lil Wayne and Coi Leray. You can catch the immersive premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this summer.
Check this episode out on Apple and Spotify.
Tuesday
Community Overload + Expanding out of Web3
The Doodles conversation carried over into Tuesday’s episode. Holders continued to ask the age-old question of “how does this announcement benefit me as a holder?” Project Gray is about expanding outside of web3 and into a global animation studio. Dullsville and the Doodleverse has the potential to attract an entirely different group of users with the new content.
Still, this question by holders isn’t specific to Doodles. In web3, we built everyone off community. Maybe that was wrong? Community will always be a necessary portion of a web3 brand, but the approach needs to shift. Instead of relying on hype and community, there needs to be underlying success metrics that drive the underlying value of the asset.
Check this episode out on Apple and Spotify.
Wednesday
Pirate Nation Stand Up + ApeFest to Portugal
ApeFest is headed international once again in the month of October. This time the Bored Ape Yacht Club community will find themselves in the beautiful streets of Lisbon, Portugal. Even with the declining floor price, the community appears very excited by the news.
Pirate Nation team members, Adam Fern and Amitt Mahajan, join the show to discuss their vision of Proof of Play and the progression of Pirate Nation. The company wants to create something that will exist forever and the blockchain gives them the opportunity to do just that. Pirate Nation started out as a basic Farmville type game and has expanded alongside the community.
After the Coffee Crew received some codes from the team, I went and tested out Pirate Nation for the first time. I definitely enjoyed the game and can see where there is stickiness. Right now, the game is only available via PC, but a mobile version is already built as they prepare to scale. The team is very thoughtful in their “go to market” approach. You can tell they care heavily about the user onboarding experience. Be on the lookout for Pirate Nation in the future!
Check this episode out on Apple and Spotify.
Thursday
Is Solana a Failing Blockchain?
There were a few days this past week where Solana was completely unusable. It would take several attempts to complete a transaction. Solana obviously failed their most recent stress test and it’s making Cap more bearish on the network as a whole. The Ethereum layer 2s had the superior experience as total volume continues to grow on Base.
Speaking of Base, it seemingly has the biggest opportunity to garner attention outside of the typical web3 bubble. Its connection to Coinbase gives the network an easy onramp and access to a host of resources. Blast has a significant amount of volume, but it still feels a little more like a casino.
Check this episode out on Apple and Spotify.
Friday
Does NFT IP Matter?
The artist known as XCOPY recently had a conceptual art piece sell for 255 eth. That’s a significant buy, especially with the current state of Ethereum NFTs. Does the sale kick off some sort of art revival within Ethereum NFTs? It’s hard to imagine with attention so heavily focused on Bitcoin and memecoins on the variety of chains. Cap believes we could see a move towards high dollar, long-term assets when gains are made later in the cycle.
The NFT talk goes deeper as we get into a discussion about NFT IP. Does it even really matter? One’s answer to that question will likely vary depending on who you ask. If you’re building a brand, then you definitely care. Projects that want to highlight social clubs and digital identity also will care. As a space, we’re still figuring out the value of different NFT IPs.
Check this episode out on Apple and Spotify.
Wrap Up
NFT IP and community was a recurring theme this week on Coffee with Captain. The beauty of web3 is it brings in a variety of different people. Some want to trade crypto, some want to be part of a community, some want to build a business and some want a blend of everything. Web3 is an emerging industry and part of the fun is figuring this all out together. If you missed week 14, make sure to check it out here.
Be sure to check out:
- The Everything Token: A Book on Web3 and NFTs
- Making Coffee: Our Official Coffee Partner
