Twitter Space | NFT Strategies Talk With The Chimpions
Video Transcript:
Hannah: To begin, um, could you please introduce yourself to our?
Minne: Sure, yeah. So, I’m Minne. Um, I’m a leader and lead of the Champions. Champions is a Dow-run project, so I was elected into my role. Um, my kind of service there involves a lot of um, networking and also technical stuff. I’m one of the developers on the team. I handle some of the metadata updates or website updates or um, different technical matters. Um, yeah, and I’m a software dev in real life, or I guess in web, my web2 life as well. Um, I live in Minneapolis.
Hannah: Alright, um, oh, we have the lead of the chair with us now. Um, can we discuss your journey a little bit or, like, what were your principles before joining the team at Black Lead? And also, what do we engage in before getting into the world of web3, and when did you make the transition?
Minne: Yeah, so, um, let me see. So back in, gosh, I guess, is kind of when I started really deepening, deep diving into crypto and, of course, um, probably like most people, I just started with coins. And you know, you start with Bitcoin and then you kind of go down through the, um, you start down the rabbit hole of, um, you know, whatever, all the coins you find yourself in. Um, and eventually, um, yeah, I just found my way to NFTs, uh, late 2001. Um, I really found a home in the Degen Ape, um, community, and I volunteered there for a while. I was on the, um, Dallas Squad, they call it, um, one of the kind of whitelist Hunters, Alpha Hunter-type networking collab people. I built a little app, too, for managing, um, mint lists and things. Um, yeah, so really enjoyed, um, uh, the journey there. I really like, you know, the DN project, love the art, um, uh, but yeah, I’ve always kind of had this itch, um, since I got into NFTs of, like, um, like just kind of, like, knowing that we’re early and that, um, not all the cool things about NFTs have really been done or, and there’s, there’s just a lot of, um, areas left to be explored, and that’s really interesting to me. And I, uh, that’s kind of what draws me in, is I, I want to be there when that stuff gets explored, and I want to help, and I want to, um, you know, help innovate and come up, help come up with the ideas that drive the space forward.
Minne: Yeah, so, um, let me see. So back in, gosh, I guess, is kind of when I started really deepening, deep diving into crypto and, of course, um, probably like most people, I just started with coins. And you know, you start with Bitcoin and then you kind of go down through the, um, you start down the rabbit hole of, um, you know, whatever, all the coins you find yourself in. Um, and eventually, um, yeah, I just found my way to NFTs, uh, late 2001. Um, I really found a home in the Degen Ape, um, community, and I volunteered there for a while. I was on the, um, Dallas Squad, they call it, um, one of the kind of whitelist Hunters, Alpha Hunter-type networking collab people. I built a little app, too, for managing, um, mint lists and things. Um, yeah, so really enjoyed, um, uh, the journey there. I really like, you know, the DN project, love the art, um, uh, but yeah, I’ve always kind of had this itch, um, since I got into NFTs of, like, um, like just kind of, like, knowing that we’re early and that, um, not all the cool things about NFTs have really been done or, and there’s, there’s just a lot of, um, areas left to be explored, and that’s really interesting to me. And I, uh, that’s kind of what draws me in, is I, I want to be there when that stuff gets explored, and I want to help, and I want to, um, you know, help innovate and come up, help come up with the ideas that drive the space forward.
Hannah: And the projects, and also, what are your special?
Minne: Yeah, so the Champions is kind of a, um, legendary project, I think. Um, because throughout our history, we’ve kind of started a number of metas in the NFT space, I think, or we can kind of claim that back when we minted over a year ago. We kind of started the um whitelist meta where, well, so because we’re only a um, our supply is only turn 20. Um, I actually didn’t mint Champions. I’m kind of telling the story out of memory, but um, the Champions Supply is so low they cut, they basically whitelisted every single one of their mitts. Um, so they, so each person kind of knew that they were minting and um, it was kind of a big deal. The mint was only 0.22 soul and then immediately afterwards, uh, the floor price went to like 200 or something. So it’s one of the biggest um, you know, immediate x or whatever, so it was a big um, as a big winner for those who were lucky enough to mint. Um, and I think a lot of projects after that kind of followed suit. They, you know, saw the success and um, tried to, you know, copycat a little, a little bit in different whether it be the pixel art or the way that we did the whitelist so that the supply of the project, a lot of things were kind of um, set by the Champions. It was kind of like almost groundbreaking the way it started, and then since then a number of the different things we’ve done is have been um, kind of innovative but kind of overall the project is um, you know, a tight group. Um, it’s Dow-run and it’s um, kind of kind of straddles the line between kind of more of a being an art-based community and kind of living in the digi world where a lot of the um, you know, other generative projects might live, you know, where you’re always talking about the next big mint and stuff. We, we do that too, but we also talk about um, you know, everyday life stuff or um, uh, kind of more in the art side. You know, what kind of artists we like to uh, support the ecosystem, uh, through either buying or you know, whatever to be in the art space too. So, uh, basically helping creators and builders, I think, is part of our DNA. Um, yeah, so that’s kind of the broad picture. I can go into more detail, I guess, later.
Hannah: All right, um, I can see why. That’s how it arrives like a big winner. Um, okay then. Um, going over the gym connections. Uh, why did you choose Z, and why you choose Inspire anything?
Minne: Yeah, so, so, I actually didn’t choose, um, the chimpanzee. I think, I think it might have been just because, um, you know, monkeys are kind of like standard, um, PFPs, and they liked the name, the spin on the word, uh, chimpanzee. With “Champions” into “the Champions,” and it’s kind of a cool branded brand thing, and I think, um, as far as the pixels go, I know a number of the artists who wanted to be involved at the time, so the original collection has four art, uh, uh, I might be getting this around five of, uh, become, you know, known as one of the better picture pixel art collections on Solana. I think pixel art’s pretty hard to kind of master, and I think Champions comes about as close as you can too, um, you know, getting it right, getting the whole collection cohesive, and the fact that they’re all one of ones too is pretty special, so, um, yeah.
Hannah : Okay, so that’s what made the champion special. You’re trying to muster a pixel art piece, right? About your… uh… you were talking about your artist, right? But I will… I will do that later on. Now, uh, I’m actually um very interested in that. In your website or perhaps classification of the champions, I want to know what are their actual differences.
Minne: In the tribes, you said.
Hannah: Yeah
Minne: Yeah, uh, so the tribes are just, um, part of the lore. Um, some of the traits and categories the Chimps fall into, uh, were just given as a part of, um, some background stories that haven’t actually been fully fleshed out yet. Um, part of the Dow initiatives and kind of the ongoing process of building the project is kind of creating the lore and creating, um, stories for each of the Champions. All the Champions are so unique and have their own identity, but, um, they do kind of fall into different categories. And I think our website has tribes, and we’re actually iterating on the website a little bit to be able to have, um, there’s a little bit of a more of a finer categories they fall into as well. So, um, just developing the lore that way, um, uh, yeah, I guess that’s kind of the main things about it.
Hannah: Okay, then, breaking deeper into the project, right? What are the specific benefits and also utilities of it?
Minne: Yeah, so the main thing you talked about is the collections. So, we actually have multiple collections. The main Champions collection is the 22-size, one-of-one pixel art. That was the original collection, and that’s kind of the full package. So, that’s what holding a champion is. It gets you access to the Dow. It will get you access to the full suite of channels in the Discord and voting rights and all kinds of benefits of being a full member. The rest of our collections are what we call our Together We Stand series, which is a series of additions that we put out. I guess not all of them are Edition. Some of them are generative, but they are various supply collections that we did. They all kind of had unique purposes, but the heart of it was to be standing together with artists and projects and ecosystems. So, we named it Together We Stand. We were working through getting new art out there that has utility, maybe it has some kind of lore connection with the partner project. We partnered with Mask Warriors to get some lore-based pieces out where you had to collect multiple of them to unlock the final piece of the story. We did partnerships with projects like Critters Cult. It was one of the more well-known ones that we did. We did a banner-style artwork with them, and the holders of the banner got to have a whitelist spot for that mint. That mint was very successful. We did that kind of structure a couple of times. Essentially, there’s just a series of ways that we both rewarded our holders and expanded our IP a little bit to be able to also expand our footprint in the ecosystem, as well as our community. So, each of the holding any of the Together We Stand additions also gets you access to our tree house portion of our Discord. That’s what we call it, where we have more of an art focus, and we allow people to talk about art or have different community events that are a little bit different than what is just encompassed by the champions. I think, yeah, that’s a good, like, covers all of it.
Hannah: People also can see that through the website. Um, as we have you asked, the Champions here right now, can you tell us about your personal favorite collection?
Minne: Yeah, sure. So, I… so my… I should have changed my PFP, actually. My Champion is called the Pensive, and I was really drawn to him because he’s a thinker. He has a light bulb, um, and he’s… I really… I actually really like the plain monotone ones and just like mint green, just like chill thinking, solving problems, um. But I also really like… there’s a number of them that are kind of tech-focused, and I really like, uh, you know, futuristic looking art. And one of my favorites is actually called the Futurist, and it’s got a… it’s got the Solana skin, and it’s got, um, some cool details that really make it stand out, make it futuristic. But, um, yeah, the… I mean, they’re also… I mean, how do you pick? Every time I look at our collection, I feel like I see one that I haven’t seen, um, before. That is… yeah, yeah. So, this is an interesting question because, so, I think the question was, “What kind of fun have we dealt with?” Basically, what are the challenges we’ve overcome? And, um, we’ve actually gone through quite a bit. Our initial launch was so hyped that not everyone got in, so a lot of people who didn’t get in were salty, and they… they flooded because they weren’t, you know, they thought we were an influencer pump and dump project or, um, you know, whatever the Twitter rumors were at the time. But, um, so, going through that, the FUD, and then I wasn’t actually a part of the project at that time, so I was on the outside. But once I joined, I joined right during the time of when the DAO took over from the initial team, and there was some drama about that that we had to go through, um, and then kind of changing the image of the project from this influencer pump and dump project with a founder who kind of basically isn’t in the picture anymore to a project that’s really, you know, down to earth and it’s more wholesome and, um, you know, grassroots, I guess. I don’t know, but, um, yeah, it’s just, uh, it’s more of a, more of a family project. Like, everyone who participates in the DAO is, um, you know, we’re all friends and we’re all trying to, um, get through the bear market together and, you know, have fun in NFTs at the same time. And I think, you know, being DAO-run is another challenge in itself that we’re really trying to, um, constantly, constantly, uh, figure out. Every three months, we have a new election of leaders for the DAO, and I think every time new leaders come in, there’s new ideas and there’s new ways of doing things that we kind of have to adapt to. So we’re constantly changing, and we’re constantly evolving and working on new things and working together and kind of figuring out the best way that it should go. I think, you know, not many before NFTs and before, um, you know, Web3, I don’t know how many DAOs there ever was before or whatever, but there isn’t a really good blueprint, um, so, yeah, we’re all kind of just trying to make it, I guess.
Hannah: All right, um, I have this additional question: How do you manage your memory, uh, in order to, you know, like, um, not, like, be able to overcome those challenges? And also, like, are there any preventive measures for your members, um, team?
Minne: Um, sorry. I mean, it’s still kind of cutting out a little bit, but what I could hear is that you want to talk about the kind of strategies of how we overcame those things.
Hannah: Yeah, like how you manage your team will be, uh, you know, you can overcome those challenges.
Minne: Yeah, that’s a good question. So, um, a lot of it, I think, is the way that we’ve kind of got through our challenges. It has kind of been through them, through the members. Like being a downrun organization, you kind of fit into the culture that’s set by your certain members. And I think our Dao has a number of people who kind of set the tone, set the culture, set the direction at different points in time. And, you know, it hasn’t always been one person at different points in time. Different people have stepped up, and that’s kind of been the defining um, strategy or the defining momentum at that point in time. And I think, you know, it kind of just goes back to all of us being a team. You know, none of us is the um, team captain. We all kind of had have played our roles at different times, and I think um, really there hasn’t been a big gap in um, momentum. I know our floor price tanked at one point, but we recovered really strong after that with the Together We Stand project or they initiative. And it was just a matter of timing and the people who were there and working through it. And um, I think some of the things we have adapted is the way that the Dao runs, the way the leadership team runs. We’ve had to do a little bit of um, structure around a um, you know, how the voting works and then also how the um, like the uh, code of conduct is for our members. So we can kind of have something to fall back on if, you know, somebody gets out of line or things go um, things go get weird. Um, but yeah, it’s kind of just being a team, working through things as a team. I think our team, everyone has a team attitude. We all want to get through this together and um, we want what’s best for the Champions. So I think that’s kind of been the um, biggest, the biggest piece.
Hannah: Very nice. Um, I do think that, um, internal, you know, like, and very important for the project also. The next question, uh, there’s actually quite a lot of good, your way of strategies, right? Um, what are the objectives of the champions for this year? Who projects can you tell us?
Minne: Yeah, um, so 2023… Um, it started off with a bang, so we, so kind of, I touched on a little bit the together that together we scan art initiative that we did last year spawned this new, um, piece of our community called the tree house and, um, I think for 2023 and Beyond, um, you know, we’re kind of leaning into the Treehouse, trying to figure out ways to foster growth in the treehouse, um, and it’s always, it’s always a balance between, um, you know, growth, um, rewarding holders, um, getting people involved, and then also managing our treasury, which is not large, um, because we don’t really have a, we don’t have, um, cash flow income. So, um, I think, I think, uh, a lot of our goals, I think, are spawning, spawning out of that idea of working together with the tree house, moving forward in a direction that um, uplifts our members and encourages them, you know, to get involved and to push new ideas, and also then kind of overflow that into what we have with the Treehouse as well, and there isn’t much concrete that I can say yet, um, you know, we have a couple of ideas, um, in process. Um, one of the, one of the biggest, um, kind of ongoing trends is always, you know, partnerships and, um, collaborations, which we’re always, always working on. We’re always in touch with new projects and old projects. We have an exciting collaboration with one of the biggest projects on Solana that will be pretty cool once it’s announced, um, and yeah, nothing that I can reveal yet. I think, um, yeah, and then also, I mean, just to touch on the Dow part of it again, we always encourage our members to, um, you know, come up with cool ideas, come empower them to use the Champions platform to move forward in different ways, so, um, sometimes our plans might change, somebody might have a better idea, but I think we have three or four or five ideas in project in progress right now that are, um, you know, pretty cool, pretty cool things, um, but yeah, unfortunately can’t talk about the details of any of them yet.
Hannah: It looks like a bunch of cool stuff, right? Our listeners can definitely look forward to an excellent 2023. Can you give us an idea of what is there for the short term or for the long term?
Minne: Um, sorry, did you say what’s on the roadmap?
Hannah: Yeah
Minne: Yeah, um, yeah, so um, after our January initiative to that created a bunch of new art for our collection, um, and then so, that was our um, kind of the last piece of our defined roadmap, I guess. And then we recently elected new leads and we’re kind of um, you know, going through the process of changing, changing over, um, and then also um, kind of defining what’s next. And I think, um, you know, we’re wrapping up, we’re wrapping up the previous initiatives, um, we have kind of standard things like merch and website updates, um, that are going on, um, and then also the, the kind of the three, four, five um, initiatives that are, let me see if I can, like, describe them very vaguely. One of them is an initiative that involves one of the bigger gals on Solana and investing. One of them involves potentially um, new NFTs in certain ways. One of them involves um, uh, fun stuff for Champions to do. Um, one of them involves ecosystem-wide virality, I guess, and interaction. Um, but, uh, yeah, they’re all kind of uh, being worked on in progress and like, um, yeah, just going, going through the Dow stuff, being a team, having fun. That’s our, that’s kind of our roadmap, um, have fun. I should bring up our mission statement because that we more so have a mission statement than we do a roadmap at this point. It’s kind of, um, um, oh yeah, we kind of um, yeah, not no real roadmap, I guess.
Hannah: The answer for um, in the next years, um, yeah, uh, fortunately, that was uh, the last question that we have for today’s talk. Um, I think that it is finally the time for us to have the Q&A session. Um, so for those who are interested to ask um, to our speaker, uh, you can request on our Twitterspace. Okay, I think this is a Badguy. Hello?
Teddy: Hey, what’s up? This is Teddy Ruxpin. Uh, a long time uh, famous Fox and was lucky enough to become a champion. I just want to say something: this group is something special, you know? It’s kind of what people call a Grail NFT in some ways, for some of us, you know? But I really, really love everything that Champions is about. It’s about art, it’s about a very tight-knit community, and there’s something special here. There’s something different about the Champions, you know? There’s a community that we can talk to each other, not about “Oh, what am I going to flip? What am I going to flip?” but about who are the new artists that I want to see, what are the collections that I want to be a part of. And I really, really am so lucky to be a part of this group. And I think the Champions is the alpha of what NFT groups should try and be, you know? I’m not saying that other projects aren’t good or anything, but there’s no hype here. This is about community and art, and that’s the real ground root of NFTs when it comes down to it. So, I’m very proud to be a champion, and you know, I can, I like famous foxes and the Champions, and uh, those two groups are superior to many others, in my opinion. But the thing that separates the Champions is that the group is so small that the way that they originally gave whitelists, the people that had such a small group, so you could get something that other people, you know, didn’t have the option to get. But I’m just proud to be a champion and I love this group.
Minne: So, thanks Teddy. Great to hear from you. That’s right.
Hannah: That was a very great addition. I want to respond to that first.
Minne: Yeah, sure. Yeah, I just… I was saying, “Thanks, Teddy. That’s great. I really appreciate you, uh, joining and, you know, bringing that perspective, I think.” And I think you’re right. I mean, can you hear me? Hello.
Teddy: Hello, yeah, I’m here. I can hear you.
Minne: okay um yeah so um I mean I think you’re right so yeah like the Champions are uh and one of the reasons so I I after I had been around the ecosystem for a while
Hannah: Oh yeah, sorry. That was, um, that was my connection.
Minne: Okay, no worries. Um, yeah, so just um, just finding home in Champions just felt, felt, uh, just felt so much nicer than, you know, chasing whitelists and chasing hype, and a lot of, you know, toxicity and different other groups. Um, or there can be not always a lot of groups that are great. Um, but you know, when money’s on the line, sometimes things get heated or, you know, people get um, angry. And I think Champions does really well at being a nice, friendly, friendly place. Um, yeah, and it’s in this small, the small, the small number really helps. Everybody knows everybody in there and yeah, it’s an easy, easy place to have a have a voice.
Teddy: Um, yeah, you know, in my opinion, there’s something that we forget about, which is the community. You know, everybody is all about hype. It’s all about hype, hype, hype, you know? And the Champions aren’t about hype. They really recognize so many artists and places like the treehouse where they allow non-champion holders to come and interact with Champions. This is also so special, you know? People come here and strive to get a champion so they can be a part of this community because it is so special, you know? It’s so fun when you go in there and you see people promoting artists rather than hype. It’s so unusual in the space nowadays. Everybody wants to flip things and make quick money. Champions aren’t about that. They’re about art, and that’s quality, and that’s why I’m a part of the Champions.
Minne: Let’s go, love it.
Hannah: Alright, um, thank you so much, bad guy, for, um, your statements. That was great. Um, alright, is there any questions left from our listeners? Um, maybe if there are no questions left, uh, maybe Minne can you share with us um, last words for our listeners about the champions.
Minne: Sure, yeah, um, I’d say, um, yeah, what did I, what was I gonna say? I mean, I said a lot, uh, so one thing I didn’t touch on would be, um, that I think like needs to have the word get out there a little bit more is our commission month that we just did in January and is ongoing. Um, it’s kind of an innovative thing that the Champions does with our art where we have opened up the collection. We opened up the Canon of Art that’s attached to each NFT so that each holder can actually commission new versions or derivatives of their champion and have them added to the metadata. So that the art, so their Champion can kind of become a gallery of different versions of their Champion instead of, um, instead of just the one static version. And each Champion has a static version and has an animated version. And if you browse through the listings on Magic Eden, you can actually click on different Champions and scroll through the different versions of art that have been given to the champion. Um, one of the best, um, examples of this is the board Champion who’s on the floor or one of the closer to the floor of the Champions listed right now. You can go through it has seven different pieces of art that have been done, um, to represent that champion all by different artists. Um, so pretty special thing that we’ve done. It’s kind of like art upgrades that other people do at separates. Art upgrades that you, the holder, are actually doing with the Champions together, um, to kind of enrich your champion, um.
Teddy: I’m talking probably quite a bit here, but I would say that there’s something special about the Champions, you know? Like, I always wanted to have a champion. I couldn’t get in at the mint; it was so exclusive. And now, I am a champion, and I look at the community around me, and it’s filled with artists, which is so unique. I mean, how many other communities are just filled with almost half or three-fourths artists that are superior on this, that are so good? You know, I’m super stoked to be a part of this community, and I think people would be foolish to not want to join this if they’re about art. If you’re about art and NFTs in Solana, the Champions is the best place to be.
Hannah: All right, um, thank you so much, Bad Guy, for the additional, um, last words for about the Champions. Um, as we can, uh, I think that this is our end, uh, of today’s talk. As we can conclude from our discussion, um, it is very great to have the Champions with us for today. Um, we are sending our gratitudes to Minne as the lead of the Champions for being here. As our speaker, I would also like to express our appreciation or listeners for tuning in and also, um, lastly, last but not least, um, you can, you can, you can all stay connected with us with TokenMinds through our official website and also our social media channels. Um, through, uh, Instagram, YouTube, and others, um, yeah, I think, uh, this is the end of, um, today’s session. Um, thank you so much, Minne, and also thank you so much, everyone, for tuning in here. Um, bye-bye.
Minne: Have a good day. Thank you so much. Really appreciate being on. Goodbye.