I'm getting the links out. That's rock and roll. We got Eli Melon empty barking. It's always crazy.
All right, all right, all right, what's going on? How are you going? Well, man, how are you? I missed you. Oh, I missed you.
What a crazy what a crazy week. Yeah Crazy crazy week. Yeah, I want to launch one to Arizona had a wedding. Well, oh my god. I'm excited to hear all about it. Let me just send out these links
We live and Bons you in the building. Let's go put on your game face. Let's rock and roll send out the last of these links here and we'll dive into it. I'm excited to hear your your world tour and what you've been up to man.
It's been, it's definitely been an interesting week in Web 3. I think there are a couple main things I want to chat about. We've been amazing guests today. Yeah, first of all, yes, so you were in Arizona. What's going on? You're like, oh, okay. So look, I went from the launch. Okay, as you know, I go to
space from time to time. When it went to the launch and then it was pretty historic, really awesome, went really great, completely on schedule and then went from there, basically to Arizona, my girlfriend's graduation, she just graduated med school,
out to her. So when there we did the whole Arizona thing, went to the Antelope, not the Grand Canyon, but we did basically everything else, like hikes and stuff like that. Very cool. And then I had celebrated the graduation, came back, my best friend's wedding, just had the wedding yesterday.
awesome time, really busy. And now we're launching tomorrow launching a collection with an R-Blox artist, which is really exciting. Maddie Bremer, she's an astronomer, she loves space, so we're launching a collection with her in R-Blox Engine. So it's a
crazy week we can have hopefully it slows down that some more yeah man you're running around doing crazy things I don't answer little candy it looks pretty insane great IG spot oh it's great IG spot yeah great IG spot respect should tokenize it um
And it's good man to congrats to your GF, to your partner graduate in med school. At least somebody around you is smart. Yeah, somewhat smart. I guess. That's awesome man. I'm definitely excited to jump in today and chat with you.
I think I've been blown away by Opepe and the Opepe is just the price action there from .28 to almost an eith and the mechanics involved with that have been insane. We'll get into a little bit of BRC ordinal talk as things and volume begins to take up over there.
Maybe we'll chat a little bit about the other side announcement that just happened. We can pull that up. They'll be talking about the other PFPs that are third party PFPs that will help you fight in battle. So excited to see if that means Meebits, World of Women, Cool Cats, all of them that we're seeing in that other side trailer.
I'm excited to see if that's something we need to keep a look at for. But yeah, totally a big show to get going here. Welcome to Alpha Afternoons. It's 4 to 5 PM every Tuesday and Thursday. Dad, what's going on? We got Magilla in the building. We got a bunch of you here.
I'm sure I'm butchering that but what she comes up she let me know to say it in salam salamander what's going on shoot us a like in the bottom right if you can let's get the word out a little bit on this space and we'll continue to announce it to you so yeah let's start out man and we'll bring bring the guest up in a
and 10 minutes to chat a little bit. But what's been on your mind? What are some things that are you formed opinions on? What do you buy? What do you sell? And if not, what are you endorsing? What are you rejecting? What's going on? All right. So I need to do some more research into the
Bitcoin movement that I know you've been really pumped about. I do think it has legs. I think initially I was really skeptical. It seems like there's been a lot of interest around it people. It feels like the Bitcoin Maxis are coming around a little bit or it's like NFT people that
are trying to find, like, gems in the rough places to get that return that they were looking at in 21-22. But people seem to be pretty bullish on Bitcoin and FTs, which I really did not think would happen in Orbitals. I thought it was a fad.
thought it was a meta that would disappear. And I feel like I've been proven wrong, I think time would tell. But it is pretty cool to see the fact that a community is not necessarily around a specific NFT. It doesn't feel like a specific community has emerged.
like the winner as like the board age and the theorem but it feels like just the ordinal concept as a whole is taking off. What do you think? I know you've been really into this community is that analysis correct? What do you think? Yeah, I mean, definitely there are seedlings of what could be a
really powerful part of the Web3Eco systems within Bitcoin. I think the biggest value proposition for Bitcoin, ordnol's BRCs, or whatever built upon Bitcoin, is not necessarily what the network allows the tech to be, more so, like the latent value that lives within Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is the most recognized brand of crypto in the world, beyond Ethereum. We're talking about a use case where people who are hold Bitcoin can use it and spend it. I think the BRCs, they're a little different than ERCs. ERCs are the tokens that you have when you play to earn or like
A for any kind of token that's launched on ETH. That's like a fungible token that you buy and sell on like a DEX. For ordinals it's slightly different but there's some launches man that are getting some hype. And there's nothing more than just like meme coins right now like there's one I think OX, something T,
That launched over the weekend people minted it and it was kind of like an old school that got like mint like the site crash and everyone was trying to get in Really interesting what's going on over there if you're new to the ordinal's ecosystem and I know many years just starting to dive in a little bit It's it's kind of it's like
It's waiting for a bonafide team to go in and innovate and create and shape its personality and where it fits from an NFT collection standpoint. I think it's going through the early days of an ornament that is successful,
They're like, hey, we launched like for instance, D. God's they launched a successful ordinal's collection and then there's you know the UGA 12 fold but like there hasn't been a native Bitcoin brand to rise to the Kremlin yet and I think that's just because like the threshold of influence is still pretty
the number of users who are using ordinals is such that it doesn't have those. It hasn't reached like a critical mass wear. You get virality. Yet, like you have, there's two main ones. There's the taproot wizards, which the taproot protocol
is essentially the protocol that allowed for ordinals in the first place. And you have the ordinal pucks, which are still popping. But I mean again, where does the D-gods like so on using Salana as the power
Power low for us like where does that collection come at and we'll see I don't even know if I'm really into that like I don't know if I want the same type of I'd like to see a new project like proliferate on right right I want yeah, that's what that's what I want I want an OG regional project for ordinals
And you mentioned a couple I think it's cool that punks are doing well on it I just think like I want something to be the standard for Ordinals from a pfp perspective but also from like a generative art perspective right like our blocks is typically on on a theory
So like I want something done on on ordinals for like gendered of art as well as PFPs not necessarily just copycats. That's all. Yeah, no 100%. Yeah, there's interesting things you could do because for instance, like I mentioned or we've talked a little bit about it, but essentially every
Bitcoin is made up of a thousand Satoshi's and those Satoshi's are what are inscribed on. And that inscription on the Satoshi is what's called an ordinal. And it sounds obscene, but essentially once it's inscribed on kind of the Bitcoin network,
It's not like metadata you can update. It's not on chain or off chain hosted on IPFS. It is on chain. It is part of the history of Bitcoin. That's part of the reason why you see inscriptions below a thousand going for a lot of money in
descriptions below even, you know, I think at this point, 10,000 are going for a good amount of money because that's why they're called ordnals because they're counting numbers up from the first. So the in ordinal is a satoshi with an inscription on it.
And that inscription is forever. So a lot of the value props that have been given to, you know, luxury brands, and I've seen people pitch luxury brands on BTC at Ordnals, is that it is the Providence is truer and the
The brand identity of Bitcoin is almost more parallel to their tradition, luxury, and I guess provenance than it is on Ethereum. Which is interesting because you don't think about that, right?
I think it's an interesting back and forth you could if you were pitching Hermes on Bitcoin versus Ethereum if they're launching tomorrow. Which one would they go with? And I think ultimately if you're looking for revenue driver, that's a key part of your business.
Because the infrastructure is there to build an interactive experience. But if you're just going to release your new product and you want it to be almost like an artifact or a piece of art that is something you're trying to do a one-off on, then almost Bitcoin might be a little bit better of a bet.
Yeah, I can see that. I think it really depends on the use case. If you're doing anything in gaming, if you're doing anything that needs live updates, you're doing anything that, you know, users can kind of evolve with. Obviously you're going to pick a theorem like you said, right? If you need things to be finite,
I do think the Bitcoin utility case is probably much stronger in that case because as we know on Ethereum, all the things that we thought couldn't necessarily be trained in metadata, it couldn't be changed in NFTs. You find out that right to
can be changed, metadata can be changed, a lot of things can be changed on the Ethereum blockchain. If what you're saying is correct, then that's probably not the same for Bitcoin. You know, especially for luxury goods, that might be a really cool kind of like use case. Yeah, dude. And just be clear, like the stuff on
on a theory, but I can't be changed. It's not that like the blockchain can be amenable. It's more such that like the things you think around chain are actually not. For instance, like the, sometimes like a lot of the pictures of the NFC's you hold, the JPEGs themselves are actually
is where as you just discuss an ordinal you can't really so interesting stuff there every time I talk about it I get a little more into it but it's a little fucked up because like if you buy something for point two it's like point two Bitcoin and it's a good Lord right that's a lot it then point to a theory
So it kind of messes it a little bit. It also kind of reminds me of what we were doing with like when we first got into NFTs in like 21 you really didn't feel like that amount of money you were spending. So imagine not not spending just points of each but spending points of Bitcoin and not feeling
it is really dangerous. You know what I mean? Just like a logical. Yeah. It's high risk man. I mean this is this is different too because you're betting on like the proliferation of an ecosystem during a time where speculation is at an all time low. In May of 2023 we had the lowest numbers of unique fires buying in it.
that we did in January 2021. This is kind of an interesting time to be making bets because the outsized returns are there, but we could be looking at a timeline that really you can see
and specific, right? It's experimental stuff. You're not, at least for me, I'm not making the type of bets I was making during the advent of this technology. And that's for a lot of reasons, right? Right. So it's definitely interesting.
Yeah, I just think, I think also like just the macro environment in general, it is really tough to make bets like we were making, right? Like not everything is going up. And so like, especially things you don't understand, I'm really not participating in
things I don't understand. This is kind of different than mean coins for instance. Like mean coins, I understood it from the sense of, hey, I'm going to get in at a really low number, I'm going to 2x or 3x. There's a good chance that happens in an hour or two.
Basically it's man on the planet. It's probably the president calling. Sorry. I got a bunch of calls coming. Sorry. Yeah. No worries. I'm saying. No, I was just saying like it's hard to participate in things you don't understand as compared to what we were doing in 21. What do you want to understand?
Exactly, because I'm actually curious like, is it really that like because the returns are so low, it's not worth your time to try to understand and you'd rather just be like, I'm gonna sit out until I can feel like this is gonna go up. It's not like it's kind of like what are what's kind of your level of like I don't understand
Is it ordinals or is it like what you guys doing? Oh, no, no, no, no, it's no I'm saying from from an ordinal's perspective. Why don't got why I don't jump into new ecosystem? That's what I'm saying like from like a meme coin thing like yeah, and meme coins were popping and like we should get into Ben. It's like I don't need
to know what then is. I really just need to watch it for two hours. I need to get into a low number and I need to get out of the high number. That's all. Right. I understand that concept. I don't really need much else. But to learn kind of like a new ecosystem, I think it's a little different. No, it's totally yes, but I think one is
gambling the other is kind of gambling and convincing people that you're not. What is gambling and the other one is pretending like Bitcoin ordinals isn't gambling. But regardless I think we've covered a lot
We'll dive into more and more of the orders because I actually do think there are, I say that in jest, I think there could be something there. It just lacks talent, organization, and honestly, liquid because the markets are so starved, but the numbers are good. We are bringing up an awesome, awesome person here.
excited to get to welcome to Alpha afternoons, uh, Dala or Dala just let me know how you say it. It's Dala, but you know what? That's that's amazing that you got it on the second try because usually it takes people like half a dozen times and then they still screw it up. So you did good. Um, hey GM guys, how are you doing? I appreciate that.
I'm the first GM GM GM so I feel really good about it. We're already off to an excellent start. So yeah, I'm a super excited. I'm Mina. I mean I'm Roman. This is me. That's that's come. Welcome to Alp after.
two for two in the names already. Yeah, exactly. Two for two. That's all. But welcome. I would love for you to learn a little bit about you and who you are. And we've kind of take this conversation in a couple of different ways. But yeah, just start out introducing yourself and welcome to the program.
Okay, I'm Dila. I don't know. I'm Dila. I've been in space for two years in September and I'm a community builder in the space. I have a really huge passion for connecting people together and I'm a strong
believe that Web 3 should be a tool to enhance our Web 2 life experience and not something that takes away from it. So what I do is often I'll align myself with different projects, especially their communities. And these are these are projects that I will personally invest in, not just kind of like
like, you know, look for whatever's popular at the moment, but really get involved and really get to know people and really understand the space from that perspective. And what that gives me the advantage of doing is it's, I know what people need out of their projects. So in
connecting with other projects, I'll be like, okay, well, the best way to connect with the holder base you're looking for is, you know, do XYZ. But most importantly, my focus is doing that in an authentic way. I'm somebody who cannot BS to save my life. I really can't
I wear my emotions all over my tone and my face so it's not good. And I think that if Web 3 is supposed to enhance Web 2 that we really have to have real authentic relationships. We're here. We're investing. We're spending a lot of money. We might as well make meaningful relationships and
grow as people. You know, you can have a return on your time investment more than just financially. So right now I'm doing business development for Orbeez, which is a, was it a project that is community based and inspired by the culture of EDM music and
I don't know if any of you are EDM fans anybody you guys I have my desk I used to go to cello I would I would dance around in the desert sun and I would and then I would take it too far and I wouldn't I wouldn't be able to do music I do like I love
I love EDM. I think a part of me wishes I so listen to it more. I moved to the East Coast. I feel like it was bigger on the West Coast when I lived out there. But yeah, totally such an amazing scene of genuine people. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, more of a hip-hop fan, but I do, you know, I appreciate you.
I could say. Yeah, well, you know, like even with hip hop, if you've ever been to like a music experience, especially with close friends, it is just, it is a different kind of this role experience. That connection you feel with their friends when everybody's kind of moving to the same beat and rhythm and it's just pure good energy.
You know, there's nothing there's no drama that's different from say like a nightclub or a party or something So we want to bring that and kind of We want to bring that into the web3 environment DGENs and NFT communities have that same kind of fervor for each other
that loyalty, that kind of, this is our team kind of feeling and to be able to connect those two under the similar theme of entertainment and an immersive experience is something that's going to be really special for the space. There are a lot of other different features that are going to be
coming up with Orbeez that I really don't want to talk about right now because they are really cool and I don't want anybody taking these awesome ideas. But it really is something that's being done differently in the space than what I've seen other projects done and it's doing it with a lot of heart and sincerity and love for
I'm also very happy to be able to help you. I'm very happy to be able to help you. I'm very happy to be able to help you. I'm very happy to be able to help you. I'm very happy to be able to help you. I'm very happy to be able to help you. I'm very happy to be able to help you. I'm very happy to be able to help you. I'm very happy to be able#
I love that and it really feels like what you're describing reminds me a lot of how I felt in 21 when I first got into space especially like the summer of 21 the fall of 21 yeah you were a lot nicer than you were like the half year dude we had all of me yeah you were like yeah you were so full of hope then
Yeah, I was in jaded at all. This Tom has to make me millions. Yeah, exactly. And as I've gotten to know Roman more and more, I just feel hopeless. About one three in the space. You know, I keep hearing that from other
It's the sound track of Web through right now is kind of like the BPM is a little bit low I feel like but it's amazing that you're tapping into that And I think it's using music as an incredible way. Did I jump in me? Did you have a question? No, I did instead of just insulting you
I didn't want to know like what do you think gets us kind of back to that? I love the fact that you're utilizing music. You're into a lot of different projects as an album will get more into that. But what do you think kind of gets us back into that spirit where there's
maybe less fun, more, you know, useful, you know, things that are going on, meme coins are not just dominating everything, but like, there's like fruitful like projects coming out of space. What do you think? Well, you know what? Like, as most people know, I'm in OG Sappy Seal. I've been a seal holder since September of 21.
And I remember joining the project when it was just, you know, a couple dozen people in a discord and talking. And I remember my experience and that was the first time I really connected with an NFT group. And there was an excitement of learning from each other. That's something that we're really kind of
of missing anymore is that it's either this pissing contest of, you know, pretending one person is more of an expert than another and sometimes just kind of this weird, I don't know, social gatekeeping and that really, that really has kind of soured the
environment of of Web 3. And if we go back as individuals and really start looking inward and say, what is something that made me passionate? Why do I want to be here? Because ultimately, it's it's not just money. Because if that were the case, nobody'd be here because all of our bags are down, right? All our bags are down. 100%
But we are looking for something that we couldn't find in Web 2. We are looking for some kind of, some kind of personal interchange with people that differs from what we could get otherwise. So I think it begins with us as individuals and coming to it with a more humble state of mind and saying, all right, this is, this is something that is, again, still new.
And I said it earlier in space today, there is no such thing as an a web 3 expert. Everything is too new for anybody to call themselves an expert. So bring it back to the idea of we are teaching each other and we are learning and growing with each other in this space instead of kind of
assigning one influencer and giving him a ton of clout or her ton of clout and saying, "Oh, well, they're kind of be standard." And then sending them tons of teeth for no reason. Coming at it says, "Okay, this is somebody who is another person who's doing the exact same thing. I think I am."
finding their way in this new digital life and maybe taking that kind of stuff, taking these kind of figures a little less, putting them, how do I want to say it without silent lecture? Not keeping them on such a pedestal. We have a bad habit of putting figures on a pedestal. Every cult needs a god.
right? So backing off of that like okay these guys are up here and we're down here and just kind of bringing it down to like a mental place of we are everybody's new and everybody's learning and there there is no such thing as somebody who who has it all together and
perfect yet is a mindset that's going to really help us out. We had that a little bit during the bear. You know, now that things are picking up, it's kind of going by the wayside again and that's just kind of the, you have to raise high on on copium, I guess. But when all these bad actors were gone,
and it was quiet in the space, all you had were these people that were real friends and just talking, you know, within each other and kind of joking about their bags being down. You're not as depressed about, you know, losing tens of thousands of dollars when you have friends to hang in there with you. So, maintaining those connections and making them a priority, no matter what,
is really the only way we can save the social aspect of this space to make it not only decentralized finance, but just kind of a culture of people that interact differently than they do in the web2 world. Web3 for me is more about a culture
and the people, then the money. I love that. I think it's definitely important during the bear market to understand that this space has matured, there's a place for more than just speculation up and down. People are building things that matter. They're both
in connections, they're building content creator careers, they're creating communities around common interests and it sounds like that's something you're really plugged into. As someone who's a little bit more cynical when it comes to communities and kind of the cult, like I'm not to deal
I've been reticent to jump in because I think it was my experience in meme stocks during GME and AMC that understood how these digital communities kind of rally and how leaders come up.
It begins difficult to separate your investment thesis from almost like the ego of the group. It's this ego adoption. It's not just yours. It's like this online persona, but I did want to get into a little bit more of your sappy sales days. So you joined and were you you you inspired by the
the connections you made there and you began managing other communities or and doing biz dev from there like I'm really interested in like what brought you to the space in the first place. Okay, so actually I got my start in crypto with Bitcoin. So my web to life, my web to career was very, very different. My background is in
and politics actually. So I actually, I co-founded this transitional housing program for homeless parolees in the state that I lived. I specialized in violent and sex offenders to keep the amount of general population shelters. We built a database that was more accurate than the Megan's Law registry in the country.
figured out a way to house people responsibly so they become self-sufficient and not reliant on the system. They had somewhere safe to stay. They were treated with a modicum of respect and said, "Okay, now you have a starting point again. Get at it." So I started that about 13 years ago. The company's still in operation.
of 19 locations. And it was a very disenchanting line of work and community being. As you could imagine between the people we housed and the politics and the politics of it, it was really soul draining. And for the most part, it made me very
about people altogether. Then COVID happened and everything got a chance to be quiet for a second and that's something I had never experienced in my life is just like, okay, sit and do what now because I'm a very go go go person. And I had a chance to sit down and I read this article and it said something else
bit about Bitcoin and I'm like that's really interesting I should look into that and so I took about like you know two weeks really reflecting on it it was about seven grand at that point and it was going up a grand every week and then I was like you know I should buy one of these bitcoins I can and I went to transfer the money and
I wired it and I didn't see the transaction go through so I did it again so I accidentally bought two two out of nine K and it was the best mistake I've ever made in my life so I spent the next the next I guess six-ish month trading you know back
and forth learning about different tokens and blockchain technology and ended up selling at about 60. And then I was like, now what? I've been stating in front of my computer for hours a day, reading charts. It's really profitable. I'm doing really good at it, but I'm not necessarily happier. There's nobody to
really talk about this with. And that's when I started exploring NFTs because it was more art based and there were communities being that were growing up around this art. At that time, like everything was the standard of community was board apes, it was crypto punks and
friends. That was pretty much what I knew of NFTs when I joined this space. I started a Twitter account and I think I just put out a question as like, "I'm here to learn about NFTs and can somebody tell me about it?" And a CL responded. And I joined a Discord.
I never had discord before. I got into discord and started talking to these people. They were kids. They're 18, 19 year old kids and they're telling me about this project they started and they come from all different backgrounds and for the most part not like the best circumstances
Stances in life, but a ton of ambition and I was so inspired. I was so inspired by how passionate they were about talking about what they were doing and being able to share that with somebody new. Like the energy that they had in just trying to teach me about it was something that inspired me.
And that was kind of the basis of the community as it started. You know, I kind of put my two cents in and I said the most important thing to do with anybody is treat all kind everybody with respect everybody has a story. But there is no such thing as one person the community that should, you know, be kind of over the other.
I don't care how many pieces they hold. I don't care what they do. A community is just that. A community and people are equals. And Seale's really took that to heart. And it became a community where everybody felt important, relevant, respected. And as you can see, even now, with the meme machine
and stuff. It's all about elevating the community members and letting them be as much of the star of the show as they want to and supporting them as much as they support the project. So I don't know, I don't even know Twitter without being like in the NFTs. I don't even know what normie Twitter looks like.
like I don't think I'd ever want to go there because every time there's like random stuff that pops up I'm like no I'm going back to web 3 but but it really shifted my perspective and honestly gave me gave me a lot of hope for people that I had lost. I'd gotten very very cynical and I've always
been a very business-minded person, so to be able to connect with people over just these digital artifacts, just digital items. You don't necessarily have to have a community to do it, but they gave themselves an excuse to connect over this and find other things in common and start really enjoying each other's company.
That was really, really inspiring to me. And it was all ages, it was all genders. At that time, most people were not dogged. So you didn't necessarily know if somebody was a man, woman, black, white, rich, poor, whatever, they were just a personality. And there's a lot of power in allowing somebody to just
just be able to connect bait and so their personality without all the pretense and that part of Web 3 is something I really really miss. Well, I don't I've always been docks that I didn't know any better. I really miss when it was valued people's privacy was valued because there were like I just want to get
to know you as the person and not judge you by how you look or how you act or the stuff you have. That was a really, really special time in Web 3. And I feel really fortunate that I got to join at that time. And it's done nothing but fuel me in the space and show me what is really, really important.
financial ran the gamut. I've had everything but having everything doesn't necessarily fulfill you at all. But hanging out with a bunch of teenagers and learning about blockchain more and NFTs and just being excited for them to achieve and see
seeing their dreams come true after they're putting in the hard work and putting hours is something that's always going to influence me and make me want to replicate that feeling for other people, just that feeling of hope for the future and that everything's possible as long as we're sticking together and doing it.
Awesome. I freaking love that. I think that is the ethos and essence of just Web 3 and what we should be. It's not necessarily who we always are, but it's definitely what we should be. I think it's the way we started, like you said, and I think it's transformed a little bit. Hopefully we get back there.
And the interesting part of what you said is like the doxing part of everything I feel like did change some of the It made us less You know, what is it like we're less innocent right like wait I love the fact when we when it was when doxing wasn't a practice
This is where it was like really about what you're producing, what you're putting out there as opposed to who you are. And I think obviously as industry's change, things change, but I hope we get back to what you're personally talking about. I do have a question and I think this is something that we've personally been following, but we're talking a lot about
Kind of like this hero complex we have in web 3 a little bit where we kind of idolize founders This is not unique from like web 2 where you know people idolize big big tech giants and stuff like that and the founders behind that Steve Jobs Musk and all these other people we have our own type of Kind of like venerate
of people and founders, right? Like, if you look at Gary with V friends, you look at Pudgy Penguins. You know, people like that, like, people are excited about not only just the collection, but the founders. It's very interesting how Pudgy has kind of come back.
back and it's kind of come back being founder driven founder led. What do you think about like that concept? What do you think about like the new the new toys that came out and and what do you think how do you compare it to like Gary and what he did with you friends. But one I think I think a little
out of the park with the launch of the fly-ups. Sorry, sorry, I just dropped it. No, no worries. He juggled 20 co-hosts. He has his phone. He has a lot of things. Show with us too.
If you can inject also is there beef between the seals and the penguins? Is there any beef? Because in my head,
And because I've seen people arfen around for a while and the pudgies they've come that gone I'm curious but but answer me this question But if you can cover on that that that'd be awesome - Yeah, well Which one do you want me to start with? I know I kind of I can't eat for last right? Yeah, yeah
for last. Yeah, that was for one. I think Luca has done an incredible job with the launch of the physical items for Pudgy Penguins. I think that Luca is somebody who's always valued just continuing learning about the space. He really embodies everything I said, you know, coming to it with kind of
humility of like, I am as good as as my team supports me and he wants to support them. He values different creators in the space and we could see like just by the the team he's recruited around him. They're super valuable, positive people in the space.
and that says a lot for the kind of environment he's trying to create for Pudgy Penguins. So, you know, being around for as long as I am, I've seen the entire story arc of Pudgy Penguins. From when it started to when all of a sudden it was gone to rods in the eggs to, you know,
So Luca becoming a savior and now, you know, like, where we're at today. And I really think that the Pudgy Penguin community really does deserve this moment because they've still been passionate at every point of the project, even when things seemed their worst.
still like, but we're Pudgy Penguins. Pudgy Penguins is more than just the project. Pudgy Penguins is this group of people who care about each other and want to see each other succeed. And ultimately, I think that's what's led to the success that Pudgy Penguins has now is that that feeling and the community of like as long
Again, as long as we're doing it together, we can succeed, we can grow even if they never set out to have like a, you know, 10-Eat floor price or anything, but they really were focused on each other and connecting with each other and elevating with each other in the space. So one thing that I think Luca
I feel that the entire energy around the Pudgy Penguins' items feels geared towards children. If you saw the commercial, it looked like Andy's room from Toy Story.
There's a big emphasis on enjoying these toys and playing with these toys. I have a seven year old son and he lost his mind when he got his Pudgy Penguins. Lost his mind. I was dumbfounded by how excited he was over these toys because they really
the Q and the energy around the project has always kind of stayed in that snugly warehouse. You know, you have people like Joey Moose who is just pure like, hugable energy. And that's kind of the mindset that people have stayed
the project with and so when they saw an item come out, that's the feeling they automatically got. With V friends, it always felt like, okay, this is just another spoke in the wheel. Not that that's bad, but it was just like, okay, there's an umbrella of Gary Vee and there's different items that come down from it
and it's just different, you know, revenue streams and opportunities. So it didn't have that specific bite to it where you were kind of drawn to the connection surrounding it. And I think the accessibility makes a big difference too. The V friends toys were available in Macy's in the US.