Last March 28-31, 2022, Jeff Kelley, Josh Kriger, and Eathan Janney, along with the rockstar team members they assembled, pulled off a stellar inaugural NFT LA event. With the creme de la creme of Web3 and the vibrant entertainment scene of Los Angeles, it was a week to remember! If you missed all the fun and exciting information, don’t worry because we have a series that will have you covered! Shira Lazar hosts a handful of impromptu convention hall interviews that feature great minds from the event. In this session, Shira sat down with Dirk Lueth of Uplandme, Inc., CJ Hetherington of Atlantis World, Nancy Beaton of MetaJuice, and Ricci Rukavina of Kung Fu Factory. Together, they tackle the possibilities the Metaverse holds to real estate, gaming, collections, and even Hollywood! Don’t miss out on what they have to say! Tune in!
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Listen to the podcast here
NFT LA Collection – Metaverse And Gaming 1: Shira Lazar Hosts Dirk Lueth (Uplandme, Inc.), CJ Hetherington (Atlantis World), Nancy Beaton (MetaJuice) & Ricci Rukavina (Kung Fu Factory)
We did it along with my incredible co-host, Jeff and Josh, as well as with the huge crew of rock star team members we assembled. We have pulled off a stellar inaugural NFT LA event featuring the crème de la crème of Web3 and leveraging the vibrant entertainment scene of Los Angeles. This episode is one of a series featuring content from the NFT LA event, which happened from March 28th to the 31st of 2022. This session is one of a handful featuring impromptu convention hall interviews that a good friend, Shira Lazar, put together. We have organized them into tracks, similar to the content tracks we organized for NFT LA talks and panels. The track is Metaverse and Gaming Part 1 of 2.
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It is Shira Lazar at NFT LA with CJ from Atlantis World. How is it going?
It is going great so far. Thanks for having me.
Thanks for being here. Tell us more about Atlantis World.
We are building the Web3 social metaverse by connecting Web3 with social, gaming, and education in one virtual world that is accessible to everybody. Imagine you have a mobile-ready pixel metaverse, where you can run into DeFi bank and access a higher interest savings account than any of the actual leading banks on the planet. You can trade NFTs like BadApes or you can buy in DAOs. You can use a variety of different DAO tools and also have social features like voice chat and talking, getting, and bringing all of that together on under one umbrella.
I do feel like mobile metaverse is where it is at to make it as accessible as possible.
The accessibility is a call folk of Atlantis World. We identify those metaverses because they have this 3D and immersive focus. What they do is set a high-cost barrier to entry and rule out the majority of the planet from taking part by building something, which is light web first mobile-ready, can be played, and immersed in from any device from anywhere in the world.
Are you doing any exciting partnerships?
We have a lot of partnerships. We will be on nine different blockchains coming up to our public alpha launch. We have lots of DeFi apps that received grants from Yearn, Balancer, 1inch, Perpetual, and a bunch of others. Also, one hackathon prize from AVE. We have a strong ecosystem of NFT communities of DAOs and DeFi apps. Our ecosystems are going fast.
Where do you see the trend going in the metaverse when it comes to that? I know you are building but where do you see the space going?
To take a step back from the space overall, I would say that what we are trying to do is onboard users into Web3 by creating this almost gamified quest. Imagine you will run into a DeFi bank, interact with a non-player character, have a conversation in-game, and learn about how to use different crypto applications. Each one is a quest. You can either earn an NFT badge, I’m proficient in using AVE or you could earn a token and incentive in the future.
Users can be paid for running around our virtual world, using different crypto applications, and being onboarded into the Web3 ecosystem, whether that is wallet creation or simply connecting to a new blockchain for the first time in your MetaMask wallet. We rebuilt channels inside of the game. With 1 or 2 clicks, you can easily connect to new blockchains. That is your quest boom done, and you will run outside. For example, use a DeFi application, a DEX, or an NFT marketplace. Each one is a quest, and you can have a token incentive, an NFT badge or something like that.
What advice would you give someone entering into the space on the consumer side but also possibly on the founder side?
For somebody who is trying to create a startup or some innovation in Web3, I would recommend taking part in hackathons and trying to win some grant funding. We have a solid pathway of hackathon bounties, building relationships with hackathon sponsors, and that leading on to winning grants and being in a good position with an MVP on a small team to raise your first round.
If anybody is building a Web3, please do reach out to me at @CJHTech on Twitter. I would love to help you navigate the Web3 stack. On the consumer side, I can’t wait to share with you the launch of Atlantis World. We have our public alpha in April 2022. You will be able to create your first crypto wallet inside of the game. As we were talking about the questing, start to use different crypto applications and earn different badges, rewards, and incentives for doing that.
When you are at a conference like this, how is it helpful for you? What are you looking to do here? Who are you looking to meet?
It is going to be helpful now. We are going to have a huge focus on activation. Our Alpha build now is closed but we are going to be scouting poll apps around and getting people beta testing our Alpha and giving us some feedback. That is a critical one. Always do the networking and make some awesome connections.
I’m excited to check out Atlantis World and thanks so much for being here.
Thank you so much. That was a good plan.
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I’m at NFT LA with Dirk Lueth from Upland. Thanks for being here. What brings you to NFT LA? What is going on?
This looks like a very large conference. You have to be here because it is a nice city. There are a lot of good people. We do not want to miss out on that one.
We appreciate that. Tell us more about Upland.
Metaverse And Gaming: Users can actually be paid for running around our virtual world and using different crypto applications being onboarded into the web ecosystem.
Upland is what we call the Earth’s metaverse. That means it is based on the real world of blockchain technology. We are one of the largest metaverses. We have over 200,000 landowners. We have roughly 2.5 million registered users. It is quite a lot of people who own property now in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. We live in twenty cities. People go there to play, earn and connect.
I have many questions. One, is real estate cheaper in Upland in LA than here?
I tend to say yes.
I can afford a beautiful house there. Maybe not here in real life.
Maybe near the ocean.
I want a Malibu home. I’m waiting for my crypto money to get more liquid.
Our vision is that people go and create value in Upland and eventually make money, not just by speculating but by adding interesting stuff to it. We have people in Upland already. It was one quota. In the community, someone who managed to earn so much money in Upland was able to pay the down payment of his real-world house for it. That’s very good.
What is he doing? How is he making all that money?
First of all, you can purchase properties that are based on the actual parcels of the property in the real world. You can buy it and maybe you can sell it. You become a realtor selling that. The other thing which you can do is we have what we call Metaventures. People can run and operate shops in Upland and sell NFTs to other players. I will give you one example with little game pieces, which are called Block Explorer. They can go and sell those to other players. We have a partnership with the NFL Player Association where you can run and operate a fan shop. You were selling NFTs from the NFL PA in your own shop in Upland.
I’m in this space but I’m still blown away by this type of stuff. Are you working with cities or governments, or people could take over whatever place they want?
We will launch very carefully versus supply and demand. In theory, we could have launched in the whole world but we want to grow slowly because otherwise if you open up everything, the economy suffers from that.
The Metaverse will always go up and down. Click To Tweet
The other 1% could come in and buy everything.
That is not interesting. For instance, we opened up LA in January 2022. On that day, we had 300 transactions per second because there was so much demand. People are trying to purchase property or virtual land on that day. It is competition. You find something in North LA or South LA. You want to have it as property but there are ten others who want the same property.
Are you going to look towards working with actual officials in those cities, states or countries on the Upland land?
Let’s say we have a digital layer on top of the real world but so far, we have not yet worked with any official government. That could be interesting because if we have some advanced governance where people have embraced the idea of NFTs and crypto. It could be an interesting opportunity.
Is there still land available in some of these places you have opened up?
There is still land available in LA, and we have also opened up Nashville but San Francisco, New York, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Brooklyn are all sold out. We sold roughly 2.5 million NFTs.
You are selling NFTs through there.
Parcels is an NFT.
What is ahead? What is the future hold? What are you going to be doing anything to announce here?
What we are particularly super excited about is that we are going to launch cars in Upland. When you want to go from San Francisco to New York, you have to take a plane. In the plane, you cannot go take your mouse or click from left to right. No, you have to take a plane. It depends on which class you are flying to for 30 minutes.
With cars, we are introducing actual movements. When you are in San Francisco and you want to go to Lake Tahoe, you need a car to go there. Eventually, we also go launch car racing. The idea of car racing is that you can fire up your own race track in San Francisco and race through the streets of San Francisco. In a little bit further in the future, maybe you have a carnival race from San Francisco to New York, which goes over multiple days and people will do live reports around it.
Metaverse And Gaming: People can run and operate shops in Uplandme and sell NFTs to other players.
What is much more interesting is that we are creating a full economy around cars. Players will be able to operate manufacturing plants. They will be able to sell their cars, which are NFTs, to car dealers or showrooms. In showrooms, they will sell it to customers or users who want to own that car. There are a lot of new opportunities eventually for users to earn money in Upland beyond speculation.
How are you trying to differentiate from others out there, whether it be mobile metaverse, the Sandbox, and Decentraland?
We are based on the real world, which is a clear differentiator. That is one thing, and we are the only one that is available on iOS and Android, which gives us an easy way in for non-crypto aficionados. We have 65% of our users who do not own NFTs outside of Upland. We are able to onboard lots of users because it is easy. An email and password to sign in to get into the world of NFTs and get started.
What we are also excited about is soon we are going to introduce what was called The Portal. People will be able to import NFTs into Upland from other blockchains. We have one project on WAX but in the future, it can import NFTs from Solana and Ethereum. Let’s say you want to operate a digital art gallery. You can import digital art from other blockchains and put them into a virtual house. If you have the art gallery, show it and then maybe sell it with no gas fees and so on. It is going to be interesting.
What about the rollout in other cities?
We are rolling out to other cities now in the US. We are focusing a little bit on the NFL cities because we have partnerships with the player association but also, we plan on going international in 2022.
I find metaverses interesting, including this idea of the future of the real estate. I was going to ask, where do you see this space a year from now? Where will we be? What are your predictions?
We will always go up and down. We all know that there is a short dip. We are in March 2022, and I have been in the space for so long. When we founded Upland in 2018, we called it Upland.me. It stands for metaverse and the URL. At that time, no one was talking about the metaverse. Since then, we are seeing all those waves ups and downs. We will go hopefully again up. We will see more normies or average people coming onboard and doing lots of things.
What advice do you have for those getting into this space?
Do your research and do not buy blindly because there is, unfortunately, a lot of fake stuff out there? Be sure that you know who you are buying from. Watch a lot of YouTube videos, understand the market, start arbitrary, and hope you are doing a great deal. Do not think you become rich quickly. It is not happening. It is a slow process.
Thanks again. I appreciate it. Maybe I will buy some lands now in Upland.
People want to go into the virtual world, not just one metaverse. Click To Tweet
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I’m here at NFT LA with Nancy Beaton from MetaJuice. Welcome.
Thank you.
What are you up to here?
We are here because we are blockchain enabling the metaverse. We have our own metaverse, IMVU, with a million daily active users. We are launching tokens and NFTs and we are working on interoperability.
I have been talking to a bunch of different metaverses. I love it because it is here but what makes yours stand out?
We are part of the Together Labs family, which was named one of Times Most Influential 100 Companies. We have a metaverse IMVU. It is established sixteen years old in 2022. We have 200,000 creators and a million daily active users. It is a vibrant user base and economy. Unlike maybe some that are starting out, we have been in this space for a long time, pioneering it, and now we are blockchain enabling the economy for our users so they can earn, own, control those earnings, and eventually be able to take what they control off the platform as well.
Do you feel like, in the past, it was a metaverse but it was more for gamers and now different types of audiences are coming in?
It was a social platform. Unlike a game single purchase economy where you go and shoot them up, buy a sword or whatever it might be, people on our platform come to make friendships. They come to connect, chat, go dancing at nightclubs on Friday, meet up with their friends, get married, and have babies, so it is a very social connected platform.
What we are trying to do for them is we are trying to allow them to buy $8 million to $10 million of virtual goods a month. We want to move those over to NFTs. They can have full control and the ability to resell and enjoy their creativity along that purchase path. With digital currencies, we now have an opportunity for them to earn real money on the platform and convert that to fiat, which is a big proposition for our users.
How have you been transitioning from the Web3 world with the same brand, which I find interesting?
It was important to us to be the ones to bring this to our users. They trust our brand quite a bit. We have been in this space with them and have been part of their community for a long time, so it was important for them to know that it was coming from us. We have some crypto users on our platform but not everybody has a MetaMask wallet where they are ready to connect up to different worlds.
Metaverse And Gaming: The user experience is sorely needed because if we want to bring more people into the space, they have to have a seamless or frictionless experience.
We are using our influencers on the platform to help educate them. We are bringing them tangible benefits. We do not always use words like DAO, crypto, and wallet but we use things like earn cash, convert to money, and be able to have a service. It is translated to them in the language that they want and in the space that they need it.
That is needed to make it more accessible. I find that fascinating. Do you feel like people are getting it and what is needed to onboard or to translate that more?
In our community, it takes the community. We have barely been working with our creators who produce virtual goods. We have a service side economy where people provide services. They host a nightclub. They are a DJ in a nightclub. They are our personal shoppers so that new people on the platform do not look like newbie avatars. These people we have been educating that they can now make money off of what they provide to the community, and the community listens to the other parts of the community. We have been looking at our core group and they have been educating us as well.
Where do you see this a year from now? You have been in this space for years.
I think a couple of things will happen. I believe that the user experiences will get better, and that is something that is sorely needed because if we want to bring more people into the space, they have to have a seamless or frictionless experience. That is going to be key. NFTs will take off, and eventually, we are not calling them NFTs. Maybe they are collectibles. There is something that people can identify with. I saw the DC collection here too. It is a great example of people understanding trading cards, and now there is a hybrid. To me, those are great examples of how we can move this forward with the mass market.
We are big on interoperability. We believe that there will be lots of places people want to go in the virtual world, not just one metaverse. We are working hard to make sure that our users can easily come into our platform or leave our platform with what they own, control, and be able to seamlessly move about as we do in real life now.
What about new people coming in? What advice do you have that are saying, “All this stuff, NFTs, crypto, DeFi, metaverse, it is very overwhelming?”
The rate of information and change in this space is so high. One thing I would tell people is the thing that I did when I first started in this community, “Reach out to people.” This community is open. The foundation of blockchain is having this community of users. Unlike some other industries I have been to in the past, it is open to helping and sharing. When we first started, we were out talking to everyone, pressure testing our strategy, and understanding what the market was like. I would recommend if you have an idea in this space, reach out. People will talk to you. It is an open and friendly space, so take advantage of that.
Don’t just talk to people in the metaverse. You could also connect on other social networks.
Hit them up, ask them questions, give them your pitch, and see what they think. If people dive in and start connecting with people, they will find that they are welcome.
What is coming up for you all, anything new you are going to be announcing?
Do your research. Don't buy blindly. Click To Tweet
We at MetaJuice were the blockchain arm of together Labs. We have one token in the market. It is VCOIN. It was the first-ever no-action-letter-approved token to be launched in a metaverse. We have another token, vCore. It will be more of a traditional crypto token coming out in 2022, with more metaverse features where people can have progressive governance. They can have staking features, all types of benefits wrapped into that. We are launching a full-scale NFT marketplace on our platform so that in 2023, we can roll into working on interoperability.
How do you figure out the marketing around all that and onboarding people into all these new things that you want them to adopt? Usually, you have a core audience and that helps us.
We talk to our users and our customers a lot. We do primary research, and quick surveys, and have beta groups with them. We are in touch with our community every day. We test with them, “What about this language? How does this work? Do you understand this?” Sometimes they will say, “I do not know about an NFT.” When you start explaining the benefits, they are like, “I want that.” We dig into them to understand their level of understanding. From there, we can start building our education and marketing plans to drive the users and usage we want.
How many things can one platform do without spreading yourself too thin?
We have had to focus. We do believe that blockchain will bring the biggest benefits, so we are focused on the tokens as well as the NFTs. That is our major focus for our IMVU users. We are honing in on those two components because you can spread yourself thin, and the user experience gets diluted.
Can other people work with you on your blockchain?
They can. As an example, Shoes 53045 is a high-end shoe brand. We did a partnership with them where they sold NFTs off of our platform, and then we were able to bring them into our platform. An NFT you bought on the dematerialized NFT platform, you can wear on your avatar in IMVU. It may have been red and black when you bought it. When you bring it into the metaverse, it has flames coming out. It takes advantage of the platform and allows people this first taste of being able to bring things they own and personalize their avatar.
What advice do you have for those coming into this space now? Also, as a female entrepreneur, you are killing it.
Read everything you can. Dive in and do not be afraid. I can’t tell you how many wallets I have. Go to every user experience that you can. Try every game, every play to earn, every NFT, dig in there, and you will see what resonates and what does not. Do not be afraid to get your hands dirty. You be all gritty, get in there, and learn for yourself. You have to do that in this space.
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I’m at NFT LA with Ricci from MacroVerse. How has NFT LA been for you?
It is interesting because you can see the humble beginnings of a brand new show. NFT LA is always a great place to launch something to create energy and a new vibe. That has been super fun.
Metaverse And Gaming: LA is always a great place to launch something and create energy and a new vibe.
Tell us more about MacroVerse.
It is a company started by myself. I have two Cofounders, Eben Matthews, and Adam Martin. All of us come from film, television, and video games. I have a pretty deep background in both games, film, and television. The idea of it is to create a Web3 studio of the future. If Marvel were being started now, and we know that they had humble beginnings. They were almost bankrupt and went through this whole thing. Now it is purchased by Disney and makes billions of dollars.
How do we create new stories but also create NFTs out of things like digital comic books? We start with digital comic books that are NFTs and blockchain. We will also allow people to buy PFP avatars as an entryway to learn, create, and participate in storytelling. A lot of what we want to do is decentralize Hollywood because we have been there and worked on big productions with big A-list stars, directors, and all that thing.
As we know, Hollywood and the game industry are difficult to get into. Our way is a way to find the next JK Rowling, Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones because we all know it is out there. We have all heard the rejection stories that some of these acclaimed authors and titles. They’ve got rejected time after time. Yet, we have Harry Potter at Warner Brothers. We have Game of Thrones on HBO.
How do we find those types of things but create them in such a way that royalties are tracked, there are derivative rights, and you own your characters or actors? There are many things that we can do in the blockchain which are revolutionary and completely changes the paradigm. That is what we are doing. It is a lot but fun.
Are you going to be outreaching to talent and independent storytelling or artists, or do you already have these ideas, and they reach out to you? How is that going to work?
We already have signed up about 100 creators, some from within film and television, some that are pretty high caliber, high ranking, and some brand new people. We are storytellers ourselves. We have created a bunch of properties as well. We have something that we have launched called DeadTown, which starts as a PFP.
It is all about these zombies that have a different take than you have seen in something like Walking Dead neither the living dead nor anything out there. It is trying to build this community and find those storytellers that maybe have not become storytellers yet and working with people like us that have done it or will bring on special guests. These people are a little notorious or famous that can also help and guide some of these new people or established people.
It licenses its brands, its original content stuff that we create, and stuff that we will find. The community gets to talk about it, vote on it, and have a say in it. New artists can come, and they can come from anywhere. They can be an artist, a writer, a musician, a film director or working at Starbucks. We do not care. If you have a good story, we want to know about it.
Talent is talent. I do think that this is the future, these Web3 integrated companies but you are starting from scratch versus adding it on, which is key.
There are a lot of these big companies, whether it is Warner Brothers or Disney. Of course, they can buy their way in. It is a lot different. I do not think you can spend a lot of money, and everybody comes nowadays because the decentralization point and community are key. If you are building this fake community because you have a lot of money, they are not invested. They did not build it with you brick by brick. The idea is that we have a community that knows that they were there and got in at a place that was an early point and is disruptors themselves as opposed to buying into a disruption company.
Blockchain is just revolutionary and completely changes the paradigm. Click To Tweet
They have equity in a way that has never happened before. Imagine all of us had bought into Marvel when it was the beginning and owned a piece. What do you have to come up with? You mentioned this one project.
We are also working on something called Aerosol, which is a cool street artist, that is like Blade Runner meets Banksy or Shepard Fairey. It got this cool street artist vibe and Akira Roots. It is an enemy feel to it. We are also working on something called Darklands with Evan Shapiro, who is a notorious television writer. We have also got such an amazing outlay of different brands and properties, a big roadmap.
The idea is we take them from PFP to the collectible blockchain, digital comics, games, TV, movie, and ancillaries. All along the way, everybody is participating in it. We probably have about 100 different properties and 10 to 15 on our road map. One of the things that I have noticed in this space is you get NFT millionaires overnight but they do not necessarily know how to be an entrepreneur and how to execute on a roadmap. That is something that is important.
I have exited businesses, run companies, and I know how to get a product from beginning to end. That is going to be one of the biggest challenges you will find in this space with the coolest projects. It is cool when they launch. It is cool to own it and fall flat on their face, which I do not think is good for anybody in this industry.
We do try to talk to people, and we are partnering with even established brands. There is something called Bushidos, which are their own NFT but we are helping them build out their story in their world, partnering with them and collaborating with them so that their roadmap gets executed. It is a win-win. We and they are doing some cool stuff. We are both in the space. We both have our own companies. The more we can do that, everybody wins.
Where do you see all of this in the next year? What will we be talking about at NFT LA a year from now?
It will probably be a little bigger, not so humble, and be a little bit more money. What MacroVerse will be talking about is, “We created this value. Your token came out. You stacked and let all of these people that got in get these cool stacked rewards. You have a couple of film deals now. How did you land those? You are working with Amazon Studios, Apple TV+, and Netflix. Tell us about that.” That is where we will be in 2023. NFTs, in general, will have weeded out a lot of a flash in the pan overnight successes and are concentrating on roadmaps that have shown that they delivered on something other than a piece of art.
What advice do you have for those coming in?
Surround yourself with smart people that are willing to help and make sure that you are successful. Give more than you take. If you are trying to learn, try to give and be somebody that supports other projects that is out there and helps somebody to build a community to be somebody that people can look up to, rely upon or depend upon.
Everybody is looking for people like that, as opposed to, “I want as much as I can get. I want as much money. I want to profit from this.” Go help others profit and you will profit. We have always been those types of founders. People can come to us if they need help with their business. I always help people with their business, and it always comes back around. Be a good person, entrepreneur, and leader, and you will get everything you want.
Where can people find out more, possibly get involved or collaborate?
Metaverse And Gaming: Surround yourself with smart people who are willing to help and make sure that you are successful.
Go to MacroVerse.com, and you will see everything about our latest NFT release, which is DeadTown, which is pretty cool. It is a customizable NFT. You can go in there and choose all of the parameters. We have got a discord, which is Discord.gg/macroverse. We will look to see everybody there and be part of the community.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, Shira. I appreciate it.
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We hope you enjoyed that episode. Make sure to visit EdgeOfNFT.com/discord to continue the conversation. Also, visit EdgeOfNFT.com/ar to plant a 3D augmented reality tree right from your mobile device inspired by our forthcoming Living Tree NFT collection, which will offer you the hottest alpha and participatory benefits within our ecosystem. The living tree NFT collection will also plant over 100,000 real trees.
We have reached the outer limit. Thanks for exploring with us. We have got space, more adventures on this starship. Invite your friends and recruit some cool strangers that will make this journey all so much better. How? Go to Spotify or iTunes now, rate us and say something awesome and go to EdgeOfNFT.com to dive further down the rabbit hole. Be sure to tune in next time for more great NFT content. Thanks again for sharing this time with us.
Important Links
- NFT LA
- Shira Lazar
- Atlantis World
- BadApes
- Yearn
- Balancer
- 1inch
- Perpetual
- AVE
- MetaMask
- @CJHTech – Twitter
- Upland
- Metaventures
- Block Explorer
- NFL Player Association
- The Portal
- WAX
- MetaJuice
- Together Labs
- IMVU
- VCOIN
- vCore
- Shoes 53045
- DeadTown
- Bushidos
- Discord.gg/macroverse
- EdgeOfNFT.com/discord
- EdgeOfNFT.com/ar
- Spotify – Edge Of NFT
- iTunes – Edge Of NFT
About Dirk Lueth
Serial Entrepreneur. Started companies in Europe and the US. Worked in various executive roles (CEO, COO, CFO) in small and large-scale organizations.
Co-founded the Financial Times Deutschland and four more companies across Europe and the US. Author of a best-selling book on Amazon. Ph.D. for research work and doctoral thesis about private and state-controlled currencies.
About CJ Hetherington
Acquired by Netmarble in 20201, Im cofounder and CEO of Kung Fu Factory, an awesome software and game publisher and studio, I built with my childhood friend.
Building the Web3 social metaverse at Atlantis World; connecting Web3 with social, gaming and education in one lightweight virtual world that’s accessible to everybody.
Built prototype with 2k+ active users. Onboarded 15+ best players from around Web3 who have supported us with grant funding and hackathon prizes. Built gamified interface for interacting with billions of dollars of free flowing liquidity. Turned down $10M pre-seed deal from prominent investors at a $50M valuation. Ran successful Gitcoin grant campaign with 6k+ community contributors plus quadratic funding. Planting a biodiverse, carbon capturing virtual forest inside of the metaverse.
About Nancy Beaton
I build and grow businesses. I am a P&L minded leader that creates new revenue for both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies through sound and innovative strategy, marketing, business development, client service, product development, licensing and digital advertising. I have spent my career at the intersections of revenue generation, marketing, technology and product.
You will discover I am extremely driven and can directly, or through engaging my teams, create successful paths to revenue and financial growth. It’s what I do, what I excel at and what I love – especially when done with smart, collaborative people.
About Ricci Rukavina
Web3 startup operator. Metaverse expert. Open to chat with founders and offer my support. EVM native, but also interested in ecosystems like Solana and NEAR.
Our titles have over 100MM+ downloads and no venture investment – yep we are 100% independent homeboyeeee! We work hard at playing and creating together, with happy employees and these millions of players! Created and developed by KFF from the Top Grossing WWE: Champions, to Pacific Rim: Breach Wars, based on the sequel to the international top grossing film to LEGO AR: Hidden Side to the Card Wars Series to Atari Combat: Tank Fury!
Personally, I life coach people to help discovering their patterns, limitation and pattern and contribute and volunteer in any way I can. I’m on the board of NFTE, also mentoring kids in need that feel a career in games or computers or being an entrepreneur is for them. I also am a proud Kabbalist, and volunteer wherever I can at The Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles, Calif.
I’m a proud member of the YPO, Santa Monica Bay chapter where I have been Membership Chair, Learning Chair, and now Chapter Chair. I’m a member of The World Famous Academy of Magical Arts (also known as The Magic Castle), with cardistry and magic as a fun hobby. Im lucky in that I get to do what I love and grew up loving – computers and video games and I have been consistently working with my friends and family!
My philosophy for life is to contribute and be of service. Tomorrow is not promised. Life starts Now. Be. Be Peaceful, Powerful, Loving, Loveable, Fearless, Happy, Vulnerable and Passionate, Alive and Free. Make a difference. Improve peoples lives. Support anyone that I can. Learn from everyone. Listen. Be a role model. Take a stand, create a legacy.
Favorite Quote: “Life’s most urgent and persistent question – what are you doing for others?” MLK
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