Author: Metabape
Compiled by: Cat Cat
Introduction:
INK, an IP-based NFT project in the Bitcoin ecosystem, recently announced a $10 million commitment from industrial capital incubator CaesarEon. The funds are intended to support INK's brand strategy planning and IP expansion.
The INK project is known for its originality and artistry, and is the first 10K art to be engraved on legacy sats. These NFTs not only demonstrate the combination of art and technology, but also highlight the potential of blockchain in the field of modern digital art.
Metabape, a legendary Chinese businessman and the investor behind the INK project, recently shared his business logic and strategic perspective for investing in the project. Metabape emphasized that INK's innovation lies in its close integration of cultural influence and technological innovation. With the help of CaesarEon's industrial resources in the fields of IP, games, film and television culture, INK will become a truly decentralized brand.
The funds raised will be used to further enhance INK's market influence, expand its IP universe, and strengthen the brand's uniqueness and appeal. In addition, the investment will also enable INK holders to develop their own business potential through the platform.
Metabape is full of expectations for the prospects of INK. He believes that this investment will greatly promote the growth and influence of INK worldwide.
This article will end with Metabape’s in-depth thoughts on this investment.
The following is a translated version:
Are you ready? This article is going to be long, but trust me, by the end, you’ll have a lot of lightbulbs.
The pain of the past
As I once said on TikTok: IP business plays an important role in my industry empire. Although it is definitely not the most profitable business, as an old boy with too many wonderful ideas and eager to cooperate with talented artists around the world, IP business is undoubtedly my personal favorite.
The only reason I chose to explore Web3 is that I think Web3 is an amazing tool that allows me to build great IP in a decentralized way. I firmly believe that this approach is more effective than traditional methods because it reshapes the way people cooperate and how benefits are distributed.
It was because of this decentralized concept that I spent a lot of money in the past two years to buy some so-called "blue chip projects" and try to use my power to build something. But as you know, this turned me into a huge joke.
My reflection
I felt very frustrated at the time, not because of the loss of money - I had long forgotten how much money I had, because most of my assets were in the form of equity in various companies and shares in venture capital funds. What frustrated me was that this incident made me begin to doubt the underlying logic of my IP construction.
I am very sad. I don’t understand why those excellent IPs with amazing communities end up with a terrible “Douban Rating 2.0”.
What went wrong? Was the whole idea of building brands in a decentralized way using blockchain and NFT technology wrong?
This is impossible. In real life, I have invested in many consumer brands that operate in a chain franchise model. The success of these brands is actually the result of cooperation between the brand and the franchisee.
There is nothing new under the sun. The so-called "decentralized" brand building model in Web3 only increases the liquidity of the financial market on the basis of the traditional "franchise business model", turning the franchise right into an asset that can be traded at any time, thereby improving business efficiency and making the most loyal builders earn a lot of money.
I began to understand why so-called blue chip projects that claimed to be ambitious in the IP business but ultimately failed miserably:
•Their brand is not sufficiently "decentralized". The silly founding team encountered investors who only wanted to suck their blood, which made their company lose control when it developed to a certain stage. Capitalism will eventually choose some obedient and useful puppets as their agents, otherwise they will not feel at ease with their investment; and those little cuties will think that they have absolute control over the brand and IP, and the holders are just "customers" in their eyes. Then the brand becomes less and less Web3, less and less crypto-spirited, and the holders leave one by one...
•The founders of these projects have never achieved enough success in the real world to stop worrying about money and devote themselves to making the world a better place. They have never built an IP from scratch and made it grow from zero to one, from one to ten, from ten to one hundred...
•Of course, this is normal. If they already have everything, why would they want to run a startup from scratch? They just need someone truly wise to help them through the ups and downs of their project.
•When NFT first appeared, driven by capital and its clever narrative, they suddenly became pigs on the vent of the wind and were instantly blown to a height they did not deserve;
• They have no idea what business is, but they have gained so much wealth. This may seem lucky, but it also makes them feel pain and anxiety from time to time because they are "unworthy of their position", which is completely understandable. Therefore, it seems natural for them to hand over the company to others and just enjoy a happy retirement life.
•Of course, this is very unfortunate for the holders who believed in these founders. But everyone can only sigh and comfort themselves: "This is better than them getting greedier and greedier and wanting to continue to suck blood from the community."
My Solution
After this thorough reflection, I made up my mind to find a brand new PFP project. The founder of this project must be excellent, down-to-earth and kind, without stupid greed. Then, I will pour all my resources and influence in the IP industry, my understanding of decentralization, my business wisdom, and of course, my cash capital into it to help the team build something really cool.
I hope to help a good project so that it will not only live up to the holders, but also make them rich and proud.
When I first proposed this idea to one of my partners, she was completely shocked and began to question me:
“Since we already have such scarce industrial resources, why don’t we do an IP project ourselves?”
My answer is simple:
“What’s the point of building another IP? I’ve created enough popularity in the past 12 years. What I want to do now is to help good people win. I want to set an industry benchmark in Web3 and show everyone that as long as there is a clever strategy and a certain execution, Web3 will be the best place to cultivate new brands.”
She was convinced by me, so I started looking and looking...
My story with INK
Two months ago, the work of the talented artist Joey struck me like lightning. Coincidentally, my friend Wudu saw my praise tweet and introduced me to Zetman, the co-founder of INK.
February 27th was the day I first chatted with Zetman. Luckily for me, he was a big mouth. I chatted with him for a while and he told me a bunch of stuff, like how these four lovely founders met and decided to do something cool with BTC.
You know what shocked me the most?
When I first saw the project they created, based on my understanding of the IP industry, I judged that there were at least 20 professionals behind this project. This looked too much like the work of the regular Web2 team (and it was a very high-quality work)! But the fact surprised me: the team only had four of them and a cute dog Frenchie (this dog can communicate with the community and ban people on DC).
Their story and their dream of creating an IP that would be immortalized on Bitcoin touched me deeply.
However, as a businessman, I know that this project will not go far if it only has artistic value. The four naive founders are too naive. They think that so-called art is the key to the success of IP. But at the same time, I still like their naivety, because it just shows that they all have a pure heart like a baby and have not been swallowed by the dark and dirty side of Web3.
This is it, this is the project I have been looking for.
I said to myself. However, as an experienced businessman, I certainly would not be so quick to express my love for the project vision and founding team.
Yes, I love Steven, Brunno, Joey, and Zetman very much. Even though I have called you "idiots" countless times, you are all good people who have won my heart and have my unwavering support.
Fortunately, Zetman also realized that without a giant backing their project that was intended to become a great IP, their chances of success were almost zero.
So, he started to subtly probe me and asked if I was interested in investing in them. I said, "I am interested, but I want to be your advisor first and observe you for a while." That's why I initially got the title of "intern consultant" at INK, because I wanted to observe the team up close and see how they handle things, because that would reflect their underlying values.
Therefore, from the hype around mint, to the subsequent "FUD" by many parties, the floor price plummeted, and then Zetman and other team members used this to turn FUDDING INK into a great performance art, creating interesting popular memes such as "Brunna", "Soft Rugger", "The Most Hated Collection (this is too cool and spicy)"... During these stages, I did not provide any resource support. Some battles must be fought by the founders themselves. This is what I, as their mentor, need to let the children experience.
I watched these four founders treat INK like their own child, willing to protect it at all costs, and treat the community holders like family, responding to almost everything.
Everything was perfectly in line with my initial judgment.
So, on the day of Bitcoin halving, my lawyer completed the final version of the investment agreement. At this sacred moment, the five of us signed our names. This story is too romantic and too dreamy to be true.
What is the future of INK?
In short: together with all of you we will turn this into true art.
INK now has a very hardworking founding team and an extremely united community. However, to realize the dream of becoming a great IP, four things are needed:
1. The true concept of building a decentralized brand;
1. Funds to hire the best talent to run the project;
2. Huge resources of IP industry;
3. Clever business strategy.
Let’s first talk about the real concept of building a decentralized brand:
As we all know, INK IS FOR THE PEOPLE.
1. When we say "PEOPLE", we mean not only builders, but also flippers, art collectors, entrepreneurs, and cute players who are addicted to airdrops, and even fudders. Welcome everyone to join INK and experience what we are doing up close, so as to provide first-hand materials for fudders to "FUDDING INK" (lol). In the crypto world, we don't make a big deal, we just chill together and have fun together.
2. The founding team must not regard themselves as the owners of INK and try to play the role of "God" to tell everyone what is right and what is wrong. This is essentially the ugly human nature of greed for power.
3. INK belongs to everyone, including the founding team, whale, art collectors, small holders, builders, and myself. Everyone will contribute to the brand's vision, and in the process countless tributaries will be formed, and eventually converge into a boundless ocean. The entire process of our construction of INK will become the most romantic symphony resounding throughout the Bitcoin ecosystem.
4. When the "art" of INK becomes a reality and begins to gain popularity in Web2 and Web3, believe me, those rich people who need to show off their taste will become our exit liquidity, which is how we win together. (Yes, let's continue to build INK, so that I can brag to my big friends in real life and lure those rich guys to take over!)
5. In order to prevent the bad situations that may happen in other so-called blue chip projects in the future, the founders and I have a perfect response plan. It is very simple: if I do something bad one day, they will work together to kick me out; if they do something bad, I will unite the power of the community to force them to step down. Three words: fair, fair, and damn fair.
6. Regardless of whether the INK project is big or small, we will never become a stupid enterprise. We are born with the blood of Web3, and this is what we will always keep. We will never accept money from greedy capital that tries to suck the blood of the community because they need to report to their LPs. In terms of money and resources, I am enough.
Then let's talk about funding and resources:
Like I said, that’s the last thing we have to worry about.
Although my family fund announced a $10 million investment, in reality, my total cost was much greater than $10 million, because I spent “██ million dollars” (another large sum of money) to buy out some of the shares that were released earlier to ensure that I was the only investor and mentor of the INK team.
Moreover, my $10 million investment is only for the first year of the INK project.
Among them, 2 million US dollars are used for the daily operation of the project. Compared with other NFT projects, this amount of money may not be enough.
But the real magic lies in the remaining $8 million.
I will use this money as a quota for all resource services provided for the INK brand within my IP industry empire.
This includes animations, mini-games, collaborations with music festivals, collaborations with big brands, multi-platform advertising, and possibly even offline clubs...
This funding will provide INK with resources that even Web2 IP companies would be jealous of.
Remember this:
Cash capital is actually the cheapest bargaining chip in the business world. The truly scarce underlying business resources cannot be exchanged for cash, because the people who own those resources are already rich and powerful enough. As the only external investor and strategic advisor to INK, I will pave a smooth road for INK to enter the mainstream society and gain mass adoption.
I won’t reveal more information, as I don’t want to spoil the surprises for the holders. Next, we’ll talk about the results one by one.
Each of us has something to build, you build yours, I build mine, and together we will be an unbeatable force.
Now let’s talk about clever business strategies:
Want to see a roadmap?
Sorry, no. Good projects never make roadmaps, because roadmaps are products of the level of college student entrepreneurship competitions.
The real business world, that kind of fiercely competitive market environment, is very volatile. So why do we need to make a so-called roadmap, using something that is only imagined for the environment at that moment as a "compass" to limit all our future actions?
What we need to do is to always keep our eyes on our destination. In the process, even when facing rough waves, we only need to constantly adjust our surfing posture and eventually achieve success.
As Steven, co-founder of Wisdom, said:
WE ADAPT TO THRIVE.
There will always be a time to ride the wind and waves, and set sail to cross the vast ocean.
That's why we only need two things:
Vision and means.
I remember explaining this before:
The vision for INK is:
Luxury goods, clubs, IP universe;
To make all this a reality, we will use the following means:
Builders, technology, art, culture.
I won’t go into detail here, because actions speak louder than words. Just let the team cook, I have so much cool stuff in store that you may never see.
But let me emphasize one more thing:
I know that some lovely holders are more concerned about the airdrop of air coins. Many people have left the community because there is no promise of "free money". So why not do some airdrops? I like free money very much. When I hear about a few dollars of discount during dinner, I am as happy as a 30-year-old child. Isn't this also part of the crypto culture?
So today, at this sacred moment of Bitcoin halving, as the chairman of @caesar_eon, I officially promise all INK holders: you will receive endless airdrops of all the protocols I have invested in and will invest in in the future, so enjoy this overwhelming wealth!
The only problem may be that my agreements will not be "air", I hope you don't mind~
Some people may say: I'm so anxious, I can't wait, Brother Yuan!
That's easy. While you're waiting, you can try to create something cool under the powerful umbrella of INK and make yourself a legend. Is that enough to kill time?
My biggest hope is that every holder who contributes to INK will be able to achieve their own success little by little while enjoying the success of INK in the future.
I hope you all have a story you have no regrets about, are proud of, and that is forever etched on the great Bitcoin network.
One day, when we are too old to go anywhere, we can still lie in a rocking chair and tell this great story to our children and grandchildren.
INK IS FOR THE PEOPLE.
Rest assured, I will cover all costs to keep INK great.
ONE MORE THING
The community once voted that I should sweep the floors of INK;
And this is how I “sweep the floor”.
So, is Brother Ape someone who won’t let you down? (It seems someone has already called me “Ape God”?)
These cute little pictures of me messing with Zetman were made by the talented artist @jinghuaBTC.
