NFT
Almost a year to the day after the huge Moonbirds NFT dropProof co-founder and CEO Kevin Rose stands outside a gallery show the collective performed during NFT NYC 2023 week, telling Decrypt why are Web3 startup recently reaffirmed its focus about digital art, artists and collectors.
“If everything is just ‘up and right’ and crazy and chaotic – like the whole crazy run-up we saw [in the NFT market]— it’s easy to lose your true north,’ Rose explained. “Because you’re just running, running, running, running, and you’re so busy with all the chaos that you don’t have time to sit down and say, ‘Okay, what are we really in for?'”
It has been a marked up and down year for Proof since the April 2022 Moonbirds coin. The Ethereum profile pictures (PFPs) saw huge demand at launch and generated some $280 million in transactions within the first two days. Evidence money raised from the buzzing launch (And again a few months later) and quickly expanded the team with big ambitions in mind.
But the NFT market crashed shortly after the coin and some holders were not on board Proof’s decision to open-source Moonbirds artwork for anyone to use and commercialize. And some plans fell through: this year’s Proof of Conference event was canceled due to lack of demandand one planned Project Highrise “social universe” platform was also demolished.
“It’s a lot of work to do. It takes many years to build great companies, it turns out. It can’t be done in less than a year,” Rose explained. “I know we get a little messed up sometimes… [but] building in public is very difficult. And so if you show all your dirty laundry, your community has to be willing to understand that it’s messy along the way.”
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Rose recalled a bit of advice given to him by mentor Ben Horowitz, co-founder of VC giant Andreessen Horowtiz, telling him that “it’s better to be right than consistent.” And for Proof, that meant sharpening the focus on digital artwork and collecting and trimming projects that either didn’t work or didn’t support that focus.
At NFT NYC, that renewed focus meant leveraging Proof’s resources and connections to host exclusive events for collectors. The aforementioned gallery show at Venus Over Manhattan,”Evolving pixels”, was curated by generative artist Emily Xi (“Memories of Qilin” op Art blocks) and featured a selection of works by generative and AI-assisted artists.
NFT NYC, you were an experience to behold. I’m incredibly proud of the experiences our team at @proof_xyz has brought to our community, from small-scale classy gallery tours to downright ridiculous party atmospheres. Here’s a glimpse of our Thursday night vibe with @beeple #NFTNYC2023 pic.twitter.com/OFzepaSAir
— Mauricio Balvanera (🥃,🦉) (@maubrowncow) April 16, 2023
Rose said Proof is already focused on “curation with a point of view” – as seen with his exclusive Grails mints for Proof Collective NFT holders, but that it wanted to go beyond its own ranks and also appeal to other well-known curators to get involved.
Proof also held an exclusive event with Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann – the artist behind the best NFT sale of all time-for just 400 of its community members, in which Beeple created a work of art live while taking suggestions from the crowd. Only 10 copies of the artwork were eventually minted as NFTs and given to select attendees.
Beeps and peeps @kevinrose @derekedws @beeple @proof_xyz @moonbirds pic.twitter.com/vAH9za0zSd
— BΞΞBS (🥃,🦉,🔮,⌐◨-◨) (@Beebzing) April 14, 2023
While NFT NYC 2023’s core event felt significantly subdued compared to last year, the various side events hosted by projects, communities, and startups still caught glimpses of the hottest excitement around Web3. Rose said the mood remained strong at the events he held or attended, but admitted that the NFT bear market has weighed on almost every maker.
“Holy shit, the past few months have been tough, right? Every NFT collection has been impacted in some way,” Rose said. “But we’re finally getting to a point where I think we’ve hit rock bottom, and people are like, ‘Okay, these are the people who are going to continue building this space, and they’re going to be for the next decade.’”
Rose rose to fame in Web2 as a co-founder of Digg, who later joined Google as part of an acquisition, then became a venture capitalist at Google Ventures and later True Ventures, where he remains a partner. Working in the volatile world of Web3 and building in the open air was a real shock to the system, he said.
“No one has been part of something like this that has been such a rollercoaster,” Rose said of the NFT market, “outside, say, the stock market in general — but even that is much more defined and more stable than what this has been .”
Proof launches exclusive NFT collection for Moonbirds holders
For every excited NFT collector who bought an asset low and sold it high, Rose said, there’s someone on the other side who bought the top and might be disappointed. Evidence can’t control market fluctuations, but Rose said part of the lessons learned over the past year include how and when to communicate with collectors — and when to pivot, if necessary.
“As an entrepreneur, it’s a really weird dynamic,” he admitted, adding that Proof’s products are aimed at delivering events, NFT mints and other exclusive opportunities that “provide value” [that] must be seen in years to come. You can’t just do that in three months.”