The Now Podcast

Over the past year, Blake Kathryn has become one of the most prominent artists in the NFT space. Yet, even before achieving crypto-art stardom, Kathryn had been creating visuals for top-tier brands like Instagram, Columbia Records, The New York Times and many more. Now, after achieving a million dollar sale via her collaboration with none other than Paris Hilton, Kathryn find herself expanding upon her dreamy, vibrant catalog of works that have continued to be absorbed and assimilated throughout pop culture.

In this episode, we cover:

- Where she finds inspiration

- Pivoting from client work to NFTs

- Collaborating with Paris Hilton

- Navigating the NFT market

- Creating more equitable gender representation in the NFT space

- Fostering prosperity for emerging artists

- And much more!

To sign up for the nft now newsletter, where we break down the NFT market into actionable insights each week, go to https://www.nftnow.com

To follow Blake Kathryn on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/blakekathryn

To follow Blake Kathryn on Instagram, go here: https://www.instagram.com/blakekathryn/

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Prior to fulfilling the position of Coinbase’s VP of Products, Sanchan Saxena had already established a proven track record of spearheading products at fortune 500 companies like GM, AirBnB, Instagram, and more. In helping Coinbase join the world of NFTs, Saxena has become an expert on NFT and Web3 consumer culture, and is poised to help lead the charge towards mainstream adoption of blockchain technology.

Timestamps:

0:00 | Intro

4:09 | His journey at Coinbase

5:15 | What inspires him about NFTs

7:37 | Plans for Coinbase NFT

9:56 | How will Coinbase NFTs differentiate from other marketplaces?

22:16 | Will the average consumer engage in a shop for NFTs in the future?

29:01 | The future of NFTs and mainstream consumer culture

36:33 | Effective UX & product management principles

46:40 | Predictions for 2022

50:30 | Outro

To listen to the audio version of this episode, go to: http://smarturl.it/nftnow

To sign up for the nft now newsletter, where we break down the NFT market into actionable insights each week, go to https://www.nftnow.com

To follow Sanchan Saxena on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/sanchans

To follow Sanchan Saxena on Instagram, go here: https://www.instagram.com/sanchan_saxena/

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Over the past year, Nadya Tolokonnikova, co-founder of the Russian punk rock activist collective Pussy Riot, has become an integral part of the NFT ecosystem. A long time critic of Vladimir Putin and major proponent of women’s and LGBTQ rights, she was jailed in 2012 which in turn bolstered her prominence as an artist. In this latest iteration of her career, Tolokonnikova has shifted gears, collecting and supporting crypto-artists while simultaneously minting her own NFTs as a new form of social activism.

In this episode we cover:

- Tolokonnikova’s entrance into the NFT space

- Her influential ACAB NFT drop 

- How her experiences protesting against Putin shaped her views on decentralization

- What she thinks web3 will mean for activism

- How NFTs can help oster meaningful social change

- The lack of women in the NFT space

- And much more…

To listen to the audio version of this episode, go to: http://smarturl.it/nftnow

To sign up for the nft now newsletter where we break down the NFT market into actionable insights each week, go to: https://www.nftnow.com

To follow Nadya Tolokonnikova on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/tolokno

To follow Nadya Tolokonnikova on Instagram, go here: https://www.instagram.com/nadyariot

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In this episode, the nft now founding team taps in to highlight key moments in an unprecedented year for NFTs in 2021, and what’s in store for 2022 and beyond. Join our co-founder & CEO, Matt Medved, our co-founder & president, Alejandro Navia, and co-founder & COO, Sam Hysell as they discuss…

- Why was 2021 such an important year for NFTs?

- What are some of the top moments that stood out? Who were some of our favorite artists/builders?

- What is the mission of nft now? How did we do in tracking towards that mission in 2021? What’s in store for 2022?

- What were some of the biggest foundations that were built in 2021 that will set NFTs up for mainstream adoption in years to come?

- What are the biggest areas of opportunity for people (both artists & builders) to get into the space and what advice do we have for those people?

- And much more!

To sign up for the nft now newsletter where we break down the NFT market into actionable insights each week, go to: https://www.nftnow.com/newsletter

To follow nft now on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/nftnow

To follow nft now on Instagram, go here: https://www.instagram.com/nftnow

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This week, we welcome Showtime Co-Founder and CEO Alex Masmej to the podcast. An early adopter of social token technology, Masmej has pursued an unconventional path to becoming a leader in web3. Even prior to launching his startup Showtime — which is a social network for crypto media and an endeavor to onboard the masses into web3 — the now 23-year-old creator had found success making his way into the NFT community. Now, having recently funded his entire life move from Paris to San Francisco completely off the profits from his own social token, Masmej says he is working towards changing the world.

In this episode we cover:

- How he planned and executed the launch of his own $ALEX social token

- Showtime: what it is now and plans for its future

- What excites him about the future of NFTs

- Trends he sees at the intersection of social media and NFTs

- What he feels are the key milestones in fostering mainstream adoption of NFTs

- And much more…

To listen to the audio version of this episode, go to: http://smarturl.it/nftnow

To sign up for the nft now newsletter where we break down the NFT market into actionable insights each week, go to: https://www.nftnow.com

To follow Alex Masmej on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/AlexMasmej

To follow Alex Masmej on Instagram, go here: https://www.instagram.com/alexmasmej/

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This week, we welcome Visualize Value Founder Jack Butcher to the podcast. Butcher is a seasoned creative director who has worked with some of the most successful brands in existence. After a decade of working in Fortune 100 advertising, Butcher completely rebuilt his personal brand and business model through productizing himself, and now focuses on educating those that are building in NFTs and web3.

In this episode we cover:

- His pivot from advertising into NFTs

- Keeping up with trends while filtering out the excess noise

- The importance of using his voice/platform to give back to important causes

- Visual storytelling and the most effective platforms and approaches to drive mainstream adoption and understanding

- What he looks for when collecting NFTs

- And much more…

To listen to the audio version of this episode, go to http://smarturl.it/nftnow

To sign up for the nft now newsletter, where we break down the NFT market into actionable insights each week, go to https://www.nftnow.com 

To follow Jack Butcher on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/jackbutcher

To follow Jack Butcher on Instagram, go here: https://www.instagram.com/jckbtchr

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This week, we’re excited to welcome Dillon Francis. Dillon Francis is a chart topping electronic musician, record producer and DJ. Throughout 2021 Dillon has been experimenting with clever ways to engage his community and drive growth through NFTs, and in this episode we work through how other musicians can do the same. 

In this episode we cover:

- Why he feels NFTs are similar to the early days of EDM

- Some of his recent projects like DeFi Summer with Chad Knight on Nifty Gateway, the Charity NFTs with Nicole Ruggerio and Hard Fork & Harder Fork with Pizza Slime

- As an active supporter of DeFi, what are his thoughts on the intersection of DeFi and NFTs

- His thoughts on the future of Metaverse music performances

- What excites him the most about the future of NFTs

- And much more...

To sign up for the nft now newsletter, where we break down the NFT market into actionable insights each week, go to https://www.nftnow.com 

To follow Dillon Francis on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/DillonFrancis

To follow Dillon Francis on Instagram, go here: https://www.instagram.com/dillonfrancis

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This week, we’re excited to welcome Andy Krainak, the president of VeeFriends, Gary Vaynerchuk’s NFT project. The collection launched in May 2021, with the goal of providing a blueprint on how to add real value, utility and community to NFTs. 

In this episode, we cover:

- What VeeFriends is and how it works

- The project’s core utility elements

- How Krainak plans to keep iterating upon community utility

- How Krainak fosters and manages such an engaged community

- How to balance creating value for NFT holders with the barrier to entry as prices rise

- Krainak’s advice for NFT creators and artists on how they can create value

- Lessons Krainak has learned building and launching VeeFriends

- Projects that are innovating upon community and utility

- What’s next for VeeFriends

- And much more!

To sign up for the nft now newsletter, where we break down the NFT market into actionable insights each week, go to https://www.nftnow.com

To follow Andy on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/krainak

To follow VeeFriends on Instagram, go here: https://www.instagram.com/veefriends/

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This week, we’re excited to welcome Richerd Chan, the co-founder of Manifold.xyz, a leading studio that creates blockchain products and custom smart contracts for artists. In October, Richerd made headlines when he displayed his diamond hands and turned down a nearly $10 million offer for his CryptoPunk #6046. “My punk is not for sale,” he tweeted at the time. “Don’t care what anyone offers me.”

In this episode, we cover:

- Why he rejected the offer of 2,500 ETH for his CryptoPunk

- What a smart contract is and why they’re important in the NFT space

- Why artists and projects need custom smart contracts, and the innovation and utility they can unlock.

- The origin story and mission of Manifold

- How Richerd decides who to partner with on projects, and his favorite projects

- How his open-source Royalty Registry can help solve the cross-platform secondary sales issue

- The most exciting potential use cases for custom smart contracts

- And much more!

To sign up for the nft now newsletter, where we break down the NFT market into actionable insights each week, go to: https://www.nftnow.com

To follow Richerd on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/richerd

To follow Manifold on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/manifoldxyz

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This week, we’re excited to welcome Bobby Hundreds, an artist and co-founder of popular streetwear brand The Hundreds, which has collaborated with influential NFT projects such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Larva Labs, the company behind CryptoPunks. The Hundreds launched its own NFT project, Adam Bomb Squad, in August.

In this episode, we cover:

- How The Hundreds got into NFTs

- What Bobby Hundreds saw at the intersection of NFTs and culture at NFT.NYC and ComplexCon

- How to bring a streetwear and lifestyle brand into the NFT space

- The Adam Bomb Squad, and the future of the project

- How fashion brands can leverage NFTs

- The cultural milestones needed for NFTs to reach mainstream adoption

- And much more!

To sign up for the nft now newsletter, where we break down the NFT market into actionable insights each week, go to: https://www.nftnow.com

To follow Bobby Hundreds on Twitter, go here: https://twitter.com/bobbyhundreds

To follow The Hundreds on Instagram, go here: https://www.instagram.com/thehundreds/

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