Dialogue with the founder of "Bored Ape": What has contributed to the success of BAYC?

Author: Deep Chain Finance

On January 29, 2022, the floor price of "Bored Ape" BAYC broke 100 ETH, setting a new historical high. After surpassing this historic milestone, the founders of this NFT project, which is widely welcomed by the crypto community and many celebrity stars, chatted with the Rug Radio podcast. Let's take a look at how they achieved these amazing accomplishments.

Q: "Bored Ape" BAYC has developed into one of the most popular brands in NFTs (if not the most popular), all within just nine months. How do you feel about being in this position now?

A: We never imagined we would be where we are today. Although the entire NFT series was not officially launched until April 2021, it has been almost a year since we started researching and launching the "Bored Ape Yacht Club" project. Meanwhile, we have been so busy that we often don't have the opportunity to stop and seriously examine many things happening in the current market. But occasionally, we feel how incredible this NFT project is and how surreal this journey has been, like when we held the Ape Fest event and looked around to see so many people who had come from far away to New York City to connect and meet with the community.

Q: A few days ago, I read an article on Rolling Stone's website about the story behind the Asian female creators of BAYC (Reference article: "Bored Ape Creator, 27-Year-Old Asian Girl's NFT Journey"). I heard that there is more than one person involved in the creation of "Bored Ape" BAYC. Who else was involved in the creation of the original Bored Ape NFT series?

A: We are fortunate to have assembled a talented team of freelance artists (including @allseeingseneca, @migwashere_, @thomasdagley, and two others who wish to remain anonymous) — in addition, we have a friend who helped with graphic design. It is thanks to the efforts of each of them that we were able to turn the vision of "Bored Ape" BAYC into reality. We witnessed the formation of "Bored Ape" BAYC, with one sketch after another becoming increasingly exciting.

Q: Over the past year, "Bored Ape" BAYC has achieved tremendous success. As founders, what significant events do you think are worth sharing with us?

A: Countless. I still remember that crazy night on May 1, when our "Bored Ape" BAYC NFT series quickly sold out. It was truly amazing. Additionally, through the BAKC NFT series, we raised nearly $1 million for animal charities — when we had no idea how people would respond to these "surprise doggos" — this is another highlight worth noting. Also, the day NBA star Stephen Curry joined BAYC was very memorable, as it was also the day the "Mutant Apes" were launched for airdrop.

Thanks to community support, we are in a very fortunate position in the NFT space, so last year we provided $1 million in bonuses to all BAYC and MAYC artists, which felt wonderful. Of course, there was the "Ape Fest" event. After experiencing two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, seeing the community finally come together and then watch Lil Baby perform was just fantastic. You just have to be there to feel the strong cohesion of the community.

Q: Last year, I had the opportunity to meet Guy Oseary, and he gave me a lot of great advice! What is it like to work with him?

A: In September of last year, Guy Oseary joined BAYC as a partner. Many people know him as the manager of U2 and Madonna, but for the past decade, Guy Oseary has also been one of the most prominent investors in the tech space. From our first call with him, we knew his creative vision aligned with ours. He is our incredible mentor and friend, and we even gave him a nickname, calling him the "Fifth Ape" (Note: The BAYC project has four co-founders).

Q: You have achieved great success, but you also face some conspiracy theories regarding the artwork and the founders. I noticed in a previous tweet thread that you mentioned one of you is Jewish. I remember feeling sad for that team member because someone accused him of being anti-Semitic. How did you feel at that time?

A: I guess many successful people encounter these issues. When you achieve success, conspiracy theorists come out to defame you? The Yuga team's background is very diverse, so those rumors about us are really strange. Our co-founders include Cubans, Jews, Pakistanis, and Turks. This bullying is particularly severe for Gordon, who is actually of German Jewish descent and currently serves as the creative director of the "Bored Ape" BYAC project. The person defaming Gordon is basically talking nonsense, claiming that Gordon is anti-Semitic, which sounds absolutely crazy and very hurtful.

Regarding art: It’s also important to take a step back. We have a very broad and diverse "Bored Ape" NFT series, which essentially references popular culture directly. From Hawaiian shirts from Magnum PI to togas and other historical styles of clothing, to rainbow suspenders favored by the LGBTQ+ community, it includes everything, mixed with various irreverent references to punk rock and 90s hip-hop music. If you isolate these things and maybe only look at one or two combinations, but overall, everyone can turn our NFT series into almost any narrative they want.

We want to create a "Ape collection" where anyone can find themselves, and it is this mode of expression and range of expression that makes BAYC stand out.

Q: Why did the founders choose to remain anonymous? Do you plan to stay anonymous forever?

A: In the crypto space, many project founders choose to remain anonymous or use pseudonyms. This situation has existed for a long time; people want to protect their personal privacy in this field, and there are very real reasons for that. But for us, trust is more important. When we entered this space, we immediately knew that the first thing we needed to do was establish a Delaware LLC, as this would allow us to ensure anonymity while also showing that we are serious and committed to doing things right in the NFT space. In fact, our employees and partners know who we are, and over the past nine months, the community has learned about us through our digital identities. We are also more willing to let people judge us based on our actual actions and work results. In our view, the focus should really be on the BAYC NFT project, not on us.

Q: We obviously know that the BAYC project has four male co-founders. At the same time, we often hear about the underrepresentation of women in the NFT space. Is there any female presence in your team? The reason I ask this question is that I heard there are actually two women in your leadership team.

A: In fact, we have more female employees than male ones — and there are female employees in various positions throughout the company. In terms of management, Nicole (also known as @vstrangeYUGA) currently serves as the co-CEO of the company, and @SodaOps is currently the Chief Operating Officer. Nicole is now a partner at Yuga and has been involved in a lot of behind-the-scenes work for the "Bored Ape" project since day one. As the company expands, it is entirely fitting for Nicole to serve full-time as co-CEO, and we are also pleased that @SodaOps serves as our COO; she is one of the key members keeping the wheels turning.

Q: Many people are surprised to find that Yuga has more employees. Can you tell us who you brought into the "Bored Ape" team? What does your daily work routine look like? For example, do you all send "gm" on Slack every morning?

A: We are currently in a period of rapid growth (the total number of company members is now 36), and part of that includes some of the best talent we can find in this field. Besides Nicole and @SodaOps, another partner at Yuga, @PezYUGA, currently serves full-time as our Chief Content Officer (CCO). At this stage, our team mainly consists of social media managers, community managers, producers, illustrators and artists, graphic designers, copywriters, engineers, and IT personnel.

This morning, we all logged into Slack and had a meeting where everyone compared their daily performance and let the group know when they started working. Sometimes we even play online word puzzle games like Wordle together. Here’s a little secret: one of our engineers has created a clone version of the Wordle game (which he won’t publicly share), where he can try countless times without affecting his real game score.

Q: How many "Bored Apes" do the founders own?

A: The four of us founders own 6 "Bored Apes." Frankly, we don’t like creators holding hundreds or even thousands of "Bored Ape" BAYC collectibles. In fact, we intended for people to use "Bored Apes" as their own digital identity and then access our community. Therefore, each founder actually only has one or two "Bored Apes," rather than a bunch, which makes sense. Additionally, as an entity, Yuga Labs currently owns 7 "Bored Apes" and 10 "Mutant Apes." Apart from NFTs minted from the primary market, the entity has never sold any "Bored Apes" or "Mutant Apes."

Q: What areas of the current crypto/NFT industry are you most interested in?

A: We are optimistic about the interoperable metaverse. In many ways, the metaverse already exists; for example, people have started using NFTs as their cross-platform digital identities. However, there is still much room for growth in the metaverse, and it needs further development and popularization.

Q: Do you have any news to share about the next Ape Fest conference?

A: Last year, our achievements were incredible, especially considering we only had two months to prepare for it. After the first Ape Fest ended, we immediately began preparing for the next Ape Fest, and this time we will go all out. We believe it will be an incredible experience, and we can’t wait to share more news.

Q: I have to ask — when will you launch a token?

A: Hahaha! You know, we can’t answer that question.