WORKWEEK

Club CPG Community hit 27 ETH Floor

TLDR: Chris Cantino and Jamie Schmidt, founders of Schmidt’s Naturals, started a community about 6 months ago. The goal was to have a curated group of leaders in the CPG community. The Telegram-based community shares deal flow, insights on the industry, and talks shop almost all day. The minimum price of purchase recently hit 27 ETH, or $72,000. The community entry price was at one time less than $3,000. 

Perpetual’s Perspective: I tweeted about this community when it was at 1.5 ETH. Meaning if you would have pulled the trigger then, you’d have almost 20X’d your investment. But I’m not selling, and here’s why: They provide SO much value. The community has created a pipeline for private deal flow that represents millions in economic opportunity. This is why I’m so bullish on DAOs and NFTs, the mechanics incentivize great behavior and creation of value from members. The more I give to the community, the more it’s worth, and the more value I capture both financially and qualitatively. Media companies have the opportunity to do this in spades, but no one really has yet. Who will be the first?

Bored Ape Parent Co Raising at a $5B valuation

TLDR: BYAC is the premier NFT collection. The cartoon collection of apes has caught the attention of Serena Williams, Justin Bieber, and other celebs. The price of BYAC NFTs has grown more than 200% year — currently averaging more than $50K per NFT. The primary utility has been PFPs (profile pictures on social sites) and access to a community. Now, the move is to start to use the IP to create content downstream.

Perpetual’s Perspective: Bored Apes have taken over Twitter, at least culturally. There’s no better signal to say “I’m rich!” than having a BYAC PFP — it’s a modern day Rolex. The parent co of BYAC is raising money on that cultural liquidity they’ve created. The owners think they can turn it into movies, merch, and ultimately represent the next Disney. Sniff sniff. I smell bullshit. Not because Bored Apes aren’t incredible, but the mistake they made is a lack of backstory. None of the apes have consistent stories or angles. What if Mickey Mouse never had an attachment to Minnie — would he be married to Poo Bear? That’s how these apes are. Without a dedicated background of IP, the scaffolding of future IP is impossible. 

Taylor Lorenz leaves NYT for WaPo

TLDR: Taylor Lorenz, one of the most popular writers at The Times, announced she’s leaving for The Washington Post. She said she’s not trying to be a YouTuber, but she wants to expand her individuality and she hit the ceiling of that at The Times. This isn’t the first time’s she’s been poached — NYT took her from The Atlantic. She has more than 500K TikTok followers and a loyal Twitter fanbase

Perpetual’s Perspective: Lorenz is a journalist and working for a reputable publisher is important to her image, but the times they are a changing… Lorenz said that WaPo was the first legacy brand she saw on TikTok and that they’re embracing individuals over their institution. She specifically called out that The Times hasn’t figured out how to deal with talent. Though Lorenz went to another legacy media co, it’s another signal of the graduation of creators from media companies — Kinsey Grant left Morning Brew, Lorenz the Times, Ben Smith, etc. As creators get big enough, they have enough leverage to do what they want, on their terms. The companies who can’t adjust will lose their top talent.