The NFT space is ever-growing and evolving. Once, we had apes, but now, the metaverse has unleashed Fancy Bears on us all, and Europe is slowly, but surely getting into the NFT craze. Jeff Kelley, Eathan Janney and Josh Kriger sit down for a fun conversation with Jakub Chmielniak, co-founder of Fanadise. Jakub talks about the impetus for the creation of Fanadise and how they are leading the charge for NFTs in Europe. Tune in to learn more as we explore the edge of NFTs.
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Listen to the podcast here
Jakub Chmielniak Of Fancy Bears Metaverse On Niftifying Europe With Fanadise And Going From Bored Ape To Fancy Bear
This sponsored spotlight episode features Jakub Chmielniak, an active BAYC member and Founder of Fanadise and Fancy Bears Metaverse, where you can hang out with artists, top athletes, influencers, celebrities and Nobel Prize winners. In the Meta Club, you can join concerts, pool parties, and play tennis with your favorite creators. Every year they are hosting the Fancy Bears Annual Party, where holders can win things like a Ferrari rare sneakers and NFTs. Jakub is the Cofounder and Owner of a €20 million eCommerce company, Creator of many fashion brands, and influencer marketing specialist.
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Jakub, welcome to the show. It’s great to have you here.
It’s great to be here. It’s a pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Let’s dive right in. We are excited about what you are up to. We know that Fanadise and Fancy Bears are where you can hang out with artists, influencers and Nobel Prize winners. Can you tell some more of the story behind Fanadise and the Fancy Bears Metaverse? Let’s get that background.
Together with Bartek, we basically teamed up to make something connected to influencers and something global to utilize all the experience that we gathered in the previous years. This is how we came up with Fanadise. This is our main company that focuses on NFT. We started in January 2021, where this NFT craze started to boil mostly because from people that time and the Top Shot were fading in January or February 2021. We decided to try and connect NFTs with influencers and add some utility to it. We made lots of exciting things throughout the year because we were working on 3D scanning. We 3D scanned many influencers into the Metaverse. We have minted NFTs to these 3D scans and sold them to their followers.
Fancy Bears Metaverse: We’re just trying to make interesting projects with influencers. This is how we gather experience. This is how we gain some recognition in the NFT space as well.
We even minted NFTs of Digital Emotions like Digital Love and we sold it for $250,000 to one of the influencers. We minted NFTs to autographs and tried to make interesting projects with influencers. This is how we gather experience and gain some recognition in the NFT space as well. This is why we traveled the world. We went to New York, Dubai and Miami. Finally, we came up with the idea that we should make our own PFP NFT projects. This is how Fancy Bears were born.
It’s a very succinct and information-packed telling of the story of what you have been up to. I know from talking to Bartek as well, you had this interesting opportunity where somehow you had an inside look at the general NFT trend and maybe the activity that was going on in the West like in the United States. At the same time, you had this market where you were the NFT experts. You could basically transfer things that you found were exciting and successful anywhere else and just bring them to the European market. What an awesome strategy to be able to implement.
We didn’t just pop up when PFP became very popular. We were tracking this trend actively and trying to make something interesting. Firstly, we were minting NFTs and Polygon on the Binance blockchain. We have our own technology and a big team of them. In Fanadise, there are 30 people NFT startups. Our approach was to learn as much as possible. This is why we also became members of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. This is where we felt the strength and where it became so visible for us. When you go to the states and you see all the people excited with NFTs, everyone and in Europe, people don’t have a clue what Bored Ape Yacht Club is.
These are not crypto-culture conferences. Those are guys who do something technically correlated with blockchain but they barely ever heard about Bored Ape Yacht Club, NFTs and stuff. We realized the potential and we decided, “Why don’t we become the Bored Ape Yacht Club of Europe and try to make something here using all our connections, experience and try to make some interesting pop culture phenomenon, but more for the European people?” This is what we are doing.
That’s a thing that we have seen over again in the show. You liken the trend to a character like Steve Jobs. You had all these nerds working on computers in their backroom garages, basements and getting nerdy about it. They saw the potential and were excited about it. To bring technology like this to the masses, get people excited about it, you’ve got to integrate pop culture, creativity, and all these things.
You go to these conferences where you have super-smart people but they haven’t quite made the connections yet to the rest of the world. That leads me to the next question, when did you first encounter NFTs? Was this a few years ago with CryptoKitties? Have you been into blockchain for a while? What was your first exposure to NFTs?
Creating your own NFT project is like creating a brand. Click To Tweet
I’m in the crypto space since 2017. I was aware of all the trends that are happening in this space but I was only a trader, an observer. I was passive. Being an active founder of a crypto startup and being someone who watches from the sidelines are two completely different things. We consciously jumped into crypto and NFT. In January and February 2021, is where we started to build something actively where we pushed a little bit aside all the other businesses that we are working on like the agency and the eCommerce. Those things run without us.
This is where we started to discover how different it is to create something in this space rather than watch it from the sidelines. As soon as we discovered how popular the NFTs are becoming in the United States because of NBA Top Shot, which is a completely American phenomenon. We tried to find our own path. From the start, we knew that NFT was something for us because we are the guys who always worked closely with people. It’s not pop culture. It’s something that we feel very well. We created so many materials for social media.
All the clothes I manufacture are also a pop culture phenomenon. NFTs are technology but PFP NFTs are on the verge of tech and pop culture. Basically, creating your own NFT PFP project is like creating a brand. This is why we were super pumped. You can make so many exciting things. We are creating this famous song. We are doing an animated series, working with those brands, doing whatever comes to your mind, and collaborating with everyone.
We love this story that so many people in this space have of being willing to jump in and take something new by the reins, make it work, and be part of the co-creation of it. Speaking of the integrations and collaborations that you could do, you do have some collaborations planned with big brands. You have even set aside some of your collection for those collaborations. What actions are you planning for the Fancy Bears community in the future and who’s getting integrated?
There are things that we can’t announce yet because they are on our roadmap but what was already announced and what is going on is definitely our DAO. We set up a DAO not only for governance but 30% of the volume revenue from the OpenSea goes to the DAO, all the lotteries that we will be doing yearly, and all the things that we receive. We received twenty pairs of boxing gloves signed by Floyd Mayweather.
We put them into DAO. Floyd Mayweather is part of Fancy Bears as an Honorary Member. Those things go to the DAO and the community decides what will happen with all these funds and stuff. There is free merchandising for every holder. If you hold up there for six months, you get a free hoodie the same as Bartek. He rocks T-shirts in Miami because it’s tufty but the rest of the time, he rocks hoodies printed with either an Ape or a Bear.
Fancy Bears Metaverse: These things are super exciting because they are edgy, they are avant-garde. Crypto allows you to do that sort of stuff. People are excited and want to be a part of it.
This is something that’s very giving away. There’s the lottery and parties, obviously, but lots of stock is going online. I already told you that we are doing the animated series. We are working with the biggest production companies in this part of Europe to make that for us. We want to create something sustainable and we will mend NFTs to this song. These NFTs will also be part of the DAO.
Every bear will be an owner of our song, all the girls of Fancy Bears. Those things are super exciting because they are like AG. This is Avant-Garde. People are not doing this. In crypto, it allows you to do that sort of stuff. People are excited and want to be a part of it. We have so many ideas that come to our minds every single day like working with different metaverses and some games as well. All the things that are happening around, we try to make them all happen at once and make Fancy Bears the most exciting project in the space.
How do I get the Ferrari? What is the process there?
It’s a lottery. If you could hold the Bear, we make snapshots. We work together with Chainlink. They make sure that everything was handled properly. We will run this lottery and whoever wins will win.
You did explain a little bit about the royalty system. I want to make sure we cover it. It sounds like with a song that’s happening and in essence with other things that come to the community, even if it’s not a tokenized royalty, it could just be the fact that it’s owned by the community. Is that how you see royalties moving forward? Are there any other plans for providing royalties to the community?
Not everything can be in crypto because if you put your song on Spotify and Apple Music if there are royalties and there are always royalties when people play your song, this money is being paid up in dollars, some Euro or other currency. It’s not in crypto. We will keep the cash in our bank account. Despite what happens, maybe we should make a lottery, buy some NFTs or do some charity. There are a lot of ideas or maybe we should help with some projects.
There are lots of ideas that will be proposed for the community to vote. This is obviously also very interesting stuff. This community that’s an actual community because in every single project, they say they have an amazing community but these people love us. On the public sale, there was a Discord hack. Unfortunately, one of the admins was hacked.
The scammers flooded our Discord with fake links. Ninety people were scammed but we decided to reimburse these people. We gave them away $80,000. People were amazed and so proud to be a part of this community. This works in crypto. You can’t have a project data community. We are perfectly aware of it but we do our best to build an amazing one.
You gave an example thereof something that helps with that community building like handling any issues that arise in a way that people can be excited and happy about you delivering on your support to the community. Can you tell us anything else about, especially being part of the BAYC and things that you have learned about the community building strategies? I know we mentioned partnering with other NFT projects but what do you think have been some of the secrets to your success in building a powerful community?
It’s helping each other. I have never seen such a helpful and open community like Bored Ape Yacht Club. Maybe 30% of the success of Fancy Bears is our presence in the Bored Ape Yacht Club community. All the Apes that helped us, that are great friends of ours, being our advisors and if you need something, you ask people. They will tell you who you should work with, who should run their ads, and who could make a contract. “He helps you with this and that.” This community is super open. People trust each other.
For instance, Bartek’s Ape was stolen. Five minutes later, he was informed by the community members, and suddenly, lots of people wanted to help. The scammer was tracked. All the maps of the world were created. A report was created. The FBI report was created as well by some people that wanted to help us. We were there and people wanted to do this because they wanted to be helpful but ultimately, we have to buy that back. Maybe we will get these funds back, just an anecdote because it’s 58. This was one of the examples of how this community proves to be the best community on the internet.
There’s so much power in the community. Just the fact that we are all getting together to collaborate on something, as opposed to disagreeing, arguing, and having divisiveness is powerful in and of itself. That’s beautiful to see that gaining traction in what you are doing. You mentioned Floyd Mayweather. Who else is involved in this community, these celebrities that we have heard about?
We work with many American celebrities. There’s also Jay Alvarrez or many others a little bit smaller than him but we did lots of hype in Europe. For instance, in the country where he comes from, we are super well connected. We know all the influencers or celebrities. Basically, they came to us because they were so hyped by the things that we are doing. They wanted to have a Bear and even wanted to pay for the Bear.
Influencers paying for stuff means that you are doing something well. This is what happens here. We created some Honorary Bears for lots of influencers here in Poland, and Central and Eastern Europe. These people were super pumped. I assure you in Poland, everyone was talking about what’s they performed with Fancy Bears with all the influencers that changed their profile pictures.
Fancy Bears Metaverse: We know all the influencers and celebrities and they came to us because they were so hyped by the things that we’re doing and they want to have it too.
We have to work our asses off to explain what NFTs are and why it’s not a scam. We didn’t sell JPEGs. We sold NFTs. We have to explain and educate. All the interviews from all the magazines like Forbes and that sort of stuff because suddenly, everyone is excited and they don’t understand. It’s very hard to explain it, and even if you explain, people don’t get it. They need to jump in, get their first NFT, and then they are super excited. Even during our conversation, I had two Polish influencers congratulating us because they are still sending us messages, “You did something amazing,” and they are super excited to see it.
Congratulations. It’s all that hard work you put in and even though you are feeling that things are successful, I can imagine a lot of the way you are crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.
There were celebrations. After the public reached us, we had one hour or a little bit of rest and then we rushed to work again.
You mentioned the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which has been super powerful for us and what you are doing. That’s cool how much you have integrated into that community. Can you tell us about any other projects and platforms that you look to for inspiration in the NFT blockchain space?
Definitely, you have to not only analyze but make friends with older projects like CryptoMories the Cool Cats, Pudgy Penguins, and all the other projects. We are talking about basically every big project in the market. Not only to make business but to make friends, to share experiences, and make something together. This is why I love this space because everyone wants to connect and do something. The Bored Ape Yacht Club basically moved this phenomenon more to the mainstream and made it so popular.
All their projects are thinking of so many exciting things, of the ways to communicate, of how to keep your community excited, and how to gratify them for being with you. We try to keep up with them. We try to make friends with them, learn from them, and help them. It’s all about that stuff. All the space is exciting, not only the Bored Ape Yacht Club. We are Apes.
I’ve got one more question for you. We always like to ask something like, “This and that’s. What’s next in the next few years?” That seems like a long time but it’s interesting to know what people are thinking about in terms of what do you see in the future of NFTs, projects, or platforms that you think will be around or doing something that’s going to be around?
You can't have a project without a community. Click To Tweet
We know perfectly well that the biggest obstacle or maybe a challenge for crypto is to be implemented into the mainstream even though all the crypto world works in the consensus. There is a consensus that NFT holds some value. It doesn’t necessarily mean that if you put something into the metadata, you own it. This consensus is not represented by law most often but I’m pretty sure that this law will keep up and NFTs will become a key factor in distributing ownership of the internet.
I call NFTs Digital Certificates of Ownership that is such a universal technology that will be used globally and for many different purposes. If you are going to zero or you had solutions that you need to do X for Polygons, NFTs are super cheap and fast. This is the challenge for all the blockchain to grow their effectiveness and optimize the costs. I’m pretty sure that NFTs, beyond all, is a technology that will reshape the existing world in so many ways. It depends on the space. I’m bullish about NFTs as well.
You mentioned the Certificate of Digital Ownership and it’s something that we are just beginning to see the implications of in these NFT projects. What we are seeing a little bit more in decentralized finance is that, not only they are a digital Certificate of Ownership but there are smart contracts or even beyond that. They are like a little supercomputer.
Each NFT can program all sorts of automated functionality into them. It would be very interesting to see how that all plays out as people begin to say, “What can I and do I want to do with that kind of tech?” It’s great stuff. I’m excited about it. I’m happy about the success of what you have built. What we like to do in our next segment is to get to know you a little bit better.
It’s a segment we call Edge Quick Hitters. It is a fun and quick way to get to know you better. There are ten questions and we are looking for a short, single or few-word response but you can feel free to expand a little bit if you get the urge. You have already given me the go-ahead. You are excited to move forward with this. Let’s hit on the first question. What is the first thing you remember ever purchasing in your life?
Donald Duck comic books.
Did you get the Huey, Louie, and Dewey like the three brother ducks or was it just about Donald Duck?
Donald Duck, in Poland in the ‘90s, was a thing.
Fancy Bears Metaverse: We love the NFT space because everyone wants to connect. Everyone wants to do something.
On the other side of that, what is the first thing you ever remember selling in your life?
It’s something in Polish eBay. Maybe some books.
Is Polish eBay actually eBay or is it a Polish version of eBay?
We have a Polish version of eBay like Allegro. eBay is non-existent in Poland.
I spent a year and a half living in Peru and the first thing that became strangely apparent to me is that Amazon.com did not exist in Peru, whereas when I lived in New York City, I could order anything and it would be at my doorstep in a day. Living in Peru, I couldn’t order anything. People didn’t even hardly deliver things to your doorstep. The next question, what is the most recent thing that you purchased?
A sandwich and a coffee in the morning.
What kind of sandwich?
It’s made out of eggs and mayonnaise. You somehow mix it. It’s egg salad in a bagel here.
The follow-up to that is what is the most recent thing you sold?
It was definitely some clothes. I’m selling clothes every single minute.
I have gotten to do so many things in my life but one thing I remember when I was younger, I always thought it would be fun to do fashion. I feel like I spent so much time with other things that my fashion skills have diminished. The next question is, what is your most prized possession?
Digitally, it would be my Ape. Physically, my friends.
If you could buy anything in the world, digital, physical, service, the experience that is currently for sale, what would it be?
A friend of mine sent me some pictures of tea plantations in Sri Lanka. I think I will buy it.
That is one of the most unique answers we’ve got. Those are beautiful dreams to have. I hope you achieve that. Make sure you update us when you do. We will make an announcement. We have had guests on the show where they tell us what they would like and we have been able to deliver it for them. For example, we had the guy from Jadu Jetpacks who started that company. He said that he loved Pink Floyd and had a cool piece of Pink Floyd memorabilia.
We happened to know the sax player that played with Pink Floyd, who is also like a memorabilia nut and has a ton of it. We were able to connect the two of them. Unfortunately, we cannot connect you with this plantation but if we find a way, we will. The next question is about passing on your personality traits. If you could pass on one of your personality traits to the next generation, what do you think that would be?
Persistence.
If you could eliminate one of your personality traits from the next generation, what would it be?
That would be the worst side of persistence, which is stubbornness.
Fancy Bears Metaverse: The challenge for blockchain is to grow its effectiveness and optimize the costs.
You’ve got to know when to let go and give up. The next one is an easy one. What did you do before joining us on the show?
I kissed my girlfriend.
The next thing is on the list here is what are you going to do next after the show?
I would kiss my girlfriend again.
That’s a great last answer for the show. That pretty much covers what we wanted to cover. I love to wrap it up. Before we do, I want to know where the readers go to learn more about you and the projects that you are working on?
We live and thrive on Twitter. You should go to @FancyBearsMetaverse on Twitter and Discord. You should follow me and Bartek because this is where most of the exciting things happen. We log the accounts. We post as Fancy Bears. Bartek post as Bartek. I post as myself. Lots of things are going on on Instagram as well but Twitter is native for NFTs and crypto. This is the best source of information you can get.
You are social media superstars. What would be your handle that you want to say for people to go look for?
We have our names and surnames, @BartekSibiga and @JakubChmielniak. If you go to Fancy Bears Metaverse, our handles are in the bio. It’s easy to find us.
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We have reached the outer limit at the Edge of NFTs for this episode. Thanks for exploring with us. We’ve got space for more adventures on the starship, so invite your friends and recruit some cool strangers that will make this journey all so much better. How? Go to iTunes, rate us and say something awesome, and then go to EdgeOfNft.com to dive further down the rabbit hole. Remember, we always invite you to co-create and build with us at the show.
We are unlocking a whole new way to connect and collaborate with us through our own NFT drops, Spirit Seeds, leading to our living tree NFTs, which light the way to our NFT LA convention. It’s a one-of-a-kind immersive and unforgettable experience at LA Live in Los Angeles, March 28 to 30, 2022. Check that out at NFTLA.live and move quickly on our early bird tickets as they are live and moving quickly. Lastly, be sure to tune in next time for more great NFT content. Thanks again for sharing this time with us.
Important Links:
- BAYC
- Fanadise
- Fancy Bears Metaverse
- Chainlink
- Amazon.com
- Jadu Jetpacks – Past Episode
- @FancyBearsMetaverse – Twitter
- Discord – Fancy Bears Metaverse
- Instagram – Fancy Bears Metaverse
- @BartekSibiga – Twitter
- @JakubChmielniak – Instagram
- iTunes – Edge of NFT
- Spirit Seeds
- NFTLA.live
About Jakub Chmielniak
My name is Jakub Chmielniak. I created Mr. Gugu & Miss Go. I also launched several other brands and startups. Join me and let’s create magical things together!
Involved so far in:
Lethe, Mr. Gugu & Miss Go, Aloha From Deer, Bittersweet Paris, Carpatree, Live Heroes, Bonkers, Basiclo, Plants & Pots, Colien, Silky Mood, Pillosophy, Fancy Flora, Urban Patrol, Sock Shock, Vizzo, Printsy, Animi2, Rum & Coco, Merilux, Shopsy
and together with the other guys I create DDOB (influencer marketing agency), Corner (ecommerce livestreaming app & more) and Fanadise (world’s first creator NFT platform).
I specialize in ecommerce, blockchain, influencer marketing, social media, advertising, branding, manufacturing, logistics and software – hit me up if you need any advice!
Got any general questions for me? Drop them at jakub@mrgugu.com!
I’m also a podcast host (only Polish for now, sorry!): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaWn5SB75PguCwrF4PAUXFg
“Jakub Chmielniak is a young Polish entrepreneur, who proved over a very short period of time that all you need to achieve global success is passion, commitment, and perseverance. He created such brands and projects as Mr. Gugu & Miss Go, Live Heroes, or Carpatree, he doesn’t rest on his laurels and he is planning to surprise the market over the next few years with more innovative ideas – not only on clothes, but also on technological innovations, business social responsibility, environmental care, and levelling social inequalities.
In Polish and foreign media, he is portrayed as an artistic soul, a man whose clothes are worn by hipsters all over the world and, at the same time, as an efficient businessman, who wants to make his dreams come true by helping young people to achieve their goals.”
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