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Meet "The Next Crypto Gem" Executive Producer Jett Tang!
10 Plays1 year ago
Crypto is getting its first mainstream TV show and I'm bringing you the alpha!
Learn all about the show, my close-up and juicy behind-the-scenes filming deets when #BehindthePFP goes behind "The Next Crypto Gem" with executive producer Jett Tang!
Stay tuned for alpha drops on who's making a surprise appearance in season 2!
xx Jade
Follow Jett!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ultrastarter
Follow Hourglass / "The Next Crypto Gem"
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hourglass_wait
Website: https://linktr.ee/thenextcryptogem
Follow Jade!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cryptoismyjam
Medium: https://medium.com/@cryptoismyjam
🚨 DISCLAIMER 🚨
This show is for entertainment purposes only. This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional before making any decisions.
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Transcript
The UFC's Financial Turnaround
00:00:00
Speaker
this week on Behind the PFP. The UFC is worth over $12 billion now. And originally they were struggling until they had a TV show called The Ultimate Fighter. And they were actually losing money. I remember The Ultimate Fighter. I love that show. Yeah, that's what TV can do. So here I am seeing crypto struggle.
00:00:25
Speaker
You know, Doquan, SPF, all they talk about is the scandals. Meanwhile, I know, like you, we know so many good people that are trying to build real things that really believe in decentralization, that really believe in the power of blockchain and these incredible communities, and no one's talking about that.
Parallels Between UFC and Crypto Media
00:00:43
Speaker
So I'm thinking maybe crypto needs an ultimate fighter moment, and that was my inspiration behind the show.
00:01:02
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Behind the PFP. Thank you so much for your patience while I enjoyed my vacation hiatus. We're off with a bang, and I have a great guest for you today.
Jett's Journey to Crypto
00:01:15
Speaker
He is an artsy investment banker turned crypto degen, and most recently, Hollywood producer. Jett, welcome to the show. Hey, it's great to be here, Jade.
00:01:27
Speaker
Now, you and I had the chance to get to know each other quite a bit. We spent most of last week filming the new TV show, The Next Crypto Gem, which I definitely want to get to in a minute. But first, I was hoping you could tell us a little bit about your background for those that don't know you, how you first got into crypto and even your story before that when you were in a band. Is that right? And then you decided you had to start making some money and get into investing. Yeah, yeah.
00:01:53
Speaker
Well, I originally, I'm from New York. I went to cross coasts, went to school up in Northern California in UC Berkeley. I originally wanted to do all artistic stuff. So I was very into filmmaking, music production. I was with a production group that actually did a bunch of remixes for classified records. I worked with some, did some remixes for SWV, Maya, other groups. And eventually what happened was I decided that I'm not making enough money.
00:02:23
Speaker
And as a young man in my early 20s or so, I decided that I really need to focus on ways to be successful. It was going too slow, so I ended up being a business person. I wound up in mergers and acquisitions in investment banking, dealt with private equity firms, CEOs of companies, putting together deals. It was a very good learning experience, got to learn with me a lot of successful people, not nearly as fun as crypto.
00:02:53
Speaker
And so I got into crypto around 2016 as an investor, been really interested in the space since only in the end of last year, fall of last year, did I get involved in leading a crypto community called Hourglass.
Creating 'The Next Crypto Gem' Show
00:03:09
Speaker
And what we decided to do was try to find a way to add a lot of value into the Web3 space.
00:03:17
Speaker
So I brought together a partner who is the head of Neff Brands and he's a very, very successful individual who owns a fintech company with 7,000 institutional clients and over 20 companies, including a TV production studio. And the first project we tried to decided to do together with Hourglass and Neff Entertainment was the next crypto gem TV show. And so, as you know, as you're one of the guest stars who
00:03:47
Speaker
I've been told by all the producers and directors stealing the show with your with great performance it's it's been an incredible incredible ride and we just wrapped shoot the first season we have.
00:04:03
Speaker
some of the best people in crypto on there. Leah Halpern, Brian D. Evans, George from Cryptos R Us. We have Ben BitBoy Armstrong in there in a guest starring role. And we also have one of the original sharks, Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank, pro poker player Tom Dwan.
00:04:22
Speaker
And it's going to be an exciting, exciting ride. I'm really happy with how the shoot went. It looks amazing. Our distributors are thrilled and we're getting a really good reaction. This is going to be everywhere in a couple of months. We're going to reach hundreds of millions of homes. And over the next couple of months, we're going to be announcing all our platforms and regions that we're adding. So it's going to be a really exciting time. And then on to season two.
00:04:50
Speaker
Wow. So there's a lot to unpack there. And thank you, because he answered like my next six questions. Okay. That was great. But one thing I didn't realize when you and I first started talking a couple months ago about me possibly being involved in the show is I didn't realize that this TV show was actually part of a bigger community and part of Hourglass and
Community and Token Integration in the Show
00:05:14
Speaker
the wait token until I actually read the white paper. So I'm curious, how does the show really tie into this community? Is the token going to be more involved in the TV show? Can you explain a little bit more about that?
00:05:27
Speaker
Yeah, that was kind of the genesis of the project. I'm part of a community token community called Hourglass. I'm one of the co-chairs. And when we got together with Neft, we were thinking, what can we do for all of crypto that will be good for everyone? And that's how we came up with the show. So the show is funded by myself and the head of Neft. And our goal for the first season is to generate as much revenue and reach as possible.
00:05:58
Speaker
some of that revenue is gonna come back into the Hourglass community. And then season two and beyond, we're going to be adding token utility and integration. And I'm not gonna give that away, but that'll be an announcement that we have over the next few weeks or so. And if you think of it in one way, one of my inspirations for the show was that it was recently announced that the UFC
Crypto's Turning Point and Public Perception
00:06:27
Speaker
is worth over twelve billion dollars now and originally they were struggling until they had a tv show called the ultimate fighter and they were actually losing money i remember the ultimate fighter i love that show yeah that's what tv can do so here's here i am seeing crypto struggle
00:06:48
Speaker
You know, Doquan, SPF, all they talk about is the scandals. Meanwhile, I know, like you, we know so many good people that are trying to build real things that really believe in decentralization, that really believe in the power of blockchain and these incredible communities. And no one's talking about that. So I'm thinking maybe crypto needs an ultimate fighter moment. And that was my inspiration behind the show. And so, like, if you think of the ultimate fighter,
00:07:16
Speaker
If you think of the UFC, Hourglass is kind of like the UFC of the next crypto gem, the entity behind it, the project behind the project, and then all the contestants each time, all of those projects are like the fighters. And so Hourglass will be involved with all of our every single season, obviously, of the next crypto gem.
00:07:38
Speaker
So this is something that you and I have a lot in common because I agree with you that one of the biggest issues affecting crypto today is all the negativity and mainstream media. And this was a huge inspiration for me starting this podcast. I had met so many wonderful people like you who are building and working so hard in the space, but their stories were getting lost in all of the noise.
00:08:02
Speaker
When I heard about your project, the next crypto jam, and you were going to counter that negativity by showcasing all of these great people that are building in the space. And when I got to meet the contestants, I mean, the passion.
00:08:17
Speaker
emanates from them. And I just know that that's going to translate in America, not just America, the entire world is going to be able to see how much these people love it, right? When you get to actually meet the person and hear their stories and see just how much they love and care about it, it's not about the money for them. It's really about bringing crypto mainstream adoption and doing it through an educational way.
00:08:42
Speaker
And that's what you're doing with your show. The next crypto jump is using education and entertainment to bring that mainstream. So one thing that I was wondering, because I wasn't there for all of filming, but I know that the show was written with no pointers or normies in mind. So for the lay person at home, you know, what do you hope their big takeaway is and how are you going to share all of this information without it going completely over their heads? Well, it's exactly what you said.
00:09:11
Speaker
The problem with the mainstream media is that they like to simplify things in terms of just in a way that's very easy to turn into clickbait. And to do that, they like to draw black and white characters. And generally, cryptos are people are portrayed as the villains, right? And it's portrayed as this dark corner of the internet. They like to tell stories where people made it big and then they lost it all. And they like to portray us as shady characters.
00:09:41
Speaker
The problem is that that can only go so far when you actually get to know the real builders behind it. You and I know the contestants and how good they are. Oh my God.
00:09:54
Speaker
We can't leak that, unfortunately. That will be known to the world in a couple of months. But as humans, we connect with stories, we connect with people. And so what we've done is we've put crypto into a recognizable competitive reality show format where it's suspenseful because you want to know how people are doing the challenges, who's going to win it, how are these people going to overcome what they've been put through, right?
00:10:24
Speaker
But you're also really getting to connect with these people, both the judges and the contestants, on a really human level, and you get to know them. And I think that that overcomes all the FUD, and that's kind of what we're trying to do here. We're humanizing crypto, showing the people behind it, and it becomes impossible, I think, to
00:10:46
Speaker
to look at it in a very negative caricature way after you've seen these contestants and their passion and their knowledge and how intelligent and smart they are.
00:10:56
Speaker
And so I think that, yeah, that's really a unique way of changing crypto and how we're trying to take it mainstream. I think that a lot of projects just look at things very technically and say that, OK, this is a technical white paper. If we do X, Y, Z, you know, everything, then it'll achieve this, which is great.
00:11:19
Speaker
Also, but we have to remember we are people, we are tribal. It's in our blood to connect via connecting with each other, connecting with stories. And we should never underestimate the power of media and film.
00:11:32
Speaker
I love what you said, and the first thing that comes to my mind is, you know, when the normal person at home watches the show and then sees the headline, maybe instead of just jumping to conclusions, they'll do a double take and think, well, hey, I watched the show, the real people, the real building. I don't think every single person is a scammer or X, Y, and Z, like you said. Exactly, exactly. And we also did things purposely in terms of how we sequence the challenges.
00:11:58
Speaker
to introduce normie, no-coiners into the basics of crypto. And so the idea is, gradually as the episodes go on, they kind of learn more and more. And we even have this really creative way of describing some of our terminology and slang throughout the series. So you're being entertained, but you're also getting educated on the space at the same time. And I know this works for me because I watch shows
00:12:26
Speaker
that i originally didn't care about the topic at all but they're competitive shows and now suddenly i know so much about survival how to start you know when i'm watching survival shows now i much of must have seen how they make fire about 10 000 times from watching all those survival shows and create shelters with the tarps and everything so um yeah i think it really works when you're being entertained it makes it a lot more fun to be educated too
00:12:53
Speaker
Absolutely. And kind of tapping into that child within us all. And I just love the idea of my normie parents watching this at home. They are absolutely going to be watching this one because I'm finally going to be on something that's not YouTube that they have to go on a computer to watch.
00:13:09
Speaker
But two, they're finally going to be able to watch and learn about crypto in a way. When I try to explain things to them, I just feel like it's always going over their head and their eyes glaze over and they look like a deer on headlights. So for you guys to do this in an engaging way, this is great for me. I have so many friends, not just my parents that reach out to me. What is crypto? What's a hard wallet? Explain this to me. So for you to be able to do this, you know, to so many people at the same time, I think that's a massive scope
00:13:35
Speaker
And it really excites me. And the other thing I would say is I want to thank you, Jett, because I feel like, at least for my parents, and I know if it's true for them, it's probably true for others, when they see something on TV, it just gives them that little bit of credibility. Oh, it's on TV, so it must be okay. So thank you for validating my crypto journey with me and my parents, because once they see this, they're just going to say, you know what? I think I understand now why she got bit by that crypto bug.
00:14:04
Speaker
Right. And not only that, they get to see you crushing it in all things. So, yeah, no. Look, I hope it does exactly that. And there is something validating that once something is a TV show, then it's a real thing. And so really proud that we're going to get this on air all over in the next couple of months. Can you talk a little bit about the process for selecting the contestants or is that still under wraps?
00:14:33
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we had a few dozen contestants at the time. Our show was a little bit less of a known entity than it is now. And we looked for a number of them made it to this interview round where they interviewed with one of our producers and then we ran them by judges.
00:14:55
Speaker
I think that we chose, and you know who they are, but you can't say, I think we chose really good in terms of the teams that made it to the live show in LA and are the ones that the judges are critiquing going through the challenges. We're looking for people that are articulate, that have passion, and that are interesting. And I can't wait for people to find out.
00:15:22
Speaker
So I did see some of the filming and there's some fierce competition. The judges had a very difficult decision to make, at least while I was there. A lot of times the judges were sincerely torn. So like George and Brian would be like, gosh, I don't know what I'm going to do. And I would just say, look, it's your decision. Judges have the power. It's up to you. And meanwhile, I'm literally thinking the same thing. And I was almost thinking, I'm glad I'm not one of the judges because there was a lot of cases where it's
00:15:51
Speaker
It's ambiguous, where it's like, okay, well, this challenge, these people were more prepared, perhaps, but then maybe the other person was less prepared, but they told a more heartwarming story or something. So how do you say who did better in that challenge? You have to somehow come up with a criteria and an algorithm in your head and then make the call.
00:16:14
Speaker
And what I will say is I think that all of the feedback and critiques from from Leah, George and Brian, they were all very reasonable, very objective. And I'm just so excited that they did such a great job in there. You know, we want we're already talking about season two now and how we can make things different. Some things a little bit better, even. And we're still evolving. I think that if you think back to American, the first American idol with like Kelly Clarkson
00:16:44
Speaker
Justin Guarini, I think is his name. And, you know, they went a long way, too. They started somewhere and then they kept on building bigger and bigger and better. And so we're going to go through that same learning process as our seasons evolve.
00:16:57
Speaker
So you spent all of last week filming pretty much the entire season one. And those were some grueling hours, just the days that I was there. You must be exhausted.
Behind the Scenes of 'The Next Crypto Gem'
00:17:08
Speaker
But I was wondering if you can share any fun behind the scenes moments without any spoilers, of course.
00:17:16
Speaker
One of my favorite moments was when two of my favorite crypto icons slash YouTubers got together, and that was George and Ben BitBoy. And George had actually told me the story that they had not met in person for five years. And the last time they had met in person, George had just started his YouTube channel, and Ben hadn't even started his YouTube channel yet. So they were just like complete,
00:17:45
Speaker
noobs and look at where they are now. I mean, they're two of the biggest personalities in crypto. And so imagine that journey is like, it's kind of like if you were in Hollywood and you were just like two extras and now suddenly you're Ben Affleck and Matt David or something, right? It was really interesting. And they even, George even mentioned they had these little really silly crypto feuds over like, is this project good or not?
00:18:11
Speaker
And so they bickered a little bit, but it was all love when they came together. And I think that they both have so much respect for each other and it was great watching them talk and connect and catch up after that many years. The other favorite moment was when I encountered your confrontation with BitBoy and it turned out that BitBoy had blocked you. So maybe I'll interview you and you can tell me the story of that and how you guys made up.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, so this was an interesting story for me. I was so excited to see him on set because, I mean, there was a period of months where I watched his videos every single day and I was so excited to meet him, but I knew that he had blocked me because I said something so stupid and we were on, we were on set and I was like, hi, I'm so and so, it's such a pleasure to meet you. And then he's like, oh, what's your name? Oh, you're the girl I blocked on Twitter.
00:19:08
Speaker
And I cannot believe he remembers that considering how many followers he has and how many people have said dumb things. And he actually remembered specifically that he blocked you. He might have a photographic memory.
00:19:20
Speaker
But what I want to say is we ended up having a really great conversation for about an hour afterwards, like after the filming was done, and I was blown away by getting to know him in person. He's a very polarizing character. He says what's on his mind, and he's not afraid to say it. And I was immature. I said something stupid that I shouldn't have said. I was just repeating information. I didn't know him. I had no place to say it.
00:19:48
Speaker
I did apologize and he was really cool, except in my apology. And he told me some fantastic stories about him, how he got into crypto stories about him and other YouTubers to the point where I started taking notes and I said, Ben, I love hearing this about you. You know, would you come on my podcast so I can share this side of you? If more people got to see this side of you, I think it would really do some good. And he said, he said yes. And so we're in the process of setting that up.
00:20:16
Speaker
That's amazing. So it was fun to get to see that side. And it was really fun for me to be able to come and meet all the judges. I'm a huge fan of Leah. I have been following her for so long and getting to meet her in person. I just think she's a boxer, another person that is not afraid to see her mind. So it was so much fun for me to be on set and to meet my own crypto idols. I just the best, the best time.
00:20:42
Speaker
I'm so glad to hear that and I think that there is something that changes when you meet people in person. I think a lot of people view Twitter sometimes as almost just like this little battleground and it's just like who can, you know, who can
00:20:57
Speaker
get this idea across that's like, but a bang, right? In the shortest amount of time. But when you actually meet people and you have longer, deeper conversations, you get to understand that people, there's more depth involved with people. There's a lot more gray. It's not just back and white, good or bad. And that's why I really like
00:21:15
Speaker
I like listening to like the Joe Rogan podcast, the Tim Ferriss podcast. I love that long format like what we're doing because over lots of, you know, at least tens of minutes or hours, you get to get a bigger picture view of what people are really about rather than just this tweet, this tweet, boom, boom, boom, you know.
00:21:36
Speaker
It's more like a game sometimes, I think. I'm really glad that you guys made up and I did send you a quick snippet of the video of you guys making up as well. It's a great video. I'll see if I can share it. I think that's why the next crypto gem is going to do great things because it shows that side of people that the normal person wouldn't be able to see when they're reading through
00:22:03
Speaker
a white paper or some docs. So with that being said, as far as the future goes, when can we expect season one?
Future Plans for the Show
00:22:10
Speaker
I heard you've teased now a season two and a season three. What's the alpha?
00:22:18
Speaker
Okay, well, season one is going to drop somewhere around the June-July area. We don't know exactly. The show is going to be at MIP TV. I think it's April 18th, 20th, which is the largest TV distribution conference in the world. We're going to be represented there. We already have a ton of
00:22:39
Speaker
distribution. We're ready in over 170 platforms, over 50 countries, over 12 languages, but we're going to be in even more. So it's going to be really exciting over the next few weeks as we roll out one by one all the new platforms that we're on. We already know that the show is going to be very profitable based on our investment in it, just based on our existing deals. And so it's very easy to say that we're going to be doing season two and season
00:23:09
Speaker
We're going to do season two bigger and better, at least double the budget. We're going to have an even bigger studio, even more camera people.
00:23:19
Speaker
You are gonna be part of season two, by the way. The producers really liked you, so we want you to be a continuation, as well as the judges and several of our guest stars. So we're definitely gonna be doing season two. I don't know exactly when we're gonna have the call for contestants for that, but we'll figure that out. And well, season three is just an idea at this time that I'm sure will happen, but we'll just focus on season one and season two.
00:23:49
Speaker
So after all the fun that you're having now working in crypto and Hollywood and making TV, I'm going to guess you're not going back to TradFi anytime soon. Oh, you mean like the mergers and acquisitions deal making stuff now. It was really, you learn a lot from that job, but it's very frustrating because you have to come up with these ideas.
00:24:13
Speaker
for CEOs and for private equity firms of which 99% don't turn into anything. And then so you're always proposing possibilities, like perhaps you can buy this company and it'll be synergistic, but 99% of the time they don't come to anything. So you feel like you're spinning your wheels. Then that 1% of the time it is so important because it ends up being like a $10 million deal that that's what you did all the work for. But I find from a human standpoint, you feel like you're just
00:24:43
Speaker
It's like trying to cut down a tree with a hammer or something. It's very frustrating. As opposed to what I've experienced with the show is that we've had so many partners that see what we're doing in crypto and they like it and they share our mission. So like Luna PR, one of the best PR firms, they said, we also want to educate the masses and simplify it. So they wanted to be our media partners, the Dubai-based arm of Cointelegraph.
00:25:12
Speaker
And now we're talking with Club 3, which is part of Animoca almost every day. So we're really, I mean, Animoca is a multi-billion dollar brand. I think there's so much we can do together with them. And the ratio of successful partnerships in crypto, and when you have a unique TV show versus investment banking and trying to do a merger, it's not even
Crypto vs. Traditional Finance Partnerships
00:25:34
Speaker
close. This is so much better. One thing that I like to ask all my guests about two things is,
00:25:40
Speaker
What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment or proudest moment in the space? And then on the flip sides, what do you think is your biggest challenge? And how did you overcome it? I know that we've talked about quite a few things that you're proud of and a couple of challenges, but if you could single out one proud moment and one challenge, what would they be and why?
00:25:59
Speaker
I think the thing that I'm the proudest about is really our community in Hourglass because we have so many people and you could see a lot of them even use the Hourglass as their avatar profile pic that all the cryptos out there, there's thousands of cryptos, they've decided to make
00:26:17
Speaker
this part of their core identity and they're in our telegram chat all the time and they believe in what we're doing with taking crypto mainstream and with the TV show and all these other integrations we're going to do with Neft with all their other apps as well. And so I think that that's probably the thing that I'm proudest about, just that we were able to have such a smart community of people that believe in us. And they believed in us even when it was just an idea. I was at
00:26:47
Speaker
Decentral, one of the convention in Miami, just in November. And we hadn't officially announced even that we had any of the judges yet or anything, but we just had a exhibit there. And a lot of people really liked the idea, but there were quite a bit of skeptics that were just like, TV show, crypto, this is never going to happen. It's never going to see light. Is this another rug? Is this another scam?
00:27:14
Speaker
And so a lot of people just didn't know the cloth of which myself and my partners are cut. In our world of business, in non-crypto world, you have to execute. There's no other choice. I mean, if you say you're going to do something, you have to do it. So the moment we said we were going to do the show, we were 100% committed to doing the show, and you were there, you know that we didn't skimp. We went out.
00:27:40
Speaker
And it's gonna be and same thing with season two. If we say we're gonna go twice as big season two, that's what we're gonna do. So I think that the other other than the community, the other proudest thing is just that we that we walk the walk and what we promised and we're ahead of schedule even.
00:27:58
Speaker
Wow, that is incredible. And I think you touched on an important point. It feels to me that I know that you're a crypto person, but as far as the partners goes, they're not really crypto people. They're media people or, you know, business people that are trying to do crypto. So they're not familiar with this rug pole, DJ, and I'm going to say I'm going to do something and
00:28:18
Speaker
set up a website for a couple grand and then rug pull. That's not in their jargon. They're going to set up a business and they're going to do it, they're going to deliver it and that's what you guys are doing and I think that's what sets you apart. When I was on set, I was absolutely blown away. This was a full on production.
00:28:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think that what happens is that the more we build the foundation stronger and stronger, the more everyone comes on board. So in the beginning, when it was just an idea, it was the hardest sell. Then when we got Brian Evans, he's one of the most credible VCs in crypto. I love Brian. He's helped so much in so many ways.
00:28:56
Speaker
That was a really strong brick, you know? And now we can get Leia because she knows that we have Brian on board and we have, you know, Neff brands on board, you know, an incredibly successful entrepreneur backing this. Then that opened, then George is like, okay, I like, I like Brian and Leia as the other two judges. I'm in as the third judge. And then once we had them three, that led to being able to get BitBoy and, and everyone else. And, um,
00:29:23
Speaker
Obviously, it's brick by brick, and then we were able to build partnerships within crypto and outside crypto. Another thing that I really liked is that the production people, you notice they weren't crypto people. I think you probably noticed like the camera people, the PAs, the grips. At the end, in the beginning, a lot of them had this
00:29:48
Speaker
perception of us was a kind of caricature like, you know, just these basement dwelling weird cyberpunk people, you know, and at the end, a lot of them said, wow, I didn't never really knew that there were so many smart people, so many interesting ideas and so much going on. And a lot of them started asking me, like, how do I get involved?
00:30:08
Speaker
And so if you think of that as just a microcosm of our show, that we were able to affect the people that were right near us and involved in the making. What's going to happen when now the show is going to reach millions and millions of people globally? I think we can make an impact. You're absolutely right. I heard more than a couple of people say I bought my first crypto today. Right? The company said I was there. I definitely heard that. It works.
00:30:37
Speaker
One thing I wanted to ask you, I know that you've lived through three market cycles as an investor.
Advice for Crypto Enthusiasts
00:30:44
Speaker
So what advice would you give to someone new in the crypto space? All these new people that are going to be joining crypto because they've seen your TV show. What is the first piece of advice that you would give them?
00:30:54
Speaker
The first piece of your advice is don't beat yourself up if you don't play the first cycle that you're in. Well, the first cycle that I was in, the 2017-2018 boom and bust, I didn't know what I was doing really. I was just like everyone else, you know, FOMO-ing on Bitcoin, a little bit of Litecoin, XRP, didn't know, you know, had no idea what was going on.
00:31:18
Speaker
You get better each cycle. You learn more. You start to figure out what are the trends, what's going on, or who's just hype and who's really building. And you have to look at everything as a learning experience. If you look at something
00:31:35
Speaker
bad happening if you can if you think of yourself as a victim when something bad happens that's that's just gonna hurt you going forward if you look at it is i that was a really important lesson that just gonna make me more knowledgeable than it makes you stronger moving forward so that would be my advice the other advice i would be is that don't
00:31:56
Speaker
Unless what you want to do is be a day trader, the big money is generally being made by identifying projects that really have a long-term mission and leadership that is going to stick with it and has the funding and the resources to make it happen. Over several months, over years, you can make incredible ROI if you invest in the right teams and people.
00:32:24
Speaker
If you're just trying to play whatever is the hot thing at the moment where, you know, so and so influencer is suddenly pumping this cash tag a lot. Yeah, that's totally that's different I mean that's that's that's mostly gambling. And I mean the plays that I've
00:32:40
Speaker
made the most on. I was in Matic Polygon at one cent or so. I understood what they were doing. I understood that it was an important solution to a lot of the issues regarding ETH fees. Staying the course, that's how you make the
00:32:58
Speaker
big multiples, the 50, 100, 200 Xs. And so if you have a great project that's doing great things, you want to stay course, doesn't mean that you can't scale out and take some profits along the way. But a lot too many people try to be too perfect, dart in, dart out, be on every hot trend, and you're really often just playing yourself.
00:33:20
Speaker
Hey, great. You are such a wealth of information. And we also have a lot in common. I feel like I could talk to you for hours. We found out that there's a few rabbit holes that we enjoy. But one interesting thing that I found out that we have in common is a favorite book we were on. I gave Leah a copy of
00:33:39
Speaker
The Way of the Superior Man by David Data, I thought that she would enjoy reading it. And when I gave it to her, you said, oh my God, that's one of my favorite books. It's really kind of changed my life. And it really kind of changed my life too. And then I also read a few other of his books. And so for anyone who hasn't read it, I do recommend it. But I'm wondering, in your words, what is a superior man? And how has that kind of changed your life? Or how do you embody that in your day to day life?
00:34:07
Speaker
Yeah. And so the first thing I want to say is because a lot of in this, especially in today's culture, a lot of people get sensitive. So when he says the way of the superior man, he doesn't mean superior to women. He means superior to other men. So that's the first thing I want to clarify. I think that the biggest lesson that
00:34:25
Speaker
that is in that book is that you have to, above all, find a calling and to have a greater purpose. And if you have that, then you'll achieve success. And then things regarding comfort and companionship, all that stuff will just come along the way with it.
00:34:45
Speaker
If you are inherently kind of a weaker person and you don't have a purpose, but you're just always thinking about, how can I be more comfortable? How can I have people love me? You're actually going to not be as successful in life generally. And so I've read that book in my early 20s. I think that our educational system doesn't do enough about teaching you how to be successful.
00:35:13
Speaker
In school, you mostly learn how to regurgitate information. In a lot of ways, unfortunately, they're training you to be a lower-level employee, I think, because that's what a lot of lower-level employees do. They just regurgitate information. I think in this day and age, a lot of that is going to end up being replaced by automation and AI. It's really thinking outside the box creatively.
00:35:39
Speaker
and creating symphony among different things going on, which is going to be an important skill. And so I think that, you know, I learned a lot in terms of how to be successful from books. And that was one of them.
Educational Influences and the Promise of Web3
00:35:54
Speaker
And other ones are books from like Anthony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within is like a huge one. Brian Tracy, Focal Point, Eat the Frog. I found that I learned more from gurus. Oh, Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
00:36:09
Speaker
I find that more books about how to be successful, how to have a successful mindset were more influential to me than school in a lot of ways. So David Dida, Wave Superior Man, that was a good one. Now, just a couple of quick questions and then a little wrap up. Okay. So I call this a quick take section, usually designed for just one word or shorter answers. So what is your most used crypto slang, IRL?
00:36:37
Speaker
Definitely FOMO, because that's a positive one, so we always want to think positive. I feel that every day. Who is your Web3 crush?
00:36:49
Speaker
I'll say Paris Hilton because she's overcome a lot, went through difficult things, and she's done a really good job with her branding and growing herself as a business. And she didn't have to because she could have just been a trust fund person that was incredibly lazy, but she chooses to work hard and has a great style and brand. Exactly. And look what that TV show did for them. Exactly. Yep.
00:37:16
Speaker
Community or utility? I think you need to have both. I think that the people who are community maximalists sometimes are missing a piece. And the people that are utility maximalists are really often missing a piece that they're not thinking that the community matters. And either way, it's a big mistake. I think you need to have both. Which do you prefer? Hollywood, exec, or crypto degen?
00:37:48
Speaker
I guess that you can I'm exactly since since I'm the co-creator and producer of this TV show, Hollywood TV show about crypto, I'm exactly the hybrid in between. All right. You're the first of your kind. Yeah. Yeah. Crossbreed. So on that note, complete the sentence. The next crypto gem is taking crypto mainstream globally.
00:38:18
Speaker
Love that. So just last words, what excites you the most about the future of crypto and Web3? I think decentralization. I think what we've seen over the last several years in Web2 is that we often have
00:38:36
Speaker
just a few small people, like in Facebook, Twitter, making monumental decisions affecting tens of millions, hundreds of millions of their users. I think that Web3 is an aspiration at this point, but with it comes the promise of something better and something more fair that everyone can participate. And I do believe in the power of the masses, their collective intelligence. And I believe that that can be realized in Web3.
00:39:06
Speaker
And if there's one thing that you hope people learn from this interview or you hope that they take away, what would it be? I would say that if they just get to know me and you a little bit more, that's the most important thing. I think that sometimes you see an interview and you just think that, hmm, this person's interesting. I want to know more. You can follow me on Twitter at ultra starter. And it's just this is.
00:39:34
Speaker
This is just a little tiny slice. We're on this incredible journey. We're all on this journey. It pays to do interesting things. When you try to do something interesting like this TV show, I'm in joy all the time because I know this is what I wanted to do. If you want to
00:39:55
Speaker
If you think it's interesting, you want to follow along, just follow me, follow you, Jade, and we'll keep on building our community of believers in Web3.
00:40:07
Speaker
And it's fun to follow along because we're watching you and your purpose and you're not chasing comfort. It wouldn't be comfortable to go try to do the first crypto TV show. That's crazy, right? But you're having such a great time because you have such a noble cause and it drives you. And that's why it was so much fun to be on set. And it's been so much fun to get to know you on a more personal side of you. And I'm sure we'll be doing this again soon. We'll do this again. Yeah, for sure. After when it comes out,
00:40:37
Speaker
That'll be really good. We will need to have a catch up. I really appreciate your time today, Jett, and asking all of my questions. And I know everyone watching will as well. So for them to follow you, we will link to your Twitter, ultra starter. And then is there anywhere else that people should follow along?
00:40:53
Speaker
Uh, if you go to the, if you go to mine, uh, you can see the link to the hourglass Twitter in my profile, follow that. And from, from that, you can see the link to our telegram group and all that. So yeah, those two has all the information you need. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. And I am so excited to watch the show when it comes out in June or July, you've absolutely made my day, my week. This has been the best experience and I know it's only gonna get better.
00:41:22
Speaker
Oh yeah, absolutely. And I think you're going to be, you see, you didn't see the footage of yourself because you're in front of the camera, but I saw it on the screens and it looks fantastic. And I think you're going to like it and your parents will be very proud as well and your friends. Oh my God. Thank you. I mean, I'm just, I'm so happy. I can't even find the right adjectives to share, but thank you so much. And, um, we'll see you guys next time on the next episode of behind the PFP.
00:41:51
Speaker
Until next time, take care.