1/ Today is exciting for me
I’m thrilled to announce
@StoryProtocol
with
@storysylee
,
@jasonjzhao
, and a crazy talented team 🌱
And I’m grateful to
@a16zcrypto
for leading $54M of funding
Our mission: harness the creative power of the internet era
What's that mean? Read on👇
A character, a vibe, a world... captured in an image 🎨
@Azuki
New tech needs new artists to unlock its creative potential. For crypto,
@ZAGABOND
at the frontier ☄️
A pleasure to meet
@StoryProtocol
dinner
18/ If you’re a developer or a creator, please reach out.
And if you’d like to track the journey, give me a follow! I’ll be sharing more along the way.
3/ My passion soon expanded to technology – the way tech and creativity combine to build stirring new experiences.
👉Computer animation for Toy Story
👉Broadband for WoW
👉AR for Pokemon Go
"The art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art."
4/ I got to pursue this
@Episode
where we built a storytelling platform for smartphones.
I worked with legends like
@KiwiLovesYou
(Legally Blonde) and on IPs like
@MeanGirls
, but also with elite engineers.
The lesson: only with creative & tech together can innovation be found.
2/ My great joy in life is the pursuit of beautiful creative work.
From writing my first story at age 7 (a 1-page ripoff of Aladdin) to collaborating with some of the finest talents in the world, I've come to revere those who build art and the way that art sneaks into our souls.
6/ The answer, we found, was simple: crypto projects give contributors real ownership. Participants earn skin in the game. So folks don’t just watch; they dream, build, and evangelize.
And just as importantly: they do so as communities.
They strive toward a common goal.
14/ Thank you also to our advisor, the legendary David Goyer – screenwriter of THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy, writer and director of the BLADE trilogy, and showrunner of
@Foundation_
on Apple TV+
We could not imagine a better collaborator.
11/ Our protocol does 2 things:
1/ It captures the IP of a creative work (a story, a drawing, or even a full franchise) on the blockchain
2/ It lets people contribute to that work –– and earn ownership
It's a way for the creative community to pull in the same direction
7/ This insight went beyond marketing. It extended to the core challenge of the creative space today:
👉How do we unleash the creative power of the world? How do we take advantage of the internet age?
Smartphones led to a boom of creativity. Crypto could spark an avalanche🏔️
13/ Thank you to
@storysylee
, a visionary and friend. And to
@jasonjzhao
, a maestro of protocol design and of finding the best ramen in any city.
And to the
@StoryProtocol
team, a singularly gifted group across tech, business, and creativity. Team is everything. We have the best
5/ I met
@storysylee
soon after
We discussed how hard it is these days for creatives to break through the noise. And we were intrigued by a phenomenon in another corner of the tech world: crypto
Those projects were flourishing with almost no marketing at all. How could that be?
12/ We can’t wait to showcase this in the near future. And in the meantime, we’re cultivating an ecosystem of developers to build functionality that we can’t imagine.
Together we’ll help the entertainment space harness the breakthroughs of the internet age.
8/ Indeed, the foremost movement in entertainment is people building together at scale.
From remixes on
@YouTube
and
@tiktok_us
to the shared universes in
@Roblox
to the modding community in gaming (DotA, Counter-Strike, to name a few), we live in an age of co-creation.
9/ But our IP system can’t keep up.
When anyone can build, building happens fast, by many people, and across many platforms.
Folks can’t use lawyers for this, negotiating 1:1. It’s impossible.
10/ So true collaboration is rare.
Creators fend for themselves with little mechanism to rally together. And what should be the greatest explosion of valuable content in history has a lid on the pot.
Story Protocol aims to fix that.
17/ ...Kyung In Jung (CEO of Black Label, producers of BLACKPINK) Charlie Songhurst (x-Head of Strategy at Microsoft),
@NBerggruen
(Founder of
@berggruenInst
) Sanghun Kim (Former CEO of Naver) David Bonderman (Founder & Chairman of TPG Capital) David C. Lee (SLVC) and Chang Kim
2/ Conference thrives
Last year fought through historic rain 🌧️
This year *more* attendees than ever. Hosted by
#hashed
in a beautiful, temple setting🌳
(Thx
@zebird0
for the fireside chat with
@storysylee
)
1/ Creativity abounds
Genuinely moved by the work of
@deekaymotion
. Life and death captured in a 30 sec loop. Generously explained by the man himself
Art, video, NFT -- creativity thriving in Web3
Loved meeting
@poopie
at
@kbwofficial
(I flubbed the selfie, and thus we get this paparazzi style photo)
@doodles
makes you want to fall into its world 🎶
The glass bridge in
#SquidGames
.
Some panels hold firm. Others shatter. You don’t know which until you step.
The crypto journey is like the bridge. Ahead of us –– those who forged the path. Behind –– those who will learn from us.
Either way, we all brave the same trek.
@eddylazzarin
+1 to LoTR and D&D. I'd even argue they're in the same thread, LoTR -> D&D, etc.
Also Star Wars -> Eve and Marvel Comics -> Marvel Films.
Avatar is next. The sequels will inspire breakthroughs into VR / metaverse
When I 1st met
@KiwiLovesYou
, she didn't own a smartphone📱
Then she helped create one of the most popular mobile-first stories of all time on
@Episode
✏️
"The art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art." 🎨
Congrats
@KiwiLovesYou
on
@VanityFair
🥳
@saulcarlin
What's tricky for me is that the AI work has no artist intent at all (aside from the prompt that catalyzed it). And yet, the work might be spectacular.
🎶 Introducing Arpeggi v2 🎶
After months of heads-down building, we’re excited to announce that Arpeggi v2 is officially live!
Compose a song, mint it as an NFT, and join the next generation of music creation.
Here's what you need to know 👇