That Outli3rs kind of feeling
We’re out here building a company in public. Meaning, instead of writing a “I started a business one year ago today, here’s how it’s going!” post, we are writing “We started a business 14 hours ago, here’s how it’s going!” posts until we’re as big an educational force as Harvard University. Or at least that school from that Justin Long / Jonah Hill movie Accepted from 2006.
With that public-facing-attitude in mind, I want to put pen to paper, so to speak, and capture some of the early feelings that I am having about this exercise in creativity. I thought it might be nice to come back later in the journey and reflect on this point in time, for good or for bad.
Maybe this is like journaling in public.
My role in the company
I am not an NFT expert, yet. I’m a little overwhelmed and daunted by the NFT community. Don’t get me wrong — what I have seen (for the most part) so far has been full of big brains, big hearts, and fun personalities. It’s like a community made up almost entirely of artists and computer programmers and very little unnecessary b*llsh*t. There are scammers and there are bad actors, but you’ve had those since the days of dial up AOL when phishing joined the general lexicon. However, there’s something about the emotional currency needed to dive in head first that keeps me fidgeting at the edge of the high dive.
So my role? Student, writer, taste tester, sounding board, motivational coach, glass-half-full believer, and other miscellaneous support mechanisms. If I’m being honest with myself, I am second fiddle. It is Chris O. with the undying passion for NFTs and Tezos and collecting and jargon and the artist lunarean (among dozens of others). My job #1 is to fill in the gaps that exist and do so with unashamed aplomb.
I’ll be writing, podcasting, working on education material (as a mine canary), teaching, and whatever else. A utility player, you might say.
The Outli3rs feeling
It’s exciting. It’s all a little electrifying. We’re trying to see if we can start a small company to make great NFT collectors out of people with no experience collecting NFTs. Luckily, we are helmed by someone who has a ton of experience (as much as one can have at this early date), and you have me, someone willing to look silly on the internet.
I’ve been part of several startups, none of which ever saw the level of success that I’d hoped. They were all incredible experiences, learning experiences, and friendship builders. When you’ve been at your absolute lowest professional point with other people feeling the exact same way, you build bonds that you can’t build by any other means. CO and I did that.
This time around, I want it to be different. I’m taking all those lessons I’ve learned and putting energy and excitement into doing it different this time. I’ve still got a full time job, I’ve got a family, but I think with age and experience you can do things you couldn’t possibly have done when you were younger and greener.
I’m not a unicorn, but maybe I can be a real good looking horse.
