The American Ninja Warrior Mindset for NFTs

Originally a thread on X/Twitter:

Every year I write a thread about how American Ninja Warrior (#ANW) is my favorite TV show and how the startup ecosystem can learn from ANW.

And now that I’ve spent time in the web3 space I can see how adopting the ANW ethos could improve the success rate in the #NFT space.

It’s hard to deny that startups generate infectious energy. Founders have no political filters clouding their ideas. They have no higher-ups waiting around to smash their ideas. They don’t care about sacred cows and they don’t care if hundred-year-old brands are shattered.

What Founders care about is solving problems and being better than those that came before them.

But while Founders believe that they’re destined to succeed, statistics would suggest otherwise. They’re most likely going to fail or stall somewhere on the way to greatness.

How does this apply to the NFT space?

Success is so improbable that active participants in the NFT space should help out and root for every credible NFT Founding team to climb Mount Midoriyama.

I’ve probably confused most of you, but stick with me and it will all make sense.

Mount Midoriyama is a fantastically large steel structure at the end of the world’s most difficult obstacle course. The obstacle course originated in Japan under the name Sasuke, and over a 34 season run, only 4 competitors have completed the course (one did it twice!).

Of course, the US had to create its own version of the show, and so was born America Ninja Warrior. The popularity of the show has been growing since it first aired in 2009 and thus far in American Ninja Warrior history, only 3 Americans have completed the course.

Contestants train year-round for what could sadly be seconds on the course. A great year for a contestant might be conquering the obstacle that they fell on the previous year. Or it might be to just go out and “represent”. Success means different things to different Warriors.

From this a Ninja Warrior community has emerged, and what’s fascinating is that they exist to help each other get better and to help each other succeed. They don’t see themselves in competition with each other, but rather they’re all in competition with Mount Midoriyama.

Dedicated Ninjas sacrifice just about everything in their lives to train for a course that will almost certainly get the better of them. Each individual knows that he or she is expected to fail but the best of them believe success is possible.

This is where a supportive community matters. This is where a “Ninja-as-a-student” mindset matters.

Any advice that gives a Ninja a better chance at success helps them tackle Mount Midoriyama.

And that’s what we all want. We want to see Mount Midoriyama bested.

This is why I would love to see a NFT Founder’s journey follow a similar path to a Ninja’s journey.

It’s a nearly (but not) impossible task to climb Mount Midoriyama or to build a successful NFT project, but everyone ultimately wants to see the impossible tamed.

But today’s NFT space doesn’t operate this way. NFT holders rally around “their bags” and shill projects to anyone who will listen. There’s very little substance that pierces the veil of tribalism and me-ism. No advice is being shared. It’s creating noise that muddies the waters.

The cold, hard truth is that very few projects are being run by people who have a shot at conquering Mount Midoriyama. Very few Founding teams have conquered the first stage of Mount Midoriyama and there are still many stages to go. It’s honestly quite intimidating.

But the prize is out there and it’s a juicy one! If a handful of NFT projects can be runaway successes, they’ll pave the way for the next batch and the next batch and the next batch to follow in their footsteps.

And if this happens everyone will win.

So what can YOU do to help better the ecosystem?

#1: Stop crapping all over other projects unless they’re blatant fraud schemes.

In almost all cases, there’s a well-intentioned team behind the project that’s trying to make things work for them and their community.

#2: Be honest with the “why” behind your investment.

If you’ve bought into a project to make a quick flip then you’ve lost all rights to give feedback and advice to the team. They’re trying to conquer Mount Midoriyama and you’re betting they’re going to fail.

#3: Practice being honest.

It’s disingenuous to hype a project with the sole intention of selling to someone new at a higher price. It’s sincere to onboard new community members if you plan on sticking around.

There are ways to sell/capture profits but do it honestly.

#4: Give Founding teams time.

Mount Midoriyama has been conquered, but only by Ninjas who failed over and over and over again. The best Ninjas don’t give up. Their support system doesn’t give up.

Giving up too soon is a major character flaw of investors in the space.

#5: Be a good training partner.

We’re all part of multiple projects and therefore have exposure to experiments being conducted by different teams. If you see something that’s working, find a way to professionally funnel the info to the other projects you’re involved with.

#6: Invest what makes sense given the nature of the asset class.

Internalize that you’re investing in something that will statistically fail. Don’t invest as if your NFTs are assets that can be converted to fiat at any time.

This is a source of depression and a path to madness.

There’s nothing more exciting than accomplishing the nigh impossible. It can be rewarding on many fronts (personal and financial). But conquering something as difficult as a NFT project requires many cycles of practice, failure and coaching.

Be patient and be positive!