Opinion: Why do most existing top PFP projects fail to become mainstream brands in the end?

By @0xPrismatic

Source: Twitter

Most of the existing top PFP projects (Doodles, Clone X, Moonbirds, etc.) will end up more likely as country clubs than as mainstream brands.

Why?

The result of the Power law can be explained: very few PFP projects will actually become culturally relevant brands followed by millions of people.

It may be the wrong mindset to equate "throwing a great party" with brand success.

Country clubs bring like-minded people together in a friendly social environment. Having a membership entitles you to certain privileges, such as free access to facilities, invitations to exclusive events, and voting on major decisions.

PFP + NFT fits this pattern best.

That's cool. As a private club, you can do a lot of fun things for your members, especially if you have the funds. Limited edition items and more.

I love that in the web3 world, the geeks and techies are cool and they can shape their club the way they like.

However, the path to becoming a global brand is very different. You need to understand what people are paying attention to.

Pop music

TV/Movie

Fashion

Entertainment and Celebrities

There is no such thing as mediocrity. Reminder: Most people don't pay attention to cryptocurrencies.

Creating strong IP in these verticals is very competitive and you will see failed companies everywhere.

It takes a magical combination of luck, timing, money, deep expertise and hard work to succeed. Bridging the divide and maintaining mainstream awareness.

Where are we now? The first-mover advantage is smaller than we thought.

I like what projects like BAYC, Doodles, Moonbirds, etc. are doing. I followed their experiments closely with excitement and curiosity. But I'm not sure they'll be successful. I hope they will. If anything, we'd learn a lot.

One of their advantages is that they raised a lot of money during the bull market:

Yuga Labs has 9 figure dedicated funding and Moonbirds/PROOF has 8 figure funding. Doodles made millions from Genesis Box sales.

New projects will have a harder time raising money, unless it's an A++ team.

Still, I'm optimistic: 99% believe we'll see $100B+ web3 consumer brands in the next few decades.

Most probably haven't been rolled out yet.

The combination of community ownership and technology enabling cool things we couldn't do before is too powerful to ignore.