Who is behind Crazy Rich Yellows? Exclusive interview with the actual Crazy Rich Yellow, the founder himself!
Interview with the founder
The first official interview of Studio XYZ is from DK, the co-founder and director of Studio XYZ. He has a remarkable track record of exiting two start-ups after setting his foot in the start-up domain in 2013. His total exit amount is around 30 million USD and his most recent start-up, Blank Corporation, was valued at 240 million USD. His prior business ranges from mobile app services, mobile contents development to D2C brands. He is well known as a successful young & rich entrepreneur. He is the embodiment of the Crazy Rich Yellows.
DK defines Studio XYZ as a company that creates competitive and attractive IPs in the Web3 domain. He strongly believes that Web3 is the future and that many creators in the Web2 domain will soon migrate to Web3 service/platforms. He firmly believes this movement will lead to a boom in the NFT space and wishes to become a leader in this scene.
[Question #1] You mentioned that you are the co-founder and director of Studio XYZ, what kind of company is Studio XYZ and what is your main role?
Hello, my name is DK and I am the co-founder and director of Studio XYZ. Simply put, Studio XYZ is a company that builds and incubates art, brands, and character IPs in the Web3 domain. Currently, two projects are underway for Studio XYZ. The first project is ‘Crazy Rich Yellows (CRY)’, and the second project is an art-based NFT brand (details are confidential at this stage). In the long-term, our team is planning to launch a Web3 service that will kick-start the mass adoption of Web3 and NFTs.
I am currently the director of both ongoing projects and discuss with the project managers of each project on the direction of the projects. However, since Studio XYZ is a newly established start-up and run by a small team, I participate hands-on on marketing and strategy.
[Question #2] You seemed to have done a lot throughout your career as a serial entrepreneur. Tell us briefly about your career.
I was always focused on running my own business. As a university student, I sold beanies and socks as a side hustle. After trying out many different small-scale businesses, I started my first start-up in 2013. I created ‘Moncast’, a video curation app, and sold the company to Dingo, a mobile content developing company, for 3.5 million USD in 2014. After my first exit, I worked for Dingo for a while creating contents and managing multiple channels. However, I realized that it was difficult to monetize pure content, so I asked myself, “Why can’t I sell products utilizing viral online content?”, and that was the beginning of Blank Corporation.
Blank Corporation, which I founded on 2016, is an online D2C company that sells its products through viral marketing content on major SNS channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Blank Corporation received its Series A investment from Softbank Ventures Asia in 2017, and within 5 years of establishment, hit a cumulative sale of around 480 million USD with over 20 brands across multiple categories.
[Question #3] You seemed to have already achieved success through Blank Corporation’s brand business, then why are you starting a Web3 business?
I initially encountered the blockchain ecosystem in 2015. However, at the time, I personally believed that the projects in the Web3 space did not give any actual value to the users. This was before NFTs, where major projects were mainly cryptocurrencies with the purpose of creating a decentralized currency system. However, most projects ended up as Ponzi schemes and rug-pulls.
However, in 2019–2020 the NFT art market boomed, and I got really interested in this domain. I initially bought some digital art for collecting purposes and moved on to buying some PFPs. BAYC was a total game changer for me. This is because I believe that BAYC actually gave value to its holders. The PFPs themselves looked nice, and as time went by, BAYC became a powerful brand.
Moreover, belonging to the BAYC community allowed users to have fun and socialize. After digging deep into BAYC, I became more certain that I could build brand IPs through NFTs and even create a community based of off it.
I knew my strengths were contents development and marketing, so I was determined to take a bet in the Web3 domain. As soon as I made up my mind, I was able to set up a strong team and that was the beginning of Studio XYZ.
[Question #4] What is the vision and roadmap of Crazy Rich Yellows?
Myself and our team firmly believes that, in the near future, there will be a nation that transcends the barriers of time and region. We are currently given citizenships based on where we were born, and abide by the laws, politics, economic policies that were established by our earlier generations. Even culture, religion, and ethnicity, which heavily influence our lives, were created by the former generation and are open to minimal change.
However, if we imagine 5 or 10 years from now, I think more and more people will spend time in the Metaverse and have more friends in the Metaverse than in the real world. Then, will a physical nation really matter to us? I think in that situation, living in a country of my own choice, where my friends and interests lie, will become more meaningful.
This was the starting point of Crazy Rich Yellows. Our team wants Yellowland to be an ideal nation where citizens are genuinely happy being there and make real friends. This is our vision of Yellowland. We want to build a strong community that operates on its own.
However, creating a nation requires a lot of work, as the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day. Therefore, I want the CRY community to actively participate in building Yellowland. Yellowland will need laws and rules (constitution), a place to live (Metaverse), and economic policies (Tokenomics). All of this is left in the hands of the citizens. The Yellow Man and the citizens will work together to build Yellowland until the day Yellowland is recognized as an actual nation.
However, if the experience that Yellowland provides to its citizens is no different from what they experience in the real world or from other projects, then Yellowland loses its competitiveness. I want Yellowland citizens to be truly proud of becoming a citizen of Yellowland.
I cannot disclose the specific roadmap that we have for Crazy Rich Yellows, but I want to put “dynamic experience” as the utmost value of this project. Instead of disclosing the roadmap at the early stage of the project, I want our events to be a surprise to CRY holders. The one thing that I can say for sure is that our project will definitely be “crazy”.
[Question #5] One of the key features of Crazy Rich Yellows is the “Yellow Man Election”, why did you come up with such an idea? How will the election be carried out?
On 2016, I was really into Facebook groups. I created and managed a community with over 1 million users ranging from travel to humor pages. What I realized from managing these communities was that if a single team managed a community, as time passes by, people get bored and nothing new comes out. As a result, users migrate to a newer and more interesting community. However, if we take a look at communities that survived the test of time, such as Reddit, the managing team imposes minimal rules, and lets the users have fun.
I think this is what NFT projects should aim for. Nevertheless, if we take a look at major NFT projects, although they call themselves “decentralized”, most projects are run by a centralized team. For Web3 to actually take off, I think the holders should become the true owners of the community and get rewarded for their contribution.
Crazy Rich Yellows tries to embody such values, and therefore will hand over the ownership of the project to the elected Yellow Man. The Yellow Man and the vice president will run the project during their time in office and will reap rightful rewards according to their contribution. Our team will act as a “small government” and make only minimal interventions.
For more specific information, make sure to read our Whitepaper.
[Question #6] Who do you want as the next Yellow Man?
I personally want someone “Crazy” to become the next Yellow Man. Also, I hope to see them get impeached by the citizens. Yellowland should be fun, wild, and exciting. It does not have to resemble the actual nations we live in, although sometimes I think that this world is a crazier place than Yellowland.
Crazy Rich Yellows is not only a virtual nation building project, but also a politics game. All these factors are important for building a healthy and dynamic nation.
[Question #7] Any final words to the newly immigrated citizens of Yellowland?
I want to make Yellowland the coolest, most free and dynamic nation in Web3. You guys are not only the citizens of Yellowland, but the co-founders of this new nation.
I welcome all of you to Yellowland! See you guys soon!!!
[Official Links]
OpenSea: https://opensea.io/collection/crazyrichyellows
Twitter: https://twitter.com/crazyrichyellow
