This is a good update, so bear with this first part. If you’re a Future Mints NFT holder, there’s an announcement at the end about NEW utility for your NFT.
Sorry for the 4+ week absence. In early September I was sick for a few days, so I missed that first week of writing, and then things that just seemed to keep coming up. I wound up accepting all the various things happening and pausing the weekly writings which led me to re-evaluate the path forward. What’s the right choice for me personally? Professionally? I believe that blockchain and NFTs are at least one key technology of the future, and I’d like to build at the cutting edge.
About a year ago, I had to step away from building Future Mints full-time when our runway ran out so Future Mints has been a side project for the past year.
I now work a day job, and as tech leader, I’ve been craving a better way to network with peers who are also business leaders or founders. LinkedIn is too sterile. Networking events are too surface level. After all, when’s the last time you had a great conversation with someone you just met?
Future Mints was always built with the central premise that individuals could share useful information in online communities to establish trust where Future Mints would be the macro community that would provide the tools for other communities to facilitate information sharing online.
So I’ve been thinking about how to build community connections for a while, and lately, my focus on this problem has been narrowed to in-person connections.
In a couple weeks, I’m hosting the first iteration of an in-person, real-life solution to the networking and communication problem I outlined above. I even launched a new, super basic website just a couple days. If you live in Austin and are interested, feel free to reply to this email and I’ll invite you to join.
This new idea going to be a distinct product and brand that emphasizes the personal connection aspect without directly relating anything to Web3, NFTs, or Blockchain. And yet, it will be related to Future Mints in ways that a few people, such as you, will know.
My intent is that over time, the blockchain-based community solution will more overtly merge with what users are familiar with today.
Here’s the announcement…
The Future Mints NFTs are going to unlock utility in this new product and brand.
Specifically, the Future Mints Genesis NFT will grant lifetime premium access to the personal tier of this new product (there are other tiers that the NFT won’t grant access to). The Future Mints Annual Pass NFT will grant premium personal tier access through end of 2026 (possibly longer, depending when I launch things).
Also, I’ll be closing the contracts for both at the end of this year.
Full disclosure:
The ‘premium personal tier’ for this new brand will not be launched until some time in 2024
There will be FREE ‘premium personal tier’ access for 12 months to the first 100 users who signup
The initial, grandfathered price will be $5 / month for the first thousand users who signup for the annual plan
$10/month (no grandfathering) for everyone after those first thousand
There’s always the risk that nothing materializes, so realistically speaking, I’m not expecting many of these NFTs to sell - but if you believe that I’ve been able to execute on what I’ve outlined in the past, then I’d love to have you on this journey with me.
I plan to build this new product and brand as a side project instead of going all in (at this point), so my plan is to execute manually and build technology over the next couple years instead of in months like a startup. My hope is that this is a more sustainable approach.
So hold on to these NFTs. There’s utility to come.
I’m also going to finally send the NFTs that people won in those giveaways on the Future Mints website - targeting by end of the year. The Future Mints website will remain alive, though I’m going to reduce the server costs so it may not perform well. And the book is still going to happen at some point in 2024. I need to figure out the chapters that are missing before declaring the first draft done and ready to begin editing. The Future Mints NFT holders will be entitled to a free digital copy of the book.
Last thing. This email newsletter is going to change to a monthly update.
Thanks for staying interested in this journey! I hope that one day you get to tell people about the early days of Future Mints and this new brand.