In the future, we will change our entrepreneurial mindset from the internet startup mentality of "burning money - scaling - obtaining financing" to a business mindset of "investment - profit - reinvestment."
Written by: sleepy.mid
First of all, I really want to thank Penguin TGE for sparking this wave of NFT mini bull market. Although I didn't receive many airdrops and the floor price of Little Ghost hasn't seen a follow-up increase, the change it has brought to the entire Little Ghost community is much more meaningful. I have witnessed the awakening of community consciousness, which has deeply moved me. At this moment, as I type in front of my computer, my hands are even trembling a bit, as if time has rewound back to three years ago.
I want to share some heartfelt thoughts with everyone through this article, taking off the mask to tell you how we have come this far over the past few years and where we plan to go in the future.
First, I need to sincerely apologize to the family in the community. We have not synchronized our progress and plans with the community for too long, leading to the team being extremely busy while the community remains unaware. The community wants to help but doesn't know what the team needs. Our project will continue, and in the future, we will share more about the project's progress, allowing the community to participate and contribute their strength to push the project forward together.
Recently, the team has undergone significant adjustments. We didn't have any beef; it was simply due to the company's cash flow pressure that we had to make these changes. Therefore, now is a crucial time for community members to participate and support us.
For almost the past year or two, we have been continuously discussing financing, but the results have been constant setbacks. To put it bluntly, many of the products we developed were made for financing purposes, such as ManeSTUDIO. When we expressed our desire to create culture and IP, they said we needed to have a product; otherwise, they wouldn't know what they were investing in. When we presented a product, they said the market was not viable and we needed to change our narrative. When we changed the narrative and created a product, they said we needed data. When we had some data, they said the market was bad. When the market improved, they said funds were mainly investing in secondary markets.
This is certainly not the case for all investors. I have also met some very sincere investors who would directly tell us where we need to improve and why they couldn't invest this time, but they hope we maintain communication for potential collaboration in the future. Some investors, after hearing our pitch, bought Little Ghost NFTs to become part of the family, telling us they are trying to push things forward but cannot convince their big boss. However, they are very supportive and can be contacted for help whenever needed. Unfortunately, such people are indeed few, but fortunately, we have all become friends.
About the Business
Indeed, ManeSTUDIO was a product we put out for financing, developed under pressure. However, CutUp was unable to develop due to our misjudgment. I don't want to hide behind excuses anymore; I want to openly admit that the overall launch of CutUp was too hasty. We did not establish a solid upstream and downstream connection, misjudged the demand of the web3 community for "neutral" cultural peripherals, ultimately leading to issues such as productivity not keeping up, production costs not being reduced, and sales channels being blocked. Although I believe the product quality is acceptable, as a brand, we have performed very poorly. We will open-source ManeSTUDIO, and in a while, we will hold an event to give away the accumulated inventory of CutUp, allowing everyone to invite friends and family to collect it. We will consolidate our product line and focus entirely on IP.
Regarding IP development, we will also try new models starting next year.
First, let's talk about why we cannot continue with the model of the past two years.
The first reason is the continuous decline in the overall consumer market. If you are not all-in on web3 and still care about your real life, you must feel this. Almost all brands are cutting their marketing budgets, with some cutting by half and others even eliminating all marketing activities for next year. Some brands that had originally scheduled collaborations with us have also informed us last minute that they will not proceed, which has had a huge impact on our overall rhythm.
The second reason is that while the model of the past two years has accumulated a wealth of brand collaboration cases, it is difficult to support the company from a revenue perspective if we rely solely on it. According to past collaboration models, we do not pay brand partners to do collaborations; we need to work with well-known brands to enhance IP value, and we need to make money from brand partners. These three factors form an impossible triangle.
We originally planned to co-create a convenience store baking brand centered around OUTA with our partners. If everything had gone smoothly, everyone would have been able to buy our baked goods in thousands of convenience stores across the country by the end of November. However, the launch date has been repeatedly postponed, and we can only share two images for everyone to see. This matter is still in progress, but the advancement will be relatively slow.
First, let me answer a question.
"Is the project still ongoing?"
Yes. We are still continuing.
The current OUTA game will see a content update during the Christmas period. Previously, the game team reported that if we updated even a little content, it would require a separate package, which would be a waste of time. Therefore, we have accumulated some content to update all at once this time. Additionally, this workflow is being optimized, and in the future, we should be able to continue updating gradually.
What are our plans for the future?
First, our goal remains to build IP, with Little Ghost at the center and OUTA surrounding it.
Next, we hope to use mini-games as a vehicle for IP promotion and operation. It is important to emphasize that our decision point is "mini-games," not "TON," "TG," etc. The low investment cost + the opportunity for viral spread is what we value.
The switch of OUTA to the TG ecosystem was a temporary decision, and it will not be limited to this in the future. As a slow-paced idle game, it is not well-suited for the TG ecosystem. We are not satisfied with its current performance in the TG ecosystem. Currently, we are collaborating with a Web2 overseas game publishing company that recognizes our game and plans to use Web2 distribution channels to more effectively capture more players. The publishing company will use a more Web2, systematic, and professional approach to bring OUTA in front of millions of Web2 game players.
In addition, we are developing another text adventure roguelike casual game featuring Little Ghost as the main character, alongside OUTA for adventures. The development progress is over halfway, and we plan to launch it around February next year. Similarly, we will collaborate with a Web2 game publishing company for distribution, promoting and converting users on a large scale in Web2. After this game launches overseas, we will also begin discussions with domestic game publishing companies to strive for a listing in the domestic market. We hope this model can bring us a larger user base and higher revenue levels. If successful, we will continue to replicate and scale it.
Where do we get the money to do this?
As mentioned above, we have faced constant setbacks in our financing discussions, so we are currently not pinning our hopes on investor funding. Of course, it would be better if they are willing to invest, but we will not treat it as the only solution. Therefore, we are currently negotiating Grants support with public chain parties, and we have already reached a relatively advanced stage, expecting to finalize cooperation soon and receive the first Grants. We will also develop a parallel Web3 mechanism behind the game, allowing users to become Web3 users without awareness and participate in subsequent ecological construction.
In the future, we will change our entrepreneurial mindset from the internet startup mentality of "burning money -> scaling -> obtaining financing" to a business mindset of "investment -> profit -> reinvestment," taking our future into our own hands.
Now, let me answer some questions raised by family members in the group.
Ask Me Anything Feel free to ask me any questions
Q: @koolob#17 What are the three most important things the current team is working on, and what difficulties are being encountered?
A: Obtaining Grants, developing the Little Ghost game, and updating OUTA. There are many difficulties, haha, and I've written quite a bit about them, but I believe there are always more solutions than difficulties!
Q: @luckytree.eth #4802 Is the project still planned to continue? Are you confident? What does the community need to do to cooperate?
A: We must continue, and I am confident. After adjusting my mindset, I am even more confident. I am researching which app or website can conveniently publish requests to the community, and I will inform everyone of what we need help with through this method.
Q: @Drew#1283 What is the current composition of the team, and what are the future plans for the team? Is Li Dad still involved, and in what role?
A: The team is currently very streamlined, trying to be as light as possible. Li Dad is busy with his own entrepreneurial project; he has already contributed too much to us, and we have no reason to bind him to continue investing.
Q: @koolob#17 Does the current state of the OUTA game meet expectations? If not, is there a phase summary?
A: It does not meet expectations. Reasons include that the temporary switch has led to a poor experience with the account and store systems, and the game type is not well-suited for the TG ecosystem. Additionally, we have somewhat overestimated the traffic distribution and user payment willingness within TG.
Q: @Gordon Playing the OUTA game, I feel there is no need for holders to stake Little Ghost to gain related rights; it doesn't make much sense and instead adds a barrier for holders to play the game. Additionally, the level of holders playing the game should be related to the number of Little Ghosts held. The more you hold, the higher the level, making it easier to score in the OUTA game. This essentially ties the number of Little Ghosts to airdrops. When holders see the value of Little Ghost token airdrops, they will hold more and buy more.
A: That's a great suggestion, but we need to consider more factors for staking. NFT trading is always happening, and if we don't impose restrictions, it could lead to issues with the game's information data.
Q: @封心锁爱 When is TGE?
A: To be frank, we currently do not have the qualifications for TGE.
Q: @程1296: 1. Why has CutUp been shelved for a year? Is it because clothing isn't profitable? 2. How long until diamond hand holders can see returns? 3. Predict the floor price of Little Ghost in three years; will it be 1e or 0.01e?
A: 1. The issues with CutUp have been mentioned above. 2. I don't know, but I hope we can achieve it next year. 3. 1000E!
Q: @SHIN Are there plans to expand overseas? Currently, most people only know about OUTA among domestic and overseas Chinese.
A: Yes, TG is quite good, but we think it can be even better. We hope that overseas distribution through Web2 channels can enhance the visibility of our IP.
Q: @Rex My OUTA mini-game is still unplayable, and it hasn't been resolved. What should I do? Will not playing affect my future participation? Will NFTs still have empowerment? I have already staked but haven't seen any related rights increase.
A: We have contacted the platform, but it remains unresolved; it's quite mysterious. However, you should be able to participate in the future! Regarding empowerment, we will reflect this in future products, and this will also be an area we need to continue working on, such as learning from Little Penguin to bring more token airdrops to everyone.
Q: @地板换1-1找我#928, 4844 Do you need financing support?
A: Yes, but the current objective situation is that the hope is not great because it's the end of the year, and the market is still okay, which will significantly affect investments in the primary market. Therefore, we won't hold out too much hope in this regard. If someone can invest, that would be great, but we still need to rely more on ourselves.
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