The ONE Thing #4: M&A in Web3, Building a New Sports Team, Investment Bootcamp & More
Happy Friday, everyone.
If you’re new to One More Thing, welcome!
Today At A Glance:
🦍 Building a Web3 conglomerate
🚶♂️ Walks & Talks™️
⛺️ Powerful Narratives
⚽️ How to build a new sports team where mission and capital can co-exist
🔥 I’m launching an online course
What’s Interesting
Planet of the Apes
This week, Yuga Labs – the maker of Bored Apes Yacht Club – announced that they have acquired the rights to the CryptoPunks and Meebits NFT collections from creator Larva Labs.
This deal combines three of the biggest properties in the NFT universe under one roof and forms something like the first NFT conglomerate.
This is not just smokes and mirrors: NFTs are a real business. Beyond the proceeds from the initial sale, Yuga Labs receives a 2.5% royalty on each NFT sale on the secondary market (to date, Bored Apes have generated almost $2 billion in trading volume). And Larva Labs has signed a presentation deal with United Talent Agency (UTA) to negotiate IP licensing deals for CryptoPunks.
Margins must be a dream, too. Yuga Labs says it has 11 full-time employees, plus contractors. I assume they don’t spend any money on marketing, as this is taken care of by the BAYC community.
And the boat does not stop there: Since the acquisition, BAYC has announced the launch of $APE, a token for culture, gaming, and commerce. BAYC is well on track to become one of the most influential digital companies of the next years.
What’s New
Walks and Talks™️
Last week spring arrived in Berlin and like every year it is an interesting spectacle. It's as if someone flips a switch. With the arrival of the first sunlight, the city transforms from a gloomy and gray place into one of the most beautiful places in the world. People are smiling. Bars and parks are full.
Another benefit of the warm weather is that I can "walk and talk" again: One of the best routines I've developed during the Corona lockdowns is to combine meetings with a walk. Instead of doing all my meetings by Zoom and feeling like crap at the end of the day, I combine meetings with a walk, either in person or by phone call.
It may sound obvious, but I'm still surprised at how positively many people respond to the idea to switch from video calls to a walk and talk.
Walk and talk is the new "let's meet for lunch". It's also a great trick to get even very busy people to agree to meet with you (it's hard to say no to a walk). Try it; your physical and mental health will thank you 😉
One Article
Increase the Power of Your Narratives
Narratives can be super powerful. They inspire people to take action. Ultimately, it's about moving people from fear to hope and enthusiasm.
The article describes the four elements that can make or break a narrative:
Framing the opportunity
Identifying trends enabling the opportunity
Identifying obstacles and challenges that stand in the way of achieving the opportunity
Framing the call to action
It's worth the read if you want to improve the way you communicate opportunities and projects to your team.
One Podcast
How mission and capital can co-exist as sports is becoming a compelling alternative investment on the Alt Goes Mainstream Podcast.
A fascinating conversation with Julie Uhrman, co-founder & president of Angel City FC, on how Angel City FC is building a new football team (⚽️) and use it as a platform to drive positive change.
Angel City FC is a newly founded women football club with many high-profile owners, including Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, and Serena Williams.
I find it fascinating to think about how to build a new sports team from scratch without the legacy (but also without the resources) that most teams have. Angel City FC is thinking very creatively how to leverage technology, community-building, and Web3 to engage fans and create new revenues for sports clubs.
Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or any other podcast app.
One Tweet
This tweet is a good reminder that consistently doing a few things over time will yield powerful results.
To be honest, I'm not always the best at it, but I really want to improve here (maybe I should print out that tweet and put it on my fridge).
One More Thing: I’m launching my first bootcamp!
I’m thrilled to announce that I’m launching a 3-week cohort-based course about building and launching angel investment syndicates.
If you’re reading this newsletter since the beginning, you know that I’m passionate about the democratization of venture capital and giving more people access to invest in startups.
I started my own little investment syndicate after seeing incredible founders & investors like Zach Coelius and Jason Calacanics or alumni groups from Google and Uber launching crazy successful angel syndicates (some of them with $1bn+ exits).
Over the last months, I’ve led and raised five angel investment syndicates, making it one of the most insightful, fun and financially rewarding projects I’ve worked on. Now I want to share my knowledge to create the next generation of syndicate leads.
To learn more about the course or apply, take a look at the course page.
>>> Course Page
This isn't just another online course. We're bringing together a group of ambitious investors from across the world. We’ll learn, practice and connect through deep dives, fireside chats with guest lecturers and weekly projects – making it 10x faster than learning on your own and 10x cheaper than hiring a consultant.
And by the way, research shows that cohort-based courses have finish rates way beyond 90% compared to <10% for traditional online courses.
That’s it for this issue of The One Thing. Subscribe to receive fresh ideas and curated content every other Friday.
Until next time, friends. Keep learning!