In this episode, we speak with Alan Carr, co-founder of KittyCalc and Product Lead at CryptoKitties, and Bryce Bladon, Director of Communications at Dapper Labs. In addition to his work as a game designer and product manager for CryptoKitties, Alan also contributes to other projects at Dapper Labs. He is a Jack of all trades, master of dragons, and previously worked on entertainment experiences everywhere from Blizzard Entertainment to Asterism Books, his own self publishing imprint for young adult fiction. Bryce is an award-winning writer and content designer with a background in emerging technologies and helping people understand them. While at Axiom Zen, Bryce was a part of the team that brought CryptoKitties to market.

CryptoKitties is a game centered around breedable, collectible, and oh-so-adorable creatures called CryptoKitties. Dapper Labs is a company aiming to reshape how we use and interact with digital worlds with projects including CryptoKitties, Cheeze Wizards and NBA Top Shot.

We have a lively discussion with Bryce and Alan covering a lot of ground to unpack how Dapper Labs and CryptoKitties have been so successful in kicking off and driving the NFT and crypto collectible ecosystem.

Notes

[0:32] Polyient sponsorship intro.
[1:12] Episode intro.
[2:23] Background on Dapper Labs.
[3:30] Alan’s background.
[4:48] Bryce’s background.
[5:26] The origin stories of CryptoKitties and Dapper Labs.
[9:24] How the user base of CryptoKitties and Dapper Labs has evolved over time.
[15:25] Overview of the markets for Dapper Labs, CryptoKitties, Cheeze Wizards and NBA Top Shot.
[19:54] Approach to community governance and management to cultivate a following for each project.
[22:31] Team organization across the different projects and how cross-pollination occurs.
[28:03] Perspective on what the most critical skills are to have on a team to build successful products.
[31:15] How the different teams run experiments, analyze results and communicate them to the rest of the organization.
[37:12] Strategies for taking products to market.
[41:48] What keeps Alan up at night with regard to CryptoKitties?
[43:38] How is the world different five years from now because of Dapper Labs and CryptoKitties?
[47:01] Where listeners can learn more about Alan, Bryce and the projects they work on.

Links

Alan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alanfalcon
Bryce’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/BryceBladon
Bryce’s Personal Website: http://brycebladon.com/
CryptoKitties Website: https://www.cryptokitties.co/
CryptoKitties Twitter: https://twitter.com/CryptoKitties
CryptoKitties Blog: https://medium.com/@CryptoKitties
CryptoKitties Discord: https://discord.gg/cryptokitties
CryptoKitties Open Positions: https://www.cryptokitties.co/careers
Dapper Labs Website: https://www.dapperlabs.com
Dapper Labs Twitter: https://twitter.com/dapper_labs
Dapper Labs Blog: https://medium.com/dapperlabs
Dapper Labs Telegram: https://t.me/dapper
Cheeze Wizards Website: https://www.cheezewizards.com
Cheeze Wizards Twitter: