Shibarium Blog: 2022 The Year of Learning

As I've stated since day one of my introduction into Shib, I am just a community member. I'm not just a normal member though, I'm a visionary, designer, writer, speaker, and manager of business and technology. To some I am a God (which of course I do NOT agree with). To others in the community I am a devil (which again, I disagree with). The truth is, I am nothing without the incredible community members that have worked tirelessly for almost two years to ensure that Shib runs as a decentralized unit. They've worked to ensure the Discord channel is top-notch, that the swap is operational, that people are protected and much more. That’s on top of the tools they built, like the wiki, and the countless meetings with companies that are household names.

People like LC, Trophias, Stixil, UB, Baysed, Kraken, Bravo, Firstword, Queenie, and the amazing Milkshake (from Growth), have become synonymous with hard work and brilliance. There's no way I can thank you in a single blog post for what you've done and will continue to do. But you may ask why, then, did I call for an end to the Breeds? Let me explain.

THE BREEDS

The Breeds were a concept to help create a structure in an otherwise structureless, decentralized group of volunteers that wanted the best for both Shib and its community. It was a success, but what I've learned through watching the concept grow is that the members therein should not be limited by their assigned tasks. This became evident when the Defense Breed, who spent endless hours on Discord fighting FUD and answering questions about all they do, began meeting, working, and closing deals with a variety of companies without requiring the input of our small group of Shibarium developers.

As this team met more and more outside defensive needs, closing deals with groups like Bugatti luggage group, I've learned to respect what they are capable of and I sincerely hope they will continue to move Shib, Bone, Leash, and Shiboshi's forward. Therefore, it became evident, as you can see, that being called a "Defense" Breed makes no sense for this team of powerful individuals. Therefore, I think they should be named as Trophias has coined them: The Real Team. Hopefully, this team will continue their efforts for all things Shib, allowing the devs to focus on the Shibarium project.

Best of luck to the Real Team!

SHIBA ETERNITY

The core team at the time (as teams constantly change and evolve) agreed to hire an A-level studio to produce a decentralized Shiba game for Shiboshis; embarking on this journey without knowing the cost or level of commitment that such a thing would entail. That meant that the majority of production, marketing, design, structure, and the roadmap afterward fell to me. Please understand that I took leadership over this task willingly, working hard to complete what was promised to our "community".

Playside Studios did incredible work, as anyone who has played the game can see, but it turns out the total cost for an independent company to produce the game was well into seven figures. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the game structure I felt obligated to put in place due to internal and external feedback prevented the game from recouping its initial investment at the launch - even though we launched a #1 mobile game in both app stores! That being said, I'd still like to thank William Volk, who has been working with app and revenue drivers that push installs, CPI, ARPDAU, ARPU, and other metrics that will allow us to keep scaling until we finally reach profitability and turn the tide of the iOS and Google Play versions of the game - even though I understand this will be a challenge to accomplish without millions of dollars in marketing.

Does this mean that the game is a failure? Not at all! The goal was to produce a quality game that could be leveraged and licensed to the greater Shiboshi community and made into a Shibarium version that rewards players. With a robust IP, powerful card deck, and fun gameplay, this goal is on track and (hopefully) with its blockchain release, the community will see low-cost improvements like tournaments and more levels!

One of the lessons I learned here, early on, was that while Shiba is and always will be a decentralized community, its decentralized nature means it cannot easily interact with outside companies. In order to do so, business entities must be created. But how? Is this even feasible on an IRL level? Can Shibarium be worked into physical and digital locations? This is why I began looking to learn how best to do this, and is why Welly took place.

WELLY

Welly was a business that was already growing while serving incredible food. Moreover, the Welly team was powerful, smart, young, witty, talented, easy to verify, and a delight to work with. As I began to see the skill those individuals exhibited, it was obvious this was a group I wanted to work with more in the future. Sadly, this caused a troubling response within the ranks of the Breeds who saw this new team as a threat to their own existence. To this day, I’m still not sure exactly why.

I was able to achieve the following goals. We solved problems in real time and found out how to tackle multiple new challenges. How can Shibarium be worked into IRL projects as more than just another bonus points app provider? How can multiple teams work together to achieve success? What are the most important aspects when working with Shibarium as it pertains to security, supply, and blockchain? Is it the cost? The speed? The name? With the information I gathered through my research, I was able to direct a new focus towards IRL for Shibarium, which I outlined partially in the previous article, and will go more into detail as we beta test and reveal more about this incredible product.

Welly continues on the path as planned and has begun the remodel of their first location, the acquisition and design for the second, and franchise opportunities as well. Eat Well, Eat Welly!

So, with this new concept of IRL meets decentralization I moved on to see how this would work in the fashion world.

SHIBA FASHION

In regards to Shiba Fashion, the Welly Team introduced us to the incredible John Richmond team and, rather quickly, we came up with an incredible plan: a big fashion show, NFT drop, signed supermodels, and everything ready to go. It took longer than I would have liked to have the 40 Shib pieces - specialty, bespoke (meaning highly-customized), and unusual - designed, manufactured, and finalized. But then, at that exact moment of completion, the market pulled the rug out from under us.

Suddenly, the entire Shib side of the project was relying once again on me pulling from my personal funds. The difference was that this time I couldn't risk the 6 or 7 figure loss and had to determine a new strategy to ensure John Richmond’s efforts and involvement wasn’t for nothing. Months later, Marcie from the MV worked closely with Mina from John Richmond to renegotiate the contract to help ensure every Avatar in the MV will wear John Richmond x Shiba gear! This was an almost perfect solution which made up for the huge loss of not having the initial 40 piece fashion line drop. Moreover, this allows us to once again work Shibarium into a completely new place for blockchain: fashion! I'm hoping to have this new agreement signed in upcoming days to weeks.

I haven’t given up on seeing a supermodel in Shiba Inu clothes. In fact, I've found more affordable and faster tailors, am working on a new distribution strategy, and a new pricing that will allow us to lower bespoke design costs savings we can pass onto the community. This will let us move forward with bespoke Shib clothing when the time is right. Moreover, I've been briefed that the greater community is in discussions with other brands as well, meaning Shiba clothing has a bright future in Shibarium, and with a focus on more designers at its core.

SHIB.io: THE METAVERSE

Luckily, during the process of working on Shiba Eternity, I developed an excellent relationship with William Volk, who then introduced us to the professional and absolutely wonderful team that was hired to make the best Metaverse in the world. (Take that Facebook!) At the same time, a Shiba MV Team was also created. This team consisted of the Defense Team (now known as the Real Team) and a few individuals from the Growth Team. The idea here was that the two groups would work together to improve the MV and bring the community concepts and ideas on what those evolutions would look like.

Before going any further, I want to say that the work Marcie, Sherri, and the MV Developers have done is more than exceptional. They're creating global teams to complete next-level technologies in real time - all while being well under budget! We couldn't ask for a better team for this project and I'm so proud of them. Since the entire project will run on Shibarium, we are building more than a meeting place for all of you, we're building a Metaverse movement!

Can't wait to see what our MV will look like? Come to SXSW 2023 and see for yourself! Who knows you might even receive some ShibaSwag!

SHIBARIUM WAS THE GOAL OF 2022

So, as you all can see, while many criticized my decisions to work on certain projects, my focus this whole time was to understand how to make Shibarium different, viable for the common ecosystem (and not just scammy projects), and find the best team possible for the job. I’ve kept on this with single-minded intensity, regardless of the constant barrage of “wen Shibarium” and less than kind comments about my character.

I'm not perfect, but I love Shib (and what it can be) more than anyone. I've sacrificed more than I could have ever expected. My work for Shib has disrupted my world so much it has distanced me from my own family because they can't understand why this is my choice or they are frustrated because I can't explain exactly what I do. I can only imagine what my neighbors think. Moreover, I've seen greed rip apart frens and friends alike. Like many on our team, I've faced death threats, extortion, stalking, blatant copying, and all types of other distressing aggression I don't even want to get into.

Eventually, even though I’m proud of the work I accomplished, I realized I couldn’t ignore the toll this took on my mental health so I took off on a spiritual journey. In fact, what changed my life was going to a far away temple and sitting at the feet of a priest from an ancient lineage who showed me his spiritual training. I promised at that moment to be the best me, regardless of what anyone says or doesn't say about me.

While I haven't always been successful, I've learned from each error, and adjusted to ensure the Shibarium launch is outstanding. With the Shibarium team, I’ve already begun to develop new relationshibs and new friendshibs in hopes of developing the platform we all desire. (I'm excited because the Shibarium projects the community have already been planning are AMAZING!)

While I disagree with the various Shib teams at times, we work together and get things done when we need to. I've suspended my initial feelings and learned to respect projects I initially didn't trust fully.

Essentially, I've done everything I could to ensure that everyone is welcome to Shibarium. Because they are. However, that doesn't mean people and projects have free reign to behave without respect for all the work we have accomplished so far.

BUT WEN SHY?

In this blog, I spoke on what we've done publicly (and stealthily) to advance the idea of Shibarium during its development. Next, I'll go into detail about what I've done behind the scenes to prepare the blockchain for public consumption and to keep us all safe, technical aspects, why intake and much more. Then, we will release the intake form and Shibarium Beta.

Soon frens. Until then, be well.

NOTE: Any use of copywritten and trademarked terms or images from Shiba Eternity including Shiba Eternity cards, terms like Shadowcat etc. are used with permission from Shiba Inu Games LLC. Other Copyright and Trademarks owned by respective entities.