# Mirror Post -- Interview Notes

## Where do you see MetaFactory in 5 years?

### Steve:
- Not focused on just merch and apparel -- heavy emphasis on DAO functionality and web3 / metaverse culture
- For now the focus is digiphysical goods but that will be used to expand into areas of greater significance
- Possibility and desire for DAO's being the future of work for like minded, experimental people. Zero sum vs. positive sum -- perpetual exchange of value for those who are willing to pioneer this new potential
- Up to this point crypto work has been highly volatile -- emphasis on trading and speculation over new assets. DAO's represent the potential for a new branch of crypto work that is not subject to the volatility of what has thus far been the most prominent forms of "working in crypto"
- DAO's are a new frontier for "community career potential" where no one has a typical "boss" but everyone participating in the community is accountable to each other. This is true of both full time and part time "DAO work"

### Nifty
- the standard for web3 digiphysical merch, including the primary solution provider giving tools to big brands who will increasingly look to roll out NFT replicas of their physical merch/apparel
- sees brands like nike, gucci, etc. coming to MF as a solution provider for easy NFT roll out of their products
- eventually customers will want and expect NFT replicas of all physical merchandise they purchase
- MF chips that provide proof of authenticity proliferating to the world of RL merch and eliminating fake/knock off products
- demand for proof of authenticity will grow as the technology to provide it is developed. in 5 years MF will be a leader in providing solutions to meet this demand
- (Zico) expecting web3 breakout sometime in 2024/25
- (nifty) web3 currently at the phase of internet companies before the internet became the primary vehicle for commerce -- expecting the web3 take over to happen more rapidly. We are working to strategically position MF for this next evolution of tech
- (zico) MF can be a driving factor and primary entity in this paradigm shift -- it can set the new standard customers will want and eventually expect/demand
- NFT NYC Takeaway -- merch is key. MF is a great horizontal tool for supporting all other DAO's as a solution provider, and onboarding mechanism, and as a place to be rewarded + obtain value for collaboration. in 5 years MF will be one of the primary entities to be acting as a "bridge" to web3 for entites from both the traditional "RL" world and crypto organizations
- (zico) MF has a very real and profound use case
- (nifty) we are a DAO but also a lab experimenting with forward thinking + cutting edge technologies
- (nifty) not only producing merch, but experimenting with new sources of raising and deploying money

### Wes
- Sees MetaFactory as a "fertile ground for emergence" with a focus on clothing and branding. The legacy world is not built to suppor the logistical flow of things anymore. A lot of baggage is brought from the way things currently worked / have worked. Getting things to flow as we feel the world can flow is what I see us doing
- In the physical fashion build, I have been identifying trained tailors, production places, etc. all over the world who are ready to experiment with what blockchain can really do to empower and uplift them. I see us as being a leader in that red pilling process in 5 years time, getting people in legacy to shift away from legacy and into our web3 model
- Wes placed strong emphasis on how workers in the current paradigm get rewarded and how, within 5 years time, MF model can help to change the status quo in such a way that proper and fair credit is given to each worker in the supply chain in a cryptographic way
- Wes used the term "agency" in that the model MF is pushing can give agency to all workers from textile weavers, to pattern makers, to manufacturing laborers, etc. can be given "true agency" which they do not currently have in legacy
- giving people in the chain the power and freedom that comes with a creative director position without actually having to become some corporate appointed creative director
- Wes wants to see people in the legacy chain coming to MF to work and not stay working because they are "indentured" to their work but because they love their work and are rewarded properly for the value they contribute
- "if more people did what they love, the world would be a better place. when they love it, they make better products"
- Wes placced a lot of emphasis on conditioning of society and individuals and how the MF model can help undo a lot of the unhealthy and restrictive conditioning we have been subject to
- Zico and Wes discussed how critical it is is to acknowledge the ways we have been conditioned and to unlearn what we have been taught as it no longer applies in where we are going and where we want to be in 5 years

### Drew
- hard to predict, MF fluid and flexibile. we have a general vision we are working towards with core tenants in mind. various ways and capacities to achieve these goals
- right now the specific focus is fashion side and fashion research -- our goal speaks to supply chain, labor, and the future of work.
- huge problems in fashion. we have been culturally trained to appreciate price over value. this drives explotation of labor, markets, and drives poor quality products
- with web3 we can structure the supply chain better, we can create reward incentives that align the entire supply chain and create positive a positive sum applications movement. once you see it, you can't unsee it, and it guides you forward
- soverignty, anonominity, decentralized nature of supply chain, anti fragility -- we want to pull these things in and create a unified supply chain network of microfactories of independent workers focused on passion who have the ability to plug into this network and create anything aligns us all thru and thru. web3 tech and culture is perfectly aligned to and suited for this
- the reason for $ROBOT rewards is to create a situation where everyone up and down the chain is rewarded
- Seeing the vision -- understanding it... legacy will come to us for guidance if they see and understand our vision
- the path we are on goes much further than being just a merch store. it is a slow process and takes time to make inroads. we must find production partners that share the vision and be aligned in a way that we need them to be, so they feel and understand our priorities. the microfactory idea becomes core to what we are.
- instead of just being metafactory microfactory it can be a makerspace. all sorts of creation can take place there
- an education angle is also applicable and giving ppl the knowledge, tools and ability to decentralized production will be key -- talent does not always have the access it needs
- we need to be fluid. it is to our benefit. embrace the chaos in the dao space. in 10 years time this can be an entirely new school. ppl can come in, learn, upscale and upskill while getting paid -- hopefully this will inspire others to follow this same model

### MetaDreamer
- Wants MF to be an operating system for decentralized creation and ideation of production of digital and physical goods
- consumer products to be talent hub of both production and design
- all aspects incentive aligned
- global phenomena type of brand owned by the people and not any central brand or authority
- MF as platform for anyone to execute on whatever dreams or visions they have. get access to entire network / supply chain
- be a viable option for MF DAO work to be a "community career"
- legacy fashion is not sustainable. we can be the stewards of more sustainable prodution, tech, resource, etc. we develop and make available to the entire network.
- web3 paradigm gives us the best of both worlds. licensable assets, open source patterns, pool of resources and materials and production facilities -- anyone in the world will be able to leverage this shared infrastructure and help us outcompete the legacy world
- 2016 crypto era -- supply chain was one of the main touted things. nothing took off. they just put legacy paradigm and replicated it on blockchain, it didn't do anything.
- MF to deliver on this original promise of blockchain. first we form principles then create a crypto native experience.
- whatever legacy does, we don't want to adopt that. we aren't looking to improve their systems or what is already there -- we want to create new possibilities that were not possible before.
- work from the mindset of bringing ppl together, creating cultural experience, build it on patterns -- thats the playbook.
- cryptographically stamping the value everyone in the chain contributes through chips -- everyone in the chain has providence of on-chain record of who did what, etc. -- once that info is on chain we can back propegate royalties to that chain of events and the people along that chain. this will remove the legacy system in which all value and upside is captured by those who are the executives or investors in a legacy brand.
- consider the impact to environment and sustainability. we can eliminate wasteful practices of legacy. ex of gucci that had huge warehouses to just incinerate thousands of shoes because they made too many and don't want to flood market and drop shoe value. this is so broken. decentralzied production is on demand only, from the closest microfactory to the customer.
- we will have the benefits and capacilities of legacy but without the cost, waste, and abuse of centralization. just independent operators plugging into the OS and going from there.
- curation game starts in this direction where anyone can create a project and the whole pipeline can flow into production.
- microfactories almost like coffee factory reniassance -- vr headsets, 3d printers, embroidery, members of DAO with free access. really exciting prospect.

### Jin
- Truly digiphysical. makerspaces, remote teams around the world doing different types of work, collaborating. Desining wearables, promoting them, integrating them into avatars, productions
- People forking metafactory to make other types of factories that can build cool stuff and make things better
- pushing metaverse interoperability and setting the standard for it
- interoperability through wearabiles is especially crucial because you can pair your message between platforms much more easily than you can with assets such as land in specific metaverses

## Regarding the "new frontier of work" concept ... how does MetaFactory fit into this, what roles can it play, what value do you see in it?

### Steve:
- MetaFactory is establishing an interesting niche that, over time, will expand beyond its current scope / focus (Arashi, thinking: MetaBookDAO WEN?!)
- People here are free to come and build with us, earn some money, and keep building -- or they are free to move on to something else as they please
- The things MetaFactory is doing right now, the way in which it operates, and how it rewards community participants can serve to set the standard for how DAO's ought to operate and provide others with a good example of how to function
- MF has an excellent structure for red pilling people into crypto, DAO's, web3, and defi
- MF has tremendous value as an onboarding bridge for both new people in crypto and crypto veterans who have not been exposed to community focused DAO work
- MF is a perfect hybrid of constant value flow and positive sum gains

### Nifty:
- MF is not here to speculate in volatility. It is here to build the future and we are learning as we go
- MF is one of the leading DAO's in defining this new frontier of DAO work, we are a lab of ideas and innovation disguised as a crypto merch store
- (zico) must distingush between working in web3 vs. investing in web3.
- (zico) DAO's give the phenomena of emergence. look at facebook -- no one anticipated that it would become what it is today. this isn't new in tech, it evolves in ways we don't expect. we don't know how web3 will evolve but MF can and will play a critical roles in what web3 ultimately becomes, which I don't think any of us can predict at this point in time
- in regards to working in web3, agreed it is distinct from investing in it. we are working it, we are doing so with a profound lack of structure
- this lack of structure is both good and bad
- growing pains are inherent to this, as is difficulty with providing a smooth onboarding process to people who are new in our organization looking to contribute, but unsure of how to go about it
- we must simplify the process and even consider different methods of onboarding according to what new community members have the skillset for
- (arashi) this almost sounds to me as if i'm playing a character in an MMO and deciding which skill tree to spec out -- tho i suppose new community members are already spec'd out, we just have to provide clear paths for each spec
- (nifty) exactly, Gamification is a powerful tool and we can apply this concept to our onboarding process + other things in MF we strive to do in regards to curation and other ROBOT functions

### Wes
- MF to restructure how fashion supply chain works and demonstrate to other DAO's an incredibly powerufl model that is industry agnostic and can be used to improve to overall state of the world and society --
- ***This is mostly covered in responses to other questions / sections

### Drew
- crypto is the future. these tokens and coins are going to be the new monetary system. everyone will have to be a trader -- not necessarily a day trader, but there will always be a need to be managing your digital assets
- the future is multi token, multi network.
- MF is close to implementing an actual salary/stipend/UPI approach for core members. how that gets decided and voted on still tbd. tiers, etc. paid out in stables
- gives comfort of living and comfort + continuing to excel in our model.
- we need to be cognizant of the realities and shortcomings of the web 2.5 world while we are still in it as the web3 world is emerging
- MY layering intersection of physical and digital -- both have resonance in progressing the narrative of the web3 emergence
- current use of NFTs is not very interesting. mortgages, leases, these types of things -- it will go much further than just pfp's and airdrops.
- the biggest opportunities are rooted in solving the biggest challenges -- i think we will usher in an entire new side of the NFT space by illustrating what can be done by intersecting digi+physical
- our model illustrates and highlights what work is being done, and where, by who, etc. -- there is a better way to do it than legacy that creates alignment up and down the chain. it turns workers into owners

### MetaDreamer
- MF one of few place in crypto where ppl can bring expertise outside of crypto and apply in crypto context. much easier for average person to understand. superior mechanism to red pill. takes emphasis away from things like dogshit coins or what token to chase, and puts focus on elevating one's passion in a crypto context
- it can become an onboarding funnel
- ***This is mostly covered in responses to other questions / sections

### Jin
- a lot of NFT communities have ppl sitting there just waiting for the next drop or mint
- MF has a clear funnel on how to get involved and produce
- MF is actually a real product, physically, and also one digitally -- not people just waiting for the next pfp
- all these collaborations, a lot of atypical jobs -- all digital and remote. gotta keep info sync'd across collabs and goals. keeping up with research as well. RnD critical. art design critical. this all stems from crypto art.
- 2d media evolving to more metaverse things like 3d assets, wearables, avatar pets, vehicles.
- MF is a step in the next evolution of NFTs. not just art you hang on the wall. its something that is tangible, a whole new canvass. something you can wear and show off / express in both the real world and digital world.

## What stands out in your mind as the most significant milestones and highlights of MetaFactory's history? What do you regard as the most important / critical future milestones MetaFactory will hit?

### Steve:
- Looking back at things before I joined -- a sales milestone. We crossed over 1 million in sales revenue without even noticing. We were so focused on the next task that this milestone was not noticed or celebrated
- We are more excited about ROBOT milestones than we are about USD sales revenue
- Not really a milestone, but the fact that ROBOT has not been shilled or marketed very much speaks volumes about the value of MetaFactory
- NFT wearables have not been shilled yet either, but successfully rolling them out will be a critical future milestone, especially when considering our goal to standardize the NFTs for easy use in all meta's
- iRobotDAO -- the establishing of it -- is one of the most important future milestones to hit
- More critical future milestones will be how to optimize and process the curation of new products. Using ROBOT for product curation will be big.
- ROBOT staking behind projects, and earning ROBOT based on the success of projects that you stake into, will be a great innovation that introduces a tremendous amount of additional value for ROBOT holders

### Nifty
- I have 3 future milestones that are in no particular order
- launching our own metafactory collection, with our own patterns and art that can potntially be incorporated into future collaborations
- i believe our own collection will be a "level up" for MF and open the door to do bigger things
- building our own microfactories. one in berlin right now. planning one in the US
- this will enhance our capabilities, bandwidth, customizeability, and enable faster project turnaround
- deployment of NFT wearables will be huge. this will be a game changer once you can wear or sell the NFT replicas of our physical merch
- doing this will open the door to position MF to be a solution provider to top fashion and apparel brands who will all be looking meet the eventual expectations of the average consumer to receive digital NFT replicas of their physical merch purchases
- another milestone will be formalizing adding more utility to $ROBOT. project curation process through gamification using $ROBOT. this will decentralize the curation process from key MF decision makers to the community
- $ROBOT staking will also give it more value and utility as holders can stake behind new project drops and receive rewards tied to the success of the projects they stake their $ROBOT behind. This will also provide incentive to stakers to promote the projects they stake behind

- past milestones ~~
- the bomber being a huge success, some OGs in the space wearing it and supporting it
- sushi drop was very special. sushi decided to drop 50 tokens on each buyer of the hoodie. those who bought it ended up with more money in $ROBOT and $SUSHI than they paid for the hoodie and this has built good will between sushi and MF
- (zico) we were the first to turn a food truck into a merch truch

### Wes
- comments on how nice it is to zoom out and think about big picture past/present/future and reflect because typically too busy to do this
- (past) biggest past milestone was going to Paris in July. It's so crazy to think about -- these are the people I spend 90% of my time communicating with. People who share the same vision, we are all trying to build a new, better world. One that improves the human condition and sheds itself of the waste of the legacy systems
- one of the biggest impacts Wes took away from this was the significance of digital connections. Digital vs. IRL connections -- in some ways they are weaker, in some ways they are stronger. it's fluid. being able to celebrate what the physical and digital give us in their own ways is important, but we must not conflate or confuse the two.
- (past) meeting in person was my most significant past milestone. I am really only in MF as a DAO, i do not have the bandwidth for more. but i was accepted here and got to spend time with MF and MetaCartel and it just felt like my family right from the start. What was interesting to me is that the "personality match" didn't "totally fit" but the connection went much deeper than that because we knew we were aligned in our goals and our desire to build better things than what the legacy system offers us. The alignment was almost superficial tribalism but it emerged as a much deeper and more meaningful connection due to what we all want to build, the shared vision that we have
- (future) figuring out what our digital offerings will be. that is a big unknown for me but they are foundational in the charter of metafactory and our vision. I do not want to say that we are simply trying to replicate the physical as the digital -- each is unique and offers their own parameteres and we are creative and intelligent enough to celebrate the physical as the physical and the digital as the digital -- but this will be a key factor in bringing about the soft revolution the world needs
- (future) I want all people to have more fun, be less destructive, and have greater connection -- and MetaFactory can help get us there, while providing other organizations with a model on how to do this themselves as well

### Drew
- (future) -- any project will stall and die unless you achieve network effect. this isn't really a tangible thing to actually hit, its a moving target. but achieving that network effect will be a monumental future milestone
- (future) to be able to see people living soley on their contributions to DAO's. not even just MF particularly but overall DAO's in general. to live substainably with DAO work will give you better mental health, physical health, more freetime -- everything will be better. we must re-train ourselves how to think about what work is. if we can do this it will inspire more projects to follow suit
- (past) breakout of ppl understanding and recognizing what we are doing at MF
- (past) crossing 1 million in sales -- revenue beyond tokenomics was huge
- (past) wes coming on board took us to a new level on the production side. bringing in someone from legacy fashion who saw our vision and wanted to jump in and run with things was super exciting
- (past) steve coming in as the soul and torch bearer, writing medium blog posts about the vision, that was big. to inspire others to come in, empower yourself, go after passion and get involved -- the DAO has to provide a path but to see someone step into that and run with it then help us grow and get stronger and better -- i love seeing that -- its working!

### MetaDreamer
- (past) wes coming in and helping to level up production capacity and instill ideas on microfactories and connecting us to cutting and bleeding edge fashion innovation.
- (past) launch of $ROBOT -- we kind of yolo'd it but -- a lot of tokens that came out after us took inspiration from how we do things at MF. Bankless DAO is example
- this happens often, with almost every project. they come to us for merch but we end up advising them on tokenomics and community building. very validating to see the things we did that no one else did before being validated and utilized by others.
- (future) in general pushing the edge of innovation forward. it has been succesful for us so far. i was happy with the launch of iRobot DAO last year and that coming with a flood of DMs from VC's and investors and us saying no. we didn't want to and aren't selling tokens or equity. we want to be community owned and not just give in to VCs for capital.
- rev positive very early own so we had luxury of not needing VC money.
- instead of VC money used to hire people, pagy wages, etc. we are using rev positive $ to buy up $ROBOT from the market which supports the whole network, ppl who hold and contribute value. its breaking the mold of how do you pay contributors. our entity is continually pumping in capital to $ROBOT -- this aligns much more with community first philosophy than VC money
- (future) looking at berlin factory, i want to open one in denver. establishing these factories all over the globe as physical hubs of innovation open to members of the DAO will lead to and unlock even more innovation.
- NFT wearables will be huge. it will set the standard for interoperability in the metaverse. we are coming up with formats on NFT metadata that can act as a wearable in any platform. they will become attached to and intermingled with identity. no matter where you go you can bring your identity with you.
- not like meta/fb who is trying to create a top down platform. instead -- we will standardize open standards, proliferate, advocate, and let others build. the metaverse to emerge from that naturally, not from what facebook dictates
- (future) curation game. primary utility for $ROBOT. it will decentralize the process and marketing. staking $ROBOT to projects for a cut of the sales will make people want to accumulate more $ROBOT. the more they have the more they stake the bigger cut they get of rewards. this creates incentives for ppl to do things like marketing for us
- (future) overall, evolving into an operating system that does all of these things on its own. eliminating the legacy chain of command/supply.
- (future) right now we can handle maybe 3 drops per week. getting to the point of automation that can handle over 100 drops per week would be dope

### Jin
- (past) bankless announcement. cool cause it marked a media partner being with us.
- (past) buyback of $ROBOT internally. creating positive sum looping of value
- (past) i remember getting excited to hit 100k in sales rev. idk how much we are even at now, its way past that
- (past) mcon was a huge milestone. by day 2 or 3 everyone in MF swag. high signal to noise ratio there. value alignment through joining iRobotDAO
- (past) NFT NYC was another huge success
- (future) looking at success of irl events gives me inspiration to replicate these things in a virtual setting
- (future) NFT wearables and making them future proof. we want to do it right so we dont have to correct mistakes and send out new versions.
- (future) evolving past just fashion and into other digiphysical type goods

## Any other random thoughts you would like considered for the creation of our first Mirror post?

### Steve:
- The establishment of positive feedback loops through periodic buy backs of ROBOT is critical for a "healthy lifecycle" of where and how ROBOT flows from the DAO, to our community members, to customers, back to the DAO, etc.
- This is an underground, crypto grassroots movement that has the potential to play a significant role in how the crypto space evolves
- If your primary motivator is to make profit, MetaFactory is not a good fit for you
- The cross pollination of web3 culture is far more important than making profits

### Nifty:
- ultimately we want to have fun and make fun realities
- we are trying to reward actions that add more value, open more doors, and build upon the actions of others. we do not look to necessarily reward time spent or noise made, but value added.
- we are experimenting with tools for coordination/collaboration that lead to mutual beneficial results and rewards
- (zico) MF really is a decentralized, highly experimental research collective with massive potential disguised as a merch shop
- (zico) i would agree our ultimate aim and success rests in coordination and collaboration -- when we win, our partners win

### Wes
- In trying to think about "how do we get the average person to understand this and recognize this, I ask myself: how would I explain MetaFactory to my mom?"
- AR Fashion ... not really my cup of tea. putting a phone up to see clothes on body... that's not the reason I am here. much deeper than that. that might just be the circumstances of my life forming me in this way. MF isn't playing the game the way everyone else is playing it. It doesnt have the flashiest website, or marketing, you can't find out much about it unless you really look for it. But its a profound way to red pill people -- for me, it's all about the structural implications.
- I like to think about how the digital revolution can empower people and reveal things that have been lost / become invisible in a legacy world fixated on certain things and focused on other things. Most of the time those things are not balanced -- the ability to highlight these things that are invisible to society is what this is all about. For me, the invisible has been revealed, and MetaFactory is giving me the space to express that.
- the vision we are building would not be possible without blockchain. it is what gives us the potential to re-define things as we see fit. to make things more fair, to make things better, to improve upon and eliminate the waste of legacy. to cryptographically stamp everyone's contribution into a project is profound. the current system is built to erase all those hands that touched a project and funnel all of the rewards, benefits, and profits to those at the top. the presence of the artist is lost in this, and that presence is profound. in a world where we know what is valued, we know that there are people perverting and still hiding the hands who who built that value in this industrial complex. if we have the tech to fix this, to unlock these new types of collaboration, and highlight each hand who touched a project, i see a world where we are creating something profound

### Drew
- most people interested in where we are going next
- thinking about putting together loose roadmap -- ideas and visions that can move along linear calendar or scale
- speak to culture of a web3 decentralized brand but progressing the narrative of re tooling and shaping DAO's
- curation game will be a huge theme that will allow community to continually shape the direction of the DAO
- everything we want to build is agnostic and composable and alloweable for others to do, that is what we want
- i really enjoy gray markets -- more opportunity there. i also believe we can build a better world.

### MetaDreamer
- Original vision of MF before i was involved... drew james and metacartel -- oct 2019. crypto conferences. merch was highly emphasized. quality wasn't great -- each org trying to figure out solutions for merch but it was shitty. so the idea of SwagDAO became a thing.
- SwagDAO ideas evolve. twitter branding competition. i came up with concept of metafactory. factory of factories. factory that coordinates other factories together. meta in this way. brand defined by sum of all brands
- early on focused on speculation aspect. sell merch on bonding curves? that was just a re-reaction of hypebeast culture, more legacy replication.
- $ROBOT was needed to incentivize and keep community together.
- not used to buy our stuff. that would be doing nothing. tokenomics and incentives was the focus
- two entities to MF -- DAO and legal. legal llc to pay taxes, act as oracle to real world. DAO for everything else
- llc gives no salary. all through dao. founders incentive aligned in the same way everyone else is
- value of a brand is the community of the brand and the cultural impact it has. MF can have a massive cultural impact by creating and sharing resources on its platform.
- blurs lines between producer and brand and consumer and creates bi directional consumerism. legacy is just extract value away from ppl to corporate executives and board of directors. spend money on things you dont need. they convince you that, to be happy, you need to spend. vs. metafactory it turns consumerism away from that and real things of value. belonging, community, culture creation, economic opportunity
- we want to see culture and community be held in higher regard
- a lot of opportunity to plug people into awesome new economies -- previously those people could not be plugged into it. unleash their creativity
- measuring hours spent isn't really a direct correlation to value creation. incentives created in the right paradigm can produce far better results than the legacy system of bureacry and wasted capital.
- cryptographic record of value created preserved forever and will give royalties to every person in the chain rather than those things getting captured into the concentrated hands of the few who owned or are investors of the brand. this decentralizes ownership and creates a much more fair economy. -- we can create mechanisms for measuring value creation, quantify those, measure those, and distribute capital in one to one coorelation
- proof of value creation to be woven into cryptographic proofs stamped on the blockchain.

### Jin
- I want ppl who read this to understand what MF is right away. digiphysical -- they just get it
- they read digiphysical but do they actually understand it and its implications?
- i'd like to see a combination of really good media of all forms -- videos, demonstrations, articles -- that gets our message across clearly in a way that is understood right away