Bulls and Apes Project - Setting a New NFT Standard with Anthony Mongiello: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's classic episode, we'll be breaking down bulls and apes, setting a new NFT standard. To drop these vibe bombs, I brought Anthony Mangiello into EO Fire Studios. Anthony is a business leader with a passion for team culture and leadership development. He has a 20 plus year corporate career leading high performing teams and is now a first time co-founder. And today we talk about how you need to give before you take and how the great thing about Web3 is the power of community and oh so much more.

0:34And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Anthony and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Fire Nation, it's time to stop guessing and start winning with a proven playbook. Inside the Freedom Circle, you'll have access to my step-by-step systems for creating offers, building processes, and driving traffic, all in just 90 days.

1:16Ready for freedom? Visit freedom-circle.com to learn more. Anthony, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What's up, Fire Nation? Thank you for listening in. For me, it's, and I learned this from my parents, from my grandparents, give before you take. Give before you take. And Fire Nation, you're going to see that's kind of a theme of what we're talking about here as we go through this very exciting episode, Bulls and Apes, setting a new NFT standard. So Anthony, you and I have been talking a lot over email and then our pre-interview chat about what's going on.

2:00And the reality is Web3, it's just a buzzword that seems to be everywhere now. What is Web3 in your mind? And what compelled you to co-found an NFT project in this space? So if I think about Web2, it's broke down the attention barriers and you don't have to go through gatekeepers for attention. And Web3, it's breaking down barriers of commerce. So now you've got the attention barriers broken down where you've got audiences being able to interact with influencers, with companies pretty directly. Web3 is the transaction end of it. And so now, instead of going through a middle entity to conduct a transaction, once that person or a company or influencer has attention, they could go peer-to-peer and get a transaction done.

2:47And so for me, Web3 has broken down the barriers of commerce and transactions. I love that. And that obviously opened your eyes to some possibilities and compelled you to co-found this NFT project. We'll be talking more about Bulls and Apes project. Can you share why you were compelled to do this? My first NFT project that I got involved in was VFriends. So Gary V launched an NFT project and I had a ton of respect for his content, his messaging, his business experience. So when he started talking about NFTs, I'm like, you know what, I got to get involved. But then when I got involved, the thing that surprised me the most was the community aspect.

3:24And I jumped into an application called Discord for the first time. Now Discord is second nature to me, but at the time it was new. And I was just blown away by the community aspect. I was blown away about how Gary was in there chatting with his community. And it started reminding me of running a business on Main Street. And you think about small businesses that are operating on Main Street, you've got everybody in there that your friends and your family and the neighbors, giving you advice, let's say, on how to run your business. And I started seeing that in Discord, which I'll call the town square of Web3.

4:01And so in that town square, I saw a different business operating model being developed and an operating model that broke down those barriers again between the people that are stakeholders of a company or people that are interested in a company and the people that are running the company. And so the business operating model and the potential to have that tight of a feedback loop between the business and the community is really what dragged me in. I will say that I had the exact same experience as you as far as getting into the space. I can remember so clearly hearing Gary talk about NFT this, NFT that.

4:38I'm launching an NFT project. And I was finally like, you know what? I'm going to check a little bit more about this. And I read more about it. I was a little bit into some cryptocurrency. So I had some Ethereum, you know, I moved it to my MetaMask wallet. And then I ended up minting three of his spectaculars during his actual launch, you know, went all the way down to the lowest ducks auction price, which was three Ethereum, which is a lot of money. It's like 9 ,000 bucks each. And I was like, I can't believe I'm spending$27 ,000 on three pictures. Now, of course, you know, those are have skyrocketed, you know, so many X's in value that it's insane.

5:11And then I ended up acquiring a gift goat later on as well. So I hold that too. And then of course, I went big on Gary's most recent V2 launch with his VFriends 2, which has been really cool. And so I've really been enjoying this space. And it's kind of cool to hear that both you and I had the same kind of initial introduction into this really cool space known as NFTs and non-fungible tokens, which has a ton of potential, Anthony, for amazingness. But it also has a ton of potential for scams and the projects that we refer to as rug pulls where the founders just disappear. And that's actually why I'm so excited to be connecting with you now and to be talking about your project because you're doing something so different with the Bulls and Apes project.

5:55You are literally setting a new standard. Talk about that. We're hoping to set a standard where other founders see that there's value in it and potential community members and holders start holding founders to account. And so for us, when we entered the space and we did our project reveal. Well, always from the very beginning, back in December, when we were talking about starting our own project, it was always going to be fully doxed. And I joke around, my profile picture has always been me. And so I've never not been doxed. And for those in the audience, doxing is when you have a public persona.

6:34So your personal persona is your public persona and you're not just a cartoon character and an anonymous name. And so for us, it was really important that we were always going to be docs from the beginning. We wanted to be a pre-funded and we are a pre-funded project. So just as you would pre-fund a business to get started, that was important to us. And it was important to us that we had a level of professionalism in the space. But when we did our project reveal, we launched our Twitter, we launched our Discord. It was right around the time when there were some major scandals, major scams, rug pulls, cash grabs.

7:09And we were looking at each other and said, what are we going to do? This space is nuts. And we said, well, guess what? That's not us. So let's lean into it. And so we took a traditional business idea of offering refunds. And we said, we're going to bring that to the NFT space, which was done a couple of times, but it's largely unprecedented to do it and market it and bill it the way that we have. And so we have a six month ETH back guarantee that's built into our smart contract. And what we're saying is we have confidence in what we're going to deliver. And so we're going to take on some of the risk.

7:44We know NFTs and crypto are just inherently risky. So how can we take on some of the risk from our holders? That's so exciting for me to see that and to see the unfortunate situations that some people have experienced in other NFT projects where these quote unquote undoxed anonymous founders have all of a sudden just stopped showing up, like stopped being in the Discord, taking down their Twitter account. Like, again, it's not the majority because otherwise this space would be in big trouble, but it does happen all too often. So now what I love what you're doing is you are drawing a line in the sand.

8:19You're basically like, hey, we're going to launch an awesome, fun, amazing project. We are going to be fully doxed, meaning you know our names, you know our faces, you know where we're at. And we are going to offer a six month money back guarantee, basically saying, hey, if at any point between, you know, when you mint day, essentially day 31, we can get into more specifics later, but day 31 to day 180, if you at any point want your full investment back, then your full minting money back, then all you need to do is essentially ask for it, press a button in the smart contract, which has it locked up or return those funds.

8:57And you walk away with every single dollar that you initially put in to this project. And again, of course, If the project goes up, you're going to be like, well, I would ever want my money back because the project's up. And these guys, Anthony, Manny, and the other founders are saying, this project is going to win. We believe it so much that this is what we're willing to do, which is really exciting. So for those in Fire Nation who are thinking about collecting their very first NFT, we're talking about people who are saying, okay, like maybe I have a Coinbase account. Maybe I don't. I'm going to set one up and maybe I'll buy some Ethereum.

9:29and then maybe I'll create a MetaMask and send some Ethereum to my MetaMask. So I'm ready to buy my first NFT. What are a few tips you can share? Yeah, sure. So I think first you mentioned setting up your Coinbase and I think something that most people aren't aware of, I know I wasn't, even though at the time Gary was saying it as loud as he could say it, I still waited and set up my Coinbase probably a little too late. And there's a process in there for Coinbase. If you do a traditional transfer, an ACH transfer from your bank to Coinbase, Coinbase has to validate the funds, validate the person behind the funds before they allow you.

10:11They allow you to buy the crypto, but they don't allow you to then transfer it. And you need to transfer it in order to execute an NFT transaction. And so there is a nine day, 10 day period from when you set up your Coinbase till you'll be able to actually transfer it out. There is a little hack, though. And you could you could talk to your bank and you could do a direct wire transfer. You pay a little bit of an extra fee and it happens within a 24 hour period. And so so there is a little hack I'll give to give to people. But generally speaking, I tell people to start slow. Make sure that you're getting involved.

10:46Make sure that you're comfortable. There are so many scams that are out there. You want to interact with a reputable project. Hopefully it's ours. But even if it's not ours, do your research. Make sure you know who you're getting involved in. Join a Discord. Get a sense of the community. And one of the powerful things about the Web3 space and the NFT space in particular is the power of the community. There's so many people that want to help. And if you jump into a Discord, you join a Discord, and you don't need to own an NFT to go into a Discord. There's always some education resources. There's always somebody that's willing to answer a question.

11:22Everybody in the NFT space is very welcoming and they want to bring new people on board. So my recommendation is to start with what you're comfortable with and try to get involved and connect with people. Fire Nation, I love that advice. There's no reason to jump in quickly and try to speed through things and try to catch up and fall for any hype that might be out there because believe me, if you miss one project, if you miss one opportunity, there's always another one coming. In fact, in this space, there's hundreds more coming down the line. So just be patient, be slow, be safe. There are scams out there.

11:57You've got to be careful. You know, you want to make sure, you know, for instance, a tip I like to tell people is that as soon as you join Discord, turn off your direct messages. That's how the scam artists get ahold of you. That's just a reality of the world that we live in. Like you should only be looking at the actual channel itself. so like the Bulls and Apes Project Discord channel, what their announcements are. And I want to throw something out there as well. I mean, I'm sure Anthony and Manny are doing all the right things to protect their Discord, but there also have been problems where other Discords have been hacked.

12:27And so announcements that have been posted in the official Discords have actually been troublesome and actually have led to malicious scams and whatnot. So you always have to double check. You always have to go slow, never be in a rush. When you're in a rush, you're probably going to do something wrong. So take your time do the right thing verify verify verify You know like to say there's never a reason why you should be giving your seed phrase under any circumstance period end of story Never And again, none of this of what manny and I are talking about today is any financial advice We're just a couple of guys that are excited about this space that are in this space And are looking to give some thoughts and advice and feedback of what we've experienced over the years or not even years geez, I mean, that's what the space is over the months, you know, that we've been in this coming up on a year.

13:14Cause I guess our Gary Vaynerchuk launch was about a year ago today, almost identical actually. Yeah. May 5th, May 10th. So we're almost a year in. And that's one thing that we've learned is that slow and steady win the race. Like I love that Warren Buffett quote, you know, it's not timing the markets it's time in the markets. So go slow, verify, don't take any chances. When we're talking about a lot of cool things like this, when we get back, from thanking our sponsors. Okay, let's talk about a platform that's completely changing how entrepreneurs are running their business, and they are also our featured partner, HighLevel.

13:51If you're an entrepreneur, coach, agency, or course creator looking to grow faster and smarter, HighLevel is the all-in-one platform that replaces your entire tech stack. Seriously, think ClickFunnels, Calendly, MailChimp, Kajabi, and even your CRM all rolled up into one powerful white-label solution. You can build funnels, send SMS, and email campaigns, schedule appointments, manage pipelines, run memberships, and even launch your own branded mobile app. It's drag and drop simple, incredibly customizable, and built for serious growth. My favorite part, you can resell high level under your own brand.

14:24That means recurring revenue, loyal clients, and total control. So whether you're tired of duct taping tools together or ready to start offering high value services with ease, high level is your unfair advantage. On top of it all, their support team is second to none and has your back every step of the way. Seriously, every question that pops up, they will have your answer waiting. And if you visit my special partnership link, you'll get a free trial. So visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial and see why thousands of businesses are switching. That's highlevelfire.com, where marketing, sales, and automation finally come together.

15:01High level, join the revolution. Fire Nation, let me ask you a question. What if you could stop guessing your way through entrepreneurship and start following a proven playbook? That's exactly why I created the Freedom Circle. Over the years, I built multiple businesses and helped countless entrepreneurs build theirs, and I learned one powerful truth. Success doesn't come from grinding harder. It comes from building the right systems, systems that attract the right customers, systems that automate the busy work, systems that create freedom instead of more stress. inside the Freedom Circle, I hand you my exact playbook.

15:35No fluff, no overwhelm, just the step-by-step blueprints I've used to grow my own companies. From building your irresistible offer to creating a streamlined process to driving consistent traffic, you'll know exactly what to do and in what order. Pair that with a community of entrepreneurs who've got your back. You've got everything you need to finally create income freedom and time freedom in just 90 days. So Fire Nation, stop reinventing the wheel. start following the proven path. Visit freedom-circle.com to learn more. That's freedom-circle.com. Entering the Web3 space, it can be a scary place for those coming from the traditional business space.

16:14So what are some obstacles that you faced? How do you overcome those obstacles? It's quite different because it's a bit of the wild, wild west right now. We're pioneers. And so we're paving the road while we're trying to build a business. And one of the examples is recruitment and trying to bring good people onto the team. And so we talked a little bit earlier about the anonymous aspect. And I was interviewing people at the very beginning and just trying to reach out and go on Twitter and say, hey, and you get just so many people coming in. and nobody wants to give up their name. Nobody wants to hop on a video call.

16:58And coming from a traditional business side, you're just blown away by it. You're like, how can't you just show who you are and conduct an interview? I had one person who said, rather than even on a voice call, well, I'll send you a voice message in WhatsApp, and then why don't you send me a voice message back? I'm like, yeah, I'm not going to be able to conduct business like this. So you quickly learn that it's through networking. And so there There aren't any big recruitment firms that you can go to in the Web3 space. So it's really just grassroots. It's getting into different communities, getting the word out on what you're trying to do.

17:33And people don't just want a job. They want to buy in to the company or the project that they work for. And so there's very much about value alignment. And so if you're going to start an NFT project, it's very important to have the story behind it, who you are, why you're doing what you're doing, What do you hope to achieve? That's the kind of thing that the top talent in Web3 buy into. So they're looking at that value alignment. And that was one big thing that we had, but we had to overcome it from the beginning because we were taking more traditional approach to recruitment. No, I love that explanation.

18:09And I can definitely resonate with it so much coming from a similar background as you. And one thing I want to talk about next is you're in an NFT project now. You are literally in it, up to your elbows, up to your knees. You are all in on the Bulls and Apes project. What are some of the key lessons that you're learning as you go through your first NFT launch? Learn to operate without sleep. It's a 24-hour cycle when you're on Twitter spaces. And a lot of the attention that you get in the NFT space is on Twitter spaces. And we'll get to Twitter space in a second because we've gotten pretty darn good at it.

18:45But you've got to spend time connecting with the community. It's all about connection. It's all about building a network. and people want to see you. They want to hear from you. And so you could be on Twitter spaces till two o 'clock in the morning and then you've got normal meetings coming in the following morning. And so you've got to learn to get through some of that grind. We've been talking a lot about balance and making sure that we get back to balance after we're done with our initial mint. And we'll get there. We're going to run it like a legitimate business. But starting out, everybody's looking for the founders.

19:17They want to see you. They want to hear from you. They want you to be the one that is virtually shaking hands and patting backs. And so it's getting out and doing that. And one of the other things that we learned pretty quickly is, for us, the turning point was actually having in real life meetups and going to a conference and meeting with people and then looking at people eye to eye. And because of all the scams and the cash grabs that were out there, I always joke around that a lot of the conversation started with the person slouched back in a chair, arms crossed, looking at you doubtful. And then you start telling your story and they start leaning forward a little bit more, leaning forward a little bit more.

19:53It's like, oh, you guys are real. Oh, you're really going to do this. Oh, you're going to do what you said that you're going to do. We're like, yeah, we are. And so we started getting that reaction from people because they saw that we were bringing a level of professionalism to the space and they started getting really excited about it. Well, there's a lot to be excited about. In fact, I've had some friends and some family members who I've been talking about NFTs with a little bit for a little while now. And, you know, they kind of been looking at me cross-eyed and kind of like, all right, you do your thing, JLD, like whatever.

20:21But the reality is I've never had a project that I wanted to get them excited about and get them into because, you know, frankly, I know that I'm only going to hit like one out of 10, two out of 10 on the projects that I do. Now those one or two hits that I make, you know, those are grand slams. Like I'm a hundred X on a couple of projects that I've done. You can't replicate that, you know? I mean, that's unbelievable success. But those are eight losses. Those are nine losses that, you know, some people just can't take. So when I came across your project and saw, you know, you know, Manny was there and, you know, we've worked with him actually with entrepreneurs on fire with as sponsors with Helium 10.

20:59So I knew him and his company. I've talked to him face to face before and on virtual calls. And then, you know, Anthony, you and I actually have a kind of a crazy crossing path with my best man, Ryan Kellogg, was actually here in Puerto Rico last weekend giving me away. No, giving my best man speech at my wedding. I was his best man at his wedding. So our paths have crossed in various circles, which is kind of crazy to see. And then seeing your six month full refund guarantee and just all the cool mechanics that you're doing that I actually kind of want to get into a little bit as we close down here, because I think they're so fun and cool without overcomplicating things and making your head Fire Nation spin.

21:40But I'm getting my friends and family into this project because of that. Because, you know, essentially, you know, of course, anything can happen. This is not financial device Fire Nation. But, you know, unless there's like a World War III type scenario, like we're talking about, there's very limited to no downside on Bulls and Apes project because of the six month full refund guarantee, where if you want to get out at any point within six months, you can absolutely do that. So that's why I'm excited about getting my friends, my family in, of course, knowing you and knowing Manny and knowing what you guys have planned.

22:14It's all very exciting. So let's end this interview by talking about the Bulls and Apes project. You know, we're going to send people to the website so they can learn more. So we don't have to get too detailed. I want people's heads to quite pop off with all the crazy cool mechanics you have. You know, I want to point people to that video you guys just released, which is amazing about the story of Bulls and Apes. So in a succinct way, what do you want to tell us about Bulls and Apes projects? And the storyline is the sleeper of it, but most people get excited about the NFT aspect. And we have some things that we're doing day one because we've been pre-funded and because we're planning on executing our mint day.

22:55For a lot of projects, the mint day is either the end because it's a cash grab and they leave, or it's just the beginning because they were hoping to raise funds and then they would figure out what to do with those funds. But because we're pre-funded, we're just executing. Mint Day is just going to be another step on the journey for us. And we're already executing on things post-Mint, which gives us the luxury of being able to do some pretty cool things where just by owning your bull, you'll be able to generate new characters like a Teen Bull or eventually a God Bull, which will be the most unique or rare bull in the collection, and there'll be 500 of them.

23:30So there'll be some really, really cool things that you could do just by owning your bull. And as you said, there's a lot of detail on the website to learn more about how that works. We've got the storyline, which is really exciting. And we believe the storyline is going to help propel us into a more traditional entertainment and media space. We've got a physical card game, Think Pokemon, Think Magic the Gathering. It's in prototype phase now. So we are looking at delivering something like that by the end of the year and as a limited edition. And then lastly, our community is all about living your best life.

24:02So just by owning one of our bulls, you have membership into our community where we're going to be offering up education. We're going to be offering up resources. That's all about how do you build wealth? And it's not financial advice. It's not offering you revenue, but it is about offering tips on how to build wealth and education on how to build wealth. Fire Nation, this is just scratching the surface of what this project is going to be. I definitely recommend you checking out bullsandapesproject.com. And if you go there, you'll see at the top of the nav bar, the story, and you click on story, watch that video.