Howdy,
smh at today's layoffs announcement from Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano. Yuga Labs is what Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) became right about the time they took in VC money.
Here's a great piece published yesterday about BAYC co-founder Wylie Aronow, forever known as Gordon Goner – "Gordo". Gordo's picture is the post image. I think the world of him.
https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/gordon-goner-health-battle-bored-apes-turn-3/
Taking in VC money was the beginning of the end of BAYC/Yuga. Because the VC's were now in charge. Gordo and company became what they said they were against.
From the July 021 New Yorker piece:
Hindsight is 20/20. I bet privately Gordo & CO would agree they’d have been better off doing nothing. Learn about their customers while the market grows some legs. Watch, learn, and listen. Instead they got way out in front of their skis.
Now the VC/private equity/white socks crew want to salvage a bad bet. So they’re doing what they do best - layoffs and cost cutting to make the books look better while trying to find a buyer.
They say they're ramping up gaming. I don't believe it, but let's say they are. They’re making more mistakes. One, they’re not a gaming company. If their justification for going into gaming is that Gordo and Solano are gamers, that's insane. Two, they’re not going to be able to buy their way in. Top gaming talent aren't going to leave their cushy, well paying gigs to join a startup gone wrong run by the white socks crowd.
But if you believe the story, great. I'll sell you my ape for 100 ETH.
BAYC launched on 4.24.21. Like a great buzz, the glory days of BAYC were short lived. Just a couple months. By fall of 021 the BAYC discord had been run over by Wall Street types and crooks disguised as degens. apes were all about price go up - an investment. Again, what Gordo said they were against.
Myself and so many others have been chasing the illusory buzz since. Because it's hard to say goodbye to a lover or bad habit. You tell yourself somehow it's gonna get better, things are going to be like.
In between the lines of today's announcement is what I've known for months, but haven't had the guts to say - "it's all over".
No one should read this and think I'm whistling past BAYC's graveyard. It's the opposite. apes changed our lives. Meeting Gordo would be a highlight of my life so far. I hope it happens.
I thought I'd already written a blog post about our apes story, I hadn't. If you're reading this now, check back for another post.
All the best to you, Gordo. Many will stand on your shoulders.
"Strike another match, go start anew"
mic drop
tty next time,
