Kumite Launch Party at Mr. Purple

The Back Story

This memory begins back in April 2022 at Miami NFT week. (https://metablox.co/blox/miami/1897?memory=5).

I was at the conference as a community supporter for Metablox and fairly new to the NFT space - so meeting new people and projects was a top priority. 

Among the projects that caught my eye was the Kumite NFT - founded by non other than Gareb Shamus! I say none other, because I also own thegww.com - a website devoted to Geek news - and Gareb is as geek as they come. Creator of Wizard Magazine - Owner of Comic Con, his contributions to the space are legendary. 

Naturally I joined their Discord and began the journey to a whitelist spot. 

What I didn't know at the time was Yu-kai's connection with Gareb and Scott Donnell (his co-founder an accomplished artist and entrepreneur in his own right) see memory:
https://metablox.co/blox/new-york/2677?memory=metablox-kumite-perfect-104

Fast forward a couple months, more than a few Twitter messages, a couple interviews, and dozens of shared Spaces to NFT NYC. 

A Party at Mr. Purple 💜

The launch party at Mr. Purple was on Tuesday the 21st of July 2022 - technically the first day of the NFT NYC - most of us on the Metablox team thought it had started the day before, but that's for another memory. The Kumite NFT team was celebrating their successful mint and we were invited to share in the festivities. 

Mr. Purple is located on the top floor of 180 Orchard Street featuring a rooftop pool, beautiful indoor and outdoor spaces - which came in handy when the rain started - and stunning panoramic views of the New York skyline. 🗽

🙌 Well chosen Team Kumite!

To my knowledge nobody took advantage of the pool, but the indoor / outdoor spaces allowed for pleasant conversations without the typical cacophony of dialogue that can happen in a closed in space packed with people. I don't imbibe alcohol so I can't vouch for the drinks, but the hors d'oeuvres were excellent.  

Moments That Matter

What's most enjoyable to me about attending events like this and conferences in general are the people you meet. You get to cross paths and have conversations with folks who would otherwise be difficult to engage with. Not only did I get to talk with strangers, but also people like Onibaku (Discord name) who attended with us. I talked with veteran Web3 folks as well as those new to crypto, in almost every conversation you can mine some nugget of insight that could be useful.

Meeting other founders is my favorite. You get to have more authentic conversations about the challenges of building when you're away from the expectation of posturing. Genuine discussions about their journey and why they subject themselves to the difficulties of building a company can be really rewarding. 

In addition to meeting new folks - I also got to see and hear more of what makes Jun and Yu-kai so passionate about our efforts at Metablox. Something as simple as listening to them tell a story to another person can yield an idea or deeper understanding, so playing wingman is almost as much fun as engaging in my own conversations. 

Wrapping Up

All in, I'm grateful to have attended NFT NYC with the Metablox team and thrilled to be part of Yu-kai's posse whenever I can be. He's full wisdom and gets the team into places where we'd otherwise not be invited...turns out writing a book and being a guru can pay dividends! 😂 Together with the enlightened conversations he and Jun have - there's never a dull moment.