From: thepipeline_xyz
Mad Lads has emerged as one of the most hyped NFT projects, a significant achievement attributed to its unique approach to community building and integration with the Backpack ecosystem. Co-founder Tristan shares insights into the genesis and journey of cultivating this fervent digital community [03:03:05].
Genesis of Mad Lads and Early Community Building
The initial inspiration for Mad Lads and Backpack was to prioritize building community and creating a cohesive group of people [03:19:02]. This strategy involved a blend of organic engagement and strategic filtering:
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The XNFT Mystery The team launched without publicly revealing their plans for XNFTs (decentralized applications runnable in the wallet) [03:48:06]. Instead, key figures in the Solana ecosystem changed their Twitter usernames to include “XNFT” (e.g., XNFT Anatoly, XNFT Armani), generating immense mystery and drawing a large following to the newly launched Backpack Twitter account [04:18:00].
- Within the first month, the fresh account gained approximately 10,000 organic followers without any paid engagement [04:50:00].
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Curated Community Entry To channel this energy, a private Discord server was created [05:22:00]. Access was granted selectively based on engagement quality, such as posting exceptional memes or insightful content [05:31:00]. This filtering mechanism led to a community of “hardcore, chronically online crypto addicts and meme masters” [07:22:00].
- A specific “blue dodgeball” GIF became a public signal for who was being invited to the Discord, sparking a “Cambrian explosion of memes” as people sought entry, often assuming it was for an NFT whitelist [06:14:00].
- The “blue ball” meme originated from the GIF and the fact that the team was “blue balling” the Solana ecosystem by withholding details about XNFTs [07:44:00].
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Personal Connection Tristan spent extensive hours in the Discord, fostering dialogue and building personal connections with community members, sharing thoughts without fully revealing XNFT details [07:29:00].
Integrating Product and Culture: The Mad Lads NFT Collection
As the Backpack wallet’s launch neared, the team realized that product and tech alone were insufficient [08:40:00]. Drawing an analogy to Satoshi and the early Bitcoin evangelists, they recognized the critical intersection of product and culture [09:00:00].
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Strategic NFT Launch To sustain the community’s energy long-term, launching an NFT collection was deemed the most effective community building exercise [09:55:00]. The existing core Discord group became the “cultural backbone” of the growing community, ensuring alignment with the project’s vision and ethos [10:00:00]. This core group continues to maintain the culture even as the public Discord grew from 500-600 to over 30,000 members [10:27:00].
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Showcasing XNFT Technology The Mad Lads collection also served as a real-world example of XNFT technology, demonstrating how an NFT could also function as a decentralized application, adding significant depth of experience previously unseen in the NFT space [11:03:00].
Community Engagement through Backpack Wallet Features
Backpack leveraged its wallet interface as a unique tool for community engagement:
- Invite Code Games
Beta testers of the Backpack wallet were guaranteed a whitelist for the Mad Lads collection [12:25:00]. To control access and build excitement, invite codes were won through games hosted within the locked wallet interface [12:38:00].
- AI Prompt Guessing: Users guessed the AI prompt used to generate images [12:54:00].
- Animal Sound Guessing: Users identified animal sounds played within the extension [13:55:57].
- Minecraft Map Navigation: A Minecraft map was created where users found hidden codes and renderings to win invite codes [14:04:00].
- These experiences drew in not just retail participants, but also team members and founders from other crypto projects [13:32:00].
The underlying principle was to “share and create experiences with and for people,” fostering genuine care for the project beyond financial incentives [14:19:00].
The Synergistic Triangle: Mad Lads, Backpack Wallet, and Backpack Exchange
The launch of the Backpack Exchange was a natural progression, forming a powerful synergy with the existing wallet and NFT collection [19:50:00].
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Mad Lads Mint Innovation: The Mad Lads mint itself was revolutionary, conducted entirely within the Backpack wallet. This included whitelist claims, public minting, and an interactive “defeat the Mad King” game to “unrug” newly minted Mad Lads NFTs [21:27:00]. This generated significant positive attention during the crypto bear market of early 2023, attracting participants from diverse crypto ecosystems [22:14:00].
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Building the Exchange: The decision to build an exchange arose serendipitously when Backpack co-founder Armani connected with a leading regulatory and compliance expert [23:20:00]. This partnership allowed for a merger of Backpack’s product, engineering, marketing, and community strengths with unparalleled regulatory expertise, filling a gap left by FTX [23:51:00].
- The Backpack Exchange was built from first principles as a permissioned blockchain, allowing for replayability of transactions and potentially external validators (regulators, venture firms) for enhanced trust and decentralization [25:51:00].
- It differentiates itself by being fully regulated and compliant from day zero, securing the first Vara full retail cryptocurrency exchange license in Dubai [25:01:00].
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Seamless User Experience: The Backpack Wallet (on-chain) and Backpack Exchange (off-chain) are designed to recognize each other, enabling seamless user journeys. This allows users to easily move Fiat to gas tokens for on-chain activities like trading meme coins [29:31:00].
- The Mad Lads community serves as the “top of funnel,” acting as super fans and super users who provide feedback and beta test new features [30:04:00].
Core Principles: Trust and Meme Culture
Building trust has been a foundational principle for Backpack [30:48:00]. Coupled with a strong emphasis on humor and meme culture, this approach has resonated deeply within the crypto space.
- Not Taking Ourselves Too Seriously: The team believes that projects “doomed to fail” in crypto are those that take themselves too seriously [44:54:00]. Crypto, particularly Crypto Twitter, thrives on entertainment and storytelling [44:58:00].
- Viral Memes: The viral “bean bag” photo of the team working tirelessly epitomizes this, generating millions of impressions by appealing to different audiences [42:04:00].
- Community Mantras: Slogans like “no utility, this is a rug, send it to zero” were intentionally propagated within the Mad Lads community, fostering a culture of “no expectations, just vibe, enjoy the journey” [46:41:00]. This fosters genuine engagement beyond financial incentives.
- “Doomed for Success”: This ethos highlights the positive outcome of embracing humor and not being overly serious, leading to an almost inevitable success in community building [46:06:00].
This integrated strategy of cultivating a genuine, engaged, and culturally aligned community, combined with innovative product development and a strong regulatory stance, has been key to Backpack and Mad Lads’ rapid growth and influence in the blockchain ecosystem.