Serial Web3 entrepreneur and angel investor Yat Siu from Animoca Brands is on a mission to crack the code of how big the social ripple effect is for every user who follows him on X.
“Not every follower is the same,” Siu, dressed casually, tells Hall of Flame from his fancy Hong Kong office over a Zoom call.
“I would argue, for instance, that some might only have 10,000 followers, but that impact is much deeper than 100,000 or 200,000 followers because the audience that follows you has a network effect in itself, so the nodes of the followers are more powerful,” the Austrian-born classical musician turned tech entrepreneur explains.
“Hypothetically, if Elon Musk were to follow me, that would be more valuable than the other 100,000 or so people that follow me, not to diminish their worth, but just to say that the implied influence and impact is higher,” he claims.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to think Musk might have been tempted to become one of the 160,000 followers Siu has gained since starting his multi-billion dollar Web3 gaming giant, Animoca Brands, back in 2014.
Starting life as a mobile gaming company, over the past decade Animoca has turned into one of the biggest investors in Web3, with over 450 investments in the space, including big names like Axie Infinity, Polygon and OpenSea.
A-listers are also fans of Siu’s work with NFTs and the metaverse (remember them?) with notable followers including crypto-friendly entertainer Paris Hilton and award-winning rapper MC Hammer.
“I remember when MC Hammer started following me, I was like holy s**t that is kind of cool.”
For Siu, a huge pinch-me moment in 2021 was when his “childhood hero,” William Shatner from Star Trek, followed him.
(X/Yat Siu)
Siu has a real laid-back, casual vibe. What starts as an interview quickly turns into a brainstorming session about how to measure the value of followers.
“It’d be…
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