[Short #68] Subway Rats Pt. 2

More 🐭 surprise and delight

Happy Monday! It’s gonna be another crazy week, I feel it in my bones. Actually…every week is crazy in Web3 so my bones are always tingling. Probably should go to a doctor.

To kick it off, we’re talking about Subway Rats. Again.

Again? Yep, for those of you that recently subscribed or missed it, I had a dive on the Subway Rats Discord onboarding experience last month. It’s a great example of a NFT project surprising and delighting their audience prior to the actual launch of a project. A little attention to detail creates a lot of differentiation in this space.

So why I am writing about them again? Last week, the team shared the mint (launch) timeline.

From my experience, 5 days between each batch of minting is long. Attention in this space is the name of the game and a phased minting window of 2+ weeks is a material risk for project success considering how fast the space moves.

That said, this decision was a strategic one by the team. During this mint window, the team planned to incorporate airdrops, as well as ensure stability for the project.

However, in the age of Web3, there’s a community feedback. All. The Time. And the Subway Rats team listened! We were going to vote on the original 5 day minting windows or shortening the windows to 3 days each.

Great! Taking in community feedback and putting it up for a vote. Pretty standard in the space. So why did this catch my eye?

Community members had to go to their website to vote. This is uncommon, especially for a project that hasn’t launched yet…🤔

Voting typically looks more like this for smaller decisions.

Simple discord voting through emotes. Easy peasy.

More established projects and DAOs have a more formal voting process, using a voting platform to ensure documentation, discussion, and transparency. Something like this.

Alright, back to Subway Rats. They did something in between, but brought the look and feel of the project into the voting experience which made voting that much more fun.

PS: I recorded the experience, so if you want to see what the experience looks like in its entirety, check it out here!

I clicked on the link and this is what popped up.

Makes sense, this vote should be only for community members that have a stake in the minting, so we’d have to connect our Discord account.

Also, why is it so dark and what’s up with the row of white dots in the background?

Alright, I’m ready to vote! The dots are still there…

The background slowly lights up and it’s a literal rat version of a city hall in the subway tunnel 🤯.

Ah, here’s the vote. I voted for 3 days - Attention is key, and IMO 3 days gives the project the best chance to do so.

Woohoo! Where’s my ‘I voted’ sticker?

Similar to my first dive on Subway Rats writeup, the music that the team chose made this voting City Hall voting experience that much better. It was like this dark but angelic choir singing. So good.

48 hours later, the results were shared. We’re moving to a 3 day mint window per batch!

Again, it’s unclear how this project will do, especially in a bear market and with this being a free mint. However, this is another detail that the team has implemented that most projects (successful and unsuccessful) don’t attend to.

These are positive signals to me that there’s something going on here. And project aside, I’m going to keep an eye on these team members. They know how to create an experience, even if it’s just pixelated rats.

So what does this mean for us, whether we’re actively in the space or looking to get into it?

• Attention to detail goes a long way - Especially in Web3 where the bar is still relatively low. This point reminded me of a project called HAPE Prime. Some cool-looking 3D rendered apes that were quite popular back in January. However, there was a detail that was overlooked…

Notice the ear poking out above the bucket hat? 🥴

HAPE was the butt of jokes on NFT Twitter for a few days. It seems that the community has held strong, but the value has declined significantly over time, similar to most projects.

Crazy to see average sales hit almost 10 ETH back in January…good times.🪦

Attention to detail matters.

• Put your own twist on common experiences - Joining a Discord and community voting is common in Web3. Subway Rats put their own twist on these common procedures and 10x’ed the experience. Thinking outside the box, even just a bit, sticks out these days. Everyone’s eyes are glazed over with the same strategies and tactics in Web3 and Web2.

If you’re stuck, reply to this e-mail and I’ll help you ideate in a few minutes. The ask has to be specific though. (eg: “I have X brand and I want to do Y. How can I incorporate these 2?”)

On the note of ideation - I’ve been fortunate to be decent at ‘connecting dots’ and conjuring up random ideas. I have James Altucher to thank with his ‘Idea Machine’ exercise. As eclectic as that guy is, he has some gems. I’ve consistently practiced this since 2014 until about 2020. More recently I still exercises these mental muscles through…writing I guess 😉

Here’s some proof. Funny, the topic was about blogging, guess it took me 8 years to get to that 😂

Maybe that’s why I can just take a shower and know what I’m writing for the day 🚿

Back to takeaways.

• Tell a story - Pretty cliche, but this applies to everything these days. Whether you’re building your personal brand, working on your own business, or working for a big company. People are tired of ads and ‘buy this widget’ shoved down their throats. They’re looking for a community to be a part of, a brand to have aligned values with, a product they can not only find useful but one they can promote confidently. Effective storytelling does that.

Example 1: Subway Rats does this with their Discord onboarding process, showing this underground society of little Rats scurrying around. On top of that, they have orderly processes like voting at the City Hall. They aren’t just a bunch of dumb rats. I’m sure lore will continue if/when the project sees more success. This is critical with NFT projects that are looking to become a brand with staying power.

Example 2: BAYC. This wasn’t a random project that people jumped onto and hoped would take off (this definitely happened to some degree though lol). There was a story behind why the Apes were ‘bored’ and what they were up to. This wasn’t the sole reason for their initial traction, but storytelling sure helps.

Source

Example 3: This newsletter! Every piece is, in a sense, a story. But an informative one that combines some current-ish events in the space, takeaways, and sometimes a personal anecdote. My welcome e-mail references my first written piece on this newsletter.

This is an homage to this newsletter in general, but also helps provide an intro to TPan, an opportunity for a deeper connection with YOU, dear reader. :)

Anyway, I’m giving away too much of my playbook. Jk, what playbook? I just feel the vibes and let fingers on the keyboard flow 🧘

See you tomorrow!