The Dapper Labs 2022 Report Card 📚
The Dapper Labs 2022 Report Card 📚
Bust out the highlighter, we are writing our first ever REPORT CARD on all things Dapper Sports.
I miss report cards.
As a solopreneur, no one evaluates me. No one grades me. No one gives me constructive feedback to help me reach my goals at this company.
Rather, I rely on engagement and data to gauge my performance. And looking at the numbers for the second half of 2022… it doesn’t look great!
But such is life in the content streets of NFTs. I’m not surprised some of our dearest listeners have left taken a little break from crypto.
And since I don’t have anyone to give me a performance evaluation, the only logical thing to do is grade others. And who better to look at than the platforms that got us started in web3, Dapper Labs!
Before you read on, I must stress that nothing in this newsletter is a reflection of any single person or employee at Dapper. I have some fantastic relationships with people that work there, and TFM kind of has this on again, off again thing going with them.
And I’m totally fine with that. The open relationship makes it far easier to dish objective takes, such as this piece you’re reading right now.
Also important: in here, we only cover the components of Dapper Sports, not the work done on the Flow Blockchain or the investments Dapper has made. This is just about the collectible parts.
So let’s get into it!
The Dapper Labs 2022 Report Card 📋
Here how it’s gonna work.
I’m only looking at platforms that were around a year ago (sorry LaLiga!).
There are five categories to be evaluated:
Supply & Economy: The viability of the total supply of NFTs, and whether it has created a strong economy in the ecosystem.
Leadership & Direction: The general direction of the project. How it has navigated the rough waters of the bear, while reinforcing confidence.
Community Sentiment: The vibe of the collectors and their general feedback about the project.
Design & Experience: The marketplace, the website, the UI, and the entire experience on the platform.
2023 Potential & Growth: The brightness of the future and will the platform be able to attract new users in the year to come.
What I’m NOT Evaluating
Market Cap: This is an unfair metric and does not tell the entire story of the economy and platform. Too many anomalies and does not necessarily signal a healthy product.
User Growth in 2022: The entire NFT space went through major disruption, so gauging true growth in 2022 is too difficult.
Individual Jobs: I don’t care who the GM is, who picked the challenges, or what somebody replied on Twitter. This is a team effort.
NOTE: I will be adding my personal highlight from covering each project at the end of each report card.
Alright enough talk. Let’s do this.
Dapper Wallet
Listen I’m not here to talk about the Flow airdrop that we never received. You can read all about that right here. Let’s just focus on the actual platform.
The Dapper wallet can finally be used to collect and mint other NFTs. This is a huge upgrade, and I would expect more in 2023. The UI is a bit clunky when displaying NFTs but the overall experience is solid.
Next up? A mobile app.
Wins:
Integrated across other NFT projects.
Integrated with the Gaia marketplace, the central MP of FLOW.
Now accepts its own native token in FLOW.
Deposits and Withdrawals are easy to use.
Can be used to sign in to most project websites, and that process is pretty fast!
What To Improve:
The interface for NFT collections is a big disjointed, and many don’t display properly (or at all).
Launching with Dapper wallets still takes a long time to code and/or get approved (so I’ve heard), hindering the process for creators on FLOW.
Withdrawal fee is $25 to fiat. What is this, a bank?
How To Win 2023:
Develop a metric interface that shows total deposits, withdrawals, and floor prices on the NFTs. That would be excellent!
Launch a mobile app that enables trading of NFTs and staking of FLOW.
My personal highlight: Getting permission to create a TFM wallet for giveaways, but having to name it TheFirstMint69 because TheFirstMint was taken.
NBA Top Shot
Never a dull day on Top Shot.
The drama. The complaining. The “net neutral” supply.
If you’re reading this, you’re definitely aware of the challenges faced by TS in both sentiment and supply. And you know the battle is far from over.
Top Shot has been declared dead multiple times. And yet, here it stands, still bringing in $70-80k per day in marketplace volume.
That’s a heartbeat folks. And if the Christmas campaign was a sign of a more purposeful Top Shot, its not impossible that 2023 is the turnaround year.
Wins:
TS is the best collectible platform experience in NFT. So slick.
Marketplace barely broke this year, after a plague of issues in 2021.
Team keeps iterating different ideas until they find the right one (Hot packs, etc.).
Pack opening experience is still second to none.
Finally shipped long awaited features: offers, leaderboards, burning, TSS, etc.
Team Captains program has been super successful and well-received.
What To Improve:
Stable leadership. The constant change of direction and Twitter wars were a bad look, and created a toxicity loop that’s been hard to recover from. The team recently said that Series 3 “was a mistake” – Series 4 can’t be one too.
The supply still needs serious regulation. Series 4 is on track to meet the “net neutral” promise but many of those moments are locked. What happens when they unlock?
How To Win 2023:
New layers of fandom. The team captains program has been smart, but the novelty could easily wear off. Game tickets and events only affect 1% of collectors.
My personal highlight: Winning the burn challenge, even though there is no prize and no one really tried to beat me.
NFL ALL DAY
Ok so Top Shot got an A+ in Design & Experience, but ALL DAY gets a D? wtf LG?
I love the product and direction of the overall platform. The team made the hard decision to halt supply when the market went south, showing that they know whats up.
But the queue times have been something else on this one. The Immaculate Reception drop felt like the first in a long time where collectors didn’t wait hours for a pack. This issue must be fixed in 2023.
Wins:
Playbook was a HIT when it came out. This type of gamification is a win.
The team was very active and receptive in the community.
Athletes were heavily involved in promotions, starting with the Mahomes ad.
What To Improve:
The platform needs a cosmetic upgrade and clear visual identity.
The queue times cannot continue to be hours long. RSVP system or hard fix.
Pack prices can be challenging ($59). It’s a recession. Let us buy just a lil bit.
How To Win 2023:
Add Team Leaderboards and IRL rewards for the top 1000 on each one. Game experiences, merch, fanny packs, whatever!
Make use of the Ticketmaster NFL Ticket NFTs, and integrate them.
Market on the ground at NFL games
My personal highlight: Going to get Tim Horton’s cold brew for pack luck (it’s a thing we do) and seeing an actual bear on the road.
UFC Strike
I really enjoy Strike. It has made me a bigger fan of the UFC. But it’s first full year of existence was not without its bumps and bruises.
Strike was hit with two separate scandals last summer; one where a collector was able to look inside packs before buying them, and another where an employee was using a second account to do challenges. There are also two marketplaces on the platform, which is super confusing.
The UFC itself is weird right now too. Many champions dethroned (Usman, Adesanya) and new stars being propped up (see: Paddy Pimblett’s recent “victory”).
So the challenge for Strike is to keep its collectors invested in the product while navigating a changing of the guard in the UFC, and also sharing a fanbase with two much bigger leagues (NBA, NFL).
2023 will be a defining year.
Wins:
Clear and simple VIP program (own a legendary moment).
Early deployers of BURNING, and burn often for challenges.
Released major names from UFC history.
Not new, but the pack drop music/video is amazing with the siren.
Free Fandom NFTs featuring great soundbites.
What To Improve:
The design of the site. What Sets/Series have I completed? Need this info.
Platform needs a gamification overhaul. Burn challenges will only take us so far.
Similar to ALL DAY, the platform needs a distinct visual identity.
How To Win 2023:
Gamify the hell out of the platform. Make it worth our while to stack moments, stack super stars, and burn legendaries. Operate kind of like the actual UFC does: quick and lawless.
My personal highlight: I legit did not really ever watch UFC before Strike, but it has sucked me right in. And somehow, I got to interview Jon Anik live on Spaces!
Dapper Sports Studio
Dapper Sports Studio is actually the entire org that manages the sports platform. But this section will focus on the event and athlete partnerships side.
The events are incredibly well run and aesthetically pleasing, and the athletes coming through the door are of the highest caliber (Kevin Durant, Mahomes, etc.). This makes the community very happy, and gives the entire ecosystem some real legitimacy.
My gripe: too few chances to “gather” and collectors must often win a raffle to attend. These types of perks will only ever affect a small portion of users, and leave the rest of us in the cold. So something to think about!
Wins:
Massive athlete partnerships and involvement across NFL, NBA, UFC.
Exciting IRL events for collectors across all platforms.
What To Improve:
More small-town and low key events, that don’t need as much polish but let the community come out and hang without needing to win a raffle. Could be as simple as a Captains program for NFL, UFC, etc.
How To Win 2023:
I would love to see the athlete involvement evolve beyond AMAs sessions and a few promotional videos (but also admit that I’m not sure what that should be).
My personal highlight: None. I did not go to any events this year, but would like to in the future!
What did you think?
Were my grades unfair? Should I stop writing about this?
Let me know what you thought and how you would rate the platforms here👇
**This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter, podcast, or publication should be considered financial or trading advice of any kind. Please do your own thorough research and make your own trading decisions. This is not advice.”
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