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I'm more wondering why would legit investors pour 12 mil into something that it obviously a short-lived gimmick. There are plenty of similar examples that perfe

I'm more wondering why would legit investors pour 12 mil into something that it obviously a short-lived gimmick. There are plenty of similar examples that perfectly illustrate how fast people get bored with something like this (e.g. flappy bird, pokemon go, fidget spinners) and yet the round got successfully closed [0]. I just don't understand what needs to be happening inside an investor's head to put their own money into something like this. [0] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/cryptokitties#section-funding-rounds https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/cryptokitties#sectio...

xiphias 8y ago
It's quite simple: the scammers who create the scams can't market a security to non-institutional investors, as they would have to go through strict regulations. They give discounts to VCs who can sell their tokens to retail investors in a week with huge returns after they ,,invested''.
coolspot 8y ago
Greed. Someone who bought cryptokitty early on sold it for 100x returns easily. Everyone on the hype train was reselling kitties to next bigger fool.
- Jdam 8y ago
  Isn’t that essentially what’s happening to Crypto in general?
- borplk 8y ago
  It's like those "pass the ball" games.
raverbashing 8y ago
Because 12Mi is nothing for them. Now try to get 12Mi outside of SF and Bay Area for something with a more solid business plan, see how it goes.
tedunangst 8y ago
You just don't understand the potential. You can buy more than just kitties. You can also buy hats for your kitties. And if you sell the kitty, the new owner can take the hat off. Infinite innovation! https://www.nickgrossman.is/2018/zombies-eating-kitties/ https://www.nickgrossman.is/2018/zombies-eating-kitties/
EGreg 8y ago
I also didn’t understand this. I had a lot of respect for AH and USV. In particular I know some of the folks at USV. But some of their decisions astound me. When they invested in Crypto Kitties and Fred posted about it, I felt they jumped the shark. I remember how $31M was poured into a startup called Color a few years back, only for the startup to go belly up a month later. Meanwhile they don’t even take a meeting with something far more promising, sometimes. I feel I will never understand the VC mindset. For what it’s worth, here are their perfunctory rationales: https://versionone.vc/announcing-our-investment-in-cryptokitties-the-wildly-popular-blockchain-based-pet/ https://versionone.vc/announcing-our-investment-in-cryptokit... http://www.usv.com/blog/cryptokitties-1 http://www.usv.com/blog/cryptokitties-1
iMuzz 8y ago
> I'm more wondering why legit investors pour 12 mil into something that it obviously a short-lived gimmick. I think that might because you're looking at it like this: "How will a game that lets you breed collectible cats be something that people wanna do for a long time?" When instead you should be looking at it like.. "Can provably scarce digital assets that are actually owned by users (not rented like the current system) be useful in the gaming world?" CryptoKitties as a game is likely just a fad. But the investors are betting the latter idea might be a game changer when executed correctly (ie. building a fun game that has longterm user retention)
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
mv4 8y ago
1. the VC invested heavily in crypto early on; need a "popular" use case badly 2. CryptoKitties went viral, slowing ETH transactions to a crawl and making top headlines - what if that can be repeated? 3. as someone said, 12M is nothing for them
berberous 8y ago
1. The team behind Crytokitties created the most used dApp to date, with excellent UI, attention to detail, and many other innovations behind it. Lots of investors believe in investing in a team first and foremost, and this is an excellent one. 2. Nobody invested in Crptokitties. They invested in a gaming/collectibles company; from TechCrunch: “While the startup is being pretty mum on what the future looks like and what they’re planning on using this funding for, it’s almost certain that the long term goal is to expand beyond CryptoKitties and use the same Ethereum ERC-721 collectible standard to create other game experiences, especially ones that can be played by regular people who are unfamiliar with cryptocurrency.” You use flappy bird and pokemeon go as examples of fads that would be dumb to invest in, but what about the early investors in Zygna? Gaming and collectibles doesn’t appeal to me personally, but they are massive markets and growing. Early stage investing is a long shot, and odds are this company fails. But the execution to date and market opportunity are sufficiently appealing that I’d invest alongside USV in these guys if I could.
bfuller 8y ago
Ever play neopets? That was once a 100m company owned by Viacom

xiphias 8y ago

It's quite simple: the scammers who create the scams can't market a security to non-institutional investors, as they would have to go through strict regulations. They give discounts to VCs who can sell their tokens to retail investors in a week with huge returns after they ,,invested''.

coolspot 8y ago

Greed. Someone who bought cryptokitty early on sold it for 100x returns easily. Everyone on the hype train was reselling kitties to next bigger fool.

Jdam 8y ago
Isn’t that essentially what’s happening to Crypto in general?
borplk 8y ago
It's like those "pass the ball" games.

raverbashing 8y ago

Because 12Mi is nothing for them. Now try to get 12Mi outside of SF and Bay Area for something with a more solid business plan, see how it goes.

tedunangst 8y ago

You just don't understand the potential. You can buy more than just kitties. You can also buy hats for your kitties. And if you sell the kitty, the new owner can take the hat off. Infinite innovation! https://www.nickgrossman.is/2018/zombies-eating-kitties/ https://www.nickgrossman.is/2018/zombies-eating-kitties/

EGreg 8y ago

I also didn’t understand this. I had a lot of respect for AH and USV. In particular I know some of the folks at USV. But some of their decisions astound me. When they invested in Crypto Kitties and Fred posted about it, I felt they jumped the shark. I remember how $31M was poured into a startup called Color a few years back, only for the startup to go belly up a month later. Meanwhile they don’t even take a meeting with something far more promising, sometimes. I feel I will never understand the VC mindset. For what it’s worth, here are their perfunctory rationales: https://versionone.vc/announcing-our-investment-in-cryptokitties-the-wildly-popular-blockchain-based-pet/ https://versionone.vc/announcing-our-investment-in-cryptokit... http://www.usv.com/blog/cryptokitties-1 http://www.usv.com/blog/cryptokitties-1

iMuzz 8y ago

> I'm more wondering why legit investors pour 12 mil into something that it obviously a short-lived gimmick. I think that might because you're looking at it like this: "How will a game that lets you breed collectible cats be something that people wanna do for a long time?" When instead you should be looking at it like.. "Can provably scarce digital assets that are actually owned by users (not rented like the current system) be useful in the gaming world?" CryptoKitties as a game is likely just a fad. But the investors are betting the latter idea might be a game changer when executed correctly (ie. building a fun game that has longterm user retention)

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

mv4 8y ago

1. the VC invested heavily in crypto early on; need a "popular" use case badly 2. CryptoKitties went viral, slowing ETH transactions to a crawl and making top headlines - what if that can be repeated? 3. as someone said, 12M is nothing for them

berberous 8y ago

1. The team behind Crytokitties created the most used dApp to date, with excellent UI, attention to detail, and many other innovations behind it. Lots of investors believe in investing in a team first and foremost, and this is an excellent one. 2. Nobody invested in Crptokitties. They invested in a gaming/collectibles company; from TechCrunch: “While the startup is being pretty mum on what the future looks like and what they’re planning on using this funding for, it’s almost certain that the long term goal is to expand beyond CryptoKitties and use the same Ethereum ERC-721 collectible standard to create other game experiences, especially ones that can be played by regular people who are unfamiliar with cryptocurrency.” You use flappy bird and pokemeon go as examples of fads that would be dumb to invest in, but what about the early investors in Zygna? Gaming and collectibles doesn’t appeal to me personally, but they are massive markets and growing. Early stage investing is a long shot, and odds are this company fails. But the execution to date and market opportunity are sufficiently appealing that I’d invest alongside USV in these guys if I could.

bfuller 8y ago

Ever play neopets? That was once a 100m company owned by Viacom