#UpgradeMe
Why is Yuga Labs' CEO the designer behind Maroon 5's and JLo's Super Bowl halftime shows?
Figge went from co-founding POSSIBLE (creative studio behind Super Bowl LIII halftime for Maroon 5, Super Bowl LIV halftime for JLo and Shakira, plus arena tours for Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney and 200 other arena shows) to a 2020 Emmy for the world's first Unreal Engine extended reality stage. Then he created WENEW with Beeple. Then four C-suite roles at Yuga Labs in under four years, now CEO of the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, and Beeple's HUMAN ONE.
In this episode of #UpgradeMe with Dana Leong, Figge walks through the white hat rescue of millions of dollars in NFTs including 29 Bored Apes and 2 CryptoPunks from a flooring protocol exploit, leadership upgrades, why he hires for curiosity over pedigree, and transitioning to and running one of the world's largest digitalized art clubs in the world: Yuga Labs.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Cliffhanger cold open — 8 quotes from the episode
00:38 Welcome to #UpgradeMe
00:41 Figge intro
02:48 Putting together Kanye West Glow in the Dark Tour
03:14 "Somebody opens a box and the concert fairies make this thing"
11:11 "The phone might stop ringing" — why freelancers say yes to everything
12:07 Emmy nominations and VMAs
17:49 BAYC — best club on the internet
18:16 Radical focus of the BAYC community
28:00 2020 Emmy for extended reality stage on Unreal Engine
34:27 The CEO paradox — "Everybody's your boss"
35:18 The $69 million JPEG at Christie's — how Figge got into NFTs through Beeple
52:25 Glow in the Dark callback
1:01:08 Films aren't finished. They're abandoned.
1:03:12 The white hat rescue — millions of dollars in NFTs, 29 Bored Apes and 2 CryptoPunks
1:05:04 Inside crisis leadership in real time
1:09:33 Pressure is a privilege
1:11:27 9-minute mornings
1:12:07 RPM — Result Purpose Map
1:13:27 Recap: pressure, 9-minute mornings, RPM
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ABOUT FIGGE
CEO of Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, Meebits, Otherside, HV-MTL, and Beeple's HUMAN ONE. Rose through four C-suite roles in under four years — Chief Content Officer → Chief Creative Officer → Chief Product Officer → CEO. Co-founder of POSSIBLE, the creative design studio that produced 200+ arena-scale shows including Super Bowl LIII halftime (Maroon 5), Super Bowl LIV halftime (JLo and Shakira), VMAs, Billboard Music Awards and Coachella for Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Paul McCartney, Childish Gambino. 2020 Emmy Award for the world's biggest extended reality stage built on Unreal Engine via a partnership with Riot Games. Lead creative on Louis Vuitton's "Louis The Game." Co-founded WENEW with Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) and Guy Oseary in 2021 — the NFT platform behind 10KTF and HUMAN ONE. UCSB alum.
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#UpgradeMe drops the first Friday of every month. Vertical clips every other Friday.
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Yuga Labs
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#UpgradeMe #Figge #YugaLabs #BAYC #BoredApeYachtClub #CryptoPunks #Beeple #Web3 #NFT #Maroon5 #JLo #Shakira #SuperBowl #EmmyAward #UnrealEngine #LouisVuitton #Podcast #DanaLeong #CEO #Entrepreneurship #TonyRobbins #PressureIsAPrivilege
@beeple @kanyewest @Maroon5 @JLo @YugaLabs @danaleongmusic
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Welcome back to #UpgradeMe. It's a podcast about the never ending self improvement journey, ideas and life hacks to help you level up and the people who make it happen! Hosted by Dana Leong, a 2x Grammy Winning Musician, a US Music Ambassador and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
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