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Opepen The Floordgates

Opepen The Floordgates

Breaking down Jack Butchers latest masterclass...

Matt O'Brien
May 17, 2023

GM frens,

In today’s edition of the Ground Floor we will be breaking down Jack Butchers latest Web3 masterclass as Openen takes over Twitter.

Jack Butchers Latest Masterclass

In February 2023 Jack Butcher announced Opepen, a collection of 15,984 identical pepes collectors minted months earlier would be transformed into a profile picture project.

opepfp?
— Jack Butcher (@jackbutcher)
4:54 AM • Feb 20, 2023

Following this tweet and the enormous success of VV Checks, Opepen soared in price as collectors clamored to participate in Jacks next project.

Building In Public

In classic Jack Butcher style, Jack took to Twitter to share his thought process on the different decisions he was contemplating for Opepen.

First and foremost, Jack clarified his motivation to create a profile picture collection:

"Firstly, the pfp as a canvas is an incredible creative challenge and a lot of fun to work through Second, there is no second best digital real estate."~ Jack Butcher

10 days into this transparency thread, and several iterations later based on collectors feedback, Jack shared what would prove to be a very important point:

"won't be long before you can prompt your way to 10K generative identities in 10 minutes"

Said simply, as Jack went through the process of using image generation tools such as Midjourney to explore different iterations of Opepens, he quickly realized how advanced this technology had become, and how easy it had become to create a 10,000 collection.

With this insight, it became clear to Jack that following the tried and tested playbook of revealing an entire collection at the same time lacked differentiation.

A Moment In Time

As opposed to every Opepen revealing at once, Jack made the decision to release "packs" that Opepen collectors would subscribe to, with 80 Opepens being revealed per pack.

Collectors would have the opportunity to preview the artwork inside these packs prior to subscribing to participate in these drops.

With this new mechanic, Jack & Jalil updated the Opepen metadata with Opepen's randomly assigned one of the following rarities: 1/1, 1/4, 1/5, 1/10, 1/20, 1/40.

Demand vs Supply

As a means to make sure a very high percentage of Opepen collectors are interested in participating in each drop, Jack & team enforce a 400% opt-in rate.

If the artwork the team previews doesn't resonate with enough collectors, Jack and team cancel the drop, and start afresh to create 80 new Opepens that collectors resonate with.

Building In The Bear Market

Adopting this approach has resulted in significant price appreciation of the Opepen collection with the edition #1 Opepen collection currently commanding a 14.8 ETH floor.

This weekend, several sales for Opepen edition #1 surpassed $10,000

Why is the floor price so high?

By creating small sub-collections, and slowly releasing packs over an undefined period time, with a 400% opt in rate, Jack and team have created a situation whereby they can focus on creating very high quality artwork, that has vastly more demand than the available demand.

As early editions soar in price, the floor price for unrevealed Opepens have simultaneously soared as collectors' excitement for unrevealed Opepens reach new highs.

Looking Forward

Jack Butcher has put on an absolute masterclass on how scarcity drives value.

If Jack had revealed the entire Opepen collection at the same time, it's highly likely we would see a fraction of the sales currently exceeding $10,000 without Jack & team committing to a roadmap that rewarded Opepen collectors.

Instead, Jack has once again pioneered a new model that provides his team with the time it takes to create 16,000 pieces of high quality digital artwork, with infinite opportunities to collaborate with other artists and the Opepen community to create this collection.

The learning? Don't fade Jack Butcher.