We're building in public.
Even our investor letters are public.
In this issue, I recap of where we've been, and detail where we're going. I also coin a hundred new terms. I'm confident they'll all catch on.
"The Mediocrity Trap"
Read it here:
1\ I think the more interesting story with the
#twitchleak
, in my opinion, is the fact that 99.925% of streamers aren't making a meaningful income.
It goes all the way to the top streamers on the platform. 25% of the top 0.1% don't even make minimum wage.
Yo! We’re officially announcing our $25m Series A led by Tiger Global and 776.
As part of this, we’re also announcing “The Metafy Community Fund”
$1M reserved for the community -- hard cash to fund tournaments, events, and creative endeavors.
🧵
We're starting something of our own at
@TryMetafy
It's my pleasure to announce Sumo (
@trysumoGG
), a rethinking of what a tournament platform could and should be. Built with our community in mind.
We won't forget the mobile app, of course.
2\ Twitch takes an exorbitant 50% from creators on their platform. It's true that not all of the 9.2 million monthly active streamers are doing it with the hope to go full-time, but there are still 1.2 million affiliates and 51k partners on platform. These are industry numbers.
Anyone profiting from the Smash community owes a debt to Chillin, who helped make it what it is. That includes us.
Beyond our initial donation, we'll be adding in all of our June Smash profit but we'd really prefer you donate instead of buying coaching.
@PracticalTAS
If
@Fizzi36
is cool with it, we'd be happy to be the first sponsor on the jumbotron to help with the increased cost of keeping the servers online.
Don't want to put Metafy on the Jumbotron, we'll put
@Genesis_Smash
there instead. The community could use a dang win.
3\ I think the argument that content creation isn't a full-time job and is just a hobby is silly. I mean, it's a dream for an entire generation. People celebrate when partnered and bemoan when rejected. 75% of children want a career as a content creator, my kids included.
Very cool to read about
@Mkleosb
in
@CNBCMakeIt
,
@MVG_Mew2King
and
@TryMetafy
get a shoutout too.
‘We didn’t used to have anything,” he says. “I remember that we used to sell a lot of things just to have money to eat, like [once] a week.’
4\ Streamers have a more intimate relationship with their audience than any other influencers in history, yet external monetization remains a necessity for anyone trying to do it even part-time. It's simply too hard to make a livable wage on Twitch. I hope that changes.
5\ I've resisted shilling my shit for four tweets, so here it is.
There are coaches on
@TryMetafy
who will break 6-figures while not making minimum wage on Twitch. Is it possible for more gamers to do this for a living? I like to think so... but what the fuck do I know?
Becoming Ruthless: An open letter to my investors…
Metafy is a Series A company now. I used to dream of this--I held no aspiration higher than entering the hallowed halls of TechCrunch.
Well, we're here now.
Here’s where we’re going:
The Metafy Community Fund is officially reopened!
With the industry feeling more uncertain than ever, we want to use our resources to put more money behind grassroots efforts to build & preserve the communities you love.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,
@ProGuidesCom
has me blushing like a school girl.
That section was converting like shit though, you should have waited to copy our redesign!
I've got one last announcement for the week, and it's a big one. Today, we're officially welcoming
@GamerzClass
to the
@TryMetafy
family.
Metafy will soon be a platform not just for coaching, but also in-depth courses from the experts you know and love.
Launched this little feature today to make it easier to find something that works with your schedule. It’s a small thing, but it solves a huge pain point.
Disrupting a trillion-dollar industry. If we can get just 1% to give us $1, we can unicorn 10x.
Superhuman for a passion economy in the cloud, GTK-3, and the future of work. Our agile process is transparent and radical, with an API in public.
Follow for more startup wisdom 🚀
Man, this is about as personal as it gets. Some of my closest friends don't even know these things about me. I hope it helps others realize just how much they can achieve as well.
Where you start doesn't need to be where you finish.
Running a startup is a world away from where
@JoshFabian
was a decade ago—riding the “L” in Chicago looking for work as a high school dropout and collecting food stamps.
Today he is the CEO of
@trymetafy
and is a study in perseverance. Read his journey
We're building a complex ecosystem where different parts of our business work together with the community to create a greater whole. It's not for the faint of heart, and it won't come together on its own, but if we pull this off - everything changes.
Here's a quick breakdown...
Hey, you. Yes, you.
How do you feel about Metafy?
Do you think we’re changing things for better or worse? What do you wish we did better or more of?
Everyone’s opinion welcome, I’ll read every reply. Even the dumb ones. Especially the dumb ones.
Startups are hard. Most of our first quarter was rough. We took on too much. Raising money fucks with a business. Good and bad.
Back on track now. We’ve done the complex work of simplifying a vision. You’re gonna poop the bed when you see what’s coming.
How’s your thing going?
hey
@Fizzi36
I noticed that the "lol" chat command is often used when people are trying to be toxic. I have a suggestion for a different command that would surely be much more productive
Everyone wants
@TryMetafy
merch, that's right, everyone. Even your Mother. Trust me on this.
It's about time we hire the person to start creating it. If you refer someone we ultimately hire for the role, I'll pay you $1000.
Here's the job posting.
Who are your favorite creatives, producers or creative directors in gaming? I'm talking about folks with big visions around what a content series or film can and should be.
I want to give them money.
The last 9 months have been among the best of my life.
@TechCrunch
did our announcing for us this time. For mostly vain reasons, I'm excited about that.
I'm more excited that
@ForerunnerVC
is leading again, with
@sevensevensix
and
@DCM_VC
joining the team.
Big things coming.
Four pages of notes from the Product Club (
@ChapterOne
) session with
@JoshConstine
. Dude is a one-man think tank on startup storytelling and press. I'll take this forbidden knowledge with me to the grave, internet.
If you're raising, do yourself a favor and pitch
@SignalFire
.
The community fund is one of the safety mechanisms we’re putting in place to keep our soul. We’re setting aside $1,000,000 to encourage a rising tide.
We intend to support and sponsor competitive and community events, creative projects, and more.
'Letters to my Investors' is a monthly series in which I make our investor updates public. There are much better things on the internet that you should read instead.
Here's the May issue. It will probably change your life. Retweet and subscribe?
What we’ve built enables experts to earn a living doing what they love--and it connects students from all walks of life with the coaching and resources needed to improve at their craft.
From League of Legends, to Smash to Poker… This is a positive-sum game.
The process of competing in video games today is broken
In the future, you'll be able to apply for a tournament and get your results 60 seconds later
Thread: How NFTs will change competitive gaming forever:
June 2021: $63k
June 2022: $376k
Past-Josh, who I hate, would've never expected we'd be 500% bigger a year later. We've started accomplishing something that seemed impossible a year ago.
@TryMetafy
is quickly becoming a meaningful part of how many gamers are making a living.
While our first $400k month alludes us, I'm happy we were able to grow, even slightly, after the huge leap in GMV we saw in June.
Increasing our product offerings and teaching our experts to be business owners has been a substantial factor in our continued growth at
@trymetafy
.
People might be surprised, but as the CEO there’s nothing I love more than getting feedback from the community!
Just a reminder that there’s an unsubscribe button on every email we send out. Keep the great feedback coming, it’s how we improve!
Introducing 'Letters to my Investors' a monthly series in which I make our investor updates public. There are much better things on the internet that you should read instead.
Go subscribe anyway so I can justify this to our investors.
Growth remains largely organic, driven by the experts on
@TryMetafy
putting themselves out there.
This isn’t the work of a clever marketing team, this is a generation realizing their fucking value and going for it.
I’m immensely proud of what we’ve started here. It’s insane.
Last minute request, Twitter don't fail me now.
Looking for someone to film and help produce some documentary style content at Double Down this weekend in Vegas. You'll be working closely alongside the legend that is
@EEvisu
Sliiiiiide into my DMs
We'll continue to build in public. Even our investor updates are public. In the latest issue, published today, I discuss this round of funding and the journey to get there.
The jokes are childish, but at least you'll know it was really me writing it.
We'll be announcing another round of funding soon. I want to get in front of that a bit for the people that care enough to follow along.
It doesn't fucking matter.
I've spent much of the last 10 years of my life feeling jealous of other raising money.
Here's my 🧵
First 6 days of June 2022 bigger than all of June 2021? Getting closer and closer to affording that secret supervillain lair. Still deciding between a skull cave or ominous tower.
'Letters to my Investors' is a monthly series in which I make our investor updates public. There are much better things on the internet that you should read instead.
In this issue, I talk of our recent hires and excuses for the issue being late.
But this is just the beginning. To borrow the words of
@alexisohanian
, this is the starting line.
Thank you to everyone for the support. Let's go.
Join us as we build the future.
We're building in public. Even our investor letters are public. In this issue, I share the highs and the lows of the last couple months through the lens of the saying
"The map is not the territory."
You can read the latest issue here:
Read it, or else.
Huge shoutout to folks like
@Ninja
,
@LudwigAhgren
,
@TeamLiquid
and
@LiquidHbox
for being the leaders our community needs and using their platform for incredible good. It feels great to share the internet with you.
Well, you did it. 10K Followers is a big deal. Especially when they look as good as you. And you. And y-
To celebrate, we cornered our CEO and convinced him to give away 10,000 of something!
Who knows what it could be? WHO KNOWS?!
✅ Follow us
✅ RT This
✅ Watch this video
Hey, hi, hello.
@TryMetafy
CEO here. Been a few years since we started this thing, so, I'm curious.
Do you feel Metafy is healthy overall for gaming communities and the creators serving them?
e.g. Have we caused a stifling or gate keeping of knowledge or the opposite?
90% of startups fail. With those odds, what makes an entrepreneur start the journey? It's simple: ambition.
In our new video series, we pull back the curtain on 5 founders as they build and scale their businesses. 🚀
Episode 1:
@JoshFabian
, co-founder & CEO of
@TryMetafy
.
Can't wait to announce some of our new hires because the
@TryMetafy
team is looking stacked af. How stacked? Well, if our competitors had hired them, I'd be wiring our investors their money back.
"I love Metafy. It's such a good extra job to have. I love that the way I have it setup, it doesn't really eat into my normal time. I can teach and still get subs at the same time. Makes me very happy."
You love to see it.
The latest Letter to my Investors has some exciting updates on the present and future of Metafy, and also addresses the shittiest week of my career so far.
Photos like this one from
@TridentSkrt
remind me how much I love helping to grow these communities. The challenge is doing it without going broke.
Have been thinking a lot about how we can continue putting money behind events and the folks making them happen. More details soon!
We’re hungry to hire some stellar Senior Product Designers at
@TryMetafy
. This hopefully is you.
Should have 5+ years of product design experience at a product-driven company, or product agency.
Offering $130k to $160k salary, plus other dope perks.
Shit has been hard.
Cut frivolous costs like crazy.
Parted ways with great people.
I still hate corporations.
I still love this startup shit.
Best period of my life so far.
I'm overseeing our year-end list of the "startups to bet your career on" in 2022. Tenth anniversary of the list!
It's the first time we're going international with our picks, so I'm crowdsourcing a bit. Tell me who you like for the list and we'll take it into consideration!
Hate has evolved, and the internet has played a significant role in that evolution. We’ve entered a new era; data-driven bigotry has arrived. It’s a hilarious oxymoron — but it’s here to stay.
Only the nerds are going to like this tweet, but I want to share how absurd push conversions are proving out for engagement.
- 80% of lesson pushes result in coach confirming the booking within 5 minutes.
- 50% of message pushes result in coach responding within 5 minutes.
We doubled again. Feb. revenue almost entirely organic from coaches driving their own business 🤯
We tried out some very limited marketing this month that failed pretty hard. Spent $1k on FB ads to get two bookings. Yikes. Need to hire a specialist.
Goal for March is $60k? 👀
@alexisohanian
@LilNasX
Most VCs are lucky that their firms operating systems don’t exist. I’m not sure they’d know what to do if they had to actually deal with the hustlers they think they want to invest in.
Hiring an incredible React Native engineer to lead the future of Metafy on mobile. Should have a deep love for design and visual polish. Even better if they're passionate about gaming. Who should we talk to?
If we’re together in person, don’t you dare show me a meme on YOUR phone. Send that shit to my phone like a responsible adult.
This not being taught in high school is exactly what’s wrong with the American education system.
I’ll run for President next year or something.
We’re hiring exceptional people, but I mean, who isn’t? That said, our standards are indeed very high. Our priority hire is someone to own all things growth and marketing at Metafy. If you're that someone, or you know someone, say something. I'll make it worth your time.
New job drop:
@TryMetafy
is looking for a Senior Frontend Developer to help them get after their insanely ambitious vision.
Nexus of e-sports and the creator economy, backed by
@ForerunnerVC
and
@sevensevensix
, and led by legend
@JoshFabian
.
Apply today!