Sara Simeone: 101 on NFTs With Niftyz

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Sara Simeone, CEO and Co-Founder of Niftyz (formerly Digital Oracles), as well as of her recent initiative, the NoCodeLab, and Co-Chair of Start-up Working Group, Crypto Valley. Sara is a strategist with a commercial mind. She was one of the first to publish a paper in 2018 on how machine learning and blockchain will impact the future of digital marketing. Sara worked with a portfolio of leading global accelerators, incubators, and VC professionals to tackle company maturity and co-develop programmes that both nurture potential and offer innovative capabilities to early-stage ventures. During the course of their discussions, both ladies discussed 1) the Metaverse, NFTs, and Web 3.0, 3) why Sara launched and developed NFTs, 3) where the market for NFTs is going, and 4) what the investment challenges and opportunities are to deliver for the immersive internet in the right way. KEY TAKEAWAYS I’ve been at the forefront of new technologies and developments on the web since the beginning of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. That’s what brought me to where we are today. I researched how machine learning and blockchain will impact the future of data, and in 2017, I got in touch with the Crypto Valley Environment and began building a network in Italy and the UK. Web 2.0, the world we live in now, is dominated by platforms we use to share content and information online. Sometimes, unbeknownst to us, our information is sold online. It’s a business model that Facebook (Meta), Twitter, and many other publishers use to generate revenue. Web 3.0 is a container of new terminology. We’re looking at it as a decentralized web where we decide how our information is used and who we share it with, though there are still significant technical limitations and a significant knowledge gap. Metaverse and NFTs are closely connected. Niftyz sees NFTs as keys that unlock specific content stored either on-chain or off-chain, revealing a wealth of information, data, tools, features, badges, and exciting new things in the metaverse. If we don’t understand NFTs and how to use these new tools, it will be challenging to access the metaverse. We’ve been trained by the web and society to monetize the outputs we create. With Web 3.0 I see another angle, what I call ‘the input economy’ where I can start monetizing at every single step that goes into creating that output. From this perspective, we can see NFTs as empowering the monetization of this value-creation process. For instance, if my brand creates mock-ups of my fashion items, I could create an NFT version of each mock-up and ask my community to vote by purchasing the one they like best. This market research can be used in the future to create a physical item that people want. From here, AMAs with the designer, virtual fashion events for users only, etc. BEST MOMENTS ‘Niftyz is basically a platform that wants to enable businesses and brands of all sizes and industries that want to get into this new world of NFTs.’ ‘Everybody’s trying to get into the Metaverse, and brands are building teams with competencies around this, but it’s more of a PR/marketing play at the moment, whereas in the future, it will give some returns.’ ‘NFTs have a bad reputation. In every phase of the internet, cowboys are trying to get rich quickly. Now, NFTs have begun to be adopted by artists because they’ve found a way to get in touch with a different type of audience.’ ‘Web 3.0 is creating a new value for our know-how. That’s the ethos behind Niftyz, empowering people, businesses, and brands to monetize their know-how in a brand new way.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Sara Simeone is CEO and Co-Founder of Niftyz (formerly Digital Oracles), the NoCodeLab, and Co-Chair of Start-up Working Group of the Crypto Valley. She is also a technology industry mentor, strategist, and growth management specialist with particular strengths in the optimization and commercial development of early-stage, rapid-development tech businesses.  Her ability to predict commercial and technical challenges far ahead of critical milestones is proven. As a respected strategist, she works with a portfolio of leading global Accelerators, Incubators, and VC professionals, tracking companies’ progress and maturity and co-developing programs that both nurture potential and offer 360-degree support to innovative early-stage ventures.  With an ability to decipher complex business concepts and technologies, she creates data and KPI-based go-to-market strategies that really work. Practical experience includes managing and mentoring senior teams, negotiating multi-million-pound contracts, and guiding companies to achieve maximum results without compromising team morale and P&L management.  In 2018, Sara Simeone published her master's thesis on how machine learning and blockchain will impact the future of digital marketing. She was one of the first marketers in the world to publish a piece on the topic. This piece of research gave her access to several professional opportunities: mentoring startups at CV Labs in Crypto Valley (Switzerland); consulting for emerging technology companies in the UK and abroad, and lecturing at Manchester Metropolitan University as an Associate Lecturer of Digital Marketing Strategy. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. 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