On this episode of Koji Conversations, Soph and Jack chat to Alex from Anima. Anima is an augmented reality company bridging the metaverse and physical world. The project consists of three major components: 1. An augmented reality platform for the creation of new AR objects, experiences and art. 2. The selling of these creations as NFTs, with the verification layer being displayed in AR. 3. Their studio, where they help artists and developers bring their concepts to life. Soph, Jack and Alex talk the importance of making AR a compelling experience, how social media achieved this but for the wrong reasons and how Anima aims to fix this by giving creators the tools to inspire a Cambrian explosion of AR creatives. JOIN ANIMAS' COMMUNITY Project twitter: @animavirtuality Alex’s twitter: @alexrherrity Site: https://t.co/LK4eWiyNj2 (anima.supply) TIME STAMP OF QUESTIONS 0:20 - Alex we like to start all of our episodes with an elevator pitch, particularly when we’re talking to founders so give us the TLDR on Anima and what you’re trying to achieve? 1:30 - Tell us a little bit about your background because I think you’ve always worked in the visual arts space. Where did you start ideating about AR in the web 3.0 ecosystem? 4:01 - What are the centralised components within the tech stack, is it the hardware layer, is it the hardware and a bit of the software layer and how are you approaching that question? 7:17 - What is the optimal end state of AR and the AR stack for you? 8:24 - I feel like how most users are experience AR at the moment is essentially via this corporate monopoly. Filters that are put out there on Instagram or snap like brands, and those brands have contracted a creator or a creative agency or in-house designer. But what Anima will do is essentially rebalance that supply chain so creators can go direct to user, am I right in thinking that? 10:10 - Do you think we’ve had that cambrian explosion of innovation and new users yet? What do you think is going to kickstart the AR craze if it does happen or if it hasn’t happened yet? 12:11 - With TikTok do you think that’s a place where AR is going to grab a strong foothold and say we move into more real-world dynamics where you are wearing AR glasses. Do you think the success of AR relies on people to be able to clearly see different rendering file types on different people as they’re walking down the street? 14:22 - The AR future I always think of is owning a digital fashion NFT, and then being able to walk down the street and I’m wearing that. Also being able to see everyone around me wear their digital fashion. And maybe its night time and I have a neon filter for the general environment around me, and I’m able to have an NFT that represents that neon filter, and I use that as well. Is that ridiculous, or is that feasibly possible? 17:30 - What are the bottle necks, what are the things that are slowing us down? Is it the research and development side of things, is it lack of interest or lack of capital in the space? 20:54 - Can I rewind back to your time at Ultra Visual, you said you took a lot of learnings for content driven platforms. What were those learnings and how are you taking it into building Anima? 22:45 - And how does that translate over to Anima now, how do creators engage directly with their community? is it via discord? What channels are you pushing for that? JOIN THE KOJI COMMUNITY Twitter: Koji_capital Email us: hello@koji.capital Discord: https://discord.gg/DjY7FwnS (https://discord.gg/DjY7FwnS) Website: http://koji.capital (koji.capital) Portfolio: http://koji.capital/portfolio (koji.capital/portfolio) It's important to remember that none of the contents of this podcast or the podcast itself constitutes any kind of investment advice.
