Ep.79 100 Million GIF Views & Building Dog Shelters: The Doge Pound Story

John Lemon, CEO of The Doge Pound, shares the wild journey of building one of crypto's most recognizable dog brands. From Yu-Gi-Oh! card trading in elementary school to generating 100 million+ GIF views and literally building a dog shelter from scratch in Tanzania. John and host Steven Schill discuss the evolution of Web3 brands, the power of mass-producing viral content through AI, and why the next big move is bringing IP characters to life through interactive AI toys.

This episode covers:

- How The Doge Pound organically built community on Twitter in 2021

- Why Giphy and Tenor are becoming crucial distribution platforms for brand awareness

- Building a real dog shelter in Tanzania and why more crypto brands should do IRL impact

- The Otherside metaverse: Will crypto-native virtual worlds reach mainstream adoption?

- Bringing IP to life: Interactive AI toys that let kids talk to their favorite characters

- Why character consistency is the hardest challenge in AI-generated content

- The shift from NFT hype to long-term IP development and retail strategy

- Piloting new technology with undisclosed Asian IP before rolling out Doge Pound toys

- The vision for a dog loyalty rewards program on blockchain (Web2 brands + Web3 rails)

- Why crypto still feels "too crypto heavy" and how to abstract complexity for mass adoption

 

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