This is a partial transcription of the interview that Witlingo CEO, Ahmed Bouzid, conducted with NFT Pioneer, Sumya Ojaklu. To watch the interview, please go here.
Ahmed: Sumya Ojakli, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate your time. I’ve been looking around for experts in NFTs. I’ve looked at a lot of profiles, and I’ve been looking not for folks who are like rara, NFTs are forget about everything in history, NFTs is it. That’s it, right? And I’ve encountered a lot of those, and so I’ve avoided those. And so, I’ve been looking for level-headed folks, who know enough to educate us. Also, are not going to mislead us on whether – and I’m not saying that those folks are misleading folks intentionally. I’m just saying that some folks are just overly enthusiastic.
Sumya: That’s true.
Ahmed: Overly enthusiastic, you know. So, before we start, and I want to spend, let’s say, half of our conversation on just the basics of NFTs, maybe you can tell the audience a bit about yourself and your background, especially the latest stuff that you have been doing in – what is it, 3 Theorems? I’m sorry, the company’s name.
Sumya: Theorem 3. Yeah, Theorem 3 Advisors.
Ahmed: Theorem 3. It’s a very interesting name, Theorem 3, yeah, Advisors. Go ahead, tell the audience who you are and what you do.
Sumya: So, basically, I am chief executive officer and chief distiller of Theorem 3 at this point. And what I’ve done is taken probably the entirety of my career, and turned it into one big sphere, which is 360 degrees of marketing and media. That’s covered film, television, music, magazines, books, everything from commercial production, all the way through to art.
And within Theorem 3, what we work on is building out for companies and individuals with a – how would I put this – social-impact piece. So, everything has a social-impact piece of care that we get involved in, whether we’re giving back, or we are developing a message. So, we work with everything, from Green Wine Futures, all the way through to literacy with companies such as JetBlue.
But this takes me back to where I came from. And part of my business was really working with IP, intellectual product across the board, and licensing. So, it really comes full circle when we start to look at NFTs, and we start to look at what’s happening in the market. And I think that’s probably the most important, because so many times, people don’t take a full-circle look at everything. And so, they go automatically into the silo, here it is, let’s take the NFT. I have an NFT, let’s buy it, let’s make it, let’s buy it, let’s go, ready to go, we’re going to make a lot of money.
Well, if we take it back a few steps, it’s the same way somebody went out and said, “I’m going to make an album,” or somebody went out and said, “I’m going to make a podcast, and I’m going to make a ton of money, because I’m going to do very well.” I’m going to make an album, and I’m going to do very well. But there are other components to everything to making it a success, including in the book business, and I’ve spent a lot of time too in publishing, and carrying from publishing onto other areas.
And one other place that I cannot forget, because I worked in Web 1.0, launching in the gaming industry. And we launched Ign.com, one of the big gaming networks. So, when you look at that, and you look at who gets involved, it is very interesting to see what the audiences are, and what we automatically think in our heads at home, versus what we think what really happens outside.
Ahmed: Yeah, wonderful. So, in essence, just so that I can make sure I understand what you just said, you want to ensure that when somebody gets to into a venture such as, I don’t know, making a documentary, or making a commercial, or making an album, they’re not going into it naively.
Sumya: Yes.
Ahmed: Right. That they’re going through it with, first of all, full knowledge of what that entails, but probably – again, I’m just trying to extrapolate. Probably, also, making the most of what they have done and what they have.
Sumya: Yes. In fact, I could honestly say that whatever company that I have been in, okay, from my past, which I’ve now taken to the present, I always consider looking at opportunities that create alternative revenue streams, while taking care of the original product, the original intellectual property, and understanding how we disseminate that, and do it the right way. Whether there is some kind of a caveat to it, whether it’s, like I said, a piece of social impact, a piece of doing good somewhere, or just alone, taking your product that is your intellectual property, and turning it into something, but also watching for the scavengers, watching for the people that are out there that are saying, oh no, we’ll make it big.
And I can honestly say to you, there are examples that I can give you that shows where things shouldn’t be done, and how they shouldn’t be done, and then why. And this has been going on forever, okay. And we think just because NFT makes it official that it is pristine. It’s not, but it is also new wonderful opportunity or a new vehicle for us to take a trip on. And also, there is, at least, a little bit of proof of how we can say track with owning our product.