70. Jordan Norwood - The Super Bowl Champion Bringing Integrity to NFTs

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Bringing Integrity to NFTs

Jordan Norwood, an undrafted free agent out of college to a super bowl champion, and now a crypto/NFT entrepreneur. In this interview, Jordan goes through his NFL career and the intangible skill sets that made him a stand-out player. His transition after football, and how he got involved in the crypto and NFT space. The fundamentals of an NFT and the value of having one. We are excited to introduce Jordan Norwood.

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• Interview Transcription:

  Ken Gunter 00:01

  What's up everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the professional athlete podcast. We are joined this week by Jordan Norwood. So Jordan is a former NFL player and a Super Bowl champion. He was part of that. Peyton Manning lead Broncos team. And he actually still holds the record for longest punt return in Super Bowl history, which I was able to confirm. Good chance that one stands for a while probably. So Jordan had a stellar collegiate and professional career. But what would be easy to overlook, if you just kind of took it at face value is the amount of adversity he had to overcome and the amount of determination it took for him to realize that success. So we talked a little bit about this today, he received a last minute offer to Penn State went undrafted had a devastating knee injury that almost cut his career short, but there was no shortage of opportunities for Jordan to pack it in. And so we're going to talk a little bit about that today. You know, what does it take to persevere when faced with setbacks and challenges. And as fascinating as that is, what's equally as interesting to me is what Jordan is now doing in his quote, unquote, retirement. He was an early adopter to the crypto space. And his second act as an entrepreneur has actually led him to what we describe as the wild west in NF Ts. So if you're listening to this, and you still don't know what an NF t is, don't worry. We've got you covered. Jordan's gonna explain it. And we'll talk about his project. It's called the whitelist aces collection. And we talk a little bit about what excites him about the space the challenges he sees, where he thinks he and his team can have a positive impact on the broader NFT community. And maybe most importantly, why does this matter to you? Right? What is an NF T? And why should I care? So with that said, Sony is actually out on vacation. She's drinking margaritas south of the border, so I was not invited. So there's not going to be any run by my wife episode this week. But don't worry, she will be back. So she says. And yeah, all right, folks. Well, without further ado, let's welcome Jordan to the show. Here we go. Awesome. Well, Jordan, thank you for coming on the show are excited to talk to you today.

  Jordan Norwood 02:33

  Absolutely. Ken, Thanks for Thanks for having me.

  Ken Gunter 02:35

  Yeah, you got it. And we were just catching up a little bit before. So let's see I graduated 2011. So I remember very vividly the big run Penn State had well, I guess what would that have been? 2008 2009?

  Jordan Norwood 02:50

  Yeah, those those couple years? Yeah, we we won some football games. One

  Ken Gunter 02:54

  a couple, one, a couple. Somebody would say a big 10 championship. And so I remember you because you know, stellar standout on a stellar team. And I knew you had a great NFL career, and we were just catching up on this. But what I didn't realize is your path to and through the NFL. It feels like it was just filled with adversity. And so you know, one of the things that I would love to just kind of ask you is, you know, what, what is that experience? Like, what does it take to not only get to the NFL, but to stay in the NFL?

  Jordan Norwood 03:29

  Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, how much time do we have? I mean, it's it's such a it's such a crazy I mean, first of all, just blessed by the experience. I mean, I can't believe that I to be honest, I can't believe that I played division one college football much less in the NFL and much less in a Super Bowl. So so it doesn't happen very often. And I don't kinda I kind of don't take that that I had that experience lightly. I'm very grateful for it. But yeah, I mean, it's it's an experience that you know, takes a lot of obviously it takes a lot of hard work it takes a lot of skill and an intangible just kind of opportunities and things like that kind of you know, you can't really write a write a rubric for getting to the NFL and being successful and kind of just has to the ball has to pass the land a certain way for you. So yeah, I mean, with that being said my NFL career was was all of that was intangible things kind of relationships. I had a GM Well, first of all, I was undrafted out of college, right. decided to sign as a free agent with the Cleveland Browns who had who had drafted two receivers so that first of all, that was a poor decision. That's not if there is a rubric that's not in the room. Yeah, that's not the one Okay, yeah, if you're Yeah, if you're undrafted don't go sign at a place where they drafted two wide receivers, it's gonna be really hard to make that football team.

  Ken Gunter 05:00

  Out of curiosity. Do you remember who those two guys were that they drafted? Oh, yeah,

  Jordan Norwood 05:04

  absolutely. Mohamed Massaquoi and Brian Rybicki. Oh, me so Massaquoi was, might have been. I think he was their second round pick from Georgia, and then Brian Rybicki play at Ohio State. And he was, I think he might have been like a fourth round pick. third or fourth round pick, if not higher, but But yeah, so I mean, I walked into a situation where there weren't many roster spots available. And there wasn't one available. I didn't make the team. I was I was cut. In Cleveland, I went to Yeah, Philadelphia, was on their practice squad for a year, the next year in Philadelphia got cut and sent back to Cleveland to be on the practice squad still, in a lot of those trends, that actually all the transactions are not all but many of the transactions in my NFL career were. Were me actually following in a GM around really, or a head Scout, so Oh, interesting. So yeah, the I'm not sure what his role was in Philadelphia, it might have been director, director of player personnel, but Tom Eckert who passed away about six years ago. Sorry to hear that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, just just a shame. It's just an incredible human being, but also somebody that I, you know, cherish the relationship, because he brought me to Philadelphia, he brought me back to Cleveland, when he was the GM at Cleveland, he got a job here in Denver with the Broncos brought me to Denver. So. So that's, that's kind of part of the way it works. I mean, networking is a real thing in the NFL. So

  Ken Gunter 06:43

  that's so interesting. Because I've talked to quite a few folks, and I don't think like this kind of storyline or conversation has come up yet, just like how important the relationships are even at that level. You know, because I think right now, for the average person, there's so much transparency in terms of like the combine the Pro Day, like, oh, well, clearly, it's like the scouts are dialed in. There's all these measurables like, they have a way they're grading these guys. You know, it's it's very quantifiable, right? I think is like the perception a lot of folks have. But you know, to hear you describe it, like Yes. And again, like if anyone wants to look it up, Jordan's measurables are pretty insane. So, but it sounds like the relationship piece that networking can be, you know, if I'm not putting words in your mouth, just as important.

  Jordan Norwood 07:32

  Yeah, I mean, I think that, I mean, and not, I think I mean, scouts and GMs are looking for some little bit of not quantifiable data that they can that they actually sometimes hang their hat on, like, you know, I Go to Bat for this kid, because of this one play he had in his college career that showed me something that, you know, I mean, a catch or run or a tackle. That, I mean, to be honest, I mean, a lot of the a lot of the quantifiable stuff. Obviously, we all know that a lot of times it doesn't pan out. But, you know, I don't know, I mean, I just think that there's GMs that are willing to put their name on the line for guys. I mean, Tameka did it for me, but willing to put their name on the line for guys that might not, you know, fit fit a specific mold, which, you know, gives a lot of people an opportunity. So,

  Ken Gunter 08:30

  yeah, well in for you, like, look, I have some assumptions. So I don't want to completely put words in your mouth. But you know, like, what, what was it that separated you from the pack? And, you know, maybe what is it that you think others saw? But for you, you know, what was it that kind of set you apart?

  Jordan Norwood 08:46

  Sure, I mean, it was it definitely wasn't? Like, it definitely wasn't strength. I've never, I've never even laid under a bench with like, 225 on it in my life ever. So it definitely wasn't that. But I think I think my, as far as my skill set goes, it was, you know, quickness and agility, being able to get open. And then when I did get into training camps, it was those things I was, you know, skilled in those things. But yeah, the things that kind of took over were the coach ability, the ability to learn, learn a playbook quick and know the ins and outs and, you know, kind of be somebody on the field that, you know, if you had one receiver that would never remember the play and another receiver that would remember it 60% of the time, you know, being able to have another receiver on the field that can be like, you got this you got this. Alright, let's go. I know, somebody aside from the quarterback to do that is usually helpful to

  Ken Gunter 09:51

  yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot of value in that. So So if we could fast forward a little bit and so for those who don't know A Super Bowl champion actually, I believe still actively holds a Super Bowl record for the longest punt return if I'm not mistaken but you know when I was when I was digging back into this because again like I remember that Super Bowl, I remember watching it and it's it's interesting it's you can take for granted the fact that the guys were playing there in that moment. You know, again, probably a clear cut path have probably been on the team all year we're dry. But when I looked, there's like two years missing from your NFL career smack dab in the middle. What was kind of going on in those years before the Broncos?

  Jordan Norwood 10:36

  Yeah, so I mean, yeah, there's literally almost three years missing. So I played came out of college 2009 practice squad a couple years. Yep. Got moved up for I think half of my second year then 2011 rolls around and I'm playing pretty well. I'm you know, the third receiver in Cleveland. play two games. I think I have 10 catches in that the second game of of those two games, and then I get hurt. I get put on IR that year. That's 2011.

  Ken Gunter 11:10

  That's a solid pace. By the way. 10 cash games. We're talking? Yeah, nothing your ad catches.

  Jordan Norwood 11:16

  It was 10 games in one game. It was 10 games in just that second game. The first Yeah, a couple guesses. But um, yeah, I get put on IR. Man, I'm sure Oh, yeah, this happened. So I got put on IR for a hat for the rest of that season. So only played two games in that was 2012. And then 2013 comes on back healthy. And I just get straight up cut from the browns and don't get picked back up. Well, I go to Tampa Bay for a week. I don't get picked up pick back up that whole season. So out 2000 pretty much 2012 2013 all the way out. And then the next calendar year, I signed like a futures contract in Denver and play really well. I'm about to make the team with Peyton Manning at quarterback and I tear my ACL. So so it was actually it was closer to closer to three full seasons that I was that I was out of football and you know, wondering if I would ever ever be able to play again and, and all that so? Well.

  Ken Gunter 12:25

  There's there's a lot of guys to again, right, like stellar college career. But undrafted, you know, I mean, I don't even know how many times you said you had been cut at this point, you have success, it's kind of ripped away. I think a lot of guys would have walked away. I think a lot of guys do walk away. Right? So for you, you know, what kind of enabled you to persevere and stay determined and stay committed to something that already just to get a spot on a roster is such an incredible feat, like coming back from injury? Like, what kept you going?

  Jordan Norwood 13:00

  Yeah, I mean, I think it was a few things. And I mean, I think to start off answering that question is, there's a lot of doubt, and a lot of, you know, self doubt. And, you know, maybe this isn't for me, and, you know, all of the all of those things are definitely a part of the story too. But I mean, I would say support system, family and close friends encouraging me. My faith and kind of my spiritual background, I think played a big, big part in really kind of coming to terms with, you know, God has whatever God has, for me, it's gonna happen, and, you know, whether that's football or, or life after football, you know, I was kind of coming to terms with that. And, you know, still at the same time still, you know, training and, you know, rehabbing if I needed to rehab, and making sure that you know, football was going to be the opportunity that I was still going to be ready for it.

  Ken Gunter 13:59

  Yeah. Well, you know, I love your willingness to say that, because I think a lot of people can relate to that piece, you know, maybe having a big dream, but also having a lot of self doubt. You know, so it's, I think it's probably refreshing for a lot of folks to hear that you've you felt those same fears, those same setbacks. That same kind of like questioning. So that's, that's pretty amazing. Yeah. And, you know, the importance of family, I think, can't be understated. Like, just the older you get, the more you realize, like if you want to go after something, it's like you really need a strong support system, because there are those kinds of dark times. And we're like, man, like maybe I'm just not cut out for this. Yeah, go ahead. No, I

  Jordan Norwood 14:49

  was just gonna say there was there's even in college, there was people that kind of stepped in or from high school to college specifically. I mean, I came out of college. I mean, out of highschool five, eight 145 pounds, like very small, a very small human. And I mean, it took people that like I didn't believe in myself, not at all, but it took individuals. There was a coach at Penn State named Kenny Carter that pulled me aside, at like a summer a Penn State summer football camp and said, I just want you to know that you can play at whatever level of football you want to play at. And nobody had ever said that to me. Yeah, I mean, maybe my dad did, but I didn't take his his word with as much. You know, Forrest is I would take somebody that I didn't know as well. So. So yeah, sometimes it takes somebody believing in you, especially when you don't even believe in yourself. Yeah. push you over the hump?

  Ken Gunter 15:49

  Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, and so I've kind of forced you to dig through a lot of setbacks. What was it like? You know, to fast forward a little bit, you make the Broncos you end up playing in the Super Bowl. You have a big play in the Super Bowl. I mean, what was that experience like for you?

  Jordan Norwood 16:08

  I mean, it was incredible. I mean, just being at the Superbowl itself is such a cool experience. But then playing in the game, and you know, being on the sideline and Lady Gaga, walking directly past your face as she gets ready to sing. Whatever she's saying, I don't know if she

  Ken Gunter 16:29

  has to play a game you have Lady Gaga. Exactly. That's wild.

  Jordan Norwood 16:34

  Right. So I mean, it's such a unique experience. And I mean, probably the moments that I cherish the most about it, are actually outside of the football game. They're, you know, celebrating after the game with my family. You know, we walk into this after party, and there's flow rider just on the stage, like, little private after party, and we just all went crazy, obviously, after the game, so yeah, I mean, it's kind of you know, yeah, there's the football game in the in the big plays, and, or I only had one big play, but I don't know, I guess we can always go back on YouTube and watch that the things that I like to reminisce about are, you know, remember when my buddy fell asleep in the hotel lobby, and, you know, was there for eight hours sleeping right on the ground? So that's what I like to reminisce. Right?

  Ken Gunter 17:30

  Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, on a stage like that, can you even can you even like, take that in? Like, I know, you said, you saw Lady Gaga walk in front of you. But I mean, you know, are you just so laser focused? Like, I feel like sometimes when people get into that state, they can't even remember what happened. They have to watch it back on tape to even be aware of like, what was going on?

  Jordan Norwood 17:51

  Yeah, no, I think I agree with that. There's definitely, there's definitely that sense of, you know, pinch me or in football is probably like, hit me like, you know, you don't really realize where you are until you get that first. And you get hit or touch the football, or something like that. So. But yeah, I mean, even to your point, I definitely have gone back and watch the game and not remembered this happened or that happened. Or see my reaction to something that I like, what was I thinking? So it's really it's really a unique situation. And yeah, I mean, I guess the stage doesn't get get much bigger. So

  Ken Gunter 18:34

  yeah, yeah. Well, and I want to transition but actually, one question that just came to mind, I always thought this has been so interesting, you know, like a professional sport professional. Whatever the situation is, right? High Stakes, a lot of eyes on you. punt returner, specifically. Like that has to be like I returned kicks in college. So I know what that's like. You have a lot of time with the ball in the air. No one's gonna touch you. You're gonna get a clean shot at the ball. What is it like stepping out on the field to return upon in the NFL? Like, do the nerves eventually go away? Or do you get them every single time that you step out there to feel the punt? With those you know, your situation?

  Jordan Norwood 19:13

  I have the nerves right now because you brought it up. Let's let's just put it let's just put it that way. I mean, never. It never goes away. I mean, I honestly would never wish that job description on anybody. It's just it's just, it's just a tough it's a tough job. You know, catching the football that's, you know, 100 feet up in the air. Wow. People run full speed at you. You know,

  Ken Gunter 19:44

  some of the best athletes in the world. You will try tried to put themselves on the map by blowing somebody Yeah.

  Jordan Norwood 19:51

  They have one intense need to separate you from the football like so yeah, I don't. My mom hated that I that I had that job she hated.

  Ken Gunter 20:03

  There's always the mom. And her baby was not out there doing that.

  Jordan Norwood 20:09

  Exactly. Exactly. So. So yeah, I would not go back to the NFL for that, for that job at this point in my life,

  Ken Gunter 20:19

  too much on the line. Well, and maybe that's that's a good segue, one of the reasons that I was really excited to talk to you is, you've done some really interesting things after football. And I think there's a lot of folks who, you know, they look at these guys in the NFL, and they say, you know, you play eight years, like, what are you prepared to do after that? Right? And, you know, so for you, you had some really interesting entrepreneurial pursuits. I'm very interested what's going on in the crypto space, and I'm learning more about NF T's and we can talk about that. But for you, what did that transition look like? You know, you decide that you're going to retire from the NFL. Like, what comes next?

  Jordan Norwood 20:59

  Yeah, I mean, it's a it's not an easy transition. I don't think I mean, I can't imagine it's easy for anybody. And for me, specifically, why? Well, first of all, I was able to fortunately able to retire on my own kind of decision. My contract was up in Denver. And I just called my agent said, don't call me anymore about any teams that want me to come try out. He still called me but but yeah, I was I was able to transition kind of into a creative space that I was in with photography. I had kind of started that transition towards the end of my last year. Just taking pictures. Yeah. And so so my wife and I did that actually, for a year and a half or so two years. And we are we still do it, to be honest. But from there, kind of, I got into cryptocurrency. So kind of the creative background with photography and graphic design, and then being introduced to crypto. Also, when,

  Ken Gunter 22:05

  when were you first introduced to crypto

  Jordan Norwood 22:07

  2016.

  Ken Gunter 22:10

  Oh, it's a good time to be introduced.

  Jordan Norwood 22:12

  The best time now? Yeah.

  Ken Gunter 22:15

  That's a good time to start paying attention.

  Jordan Norwood 22:17

  Yeah, yeah. I mean, so I mean, super fortunate to be introduced to crypto then. And yeah, I mean, really, kind of the combination of crypto and a creative background. And I'm into collectibles too, like trading cards and sneakers. So I feel like that kind of combination, leads people to enter. I mean, that's basically what NF T's are is blockchain and collectibles and art. So, you know, kind of those these three things led me into the NFT space about a year ago now. Yeah. And so I got kind of got into it just by, you know, buying a few NF T's and figuring out what they are, what they mean, how they are valued. Yeah. Can

  Ken Gunter 23:03

  we even start there just for people who are listening and they said, Hey, I was I was coming on the show to listen to Jordan Norwood talk about the Super Bowl. And now now I'm learning about NF T's they might not be well aware of what it is. And frankly, I could probably use an education myself. So could you just describe it a high level, you know, like, what is an NF? T?

  Jordan Norwood 23:23

  Sure. Yeah. So the acronym NF T stands for non fungible token. So really, the first part of understanding what an NF t is, is, is understanding fungibility and you know what that means, and so a fungible item or asset is something that can be traded for equal value. So $1 Bill $1 Bill in my pocket is quiz same is $1 bill in your pocket, even if your dollar bill is you know, a little bit ripped in old and dirty in mind is fresh, new, and Chris, we can we can trade those dollar bills and still retain the same value. Those items are fungible. Whereas whereas something that's non fungible is something like a like a trading card could be non fungible, even if, if we both have a Babe Ruth rookie card. Mine has a little band on the corner, and isn't in a glass case. Yours is in a glass case pristine, you know, whatever they call that pristine level. Yeah, trading card. We're not I mean, even though it's the same top trading card from 19, whatever year we're not going to trade those. There's not you have to do, they're the same thing, but they're not the same thing, sort of thing. And so that so that's what non fungibility is and then the token part of that the non fungible token. That part is basically where blockchain comes into play and these non fungible items living on a blockchain which is essentially a ledger. It's basically automatic accounting, you know, a record of every transaction that happens in, in the life of that non fungible item non fungible token. It's so similar to, again, using a Babe Ruth rookie card. It would be, you know that that card was made in I don't know what your what your did Babe Ruth play. It's

  Ken Gunter 25:33

  so funny that you say that because I'm like, what? Like, 19? Oh,

  Jordan Norwood 25:37

  I'm not even gonna hit. I know. I know. All right. It's called early 1900s, early 1900s. So, so anyways, it's basically like, like that card, the transactions of that card, wherever that card is traded hands, say, you know, my great grandfather habit, it had it in hand it straight down. Every transaction would be, you know, traceable on this on this blockchain. And that's, you know, people see a lot of value in that. And there's, there's reasons of monetary monetarily they see the value and they're being able to verify something also they see the value.

  Ken Gunter 26:17

  Yeah. Yeah, the ability to verify the transparency for anyone who has dabbled in, you know, kind of any facet of cryptocurrency, like, once you get your head around, you know, like I said, the transparency, the verification, the speed, when you start talking about like transacting a collectible in the form of an NFT it just like the instant liquidity, the instant ability to find a buyer, you know, maybe not the price you want, but like the quickness with which that you can transact, it really is mind blowing. And, you know, so maybe, maybe to continue down that path a little bit. You started your own project. whitelist Hold on, don't let me get it wrong. Why is it whitelist Dotto, and then the project is Asus.

  Jordan Norwood 27:07

  Yeah. So the whitelist dot O is just the web address. Yeah. And then the collection is called the Asus collection. Yep. Perfect. All

  Ken Gunter 27:15

  right. Yeah. So where does one even begin? Starting that type of collection? So obviously, you're interested in crypto, you already are creative in nature, it sounds like but you know, I have to imagine something of this scale. It's, it's as much a business as it is like a creative pursuit. So where does one even begin with a with a project or a collection like this?

  Jordan Norwood 27:39

  Right. I mean, it's, it's, it's kind of a lot to be honest. Yeah. And yeah, it's, it's something that I, I mean, jumped into, well jumped into the space, like I said, a year ago, and that, you know, introduced me to several kind of similar projects, that turned out to be what I also created. But I basically just saw a big, a decent sized gap in the industry, and most of that gap just circled around integrity. There wasn't much of it, and there still isn't much of it in the NFT space. And in kind of almost like any emerging market. You know, it's like the wild wild west before it's actually regulated by some, you know, whether it's in again, the word centralization is kind of a tough word to bring into the, into the conversation with crypto and NF T's when and until there's some sort of regulatory body, it can be a decentralized regulatory body, I guess, but, but things are going to be things are going to be kind of sketchy, I guess. And, you know, I found an opportunity to really try to bring some integrity to the space and, you know, hopefully, hopefully, that's what I've accomplished, it feels like that's what I've accomplished with the ACES collection.

  Ken Gunter 28:55

  Yeah. And can we even talk for a moment about what it takes to produce the artwork for the collection itself? If you'd like to, like I think people would love to understand better, what makes up this collection, right? Because I think, you know, nfts can encompass like a wide berth of different things, assets, etc. You know, what is the Asus collection?

  Jordan Norwood 29:23

  Yeah, so the Asus collection is essentially a membership. And the membership is displayed. Graph graphically, it can be displayed by this piece of artwork that you get a non fungible token that comes with a piece of artwork that, you know, there's a social aspect to this membership. So you can use that piece of artwork for your profile picture. It's like a little character that we call an ace is a little 3d character with a with a floating head and some some cool traits but but yeah, I mean, as far as the actual membership goes, like what That NFT gets you aside from just a cool profile picture is much or is meant to be much like, like a credit card membership. So it would be things like discounts to different companies and, you know, partnerships, corporations, businesses. And then also in real life experiences and opportunities. That effectively you just show your NFT at the door, and you're letting, to certain things. So. So that's kind of the very broad scope. We've had a couple. We just launched this membership on January, January 31. And we've had a couple or one specific event at Super Bowl week in LA, which was really cool. We had former athletes, current athletes, football and Major League Baseball, a couple actresses actors. The event was right in Hollywood, there was a red carpet, there was a step and repeat backdrop. So that had our branding, where people would, you know, stop and have pictures taken by hired bots, paparazzi. But really, the what happened that was really cool, is that people that purchased the NF T collection that I founded, and were given this membership, they had access to go to this event. You know, come in there, and you know, I had to put my arm around them, put my arm around them and say, you know, hey, they're with me, even though I had just met them in that moment. Right, which was also kind of kind of nerve wracking. I mean, you know, cosigning for a person that you've never met before. And that's, you know, you're going to introduce them to show, you know, former Super Bowl champions and Pro Bowlers and things like that. There's a little bit of risk.

  Ken Gunter 32:04

  Yeah, put your name on the line a little bit. Right.

  Jordan Norwood 32:06

  But fortunately, it went well, it went really well, actually. And, you know, we did some things beforehand to you know, we just had video calls with people to make sure they were a little bit betting. Yeah, just a little bit of vetting. Make sure they were real people, first of all, sure. And not 13 year olds also, because, yeah, that's that also, you just don't know, you don't know who you're talking to. Right. Yeah. So

  Ken Gunter 32:33

  Well, that's one of the things, you know, admittedly, like, I've really been paying attention in the crypto space last couple years. And I mean, once you start going down that rabbit hole, there's no shortage of directions that you can go with it. And in preparation for this interview, I was, you know, I was like, Alright, I need to get boned up on my NFT knowledge here. Like I understand broadly how it works. But one of the things that is so interesting to me, and I'm glad that that's what you lead with is this idea that, hey, look, not only it depends upon the collection, but not only are these, you know, a collectible, or, you know, an artistic asset, but it's a means of being a part of a community. And I think there's probably a steep learning curve for most people to even begin to go down this path, like, Where the hell do I buy an NF T. But the thought that not only are you buying into something that's collectible, but it's actually going to enable you to have access to real life experiences, is, I think, a really interesting proposition. And so when you say bring some integrity to the space, you know, what, what does that mean to you? I guess, like, what is the mission for the collection? Long term? What are you hoping to achieve with it?

  Jordan Norwood 33:45

  Yeah, I mean, long term, and we would love this membership to be, you know, something that, first of all, individuals that are in the membership are proud to use and find value in and, you know, are proud to share with their friends and try to get, you know, friends and family involved in the community. I think that's kind of the, you know, the overall goal for this, as far as what integrity looks like in this space, or doesn't look like more specifically. Yeah. easier place to start? Yeah. I mean, I mean, essentially, what, what happens? I mean, there's so much anonymity in crypto in general. First of all, that it makes it, it potentially can make it easy to, you know, scam your way into a lot of money. Yeah, and that's and that's basically what some individuals are doing. And I mean, it's so interesting, because we talked, I mean, just, you know, five minutes ago, we talked about how transparent blockchain is and how that's a you know, a value proposition when it comes to blockchain is That irrefutable ledger that tracks everything. And you know, how does that work with anonymity? anonymity? I mean, it's basically. I mean, it's almost like using cash, but cash is even more anonymous. But I mean, essentially, if you don't know somebody's cryptocurrency wallet address, then you can't you can't find them. Basically, if you can't connect the wallet address to an actual human being, then they can pretty much they are not anonymous anonymous Yeah, but that's the split second, then you've got you can connect the person to the wallet, then you can see every single transaction that they've ever made in, and all of that. So. So basically, when it comes to integrity is its people that'll, you know, you've seen all these board API club NF T's. Those are basically those apes that you've probably seen some people with the profile pictures, I mean, people can basically, screen screenshot, goodness, I can't think of the word screenshot those and save them and do what's called minting them as a brand new NFT. So people think that they're buying the brand new. The real board API club NFT from the real collection, but without without knowing any better you're you're just buying.

  Ken Gunter 36:28

  So here's the knockoff, a cheap knockoff,

  Jordan Norwood 36:30

  which is similar. I mean, people say that all the time. Like, why can't I just save the picture? Like, that's literally the same thing. And so I mean, back to our very poor Babe Ruth card analogy. But that's essentially the same thing as saying the Babe Ruth rookie card, that's a Topps, you know, whatever, and scanning it, and scanning it, printing it out, putting it on, you know, some solid cardstock and saying, Hey, I have a Babe Ruth rookie card. Right. I mean, we all understand larger

  Ken Gunter 37:03

  issues happen and are a huge part of the art world.

  Jordan Norwood 37:06

  Right? Yeah. We are understand why that's not a real Babe Ruth rookie cards.

  Ken Gunter 37:11

  Yeah, yeah. That's so you know, as someone who has created a collection, we talked a little bit about community. But, you know, I think the question that I often get when talking to someone who's new to the space, or is trying to wrap their head around it, is there like, what, what even gives this value? Right? Like, what is the value here? Because on to an outsider, it's like, why can I just take a screenshot of this? And now I have it, right. So from your perspective, you know, what is it and maybe we could even just talk about, like, one individual like, NFT, within your collection? Like, what gives something like that actual value?

  Jordan Norwood 37:51

  I mean, the people most the most immediate answer is the people give it value. In the same way, you know, in the same way that sneakers are sold, like this pair of Air Jordan sneakers is sold for $100. And this one is also sold from the store for $100. But there's a line out the door for this pair of sneakers, and there's not a line for this one. It's the people the culture, that gives things value, and it's no different. It's really no different with NF T's. And some of the some of that value is, is rooted in the artwork, itself. Maybe it's some unique artwork that you've never seen before a combination of, you know, traits or styles or mediums used that you haven't seen, or it's the artists themselves sometimes, I mean, there's artists out there that are that their name just carries weight. And thus, if they you know, if they go from doing street art on doing graffiti to creating an NFT collection, then yeah, people are gonna want that. NFT Yeah, that, you know, they're gonna want that. So. Yeah, I mean, so there's, there's all sorts of things that that give value, just generally, in terms of our collection. It's a combination of the art, that's a lot of that's a lot of what brought people to our collection to begin with, is the art. And our two artists are actually based in Munich, Germany, and they did a phenomenal job. And then there's kind of a utility piece, which is, you know, what can you do with this NFT? What value does it bring, you know, Joe Schmo that meets the NF T or buys the NF T on on a secondary market. And then, you know, one of the coolest things that happens is that people come into our community and they're like, Wait, I didn't realize, you know, a former Super Bowl champion made this NFC like, that's incredible, like, right, and I just think it's so cool that I don't need to like, try to, you know, to boost my platform or use my platform even to to boost this this project or boost this membership?

  Ken Gunter 40:08

  Yeah. Well, I've got another question for you. But that's something that, you know, when I take a step back, and I look around people like, well, what is the value there? And like, well, what is the value for any of the shit that people are spent a ton of money on? Like, honestly, and I'm not calling you NFT shit. But you know, art in general, like, I can't think of a more subjective medium that we ascribe value to, you know, what I mean? Or in the day? It's, it's like, is there demand for it is scarce? You know, that's, that's what kind of seems to ultimately drive the perceived price of something. So I, you know, I don't understand why NF T's are any different. But I do think it's really interesting, the fact that, you know, like, when thinking about your project, there's a lot more that goes into it, then I think what just appears at face value, it's this idea of community, this, this ability that not only can you take this digital good, but you can actually use it to get some sort of benefit in the real world as well, which is really interesting. Artistically, there's something I wanted to ask you, how do you even go about, you know, what is it 10,000 pieces? Right? How does the team go about generating? You know, that artwork? What does that process look like? How big is that team? And actually, did you have a hand in designing any of the actual pieces yourself?

  Jordan Norwood 41:31

  No, well, not directly. Yeah, definitely had had a part in the creative process and the vision for it. But I mean, the creating that many pieces of art is pretty intense. So essentially, what, what we did was create like a 3d base character. And I kind of mentioned that it has a floating head and a 3d body, those two, those two attributes are 3d. And then we created a bunch of different textures that his head and arms could be made from a bunch of, effectively, a bunch of different hats, hairstyles, eyes, mouth, ears, a few things of clothing. But I mean, just that part alone was, you know, three or four weeks worth of just creating all of those different traits. And then the actual generation of the artwork was, so it was done by an algorithm to make sure that to make sure that number one, no, no two pieces were going to be the same. And there's frequencies that we basically decided on, you know, the all gold body is only going to appear in the collection, you know, 20 times. So it's a very rare piece if you get an all gold body. And that's a that's a hypothetical. That's not exactly what happened. I don't, you don't need to go try to write. But yeah, and then and then in terms of actually, the hardware and stuff that goes into generating this stuff, is massive and crazy. We had to, we had to outsource a render farm that had 40 computers running simultaneously for five consecutive days in order to render. Yeah. Which, you know, costs about $10,000. Just to do that alone. Yeah. So it's, it's, I didn't know that before I started the project. Sure. Yeah. But it's, it's pretty, pretty labor intensive and hardware intensive. Yeah, so it was, it was really cool to see. Yeah, yeah. But

  Ken Gunter 43:51

  well, I don't think I said this yet. But, you know, I was introduced by, you know, one of my best friends, Jordan Culbreath, who was really passionate about what you're doing. And I was like, Alright, look, if I'm gonna interview this guy, I need I need to get my hand on an ace. So I'm happy to say the first NFT I ever bought was, was one of the ACES collection. But also, again, this is just one of those things. And I understand why people are skeptical about crypto more broadly, you know, you mentioned integrity, and some of these broad polls and general scams, I, I come from the tech space, so it feels a bit more. It makes a bit more sense to me just based on what I do day to day. But when you actually go through the process of buying an NF, T, it's, it's just like, it all kind of makes a lot more sense. And you kind of are like, Whoa, that was really easy. This is really fun. It's like now I own this individual asset and like, I did it with my wife. I mean, we were just laying down you know, the kids are in bed and I would say let's pick one out you want to help me and by the end of it, we had to like be like we have to stop. We gotta shut the laptop because we're gonna we're gonna pour way more money. do this thing that we intended to because it's just, it's it's also just a fun experience. So, you know, yes, of course, everyone would love to get rich. But I think, you know, for those that are passionate about collectibles in any form, this is just like a very natural progression. And there's just so much capability that I think, you know, there's limitations you butt up against in the physical world, like maybe your thing was Beanie Babies, right? You know, the ability to like, you know, find a buying party and someone who's going to be able to transact with you probably took a lot of time and effort, man, just the ease and quickness with which this happens. It's, it's a lot of fun. Where do you see this space going next, I guess for for your company? Or are you going to do more collections? Are you going to focus on this? Like, what what's the kind of the longer term vision for your team specifically?

  Jordan Norwood 45:50

  Yeah, I mean, we're focused on this pretty, pretty heavily, it's still, it's still very labor intensive. And, you know, it's still, honestly, before we launched the collection, it was, you know, 12 to 18 hour days, you know, just kind of added all day, and it not much has changed. It's still in, you know, 10 to 15 hour days. So, yeah, we'll, we'll look to keep you to keep growing this number one, but also to, you know, find ways to have, you know, a little bit more flexibility with with time on a regular basis. And then, in terms of the NFT space in general. I mean, I, I personally feel like 510 years from now, just about everything will be on the blockchain in some way, shape, or form. Most immediately, I think ticketing is, you know, super easy to get into, to turn into NF T's. And, you know, make sure that secondary market sales are being you know, track number one, but also

  Ken Gunter 47:00

  we use a ticketing. We're talking events, concert sport. Yeah,

  Jordan Norwood 47:04

  right. Sorry. Yeah. So, yeah, any, any of those sorts of tickets, you know, even even having the collectible aspect of it, too, you know, I went to the, I go to the Super Bowl and get my ticket. That's an NFT. And it's also a collectible. I can also sell that, you know, I can sell it to somebody else in the NFL to get royalties every time it's sold, because, because all of that is tracked. And so I think that's, that might be one of the most readily available NFT, you know, subsets. subsets that, yeah, we'll be out there.

  Ken Gunter 47:42

  Big opportunity. Yeah. Well, to your point, you're a busy man. So we appreciate you making the time. For folks who would like to either learn more about what you're doing with the collection, or just follow you in general, where would be the best place for us to direct them?

  Jordan Norwood 47:57

  Yeah, Twitter. So my Twitter, my personal Twitter is Jordan or wood. It's like Jordan Norwood. But there's only one and in the middle there. There we go. So Jordan Norwood. And then the whitelist. Io is the Twitter handle for my NFT collection.

  Ken Gunter 48:15

  Awesome. Well, we'll make sure to post links to everything in the show notes as well. But Jordan, thank you, man. This has been a fun conversation. And I hope for some people, you know if this is their first introduction to crypto and NF T's I think it was a good a good high level overview and interesting project if folks want to check it out and learn more about it. So thank you for your time, man. Appreciate it.

  Jordan Norwood 48:36

  Cool. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me and look forward to getting you in the community a little bit. All right. Let's get on with

  Ken Gunter 48:42

  the next Super Bowl. I'll be there. Go Anywhere, don't even video. You know, FaceTime up to the door.

  Jordan Norwood 48:49

  No, we need to vet you out.

  Ken Gunter 48:51

  Better. All right. All right. Awesome. Thanks a lot, Jordan. Appreciate it, man.