Fortune Friends Club: Why This 23-Year-Old Quit Her Full-Time Job To Start An NFT Project

Gabriel Sieng
April 21, 2022
10 mins read

Fortune Friends Club (FFC) is a collection of 8,888 unique bao PFPs (profile pictures) that were sold out within 10 seconds of public mint. At one point, these cute little Baos were trending on the front page of OpenSea.

FFC managed to grow from a small community to over 100,000 followers on Twitter. Its Discord channel boasts of a huge following with over 20,000 loyal followers.

Lili, also known as QueenBao in the community, is the founder and lead designer of FFC. The Sydney-based founder recently quit her well-paying job as a Product Manager at Canva to run FFC full-time.

“I am committed to building FFC for years to come, as our mission to celebrate Asian culture is something I’m truly passionate about.”

“The decision to dox (myself) was always intended from the start. It seems only natural to me to be my genuine self so people who have had a similar life experience can rally around our cause.” said Lili.

The Queen’s struggle

Lili shared “While I was growing up, I loved photography, music and art but never had the chance to truly pursue it. I never entertained the thought of taking subjects beyond math, physics and chemistry, as that option didn’t exist to me.”

One day, it hit Lili that this path she chose was not what she wanted, but what was considered ‘successful’ from an Asian lens.

Reflecting on these experiences made her realize that community was the missing piece. All she needed was to see that it is possible to be successful in pursuing something different from the traditional path.

“I know for a fact that there are many Asians who have had a similar life experience, feeling pressure to take up a certain hobby or pursue a certain career path because of expectations.” Lili shared from her childhood experience.

This led to the birth of 8,888 cute little Baos that would hopefully help others break free from the struggle and be able to pursue their life goals.

The birth of Fortune Friends Club

FFC was created to provide a safe space for Baos to explore and pursue their dreams without anything holding them back.

Lili shared that “FFC was born out of a love for Asian culture and a passion to empower Asian Creators.”

“Having grown up Asian, I know how difficult it is to make decisions independent of familial and social pressures to study a certain thing or to pursue a particular career.”

“That’s why our mission is to create a space where you can unapologetically be your true self.”

Empowering the community

Behind the cute little Bao is a strong goal to support an artist’s end-to-end creative journey from ideating to launch.

“Our 100E Asian Creator Fund aims to back those who are in the ideation process, perhaps someone has an incredible idea and needs a small push to get started. Our fund backs founders with ETH to provide Baos with a risk-free way to build these ideas.”

“Similarly, our Bao Dojo aims to educate on NFT investing, founding companies, building community and more. Our vision is to become the go-to content house to learn about all things NFT.” Lili on the 100E Asian Creator’s Creatives fund & Bao Dojo.

The Bao Makers

There are five outstanding individuals that are supporting QueenBao that made FFC what it is today. They span across various disciplines from blockchain devs, marketing, PR and operations.

There are also 12 moderators supporting the team from the back. They are the backbone of FFC and keep the community engaged with games, events, partnerships and more.

Cooking up a feast in The Kitchen

FFC is expanding to include both digital and in-real-life (IRL) experiences. It is in the midst of developing art variations to integrate with different metaverses. And Baos would come to life via physical merchandise and products.

The Kitchen is FFC’s very own metaverse concept where Baos can prep, cook & dine together to create something meaningful.

Preparation is where Baos can upskill, learn and manifest their ideas. The Bao Dojo & Creator fund provides creators with the necessary tools to reach their goals. It includes capital, mentorship, education, and the ability to leverage FFC’s brand & distribution to spread the word.

Cooking is Bao’s space for creation. Baos support each other by sharing their journey, asking for feedback and providing advice, Baos can even create with their very own Bao IP. NFT holders also receive first-hand discounts on these wonderful creations.

Dining together is where Baos celebrate wins. Baos spend time together eating food IRL, playing games in Discord, joining scavenger hunts, and hanging in other digital experiences.

The Queen’s take on the floor price dip

The floor price of FFC dipped from a high of 0.16 ETH to a low of 0.039 ETH. Lili thinks that this is an inaccurate short term metric to evaluate FFC as there is tons of stuff in the works.

“Floor price determines the lowest price to enter a project, and being only two months from mint, we consider this to be a short-term metric for what we plan to achieve.”

“FFC currently has $1M+ USD to deploy over the next 1.5 years, in which we are carefully allocating resources to building up key products in our roadmap.”

“We’re only 1% of the way through what we have planned, and there are larger investments which we’ve committed to that will take months to unfold. We will be announcing this very soon!” said Lili.

Fortune Friends Club is coming to MetaJam Asia 2022!

MetaJam Asia is a web3 experiential in-person festival spanning 3 months, featuring highlights from global NFT communities, brands and VCs. In addition, there will be a 3 days summit and keynote speeches by iconic speakers on educational and innovative topics in the web3 space.

Organised by Invade, Kult Studio, and Chain Debrief, MetaJam Asia is a venue to learn, explore, play and experience web3 in an interactive IRL environment; showcasing 7 immersive key installations and workshops. Discover over 10,000 NFTs from around the world and what it means in sports, music, art and entertainment industries.

Join the discord today!