Today we have the honor to get an interview with Supriyo, CEO and Co-Founder of Hyy.pe. We had the chance to ask him a couple of questions about what Hyy.pe is, what problem it solves, what new features are expected, and many more. Let’s dive in!
[SurferInvestor] Could you please summarize briefly what Hyy.pe is about?
[Supriyo] Hyype is an open rich content layer for NFT projects and communities. It allows you to create your own world alongside the community, by extending the NFT metadata. You do this by attaching Lore & Derivatives to your NFTs which travel alongside the NFT as it gets traded, to the new owner.
[SurferInvestor] Could you please introduce yourself as a founder? What is your background?
[Supriyo] I come from a decade of experience in big-tech previously leading teams at places like Amazon Alexa, Klaviyo, Flipkart, etc among other things. I am a computer science undergrad with a master’s in design. I started my crypto journey actively at the beginning of the last bear market ’17 and my first NFT was a cryptokitty (back when Ethereum gas was a non-concern somewhat *laugh*).
That helped me understand how much significant usage of NFTs could be – art, music, real estate, collectibles, etc. A provable way to showcase ownership digitally. When covid hit in 2020, I believe the space catapulted into where it is today with more and more people spending time online and realizing the fallacies of the web2 world. I decided to jump in more actively and started to think about building something myself. A year later here we are.
[SurferInvestor] How did you come up with the idea of Hyy.pe?
[Supriyo] During my time collecting NFTs, I realized that the majority of the NFT ecosystem is “over-indexed” on the idea of buying and selling (flipping) NFTs. Hence most of the innovation has always been around the angle of marketplaces.
Now, what happens after you buy an NFT? Why did you make the purchase? What is your sense of belonging through that item you purchased?
NFTs have been redefining digital ownership and what it could potentially mean for intellectual property and brand building long-term on a web3 stack. We wanted to create something where brands of tomorrow could co-create with their community in a permission-less and blockchain-native way. This is how the idea of Hyype was born.
As an additional motivation, I always felt that NFT communities were existing in silos. Parallel to each other. Sometimes even with a certain rivalry. The more I see individuals from different communities interact with each other on hyype, the more I feel that the product is helping communities from different horizons to connect to each other.
[SurferInvestor] What are the most used features so far?
[Supriyo] Certainly backstories. People love to create fan-fiction around their characters and share journal-style entries of what their NFTs have been up to. While Hyype is equally beneficial for art projects as well, I believe profile picture projects (pfp) have found a natural home in what we have built out so far.
[SurferInvestor] Which future features get you the most excited?
[Supriyo] I would say Hyype is essentially building a hub of all things qualitative and off-chain around NFTs. We want to showcase anything that NFTs have been up to around the metaverse, whether it’s the backstories of their in-game achievements inside a gaming ecosystem. Hyype wants to find a way to tie it all together and present it in a way it makes the most sense to a collector.
[SurferInvestor] How does Hyy.pe compares to Lens.protocol?
[Supriyo] Lens protocol is also building something very special. It is protocolizing and building on top of Polygon while Hyype is not fully on-chain yet. In Lens, the primary node is your wallet while in Hyype everything revolves around an NFT with the collector/creator essentially being one of the important attributes of provenance for an NFT but that is not the only focal point of hyype.
[SurferInvestor] So far the Hyy.pe product looks really slick and is free to use. Could you say more about the business model? How will Hyy.pe earn money?
[Supriyo] Hyype eventually wants to be a matchmaker between amazing creatives as well as collectors who love building out on top of the IP they own currently. That’s all I can say for now 🙂 and you will see more progress as we continue to iterate.
[SurferInvestor] In an ideal world, how would Hyy.pe look in 5 years?
[Supriyo] We want to be a one-stop shop for everything related to NFTs and their communities. Hyype wants to be the place to establish your own collection as your identity and provide context to your NFTs. We also want to be the place eventually where communities cross-interact and co-create with each other thus building really expansive and comprehensive web3 native IPs. With lore being more permanent and recognized as part of the asset being traded, Hyype wants to be the main way for owners to add off-chain value to their NFTs by imbuing it with stories that carry a sentimental value that may be recognized by the market.
[SurferInvestor] In an ideal world, how would Hyy.pe look in 10 years?
[Supriyo] I think this is too far out :-). Especially given the fact that most NFT projects in the ecosystem are still celebrating their first birthday.
[SurferInvestor] For people who wanna jump in, how to get involved?
[Supriyo] We would love to know more about why you collected your NFTs. Tell us your backstories, see what others are creating and participate :-). Early participation does bring its own rewards later down the line 🙂
[SurferInvestor] What are you looking for to foster the growth of Hyy.pe? Recruiting/Funding/Exposure?
Working with organically growing communities to build out their community-driven lore and world. As the community continues to build, their universe expands as well.
I was very happy to get a chance to know Supriyo. I am a community member for multiple months so I am glad Supriyo managed to take the time! As a close-up, I wanted to share some of my favorite Lores on Hyy.pe. All the best everyone and remember, none of this is financial advice 🙂
Interested in NFTs? Have a look at our interview of KPTAIN.eth founder of the Crypto Yacht Club
