Today I would like to welcome Yaroslav Volovoj, Co-Founder & CEO of Meta Ads; an Ad-Exchange for Metaverses. MetaAds aims to become the gateway for top-tier brands to advertise across multiple metaverses.
[SurferInvestor] Hi Yaroslav, thanks a lot for spending time with us! Could you please summarize briefly what MetaAds is about?
[Yaroslav Volovoj] Meta Ads is a Web 3.0 Metaverse Monetization Platform based on a decentralized online2offline (O2O) protocol that aggregates Metaverse ads with Indoor and Outdoor ads in the real world. The protocol design offers several distinct advantages over existing legacy networks such as Interoperability, Immutability, Cost-effectiveness, and Brand Reputation Protection in the Metaverse. We believe that the mass adoption of Web 3.0 Metaverses will come when users will be able to develop and test business models to monetize their experience in the Metaverse.
[SurferInvestor] Could you please introduce yourself as one of the founders? What is your background?
[Yaroslav Volovoj] I graduated from Moscow State University in Municipal Asset Management. I was involved in multiple start-up businesses. I was running startups for the last 10 years. For example, I co-founded Brand Vision, a Russian operator for outdoor and indoor advertising. Also, I co-founded a shopping center and launched a startup accelerator in the Moscow region. But I am not the only of running the show at Meta Ads. I work with Nikolay Perkov and Roman Bondar.
Perkov Nikolay is our CVO. He is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and crypto-enthusiast. He also founded Brand Vision where I was a co-founder.
Roman Bondar is our CIO. He is the product lead of Meta Ads. Roman has 15-year multi-language programming in trading, risk management, entertainment, and decentralized applications spheres. Roman also does product development from scratch. Do you want to see Roman in action? Take a look at the Meta Ads app walkthrough during the Near Hackathon.
>> Linkedin Yaroslav Volovoj
>> Linkedin Nikolay Perkov
>> Linkedin Roman Bondar
[SurferInvestor] How did you come up with the idea of starting MetaAds?
[Yaroslav Volovoj] My partners Roman and Nikolay started drawing in Miro how they see the movement of assets between metaverses. Especially because you can’t exchange Golden Axe from one meta to another without a special bridge or protocol. The simplest asset is an image or a video clip so we did a try to implement one of our goals with NFT – mint once shows anywhere. That’s it.
Since October 2021 we have been studying all existing metaverses. By December 2021, we formed the project idea, and vision and made a light paper. We also developed the first interface prototypes. The upcoming META BUILD 2.0 Hackathon was a lucky coincidence for us. We thought the hackathon would be the perfect opportunity to set the market presence and spread the word about our project.
[SurferInvestor] In the startup world people talk about first validating the idea, then and only when the idea is validated to start building it. How did you validate the idea?
[Yaroslav Volovoj] The idea of managing ad space and assessing ad campaign marketing efficiency is already validated in the DOOH market. What Meta Ads is doing, is porting this model to the virtual world so brands could run the most successful ad campaigns in the Metaverse.
[SurferInvestor] You achieved 2nd place in the Near Hackathon – congratulations! How did the life of MetaAds change after that?
[Yaroslav Volovoj] We create tools to manage ad campaigns. For that reason, we require high-performance, low-cost technology with concise documentation and an active community. The NEAR blockchain meets all these requirements.
Our goal is to integrate various Metaverses and provide agnostic Metaverse API solutions for brands.
[SurferInvestor] How many people are in the team?
[Yaroslav Volovoj] We have 15 people in our team.
[SurferInvestor] In an ideal world, what would MetaAds look like in 5 years?
[Yaroslav Volovoj] In an ideal world, we see that in 5 years Meta Ads will become the top Metaverse advertising service that provides a user-friendly interface and a wide range of tools to create and manage ads. It is important for us to integrate as many Metaverses as possible and achieve maximum project scalability in the next 5 years. We also expect to have established partnerships with the world’s biggest advertisers, media agencies and brands.
[SurferInvestor] Any Alpha you wanna share with the SurferInvestor readers?
[Yaroslav Volovoj] Yep, you can visit https://metaads.team and give it a try. You can also have a look at our product demo (SSP) and (DSP).
[SurferInvestor] For people who wanna jump in, how to get involved?
[Yaroslav Volovoj] Our solution is low-code, so it is quite easy to join the Meta Ads project. In case you’re a digital land owner, we suggest you check out our guide on how to put our digital asset on your land. PS: We’re still in the Beta stage – you can use the asset for free.
If you’re a media agency or a Decentraland builder, you can always contact me about cooperation.
>> Telegram: @HelloMrV
>> Discord: MrV#0347
[SurferInvestor] What are you looking for to foster the growth of MetaAds?
On the business development side, we’re ready to review the offers and cooperate with the Metaverse creators to integrate our product. For media agencies and Decentraland builders, we suggest the revenue share model. To make your Decentraland events more convenient, we’re ready to lend you our digital assets.
On the fundraising side, we are closing a high 6 figures seed round as we speak. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you want to participate.
>> Deck
>> Lightpaper
>> Tokenomics
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