Steve Mitobe from WestCoastNFT: From online poker to art NFTs

From the get-go, it’s easy to see why WestCoastNFT’s Steve Mitobe and his team have recently been behind some of the best art NFT drops. His easy-going yet professional demeanour, as well as his artist-centric ethos and passion for the NFT space, make the perfect recipe for success in the NFT space.

We caught up with Steve over Zoom in an LA to Oslo conference call. What followed was an interesting discussion about artists in the NFT space, the future of art in Web3 and the importance of community.

This interview was conducted by NFTevening’s Janelle Borg. Quotes are condensed and edited for clarity.

Early beginnings

It all started from an online poker room in Costa Rica. Steve moved there in 2000 to help out some friends of his who started a poker room. After about five or six years of hard graft, the company kept getting bigger and bigger, until it was eventually sold off to Sporting Bet PLC.

What led Steve to crypto and NFTs after Costa Rica? “I guess it was 2013/14. We started to hear about Bitcoin I guess and people were talking about online paying mints in this digital currency that no one had ever heard of before. I started to research a bit, met some people that were in the space,” said Steve. “And then I guess a group of my investors that sort of back me, we decided to put money into purchasing a crypto group. It was like a smart contract platform. From there, we built out our first cryptoprocessor.”

This cryptoprocessor proved to be popular with forward-looking retailers. It enabled them to accept crypto from clients and exchange it for fiat currencies. This new company, dealing in a new market, didn’t come without its challenges. But it was crucial in what came next for Steve.

“In 2020, we started investing in NFT arts and we met an artist that lived in Vancouver. And I bought a painting…well, I bought my first NFT. It was by a gentleman named Mad Dog Jones,” said Steve.

“And through that kind of purchasing and kind of collecting, we met a few other people. Then, we met someone that wanted us as a blockchain company, because we were deep into the space and did our first drop. And it was a very small one, only a few pieces, but it did well. And we’re like, oh, there’s something to this.”

From that first drop, Steve and his team got a call from another group called Hall of Fame Goat Lodge – which, according to Steve, is one of the first OG pfp groups. Together, they dropped 10,000 pfps, which sold out in three minutes.

“And then we did another one with the Secret Society Whales, which was another kind of old school one. That sold out in three minutes,” Steve recalls. “And then suddenly, it was like, okay, there’s definitely something. Yeah, and it just started to get popular. And now we can’t keep up with the kind of the inbound client flow that’s coming to us.”

Now rather than later

So, why was it important for WestCoastNFT‘s client to get into the crypto/NFT game now rather than later? Simply put, according to Steve, with any of these technologies, you never want to be the first one, but you want to be very close afterwards.

However, Steve also realises the complex maze that is the crypto and NFT world. “It’s kind of frustrating, I think, for the average person to go: okay, what’s a Meta Mask account? What’s a meta mask wallet? How do I put ETH in this? How do I sync it to, to Open Sea and buy something?” he admitted.

“So, you know, that’s our goal is to try to make that as easy as possible. And it’s tough because, you know, we’re now working with creators and artists and even from that side, that’s a whole different story.”

An artist-centric platform

This is where WestCoastNFT comes in. So far, it’s been helping artists and creators make inroads into a very complex and already-saturated space. In fact, the company is so artist-centric that it currently doesn’t accept any corporate clients.

” A great example is Daniel Maltzman, he’s a big artist down here in LA. We introduced him to the Meta Art club, which is another project that we did. They were curators, and they took traditional artists and did a drop of 30 different global artists,” Steve explained.

“And so we sort of said, Daniel, he’s a great guy – his work is collected by many down here [in California]. Here’s how you have to do this. He’s been in the art space forever. And it was good, he adapted, and now he is 100% NFT. He’s still selling paintings – but, you know, every time I speak to him it’s like “okay, I want to do a drop that does this, and this and this” and he’s getting into it.”

According to Steve, educating artists and creators about this viable revenue stream is key. “It’s the education. What we pride ourselves here at WestCoastNFT is that we’re giving you the tools as an artist or creator to do it. So don’t worry about the tech, you focus on your art, and we will do everything else. That’s sort of the model that we use.”

Being an artist-centric platform means that when the artist wins, WestCoastNFT wins. “Whatever you sell on your first drop, we take a percentage, small percentage of that, we take a percentage of your secondary sales, and then we ask for some of your NFTs.” This commission-only model means that when a project dunks, WestCoastNFT doesn’t cover the costs. However, according to Steve, “That’s the game.”

What WestCoastNFT looks for in artists

If you’re an artist reading this, hold your horses. Don’t email Steve just yet. When considering collaborations, Steve and his team: “look at the art, first of all, like, is the art unique? Is it special? Are they really, you know, trying to push boundaries on something? What’s the artist like to communicate with?”

The WestCoastNFT team then looks at the work that the artist is doing vis-a-vis the NFT space. “What do you plan to do? Is this just kind of like a one and done project? Or are you doing a roadmap? Like are there multiple phases? Are you trying to you know, give back to your community?”

Steve also insisted that having a community is crucial when starting an NFT project. “Have you started a Discord channel? How’s your Twitter following? A lot of artists will come to us and like, well, I have the art, I need to get a tech team, a dev team, and then I’ll start my community.”

Unfortunately, Steve informed us that it doesn’t work that way. “You need to start your community early, really get that social following and get people excited about your work or what you’re trying to do. Because that will translate into sales.”

Launching Doodles to space

Many in the NFT space know WestCoastNFT through their successful collaboration with Doodles. For those who have been living under a rock for the past few months, Doodles is a joyful, paste-based collection of 10,000 cute NFTs. WestCoastNFT was also crucial in helping the Doodles team launch the next phase of their roadmap – Space Doodles.

So how did this collaboration come about? “So we had a mutual friend that introduced us because they saw the drops we were doing. And it was, you know, Jordan and Evan, Poopy and Tulip that kind of reached out and had some ideas. They wanted to do a drop, and they had an artist and, and then it didn’t work out.”

However, when the team found another artist and reached out to Steve again, he very nearly passed on the project due to WestCoastNFT’s piling workload. “We dropped them in October [2021], we knew it was going to do well because the community was great. They had a slightly different approach and had a different mindset.”

It’s safe to say that Doodles was an immediate success. The collection’s current floor price is 13.9ETH and its popularity is consistently growing. However, the team didn’t let the success go to their head. “And then they came back and they said, we have this great idea. We want to take our Doodles to space.”

Steve explained how the tech behind Space Doodles enables collectors to switch between the “normal” Doodle and the Space Doodle. While a lot of projects are now doing this, Steve believes that they were the first to introduce this concept.

“So if you had a floor Doodle that you’ve got for a great price, but it’s not, you know, not anything crazy, there was a chance that you could get a spaceship that was really cool. That had really good traits. And, and you hear about that, and that’s what got everyone really excited about the whole thing.”

What’s next for WestCoastNFT?

When asked about the drops in the pipeline, Steve informed us that he cannot reveal anything due to NDAs. However, he disclosed that WestCoastNFT has some very exciting drops and collaborations coming up in the next few months.

“You know, there are big plans for this year with a lot of the projects that we’re gonna do with them [Doodles]. We’re fortunate enough to be their ongoing development partner,” he revealed.

One thing is for sure though – WestCoastNFT will continue pushing the boundaries. “I do believe people are moving past just that one and done pfp. It’s about the roadmap, it’s about building out what the next phases of that drop are going to be,” said Steve.

“You know, we’re building the foundation of what Web3 is right now. And it’s a small piece, but it all adds up. And eventually, what Web3 means is probably going to change quite a few times…what the metaverse is going to be will change many times.”

“Hopefully, in five years, WestCoastNFT is still in business. And I can circle back and we can compare what I said now and what I say in five years,” Steve adds with a laugh. We’ll take you up on that!