5 Things to Prepare When You Plan to Launch an NFT Project

Considering to launch an NFT project? Wondering what you need to do for a successful project launch?

Most projects fail because people didn't prepare enough when launching them — and yours need not fail. I have been kickstarting many NFT projects and I find some preparations irrelevant. Through this article, we will briefly go through how to get started well.

What NFTs Mean for The Future of Business

Big brands like Adidas, Louis Vuitton, and Starbucks are running their NFT projects. NFT for business is happening. Let's take a look at the Adidas Originals “Into the Metaverse” NFT launched in December 2021. Their NFTs gave holders free access to exclusive physical products throughout 2022. This is instant loyalty to Adidas. How does this be programmed with NFT? Each of the NFTs offered inherits values in the blockchain. We can think that blockchain is a digitally distributed, decentralized, and public ledger. When consumers are about to claim their exclusive access, the NFT project offers ease. It can drop the need for manual verification processes and prevent fraud.

The blockchain is inventing the new internet and consumer behaviors. There would be much to happen with the advent of NFT technology. Businesses building NFT projects now will have the advantage of early adopters.

Why Would People Buy NFTs?

NFTs can act as digital collectibles. It brings whatever underlying value their creator writes into them. Through NFTs, a business or brand would want to get more involved with their business for scaling or any. What about people buying NFTs? Well, their motives vary but can root from the same reason, getting more involvement. When people buy NFTs, they support the business or brand that created the NFTs. It also shows that they represent the brand and have joined their exclusive NFT community.

People can choose to collect NFTs that are relevant to their sense of identity. You would be able to find people whose most of their NFTs are blue because they like blue. Other benefits that collectors would enjoy are the art and the utility provided.

#1 Thing to Prepare: Determine the Type of Your NFT Project

NFT projects come in many types. This will tell the focus of the project you want to build. If you have ever seen Bored Ape NFTs, it is a profile picture (PFP) project. Most projects of this type offer generative avatars and utilities for their NFTs.

Another NFT project type is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). DAO projects allow a collaborative environment for creators and community members. A collector DAO is an example of a DAO in the NFT space. It is an organisation that pools together funds to get and issue NFTs. You can look up APE DAO as a related example.

When deciding the project type, creators need to consider the collection size too. It can be any size, can be one token that will grant access to a specific event, or 10K or more tokens in a collection. Creators need to consider their available resources and target audiences.

#2: Develop the NFT Artwork

If you have been wandering in the NFT space, you may find three general categories of NFT arts. Those are pixels, 2D, and 3D illustrations. Resource, project, and consumer profile would tell which one a creator needs.

After deciding the category and initial concept, creators need to realize them. The way people create NFT artworks falls in 1/1 art, PFPs, or generative art. Creators would choose one of these and generate the NFT artworks and the trait elements.

When creators generate the artwork, the next step is to store them on the internet. The recommended system for that is the Interplanetary File System (IPFS). It is a distributed system for storing and accessing data. You can find many platforms providing this service. If your team doesn't have any software engineers, I recommend pinata for their simple UIX. Otherwise, you can opt for NFT storage, Web3 storage, or any other. Creators also need to take care of the artwork to be not stolen and not coming from existing projects. It's recommended that you hire artists with NFT experiences to mitigate unwanted risks.

#3: Build the Smart Contract

Once you're done with the art development concept, it's time you plan the NFT minting system. This can start with a smart contract programmed according to your project requirements. Creators need to specify requirements such as the token supply, name, symbol, and mint rules. After that, decide the blockchain and whether you need a website to host your minting engine. Hiring an experienced programmer is important for the right result. Make sure to test everything before going live and run an audit on the smart contract if needed.

#4: Mind Gas Fees

Finally, you want to consider the gas fees of your project. The available supply of NFTs that creators provide can be minted onto the blockchain. Gas fees here refer to the minting cost or any other transaction happening on the blockchain. They are the fees paid to complete a transaction on the blockchain. As an example, people would pay gas fees when transferring their NFTs. Depending on the rules stated by the system, either the buyer or the seller pays these fees.

Creators can decide the mint fees accordingly or the minting can be free. Free mint is a minting method where the business or the platform pays for the gas fees. You can find many projects launched this way. Creators like this usually look to create communities or onboard their current audience, which may not have a lot of experience with NFTs or blockchain yet.

#5: Scale the Project

In the NFT space, many people are making foolish investments and losing money. Well, no one finds alpha that easily. After you launch the NFT project, I recommend you join related communities. This is a one-of-a-kind way to learn and scale your projects. You will get lots of different perspectives.

Twitter has been a great channel for the NFT community. You can jump into Twitter and Discord, and mingle around many related discord channels. After several days of homework, you would understand where and how you want to scale your project.