2 years ago today was first time I mentioned @DeStables_ publicly. Many of you have heard this story in parts, but here it is in full. This is how I made a multi-million dollar empire from a meme. — I joined web 3 as an escape from my own failing startup. I’ve always loved startups. Something about creating magic out of nothing mesmerized me, probably why I was drawn into NFTs to begin with. It’s not easy to confront your own failure. Becoming an anon NFT trader allowed me to escape and have fun. I wasn’t a failing founder, I was @solsorcerer I spent a few months losing most of my money lmao, but I was having so much fun. My best friend was in the arena with me, every single day we were degening and it was electric. He found a new project called @photofinishgame, a horse racing game built on Solana At first, I really didn’t look into it that much. I knew of other horse racing games in crypto, so I figured a new one on the chain I use was a good bet. One of many bets I was placing haha Minting @DeGodsNFT changed my life. Before DeGods, I was nobody. I didn’t really put myself out there. I was shy online, hardly tweeted and never interacted with people I didn’t know irl. DeGods gave me a home way before they gave me a job. I was just here for the money, but somehow I fell into a family. I started contributing as a member of the alpha team, which is when I gave Photo Finish a real look... and I was amazed. I did my research and shared with the DeGods community a couple times. We're talking multiple page reports lmao I was in deep. Around the same time, DeGods would use a % of royalties to buy cool NFTs from other projects to raffle in $DUST, I was one of the people helping to pick those NFTs I asked @frankdegods if we could use some of the money one week to buy a horse, a nice one. I thought it would be awesome for the community to play the game together, watch races and generally just add some more fun into the community. He wasn't a fan of the idea. I can't blame him honestly, it was very early and the horse was not cheap. That didn't really phase me though, now I just needed to find the cash somewhere else! This is where the lore began, when Frank first faded DeStables. I was never rich entering this space. I was a failed startup founder that burned most of my money on a dream right after college. So I figured if this is something people would actually like, maybe they'd help me pay for it. And so the mythic final alpha call was sent with the last paragraph inviting DeGods holders to opt into the first fundraise for DeStables. My pitch was simple: this game looks like fun and one day it could get really big. So the meme was born as holders flocked to the God chat and wrote "@solsorcerer take me to Valhalla!" I truly believe that this only could have happened within our community. The idea that over 100 strangers were down to fund my idea and ride it out with me was mind blowing. That's the magic that happens in DeGods. I made a wallet and a spreadsheet and got to work. We had 2 goals: Be the best stable we could, and own a racetrack. Toward the end of 2023, Photo Finish exploded. It's almost like the world finally woke up. New records were hit daily as players swarmed to the platform and started stables of their own. Tons of other communities began spinning up stables like ours. $CROWN began flying. It was pretty incredible to see. DeStables was not a meme anymore, we were a growing empire. The last several months have been nothing short of insane, you've probably seen some of my tweets about it haha DeStables initially raised around $150k. DeStables revenue last month was over $150k. We've won the Virtual Kentucky Derby. We own 1 of only 5 racetracks in the game. We've given back tens of thousands to our contributors. Today, DeStables has millions on the balance sheet.