Pierina Merino: Rethinking Social Media for the Metaverse

For Pierina Merino, getting retired of Venezuela was a no-brainer.

Aged 16, she had finished her precocious schoolhouse studies successful her location municipality of Ciudad Bolívar. But, with the state successful a spiral of economical situation and violence, she couldn’t celebrate. Merino’s household was understandably paranoid astir information concerns and truthful she didn’t adjacent be her ain graduation ceremony.

“It was a concern successful Venezuela wherever determination was full-on chaos – beingness oregon decease and determination wasn’t a separation betwixt the two,” she said.

“I wanted to spell to architecture schoolhouse astatine immoderate point, but successful a state that was going downhill, reasoning astir becoming an designer didn’t marque immoderate sense.”

This nonfiction is portion of Road to Consensus, a bid highlighting speakers and the large ideas they volition sermon astatine Consensus 2022, CoinDesk's festival of the twelvemonth June 9-12 successful Austin, Texas. Learn more.

She near to prosecute her dream. Now, inactive lone 30, Merino has realized not conscionable her architectural ambition but a large woody more. She has recovered occurrence with innovative jewelry plan and, much recently, the instauration of FlickPlay, a societal metaverse level which mightiness conscionable beryllium the Next Big Thing.

“It feels similar everything is coming afloat circle,” she said. “Did I cognize that things would beryllium truthful aligned arsenic a communicative line? Absolutely not.”

Story lines and storytelling often are important to Merino, peculiarly erstwhile discussing Flickplay, which she describes, for simplicity’s sake, arsenic “a transverse betwixt TikTok and Pokemon Go.”

With FlickPlay’s augmented world (AR) filters, users navigate done existent cities utilizing an interactive representation connected which they tin find non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and integer collectibles (or “Flicks”) successful carnal locations, successful the signifier of objects and wearables. Artworks, for example, mightiness beryllium recovered and collected from walls oregon different spaces. Users make videos connected which they tin brandish their NFTs and Flicks, gathering their societal presumption done likes, comments and the earning of FlickCoins, the in-app currency. A “Social Graph” displays the societal and ownership past of NFTs and Flicks connected the platform.

“I tin confidently accidental that we are the archetypal societal ecosystem wherever halfway ownership is the cardinal operator of status,” said Merino.

“Our thesis is that, successful bid to genuinely beryllium the metaverse successful the existent world, you request to penetrate each furniture of our cities and nine and however they enactment unneurotic and coexist with each other.”

The user’s avatar is Flicky, a goggle-eyed chameleon who tin beryllium dressed, modified and colored according to taste. He adjacent has his ain root myth, which explains that helium was sent to this satellite from elsewhere successful the beingness to observe humans: “During a exertion gyration connected Earth, a radical of innovators discovered Flicky camouflaging with 1 of the walls successful their studio. They were experimenting with a caller instrumentality that utilized AR, and successful uncovering Flicky they came to cognize of Flickverse, a antithetic magnitude successful our world.”

So far, astir 3 twelve U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami and New York, person signed agreements allowing the gamified app to overlay its metaverse satellite connected their streets. With 23 employees, FlickPlay has truthful acold raised $6.3 million, and implicit 90,000 radical signed up for a raffle offering a accidental to “mint a Flicky” via metaverse level The Sandbox, with which it signed a concern successful April allowing players to usage a blockchain plus connected some platforms. Meanwhile, Katy Perry’s “mocktail” marque De Soi is besides successful connected the action, offering its nonalcoholic drinks to consumers who cod NFTs portion playing FlickPlay.

When Nicole Quinn of Lightspeed Venture Partners announced her company’s concern successful FlickPlay past year, she described it arsenic a “genre-defining societal app.”

“What Snap’s lenses did for selfies, FlickPlay intends to bash for the remainder of the world,” she wrote.

Merino comes from an migrant family. Her father’s parents were Spanish and her maternal grandfather, who was Sicilian, had a peculiarly melodramatic rags-to-riches story. He migrated to Venezuela successful the 1950s arsenic a teenager, and aft moving arsenic a miner, helium yet became a palmy entrepreneur successful the hospitality industry. Merino is acutely alert of however his communicative has informed her ain career.

“When I was aged capable to larn astir the things helium had accomplished successful Venezuela it was beauteous unthinkable due to the fact that helium comes from nothing,” she said. “He managed to physique a monolithic edifice successful our location municipality and truly physique his estimation arsenic an unthinkable relation who was respected professionally but besides arsenic a human. That was incredibly inspiring.”

Her ain parents person continued to enactment successful hospitality and tourism, and they were keen that their 3 children (Merino has a member and sister) should question from an aboriginal age.

“We ever had successful caput the thought that our children should beryllium educated overseas successful bid to springiness them a bigger imaginativeness of the world, to beryllium much tolerant,” said Merino’s father, Yuri. “And, if they returned to Venezuela, to bash truthful with a somewhat antithetic perspective.”

Merino’s departure aft precocious schoolhouse was made much urgent by the economical turmoil and soaring transgression complaint that Venezuela was experiencing nether the enactment of leftist firebrand Hugo Chávez. At astir that time, her aunt was kidnapped – a communal occurrence successful the state successful caller years – earlier yet being released.

“We didn’t privation our children to unrecorded similar that, successful a state wherever determination was truthful overmuch deficiency of safety, truthful galore governmental problems and changeless danger,” said Yuri Merino.

Carlos Adame, CEO and co-founder of Piñata Farms, is simply a adjacent person of Merino. Her migrant background, helium believes, has been cardinal successful motivating her professionally.

“One of the mindsets that I’ve recovered the strongest successful entrepreneurs, erstwhile I put successful startups and besides place them, is those that person the mentality that they’ve burned each the boats, there’s nary going back,” helium said.

“You’re reasoning precise strategically and successful the infinitesimal connected a regular basis. It’s not like: ‘If this works out, cool, this is fun.’ No, it’s like: ‘I person to marque this win.’ And she has that, truthful I deliberation that’s a huge, immense positive for her.”

Merino traveled archetypal to Montreal, wherever she continued her acquisition with the purpose of becoming an architect. After moving to Miami to bash a instauration course, she secured a spot astatine the prestigious Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). When she was astir to graduate, an acquaintance suggested she use for a spot astatine the workplace of Frank Gehry, a legendary fig successful the industry. Days later, aged 20, she was moving successful his Los Angeles headquarters.

“I got my imagination job,” she said. “I got the occupation that radical spell to grad schoolhouse and enactment for 5 years to aspire to.”

Gehry was possibly champion known arsenic the creator of the dreamlike titanium-coated Guggenheim Museum successful Bilbao, Spain. And fittingly, for idiosyncratic who would extremity up truthful squarely successful the tech world, Merino was portion of the squad commissioned with designing Facebook’s caller offices, successful Menlo Park, California.

“At the extremity of the time you spell to enactment for Frank Gehry due to the fact that you privation to physique what’s intolerable to build, you privation the situation of creating things that are not tangibly possible,” she said.

Looking backmost connected her stint moving for Gehry, she sees the values and disciplines learned successful his workplace arsenic yet being a important constituent successful her existent attack to the satellite of societal media, AR and gaming.

“In the exertion abstraction you person a assemblage of developers and creators trying to propulsion the boundaries of integer worlds oregon technology,” she explained. “But [unlike architects] they don’t truly recognize however humans interact successful the existent world, what creates emotion, however a abstraction that is 1 ft higher oregon 1 ft little tin wholly alteration your cognition oregon emotions oregon the actions that you volition instrumentality successful that space.”

And yet, 2 1/2 years aft landing her imagination job, Merino moved on. Her entrepreneurial antennae were up, starting to consciousness opportunities that were alien to the rarefied satellite of gathering design. It began arsenic she watched architectural task models that had outgo thousands of dollars and tremendous effort to make being thrown retired erstwhile they had served their purpose.

“I was similar ‘Oh my God, these are pieces of creation that could beryllium sold!,’” she recalled. “And aft the presumption it goes to the dumpster. And you’re similar ‘What? This is crazy!’ So I consciousness similar I genuinely had this entrepreneurial drive.”

She added, by mode of mentation for her departure from the firm: “Architects are similar a cult, determination is simply a precise circumstantial mode of surviving and being erstwhile you are a portion of that ecosystem.”

On leaving Gehry’s studio, Merino started designing 3D-printed jewelry nether the sanction Piemer (as successful Pie-rina Mer-ino). It started retired arsenic a small-scale venture. But a accidental brushwood with a nationalist purchaser from the Nordstrom section store successful an elevator during a income lawsuit abruptly changed everything.

“She gave maine her card,” recalled Merino. “And a period aboriginal we were doing a nationalist merchandise placement successful implicit 30 stores.”

By her ain admission, she knew thing astir manufacturing for a nationalist concatenation and truthful had to larn connected the hoof – a accomplishment that would basal her successful bully stead erstwhile she made her adjacent move.

“I’d accidental the inception for FlickPlay truly happened the infinitesimal that I started traveling to each these antithetic stores and realizing that … I wasn’t talking with my lawsuit but with their moms and grandmothers who were going determination because, I don’t know, they were walking astir connected a Monday astatine 10 a.m. successful the promenade and they were saying to maine ‘Can you nonstop these to my granddaughter’s dorm?’”

Seeing however young radical had abandoned the malls got Merino reasoning astir broader quality behaviour and – successful a motion to her architectural inheritance – changes successful wherever successful cities radical take to walk their time.

Adame has advised her since those aboriginal days successful the tech world, erstwhile FlickPlay was conscionable an idea.

“She stepped into this brainsick satellite of startups and tech, and cipher knew her successful LA,” helium said. “She didn’t person a estimation and she conscionable grinded. I retrieve successful those aboriginal days she had each these likelihood stacked against her, and she was like: ‘I’m going to beryllium going retired to each azygous event, thing wherever I tin conscionable just people, I’ve conscionable got to conscionable people.’”

He added: “Her purpose was: ‘I conscionable request to commencement acquiring information, figuring retired however this abstraction works and what amended mode than to conscionable propulsion myself successful the fire?’”

Thomas Vu, an enforcement shaper for Netflix bid “Arcane,” was an aboriginal investor. He met Merino during a sponsored skiing travel to Mammoth Mountain for promising entrepreneurs, but astatine archetypal helium wasn’t convinced astir FlickPlay.

“Initially, erstwhile I met her, I was scratching my caput due to the fact that she had nary co-founders, nary team. And I’m like: ‘How is she going to physique this?’ What she’s gathering is not casual and … she had nothing. Initially I was like: ‘I don’t cognize if I tin put successful this.’”

But helium discovered that Merino learned fast.

“And then, retired of obscurity she conscionable starts hiring and she convinces the close kinds of people,” Vu recalled. “And 4 months afterwards it was woah! She’d manifested a fig of things that checked the boxes for me.”

Merino often refers to science erstwhile explaining FlickPlay. She says the app’s occurrence rests connected the cardinal sources of presumption for humans successful the existent world: community, popularity and ownership. Facebook connected us, she points out, and Instagram allowed america to summation our popularity. But the quality hunger for ownership, according to her theory, is yet to beryllium afloat sated successful the integer world.

When Merino started “obsessing” successful precocious 2017 and 2018 astir societal media and integer platforms, she felt a displacement was already taking spot with immersive games similar Pokemon Go and Fortnite, and the interactive experiences offered by Museum of Ice Cream, each of which offered what she calls “a mode to designer your reality.”

FlickPlay, she said, was a earthy adjacent step, adjacent though it took a portion for the existent satellite to drawback on.

“Now it makes consciousness due to the fact that of the NFT abstraction and blockchain and consciousness of what the metaverse is,” she said. “But 2 years ago, erstwhile I started FlickPlay, the thought of creating a level astir identity, based connected things that you ain digitally … not galore radical understood the why.”

In FlickPlay, she explains, you don’t commencement with zero status, you person a estimation that is created by the things that you ain wrong the ecosystem: “Ownership gets introduced arsenic much than a illustration picture, it gets introduced arsenic a cardinal operator of however you signifier your identity.”

To exemplify her point, she utilized what mightiness beryllium seen arsenic an autobiographical comparison.

“If I locomotion into a edifice successful a city, and nary 1 knows me, and I’m dressing the part, and I’m driving the close car,” she said, “I make my entranceway into the abstraction successful a mode that I already lucifer presumption – nary 1 needs to cognize however galore followers oregon however large my assemblage is.”

The caller concern with The Sandbox was confirmation that FlickPlay is connected the cutting edge, with the 2 firms pioneering the overmuch longed for conception of interoperability – that is, allowing users to determination betwixt antithetic platforms portion utilizing the aforesaid NFTs. Holders of The Sandbox NFTs volition beryllium capable to usage them connected FlickPlay adjacent quarter.

The feeling among those who are adjacent to Merino is that the sky’s the bounds for her – 1 of her investors calls her (only half-jokingly) “a rockstar.”

"For idiosyncratic to travel present and physique a startup, to person radical to physique a full verification astir it, successful an manufacture that was not adjacent 1 she was in, this is the American dream, she is surviving that dream,” said Vu. “She’s surviving what astir radical truly strive for."

“She’s connecting the dots successful presumption of however tin we tin springiness this caller exertion … a antithetic signifier of inferior that others are not reasoning about,” said Adame. “I deliberation FlickPlay and Pierina are going to beryllium astatine the apical of a fewer antithetic sectors.”

In fact, erstwhile you deliberation astir it, a chameleon is astir apt the astir suitable carnal that could correspond FlickPlay, fixed the changeless shape-shifting of its architect/jewelry manufacturer/metaverse-bending founder.

But what astir much mundane concerns? Should parents beryllium worried, for example, that Flicky the chameleon volition get their kids hooked onto an app that is, aft all, driven by ownership and status?

“Metaverse could beryllium a precise beauteous and impactful mode for america to germinate the mode we acquisition the existent world, oregon it could beryllium the demolition of humanity,” Merino said, admitting that the thought of kids putting connected AR goggles and getting wholly removed from the carnal satellite for hours connected extremity is disturbing.

But, she said: “If you springiness a kid an iPad and a toy, and probe showed this, kids volition spell for the iPad. There is nary mode back, that’s the satellite we unrecorded in.

“How we physique consciousness astir however a metaverse successful the existent satellite won’t alteration your world but volition displacement the communicative enactment of your reality, I spot that arsenic a much sustainable mode to amended kids connected the worth of the satellite we unrecorded in.”