It was 20 years ago today, Sgt. Lukas taught the band to play, They've been going in and out of style, But they're guaranteed to raise a smile, So may I introduce to you:  The project that you'll know for years: The Colecti NFT Adventure Band

Lukas Bronsvoort, CEO Raphaël Cornelis, COO  Jurre Machielsen, CTO  Sander Mandemaker, CIO

They have known each other for 20 years. They play in a band together. They see each other all the time.

On a mild December night in 2021, Raphaël, Jurre and Sander came over to Lukas' house. This time, not to play the evening away, but to talk Web3 and NFTs.

They’d had many of these talks before, but this one was different. There was a clear vision, there was dedication and there was a good relationship.

“Basically, these guys approached me to be a part of the Colecti adventure. It was a pretty big decision for me. I'm a dad, I've got two little kids, I've got a mortgage. But I said: okay, let's do it, let's go for this adventure!” — Lukas, Co-Founder and CEO of Colecti.

Lisk's very own Lonely Hearts Club Band

Hello, Lukas and Raphaël. Thank you for taking the time to talk Web3 and NFTs. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Lukas: My name is Lukas, I’m 34 years old, and I was born in Rhenen, Netherlands.

I am the CEO of Colecti. I actually come from the banking and automotive industry, where I worked for the last eight years. Marketing, campaigns and digital transformation were my forte.

Raphaël: My name is Raphaël, I’m 32 and was born in Brussel, Belgium. We are both currently living in the Netherlands.

When I was 18, I left school early to start my own company, focusing on web design and marketing. I did that for the last twelve years. And in 2016 I started my first blockchain project with the other co-founders, Jurre and Sander.

We chose Lisk in 2016 because it suits us best. It's JavaScript and we really like the community.

Wow, you've been part of the community for a long time. 

Raphaël: Yeah, since the beginning! We just went all in and started building projects.

First, we wanted to start a music streaming service with blockchain. Normally, artists don't own their music. The record company does. We want to give digital ownership back to the musicians. Great idea – still is. But it was too early at the time.

The idea of digital ownership is fascinating to us. We were thinking about the art industry. There are so many middlemen who take a cut of the profits. The artist is always the last to get paid.

And that's when you had the idea to start Colecti?

Lukas: The others had the idea to bring NFT infrastructure into the Lisk ecosystem. It kind of facilitates their idea of giving ownership back to musicians. And I said 'let's do it!'. So I quit my job. And here we are. Almost a year now, full steam ahead on our journey.

Before we dive into Colecti, can you help me explain to my parents what NFTs are and why they're important?

Lukas: The story of NFTs is the story of ownership. They can represent both digital and physical assets. And you can own them by holding them in your Web3 wallet.

Web2 is a world without ownership or originals. There is no such thing as an original piece of digital art or any other digital object. You can copy everything ad infinitum. The infinite supply makes everything digital worthless. This is especially true of art. It's hard for artists to monetize their work on the Internet.

NFTs solve this problem. Artists can attach their work to it and sell it directly to their fans. This cuts out the middle man. The record labels, auction houses, and other entities such as galleries, distributors, and agents.

And as a result, we have seen NFTs bring culture to the Internet. But people have a hard time grasping the potential of NFTs because you can do so much with them.

Lukas: The potential use cases are huge. And nobody has an idea what's going to happen in the future.

Colecti provides the infrastructure for those future developments. But the actual use cases will come from the people who bring the NFTs to our platform. We facilitate the innovation.

Could you walk us through some unique features of Colecti? 

Lukas: Colecti is easy to use, community oriented and secure.  Web3 is full of tech jargon and complicated user experiences.

Colecti applies a no code principle. We have a creation wizard. It helps you to create a project very easily. Upload your JPEGs and write a description. Done. However, users who want to customize their NFTs have the option to do so.

Colecti is easy to understand. It makes NFT creation accessible. And those who contribute collections make their products accessible as well.

Many shy away from NFTs because they hear stories of scams and fake listings.

Lukas: To prevent this, there is an automated fraud protection mechanism. It runs in the background and checks all collections on the platform.

It makes sure that we can filter out all the stuff that we don't want on the public platform.

It seems that Colecti puts a lot of emphasis on community-driven development. Can you talk about your plans to foster this sense of community within the platform?

Lukas: Colecti is a platform from the community and for the community. It runs on a Lisk side-chain, with validators coming from the Lisk community.  We'll share the trading commissions on the platform between Colecti and these validators.

In the long run, we will move towards a decentralized, autonomous organization (DAO) structure. This will allow the Lisk community to help us guide and develop the platform in the future. At that point, 50% of the rewards will go to the validators and the other 50% will go to the DAO treasury.

How does the COL token fit into this?

Raphaël: In the long run, it will become the governance token for the DAO.  But for now, the main function of the token is to secure the platform. We need the token to validate transactions.  It will also allow you to save fees on the platform if you decide to pay those fees with the COL token.

What would you say to an artist who is considering creating their first NFT and going Web3?

Raphaël: Come and join us!  The phase we are in now is full of opportunities for everyone. Many positive synergies will work in your favor.

Lukas: You could be one of the first projects listed on the platform. If you are a new artist and don't have a large community yet, this is your chance to stand out.

We build the community of our platform. Lisk is building its ecosystem. Every new member adds value to our network. This is a very interesting moment to join and a great opportunity.

We want creators to join us. So if you are out there thinking about launching an NFT collection, reach out to us!

Two decades after they started making music, the Colecti team built the infrastructure for other artists to get their work out there.

Are you one of them, or are you excited to support your favorite artists in a more meaningful way? Visit their website and follow Colecti on Twitter to stay tuned with their upcoming launch and developments.