Interview with Sleepy, Founder of Xiao You Ling: NFT Startups Don't Need to Deliberately Avoid Financial Attributes
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Interview with Sleepy, Founder of Xiao You Ling: NFT Startups Don't Need to Deliberately Avoid Financial Attributes
An IP, much like a brand aiming to capture consumer mindshare, requires time and accumulated case studies to establish itself.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsThis is a recent conversation we had with Sleepy, the founder of the NFT project "Little Ghost." The reason I wanted to talk with Sleepy is that I see in him a quality different from most Web3 practitioners. On the surface, he appears quiet, yet there's a stubborn side within—strong inner drive and critical thinking. Amid the NFT winter, when many have turned to more speculative narratives or novel concepts, he continues striving to build and innovate around his original IP. This kind of perseverance isn't born out of mental inertia or dullness, but rather deep, forward-thinking reflection. It moved me deeply, and I couldn't wait to open the door through dialogue and discover what lies beneath.
——26x14 (Co-founder of 7Up DAO)
26x14: We're thrilled to have Sleepy as our guest at 7UpDAO. Let’s start with some fun facts—what’s your zodiac sign and MBTI personality type? Yes, we’re starting with gossip.
Sleepy: My zodiac sign is Cancer, and my MBTI type is INFJ. I'm quite introverted offline and tend to be more emotional by nature.
26x14: One thing I deeply admire about you is your persistence in staying committed to the NFT space. Even during this brutal bear market, you’re still pushing forward with 'Little Ghost.' Have you never doubted the idea of building an NFT-based IP? What sustains your belief?
Sleepy: First, I’d like to clarify that “Little Ghost” shouldn’t really be called an “NFT project.” Just like when you visit an art gallery, you describe a piece as a Baroque-style oil painting rather than simply calling it canvas. NFTs are merely containers—a medium. When defining a project, we should focus on what’s inside the cup. So fundamentally, what we’ve been building has always been an “IP project.”
Secondly, what we’re doing now isn’t heavily influenced by the crypto bear market. Most of our feedback actually comes from our explorations in Web2. Our penetration into Web2 has gone quite smoothly—many brands, commercial real estate players, and general Web2 audiences are beginning to recognize and love our IP. That gives us tremendous positive reinforcement. We’ve never doubted the viability of “NFT IP,” because our progress has exceeded expectations, and we can clearly see this path is sustainable. We aren’t a short-term profit-driven team; instead, we aim for long-term sustainability and want to establish a genuine business model. In fact, we’ve had multiple opportunities to make quick money in the crypto space—for example, during the Aptos and Bitcoin ecosystem booms, ecosystem leads reached out hoping we’d launch assets there. But after careful consideration, we declined each time. We understand that while these might look like easy earnings, issuing such assets would essentially mean taking on debt—creating more challenges down the line, such as maintaining floor prices. We’re also concerned that these uncertain risks could ultimately undermine the foundation of our IP.
Beyond these positive signals, what sustains my belief is really just the character of our team—doing things the right way. Earning with integrity.
26x14: How do you think NFTs have changed—from the past, to today, and into the future? What has stayed the same? And why does the crypto world need them?
Sleepy: As I mentioned earlier, the role of NFTs as a container will not change. What evolves is what fills that container. The core feature of NFTs is embedded in their name: non-fungibility. Crypto and Web2 have largely evolved in parallel. If we simplify fungible tokens as various forms of money, then everything in the world that cannot be merged or uniformly displayed falls under NFTs—like the artworks and music we know well, identity documents such as IDs, diplomas, driver’s licenses, bank accounts, insurance policies, financial products, and more. NFT technology will greatly enrich the structure of the crypto world and serve as a foundation for mass adoption.
26x14: Was NFT the reason you entered this space? Tell us your story of stepping into the crypto world.
Sleepy: When I was studying financial auditing in university, my professor introduced how blockchain technology could be applied in auditing workflows. That planted a seed, and I became deeply interested in concepts like trustlessness. After interning, I realized financial auditing wasn’t for me, so I started exploring whether I could transition into this industry. At the time, Lulutime (a Chinese crypto media outlet) was hiring writers, and I thought working in media would help me learn about the space fastest. Even though I hadn’t participated in any crypto projects and only had basic technical knowledge, I went ahead with the interview and got hired. Under the guidance of the editor-in-chief and news desk lead at Lulutime, I gradually got familiar with the industry—and eventually discovered the gem that is NFTs.
I first learned about NFTs while writing a news brief reporting that Vitalik Buterin had turned a handwritten formula manuscript into an NFT and auctioned it. This concept felt completely different from anything else I’d seen in the industry—so unique—that I decided to focus entirely on this major trend.
26x14: What inspired the creation of the 'Little Ghost' IP? Has your vision for its ultimate form evolved since the beginning?
Sleepy: Little Ghost was born during my commute amid the pandemic. During that period, not only myself but many friends were mentally affected—confinement, death, unemployment brought added stress and uncertainty to urban youth. I wanted to create something—a cartoon IP—as a form of self-healing, to vent emotions, and further, to influence others positively, helping people regain their mental balance and rediscover authentic selves and pure social connections.
My vision for the “ultimate form” hasn’t changed—it’s just become clearer over time. We’re progressively building a community marked by our identity, expanding Little Ghost beyond profile pictures into new characters, and leveraging partner brands’ influence to spread outward. Step by step, we’re moving toward that ultimate form.
26x14: Understanding develops through practice. Looking back, what would you consider missteps? And what did you get right?
Sleepy: Where we fell short was initially deliberately avoiding financial attributes. Yet this industry is built on finance. By intentionally sidestepping it, we may have failed to fully leverage the acceleration crypto offers to early-stage IPs. Azuki did this exceptionally well. Early on, our understanding was too binary—we should have sought balance, using financial aspects strategically to give the IP greater momentum.
Sticking to long-termism is what we did absolutely right. Don’t assume this industry only rewards short-term traders. Long-term thinking has earned us invaluable credibility and reputation—the most important assets in this space. We firmly believe this will bring us far greater material and spiritual rewards in the future.
26x14: Are there any widely accepted beliefs that you think are actually misconceptions?
Sleepy: What we call Web3 today isn’t actually the next evolution of Web2. I’ve long sensed that the transition from Web2 to Web3 isn’t as essential as the shift from Web1 to Web2. I held only a vague intuition until recently, when a conversation with another practitioner clarified it for me: Web3 should be AI, not blockchain. Blockchain and Web2 emerged almost simultaneously—they represent two distinct developmental paths, not a linear progression. This explains why blockchain mass adoption has been so difficult, while AI achieved it almost instantly with ChatGPT.
26x14: What does success look like for an NFT IP in your eyes? To achieve it, what kind of team do you need? In building a successful NFT IP, what percentage should go to product, marketing, and execution? Is there one central thread—if you grasp it, you’re likely to succeed?
Sleepy: Success means creating upward momentum—trends in revenue growth, influence expansion, etc. I believe IPs have no ceiling. Even giants like Marvel or Pokémon still have room to grow stronger. Sustained growth trends are crucial.
As for the team, not everyone needs to understand or have experience in crypto projects. We prioritize people with strong Web2 experience—they know how to communicate and collaborate with Web2 partners and have undergone rigorous content operations training.
Rather than chasing one single rope, I prefer thinking of guiding several powerful horses with ropes, ensuring they all run in the same direction. Identify key individuals in design, BD, and operations. With these three pillars in place, solid execution becomes much more achievable.
26x14: What’s the question that occupies your mind most when you close your eyes at night?
Sleepy: A few hours before sleep, I disconnect completely from work—I don’t think about it at all. Founders need high-quality sleep to stay energized (laughs). But I get what you’re asking. My biggest anxiety right now is commercialization. While we rationally understand it will take time to fully crack the business model—after all, establishing an IP, like building brand recognition, requires time and case accumulation—emotionally, I’m still impatient. Everyone wants to succeed faster and earlier.
26x14: Are there aspects of yourself you’d particularly like to change?
Sleepy: I really wish I could transform from an introvert (I-type) to an extrovert (E-type). Right now, I function as the main information gateway for the team. Many potential collaborators reach out to me directly, and even investors often prefer talking to me to understand the project. I feel like I have a social switch—daily social energy limits. I can act like an extrovert during work hours, but it drains me and requires recharging afterward.
Another area I need to improve is learning how to tell our story with more excitement and infectious passion—how grand our mission truly is. Because I’ve been heads-down executing, I tend to speak concretely about practical matters. I struggle to convey abstract visions, plans, or philosophies, which might contrast with what people in the space typically enjoy hearing.
26x14: It’s already November—this year is nearly over. Do you remember your New Year’s resolution? Did you fulfill it?
Sleepy: I rarely set resolutions because they easily turn into annual OKRs. Dreams are fascinating—they spark imagination yet demand grounded effort to realize. So I usually just keep walking steadily. As long as the path is correct, there will come a day when I reach the destination.
26x14: At what point would you consider launching your next project after 'Little Ghost'?
Sleepy: We might create new IPs, but not necessarily via NFTs again. Once Little Ghost is established, scaling the IP may require a matrix approach to break through bottlenecks. However, the entire ecosystem’s cold start has already been achieved through the Little Ghost NFT. Issuing additional NFTs later might yield diminishing returns and introduce extra risks. So from the perspective of launching “another NFT project,” I probably won’t do it. Instead, I hope to capture value back into the existing Little Ghost NFT, elevating this already-market-validated IP through market mechanisms. If we introduce other IPs in the future, there’s no need to commercialize them separately and dilute the value of Little Ghost NFT. Rather, we’ll continue raising Little Ghost’s stature to uplift the status of other IPs within the ecosystem.
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