Q&A with George B. Weiksner
Co-Founder and CEO of Pocketful of Quarters
Principal Series:
Family Office Insights sits down with George B. Weiksner, Co-Founder & CEO of “Pocketful Of Quarters,” a crypto gaming token that he created to answer the question: “why should coins get stuck in games I no longer want to play?” George founded Pocketful of Quarters to fix this problem for himself and his friends. George is also a seventh grader at Greenwich Country Day School.
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Tell us about your background and how you got into the Industry?
I'm a 7th grader at Greenwich Country Day School. I was coming home from school and my dad was explaining the new big thing, crypto. At the time, I was frustrated because whenever I quit a game I lost all my hard-work, time, effort, and worst of all, my coins. I know my friends share my frustration. With Quarters, you will have one wallet for all of your games.
My dad took me to a "Crypto Monday" meet up in New York in January. The organizers included a short clip of me in their YouTube video. From that, MarketWatch, Business Insider, even the Sunrise morning show in Australia decided to cover our story. That meetup is also where I met Arthur Bavelas, who curates this newsletter.
From the press, we started receiving messages. On telegram, a mysterious person asked for a secret meeting. It turned out to be Michelle Phan, the YouTube star and entrepreneur, who led our first round of investment. On LinkedIn, Tim Tello and Chris Cross reached out to join us. (Chris is a game designer who has produced games with over $6B in revenue!)
Earlier this month, I went to WyoHack, where I was a featured speaker alongside Joe Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum, and Patrick Byrne, founder of Overstock.com and Tzero. Watch for us in October, when our episode of Meet The Drapers airs!
And after that, I guess you could say that I was part of the gaming and crypto industries.
Who is your target audience?
My target audience is my friends and other people who play video games. My current favorite games are Fortnite and fantasy football. We are going to create a galaxy of arcades for players everywhere.
What are some of the challenges you face in this market?
Being a kid is a good and a bad thing. I can't sign legal documents, for example. But it is certainly a major benefit in understanding the pains that kid face trying to play the games the love. And the press seems to love it, too.
Having my dad as a co-founder helps a lot.
How are you different from your key competitors? Who are your key competitors?
We believe that Quarters is the first legal & universal gaming token in the US. Just like you can use dollars in any store, you can use Quarters in any game on our platform.
Today, players buy in game currencies, like gems and v-bucks. All of these in game currencies across all of these games -- that's what we are trying to fix. Our key competitor is the traditional way people play games.
There are other crypto projects trying to solve similar problems. But Quarters are unique. Quarters have a stable value -- 400 Quarters per dollar. Other game cryptocurrencies have fixed supplies, which leads to speculative prices. Who would want to play games with a token that could be worth double tomorrow?
Legal, easy, and fun -- we believe Quarters will be the first gaming token to be widely adopted in the US and beyond.
How are you changing the landscape in your industry?
The whole industry today is based around trapping players in games and squeezing as much money out of players as possible. We want to make games about having fun and playing with friends again.
Video games are $120B market, growing over 10% per year. It's seven times bigger than movies and music -- combined! We think many players and game developers will share our vision.
Who is your ideal investor?
We want investors who share our vision. My dad tells me about going to Mimi's pizzeria with his Quarters to play Donkey Kong, Gauntlet and more. Did you love video games? Do your kids? If so, we'd love to have your support.
How much capital are you looking to raise?
Learn about our terms and how to invest at: https://republic.co/quarters. By law, we have to refer to the SEC-licensed crowdfunding portal, Republic, which is also where you can invest.
What is your mission?
Our mission is to make video games better for players, like me and my friends. Michelle helped us make a video about our mission, which you can view on the right column of this article. Do enjoy!
What is next for you?
We’re on track to launch the Quarters Beta by December 2018.
Our version 1 was a success: we’ve collected a lot of valuable customer feedback and implemented it into an upcoming v.2, which we plan to launch at the end of 2018.
This fall, we will open up a waitlist, and let some players and their friends test our first games. Gaming influencers will play the games to get players excited about Quarters. Then we will launch the Beta to the public for mid-December 2018.
To learn more, and invest as little $25, please visit our crowdfunding page on Republic:
https://republic.co/quarters, or email my dad at mike@pocketfulofquarters.com.
p.s. tune into our episode of Meet the Drapers, coming in October!
George B. Weiksner
“Why should coins get stuck in games I no longer want to play?” George founded Pocketful of Quarters to fix this problem for himself and his friends. George is also a seventh grader at Greenwich Country Day School. He is a regular speaker about cryptocurrencies and games, he has appeared in various publications, including Marketwatch, BusinessInsider, Sunrise TV, ICO Investor TV, Be Inspired, and The New York Post. He streams games on YouTube and Twitch as ThisKidCEO. LinkedIn – YouTube – Twitch – Instagram
If you have any questions, please contact Michael Weiksner at mike@pocketfulofquarters.com.