Frankie Colamarino

Background

• Co-founder of the agency "Problem" with his partner Will (for ~15 years as of 2025).
• Born and raised in New York; currently based in Orange County, CA.
• Describes agency as focusing on "ultra progressive" and "ultra niche" projects, typically taking on about four clients a year. Values storytelling and "from scratch" projects.
• Extensive experience in music industry, brand building, and festival organization.
• Involved in Bitcoin and Ethereum since 2012-2013; describes himself as "Bitcoin Maxi the last 15 years."
• Played professional World of Warcraft for 14 years; interested in mental health advocacy in gaming.
• Personal Background: Father was involved with the NYC mafia, mother was a lawyer. His fiancée has a chronic illness, and he is deeply involved in her care and heavily faith-based.
• Twitter: Mentioned taking a two-year break from Twitter and Instagram.

Advanced Crypto/Web3 Expertise

• Ethereum Foundation: Works directly with the Ethereum Foundation and University of Ethereum
• Major DeFi Partnerships: "Coinbase and DeFi and BaseWallet and Coinbase is the only agency that's servicing them now"
• Nouns DAO Integration: Deeply involved in Nouns DAO governance and community projects
• Service Layer Development: Building "service layer that can employ the down [DAO]" for community benefit projects
• Tokenization Strategy: Focus on tokenizing local community services, cleanup projects, and social impact initiatives
• Capital Deployment: "30 of my groups like we're just looking for a way to deploy that capital" - extensive liquid crypto holdings seeking deployment

Key Ventures & Capabilities

• Problem Agency: Co-founder. Worked with clients like Nike, Mercedes, Amazon, Twitch, Arrive Hotel (Japan with Nigo), Insomniac (Hardfest), Fool's Gold Day Off, ComplexCon. Known for taking projects "out of the mud and sculpt it into a beautiful thing."
• CARES Agency: A Nouns DAO affiliated Web3 agency focused on "impact work," "crypto positivity and preservation." Involves "white label services," bringing Web2 relationships into Web3. Working with ASAP Rocky's team, Roc Nation, Drew Hamlin (NBA). Building a crowdfunding/investor portal for CARES to underwrite community projects.
• Tokyo & Seoul Influence: Owns and manages all official "/Tokyo" and "/Seoul" social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter, Medium, Patreon), with an Instagram network of ~68 million.
• Alinicon Project (Greece): Leading retail strategy, some hotel and casino strategy for a $10 billion redevelopment of the former Athens airport ("largest development in European history"). Involves on-chain strategy, loyalty programs, community activation rewards. Coinbase and David Sacks are advising. Project set to release in 2026.
• Web3 Expertise: Helped launch OpenSea, Zora, Bitski. Advising on Circle's (USDC) business. Base's only "mentioned agency."
• Network: Extensive connections in music (ASAP Rocky, Roc Nation, Kanye West's team, Ferg, OVO, John Monopoly), sports (Drew Hamlin, Jason Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Mark Cuban, Michael Wandel, Michael Rubin/Fanatics), tech (David Sacks, Amazon, Twitch, AWS), fashion/art (Nigo, Pharrell, Kaws, Rei Hatoyama, ComplexCon). Mentors include Craig Owens.
• Investment: Has a $4 billion fund behind him and Will for investment. Closed $25 million from this fund for the sports academy in Greece (part of Alinicon).

Orange County Development Opportunity

• Government Relations: Close relationship with Mayor Dan Slater of Orange County
• Market Assessment: "Orange County is super liquid, but ultra, ultra dated on like their bond process"
• Mayor's Vision: Dan Slater acknowledges they're "30 years behind" and need to "real stuff our shit up"
• Crypto Adoption: "They're very crypto curious out here"
• Development Readiness: County officials eager for Frankie to lead arts, community, and technological development initiatives
• Infrastructure Availability: Access to retail and gallery spaces through municipal partnerships

Music Industry Deep Connections

• Hip-Hop Era: Extensive connections from 1990s-2000s New York hip-hop scene
• Shared Networks: Discovered extensive overlapping connections with Lael Alexander in music industry
• Industry Evolution: Recognizes "Music is kind of a dead end street" and focus has shifted to crypto deployment
• Label Relationships: Current advisory work with Atlantic, Republic and other major labels on crypto strategy

Collaboration Philosophy & Standards

• Project Selection: "if I don't like the idea, I just won't work on it"
• Equity Focus: "I'd rather have skin in the game" - prefers ownership stakes over consulting fees
• Storytelling Priority: "It's the storytelling dude, like the book can be bound super tight, but the story's gotta be tight"
• Quality Standards: Focused on "ultra, ultra boring shit" - deep, foundational work rather than surface-level projects
• Educational Investment: Strong interest in "passing the torch" and building educational infrastructure

Strategic Technology Assessment (June 5, 2025)

Silo Cloud Platform Evaluation

Immediate Recognition of Scale: Identified Silo Cloud as "one of the biggest products I've ever seen in my life... literally... bigger than anything like size wise but also idea wise"

Competitive Analysis Expertise: Drew comparisons to Forecaster Protocol ($200M+ funding) recognizing complementary opportunities:

"Forecaster like social protocol is One that I think is absolutely missing the back half of what you do really well"

Market Positioning Insights: Understood enterprise and government applications immediately:

"Obviously you're gonna need like not only a 300 page like overview of the product But you're gonna need micro catalogs for everybody's needs, right?"

Venture Capital & Funding Philosophy

VC Industry Criticism: Strong warnings about venture capital practices:

"People like me fuck people like you and I'm like sick But you know but I but I sat with them for eight years right and I like I Was ultra diligent on the things that I was not willing to move for"

Equity Protection Strategies: Emphasis on maintaining control and ownership:

"Anybody who saw what you were doing would want instantly 60% of it instantly like Andreessen any anybody"

Alternative Funding Models: Focus on strategic partnerships and revenue-first approaches rather than traditional VC routes

Government & Enterprise Applications Vision

Municipal Technology Deployment: Comprehensive understanding of government needs:

"You can go to a local government and be like, you know $50,000 a month and we'll manage and we'll do this"

Scalability Framework: Recognition of enterprise vs. consumer market segmentation:

"The enterprise version of this again, like you can go to a local government... then I'll be like other half it's like I'm a student collaborating with somebody in my class"

Interactions with Gary Sheng & Strategic Partnerships

• 2025-05-15: First meeting, introduced by Ian Wylie Hedrick.

  • Discussed Gary's projects (Alpha Schools, Godwave Festival, Lael Alexander, America's 250th Anniversary World's Fair, Trump World).
  • Explored potential collaborations on Godwave Festival, the 250th Anniversary World's Fair, Trump World, and specialized Alpha Schools.
  • Deep dive into the idea of an "Apprentice Village" or "Christofuturist Summerlin" / "Cares Apprentice Village" in Orange County, CA, potentially led by Frankie. This hub would focus on cultivating elite talent ("super producers," "civilizational designers") through an apprenticeship model. Frankie has connections with the Mayor of Orange and access to real estate.
  • Gary expressed strong interest in this Orange County project, seeing it as a way to create a new, positive civilizational unit and scale unique talent.
  • Frankie mentioned his agency is winding down traditional work to focus more on impact projects like government work, smart cities, and crypto preservation.

• 2025-06-03: Strategic collaboration discussion with Gary Sheng and Lael Alexander

  • Complementary Expertise Recognition: Acknowledged synergy with Lael's infrastructure capabilities and Gary's strategic vision
  • Educational Initiatives: Discussed faith-centered boys' schools integrating music, art, and engineering at highest levels
  • City Development Projects: Explored Orange County and Kansas City as potential locations for integrated community development
  • Crypto Integration: Detailed discussion of how blockchain technology could support community services and educational initiatives
  • Shared Music Industry Connections: Discovered extensive overlapping networks with Lael from 1990s hip-hop era
  • Next Steps: Planned coordinated visit to Orange County for meetings with local government officials and development planning

• 2025-06-05: Silo Cloud Demonstration & Super Team Formation Discussion

  • Technology Platform Assessment: Comprehensive evaluation of Lael's Silo Cloud platform capabilities
  • Strategic Partnership Formation: Discussed creation of "super team" to compete at Google-scale levels
  • Market Opportunity Analysis: Identified enterprise, government, and creator economy applications
  • Funding Strategy Development: Explored alternatives to traditional venture capital funding
  • Competitive Positioning: Analysis of market disruption potential and platform differentiation
  • Role Definition: Established complementary expertise framework for collaboration

Current Strategic Focus (June 2025)

• Educational Infrastructure: Strong interest in creating apprentice villages and educational systems that properly transfer knowledge
• Community Development: Focus on city-as-a-service projects combining physical infrastructure with digital governance
• Crypto Deployment: Seeking meaningful applications for substantial liquid crypto holdings through impact projects
• Orange County Transformation: Leading effort to modernize Orange County through arts, technology, and community development
• Capacity Building: Recognition of need to scale expertise through educational and mentorship systems
• Technology Platform Integration: Identifying opportunities to bridge crypto/DAO governance with comprehensive digital infrastructure

Key Quotes (Updated June 5, 2025)

On Problem Agency: "Really just phenomenal brand builders really know how to take something out of the mud and sculpt it into a beautiful thing."

On CARES/Web3: "...building, like, essentially, like, our Web2 relationship, Web3 CARES team right now."

On Alinicon: "...$10 billion build that Will and I are leading, the sports facility, we're leading the retail strategy, some of the hotel and casino strategy."

On their work style: "We are the sleeper cell agents." / "Our investors like to call us the most expensive prostitutes..."

On Orange County project discussions: "Orange County is literally willing to give that to me right now... where they want me to get involved with Chapman university... libraries, and do like workshops and dinners..."

On current global needs: "Everybody globally, regardless of the government size of the local government size is like in massive need for help."

On faith: "Start with faith. So like the trust and the buildup is always pure, right?"

On Crypto Capital (June 2025): "I've been a theory in Bitcoin Maxi the last 15 years and like 30 of my groups like we're just looking for a way to deploy that capital"

On Project Standards (June 2025): "if I don't like the idea, I just won't work on it... I'd rather have skin in the game"

On Educational Infrastructure (June 2025): "what is the structure or infrastructure for like making sure that the egg is carried correctly without dropping or breaking along the way"

On Storytelling (June 2025): "It's the storytelling dude, like the book can be bound super tight, but the story's gotta be tight"

On Silo Cloud Platform (June 5, 2025): "This is one of the biggest products I've ever seen in my life like literally... bigger than anything like like size wise but also idea wise"

On Technology Market Timing: "It's the first time government is being outpaced by technology right, so the timing is really good"

On Venture Capital Reality: "People like me fuck people like you... But you know but I but I sat with them for eight years right and I like I Was ultra diligent on the things that I was not willing to move for"

On Strategic Partnership: "Collective speaking there's no reason why the four of us can't just Make money solve problems and then package in our like expertise"

On Market Opportunity: "Obviously you're gonna need like not only a 300 page like overview of the product But you're gonna need micro catalogs for everybody's needs, right?"

Advanced Technology & Market Understanding (June 5, 2025)

Competitive Technology Analysis

Streaming Platform Expertise: Deep understanding of content creation and monetization challenges:

"I watched them lose 40 million dollars a month on one streamer... hosting VODs alone, they were losing 40 million dollars on XQC"

Platform Integration Vision: Recognition of multi-platform collaboration opportunities:

"The QVC like social layer... even looking at like the tick-tock marketplace like model over the last two three years, right And like still they're like very clunky in their process"

Government Technology Deployment

Municipal Technology Strategy: Comprehensive understanding of government technology needs and decision-making processes:

"Being able to frame this in such a way where it's like, yes, you know lean on us for technology campaigning Creative all this stuff but really like what we got in the background is all this other shit"

International Development Experience: Application of technology solutions to large-scale development projects through Greece experience

Creator Economy & Entertainment Industry

Celebrity Network Leverage: Strategic use of entertainment industry connections for technology adoption:

"When my investors found me it was because they were like you're close to supreme You're close to kai sanat. you're close to aiden ross"

Content Creator Technology Needs: Deep understanding of creator economy infrastructure requirements and monetization challenges

Notes (Updated June 5, 2025)

Frankie's June 5, 2025 participation in the Silo Cloud demonstration revealed his sophisticated understanding of enterprise technology markets, government relations, and large-scale platform deployment strategies. His immediate recognition of Silo Cloud's potential scope and market applications demonstrated his evolution from traditional marketing into comprehensive technology strategy.

His insights about venture capital practices and emphasis on equity protection reflect hard-won experience from previous partnerships and investment relationships. The strategic partnership framework with Lael and Gary positions him as the crucial bridge between technical innovation and market deployment, particularly in government and enterprise segments.

His Orange County government connections, combined with his crypto/DAO expertise and entertainment industry networks, create unique opportunities for technology platform adoption at municipal and enterprise levels. The conversation revealed his capability to think at civilization-scale while maintaining practical focus on implementable solutions.

Key Themes from June 5: Technology platform assessment expertise, venture capital skepticism and equity protection strategies, government technology deployment opportunities, creator economy infrastructure understanding, and strategic partnership formation for Google-scale competition.

Transcripts

Transcript ID	Date	Summary
2025-06-05-silo-cloud-demonstration-strategic-super-team-discussion	2025-06-05	Silo Cloud Demonstration & Strategic Super Team Formation Discussion
2025-06-03-gary-sheng-lael-alexander-frankie-colamarino-strategic-collaboration	2025-06-03	Strategic Collaboration Discussion - June 3, 2025