Credit: NFT God
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Meet Alex Finn, a 33-year-old man working in tech who, in a stroke of digital audacity, created an online persona known as “NFT God.” This alias was born out of a desire to disrupt timelines and capture attention in what he calls “the most obnoxious way possible,” a move that would eventually change the trajectory of his life.
Originally aiming for the moniker “NFT Jesus,” Finn settled on “NFT God” because it was the next available option. Over the past two years, his online presence has skyrocketed from zero to 170,000 followers. He also monetized his influence, generating nearly $250,000 in revenue through a combination of newsletters, sponsorships, courses, and more.
Finn has become a pro of hacking the algorithm, crafting engaging tweets that have not only gone viral but also captured the attention of Mark Cuban and Elon Musk. Finn joined nft now for a conversation on his journey into the world of Web3 and X, shedding light on how he turned challenges in his life into opportunities.
Dive Deeper
nft now: It’s clear you have your own style and voice of writing on X. There are a lot of trends currently, like AI, long-form, and threads: how do you figure out what to make your content about?
NFT God: If everyone’s trying to do this one thing, I’m trying to do the exact opposite; I’m trying to be different; I’m trying to be unique. I’m trying to revolutionize. I’m writing about what I love. For instance, the algorithm code got open-sourced in March of this year and got a thread out about it, and you know, it blew up and went hyper-viral; I got like five replies from Elon.
Now, everyone on X is writing about the algorithm now, and everyone’s an algorithm expert, and it’s like, OK, I can either keep doing what I’m doing and fit in and be with everyone else because it’s working, or I can move on to my next thing. I can evolve, I can challenge myself, I can get uncomfortable, I can do something different. And so now I incorporate more of my personality and humor. So, part of me and my humor is that I really love food, specifically ice cream. I try to incorporate that into what I write about, and I really hate Drake, so I incorporate that into what I write about.
You’ve been showing more of your personality and talking more about your experiences. The good, the bad, and the ugly. You’ve spoken about working a soul-eroding 9-5 job and its role in your trajectory. You were also hacked and lost quite a significant amount of money in crypto and NFTs.
It’s been more challenging than I thought. You know, I always thought if I were ever to get a platform, that I would just be bulletproof. I have pretty thick skin. I was very short and skinny all my life up until about four years ago. And anyone who was the short, skinny guy in high school knows you’re the butt of almost every joke. I had to be able to push back, and I had to be able to fire back when people were firing at me, and so I always thought, “Oh, if I ever got a platform, it’d be sick, and I wouldn’t care what anyone has to say, and it wouldn’t matter.” It didn’t turn out to be quite that way.
And then, in January this year, all of a sudden, I was hacked. I made a mistake, right? I downloaded software on my computer, which led to a back door for hackers. They had access to my computer, they had access to my wallets, and I lost a shit ton of money. And you know, I’m not blaming anyone but myself. At the end of the day, I’m a human being.
The NFT space is the only space where the victims of crimes are the ones who are the bad guys. Like, imagine you’re in a car accident, and you lose both of your legs, and you’re in the hospital, and then everyone around you is like, ‘Dude, you weren’t wearing a seat belt. Fuck you, you idiot.’ Like that would never happen. But in the NFT space, if you make a mistake and you click the wrong link, and you’re the target, you’re the butt of the attacks.
How did being hacked change things for you?
It was just a very difficult spot, and I was in a spot where I found it very difficult to be creative and open up. I was already at this low point, and I said, OK, so I can get up right now. I can punch a hole in my wall, get really angry, and yell, but what’s that going to do? Is that going to get me my money back? No, that’s gone permanently, and that was kind of a weird positive of this whole thing.
I worked harder, and I used it as motivation. I wanted to quit my job by the end of the year, and because of the way things worked out, I was able to quit my job within two months of that happening, which was amazing. So it was just about looking at myself in the mirror and being like, OK, I can use this to tear me down and make this my downfall, or I can use this as fuel and work harder, and that’s what I did.
“I can use [being hacked] to tear me down and make this my downfall, or I can use this as fuel and work harder, and that’s what I did.”
Alex Finn
Now that you’re shifting your brand on X to be more mainstream and not just within the NFT space, are you considering changing your username?
Yeah. So, I announced a rebranding about a month and a half ago from “NFT God” to who I am, Alex Finn. It was like kind of this big doxxing moment where, you know, I posted a picture of myself. I wanted to become more human.
Revenue Streams and Content Creation
You built a business that has driven more than $200,000 in revenue via X. How do those different elements of that business work together to create something sustainable?
Yeah, absolutely. So, a lot of people ask me this question: “How do I monetize my X? How do I start making money?” I don’t have a long-term business plan. I didn’t build NFT God where I was like, “OK, now I want to start making money.” The truth is, I let the universe naturally deliver these opportunities to me
About two years ago, I had 5,000 subscribers to my newsletter, and a company DM’s me and was like, “Hey, we want to sponsor the newsletter.” And you know, I just, I let each revenue stream kind of naturally come to me. And I think the biggest mistake a lot of people make is they try to force monetization. They try to force revenue streams, and they go out there, and they start posting all this sponsored content on X, and all of a sudden, everything sponsored, and it’s like feels very forced, and it feels kind of sellout-ish. It’s like I just wanted the universe to naturally do these things so I could keep having my long-term mindset where if I’m going to monetize anything, it happens because people are demanding it, not because I’m shoving it in people’s faces. I think that’s been a big reason why I’ve been able to have kind of hyper-growth for two years.
“My long-term mindset is if I’m going to monetize anything, it happens because people are demanding it, not because I’m shoving it in people’s faces.”
Alex Finn
Where is the puck going on X?
When I was giving branding advice and growth tips a year and a half ago, the puck was at shitposting, but it was going towards giving value. So now, the puck is giving growth tips and branding advice. I truly believe where the puck is going next is still giving value that is entertaining, that’s funny, that’s polarizing, that’s uniquely you, and that’s fun to read.
Because right now, everyone is really fucking boring on this platform; everyone’s giving growth tips and growth advice, everyone’s an algorithm expert, and everyone’s telling you what the next five things you got to do to be a copywriter ghostwriter are, and it’s really boring.
This interview transcript has been edited for concision and clarity.
Listen to our Twitter Space with NFT God for the full and uncut interview.
