Nifty Gateway founders Duncan & Griffin Cock-Foster have become two of the most important figures in the world of NFTs. As the creators of one of the largest NFT marketplaces in existence, the brothers have not only played an integral part in establishing the NFT ecosystem as we know it, but in onboarding hundreds of thousands of creators and collectors into the NFT space.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing doing so, and the Cock-Fosters have had to reflect on lessons learned and growing pains as the platform has navigated the rising water of the NFT boom.

“I think we really had a rough patch. Our team was just way too small and we were not equipped to handle the growth,” Griffin tells nft now. “That was really the fault of Duncan and me. We should have prepared better for the growth. But I feel much better about the place we’re in now and I feel a lot more confident in Nifty Gateway being more robust.”

On this episode of the nft now podcast, Duncan & Griffin Cock-Foster speak on Nifty Gateway’s origin story, running a billion-dollar company as twin brothers and more.

While Duncan & Griffin Cock-Foster witnessed absolutely exponential growth with Nifty Gateway in the past year, it seemed to many that the curated platform was lacking in many ways. As a marketplace that only allows for seven or so drops in any given week, early on in the NFT boom many perceived Nifty Gateway as a gatekeeper in the space.

Now, a full year after Beeple and Nifty Gateway helped onboard countless new users into the NFT ecosystem, the Cock Foster brothers have upscaled their services and customer support team greatly. And while the platform might still be limited in terms of drop frequency, the brothers say they’re still laser focussed on building tools that artists can benefit from.

“We’re not, not experts on what will do well, we just try to present great content to our users,” the Cock-Fosters tell nft now. “For the next year, our focus is building tools that benefit the entire ecosystem. Curated drops are a big part of Nifty Gateway, and will be going forward, but they’re already exhausted. We want to create other tools that the entire ecosystem can benefit from.”

Hit subscribe and jump into our full conversation with the Cock Foster brothers on lessons learned from the NFT boom and Nifty Gateway collector backlash.