Empowering brands and content creators to engage the Web3 generation with gamified play, crypto-assets, and rewards. —Award Pool

NFTs invaded the gaming lexicon at the end of 2021 and will undoubtedly become one of the hottest topics across many industries throughout 2022. Whether used in gaming or elsewhere, the acronym NFT refers to a “Non-Fungible Token” for a digital item. Large corporations see NFTs as an avenue to make a continuous revenue stream out of digital content when it comes to gaming. NFTs are the backbone of blockchain gaming, an approach where the digital items inside video games—things like collectibles, weapons, and cosmetic skins—are real-world assets, similar to stocks or bonds, in the form of NFTs. Since the NFTs are stored on the blockchain, a public and decentralized ledger, it gives the “right to transfer” to the consumer, giving them control of their virtual assets.

With the integration of blockchain technologies, developers have started to monetize the games in the most disruptive ways of offering users an opportunity to gain financial returns for their gaming skills and time invested. One such company that enables users to earn and collect NFTs by participating in various gamified actions is Award Pool. Award Pool makes it easy to create unique branded gamification experiences for brands and content creators. Award pool lets users participate in competitions and challenges to earn points, prizes, and customizable NFT rewards through an easy-to-use platform.

Following excerpts are taken from the conversation with Brenda Cohen, Co-Founder, and CMO of Award Pool

Q. What is the story behind Award Pool?

Award Pool started as a family project in March of 2020 when my husband, Reuven, I, and our three kids were stuck at home during the lockdown. Eager to start a new business, we had the opportunity to involve the kids in the process with all of us at home. We wanted to teach them about building a startup, from idea to plan to execution. We chose a business that met our interests - marketing, gaming, community, design, NFTs, and emerging tech. We spent the next six months teaching school in the mornings and building an end-to-end e-sports platform that rewarded NFTs. Once the platform was complete, we shifted the business model to work for any brand looking to engage and build community through game-based actions and NFT rewards.

Today, Award Pool is an integrated platform that empowers brands, creators, and collectors with excellent engagement tools and features to create, collect securely, and trade unique experiences, collectibles, and amazements.

With Award Pool, brands and content creators can gamify campaigns containing various social and in-game challenges catered around their communities. Brands can discover a straightforward way for activation while content creators can engage and grow their community.

Q. What is the most challenging task you have ever accomplished?

Does building a startup with three kids at home count?! Seriously, one of the most challenging tasks I have done as an entrepreneur, and a mother, is allowing myself to do both. If the pandemic has taught us anything, working from home and having a work/life balance is challenging but not impossible. Never think only a certain kind of person can be a leader in a technology startup.

Q. What advice would you like to give to budding female entrepreneurs?

What I love about the startup space is that everyone is green. Sure, some people have been working in the industry longer, but we are all still learning emerging trends and the evolving web. That means we have the chance to change the game. Female entrepreneurs shouldn’t feel that they are entering a world dominated by men because this is a new world - a new path - and it is open for all. In my 20+ years of building marketing and community strategies, I have never come across so many female entrepreneurs as I have in the Web3, Metaverse, and NFT spaces. We’re here, we’re growing, and we’d love to see more of you!

Q. How, according to you, can leaders create a more diverse and inclusive culture?

As Award Pool continues to grow, our goals and responsibilities are to ensure that we are an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We want to be a business that makes everyone feel equally involved and supported in our company regardless of who they are or what title they have. I’ve said before that good ideas come from a walk in the woods, but great ideas come from passionate and supported employees. Great leaders know they are only as good as their team. Without a diverse and inclusive group, how can we learn new things? A good leader is always learning.

Q. If you get the chance to expand women’s networks to accommodate all women entrepreneurs in your company, would you?

I absolutely support bringing more women into Award Pool and look forward to doing so as we grow. For example, we are running a month-long campaign to support International Women’s Day featuring female entrepreneurs this March. We want to shine a light on female-run businesses and content creators. So would we expand our women’s networks? Absolutely! We do so every chance we get.

Q. Brief us about the values that are involved in everything you do.

Award Pool values are Passion, Sustainability, Respect, and Creativity. Those are the same values I live by and bring to the company.

Passion: Award Pool brings together a fiercely committed group of entrepreneurs and self-starters, all determined to realize the massive potential of our platform. We work like crazy because we love what we do. It take passion and guts to be start-up founder and our founding team have it in spades.

Sustainability: Award Pool proudly commits to a carbon-neutral position. We strive to minimize our impact in everything we do. This past January, we ran a marketing campaign that promoted going green at home and in the office, complete with a carbon offset NFT.

Respect: We foster an inclusive and diverse work environment, where professionals from all backgrounds can collaborate freely and openly. We always take the time to listen and learn from each other.

Creativity: Our culture is that of playful ideas, helping to improve our products and services continuously. We use our imagination and creativity to collaborate and drive innovation.

The inspirational leader behind Award Pool, Brenda Cohen, Co-Founder and CMO

From the backwoods of British Columbia to the busy streets of Tokyo, Brenda is as comfortable starting a campfire as she is navigating the largest city in the world. Her proudest moment? Starting Award Pool with not only her husband Reuven but also getting their three kids involved.

Brenda always wanted to be a writer and built her career as a copywriter, Creative Director, and marketing lead specialiazing in community-based strategies and technology. Her favorite job is the one she has right now; being the CMO of her own company.