Julian Holguin, the president of Billboard, has chosen to step down in order to be appointed as CEO of Doodles, one of the most iconic brands and collections in the NFT space.
Doodles is a collection of 10,000 NFTs which exist on the Ethereum blockchain and was designed by Burnt Toast. After minting on October 16th 2021, Doodles has quickly become one of the most prominent names within NFTs. Prior to the appointment of Julian, Evan Keast ran brand focus, Jordan Castro focused on products and development while Scott Martin was on the creative aspect of the brand. All of them worked on simultaneously pushing forward Doodles as one however, as the brand continues to grow, the team has made the decision to appoint a CEO. “Julian will work alongside the founders to expand Doodles IP throughout music, gaming, and entertainment, while deeply integrating culture into the product,” stated Doodles on Twitter.
“Julian’s vast experience as a music and media executive will help Doodles reach billions of fans by leading next-generation partnerships with the world’s largest artists and companies… This level of executive appointment is a Web3 first and affirms our commitment to go mainstream. We’re thrilled to welcome Julian to Doodles.”
Appointing a new CEO symbolizes a change within the Doodles franchise, a push from an NFT collection towards a business and global brand. The hype surrounding Doodles doesn’t end with the appointment of a new CEO, as the team stated that they plan on integrating “groundbreaking projects, transformative partnerships and a full reveal of our vision & roadmap”.
The introduction of a new CEO is becoming a trend for the high profile NFT projects, as other established projects such as Cool Cats are making a similar move. Chris Hassett stepped down as CEO of Cool Cats and they have been on the search for someone new. The increased involvement of CEOs and the push to find someone who fits the project’s vision shows that NFTs are shifting slowly from a “JPEGS” mindset towards a business model. The appointment of Billboard’s president shows how far this space has come. Whether the help of Julian Holguin leads Doodles to a positive future, we will soon find out.
