The Art, Team, Vision NFT Evaluation Test
Three things must be true before you hold a generative NFT for the long run.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 84%
Casale's test for whether an NFT project deserves your money has three legs: you have to be in love with the art, in love with the artist, and in love with their vision. All three, or you won't stay stoked about being part of it in the years to come. His mental model is the Instagram follow test — what keeps you following someone's content day in, day out is that they provide solid value. NFTs are the same framework, except people are putting real money in, which ups the ante. The creator's job is to keep providing value so the holder wants to stick around at the party. He flags anonymous-artist projects (Bored Ape Yacht Club, in his example) as having an emotional disconnect: you can't connect with a creator you can't name, so you're left with 'this looks dope,' which is fine but thin.
Origin
Casale came to NFTs late and sceptical. He first heard the word in January 2021 and didn't get it. In March he minted two looping MP4 animations on OpenSea as an experiment, sold them for roughly one ETH each without shilling them at all, and then transferred the ETH wrong and lost all of it — but the signal registered: there was demand. Over the summer he saw generative projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, and Cool Cats, realised his characters were perfectly suited to that structure, committed at the end of August, built a team, and minted Speshies on December 17th.
Core principles
- 01You must love the art first — you'll see it in your wallet every day.
- 02The team must be knowable; a doxxed artist is an emotional anchor, an anonymous one is a disconnect.
- 03There must be a vision worth holding for, not just a flip.
- 04The follow test: what would keep you following this creator on Instagram? Same mentality, now with real money.
- 05The creator's obligation is continuous value to the holder — forever, not at mint.
How to run it
- 1
Test the art first
Ask whether you genuinely resonate with and enjoy how it looks. If you don't, nothing else matters — why would you want it in your wallet?
Pro tip The right question is 'why would you buy a painting to hang in your bedroom?' — you want it to bring you joy.
- 2
Read up on the team
Is it a trustworthy group? Who is the artist? Are they doxxed or well-known? Doxxed means simply that it's not a mystery person.
Watch out Anonymous-artist projects create an emotional disconnect — you can't be in love with a creator you can't identify.
- 3
Interrogate the vision
What are you getting if you hold long term? Is there real incentive? Could this character become the next SpongeBob, Hello Kitty, Mickey Mouse, or Pikachu?
- 4
Apply the follow test
Ask what would keep you following this person on Instagram, taking in their content day in day out. Same mentality, except now it's real money.
Pro tip Casale would hold VeeFriends purely because Gary V has brought him value for years — even without the IRL perks.
- 5
Strip out the perks and re-ask
Would you still hold if it got you zero real-life access? If the answer is no, you're buying a ticket, not a membership.
In the wild
Casale isn't a VeeFriends holder but says he'd hold for the long run. Some VeeFriends get you to a baseball game with Gary — which is hype — but Casale says he'd hold even the rankings with no IRL access, because he's been an intaker of Gary's content for years and believes in him.
→ A clean illustration of the test: the art and the perks are downstream of believing in the creator. The creator belief is what survives when the perks are stripped out.
With Bored Ape Yacht Club, Casale points out you don't truly know who the creator or artist is — it may be multiple animators. There's no person to connect with.
→ You're left with 'ah, this looks dope,' which he says is fine but thin. He believes all projects moving forward will require love of the artist, art, and vision together.
Common mistakes
Buying on rarity math alone
Rarity determines price mechanically, but it doesn't answer whether you'd be stoked to see it in your wallet every day or whether the project survives. Casale's buyers picked Speshies for emotional resonance, not rank.
Ignoring the artist because the art looks good
If nobody cares about the person behind the project in three months, the project isn't worth anything anymore. The artist's trajectory is the asset's trajectory.
Is it for you?
Best for
People evaluating generative PFP collections for a long-term hold rather than a quick trade.
Not ideal for
Short-term flippers, pure floor-price traders, or anyone treating NFTs as a liquidity instrument rather than a membership.
From the transcript
“It really has to be uh you're in love with the artist you're in love with the art and you're in love with their vision…”
“You follow someone on instagram you know what's gonna keep you following them... they have to provide a lot of solid value for you. It's…”
“You want to like read up on the team you know is it a trustworthy group of people who is the artist is it a…”
From the episode
Danny Casale: Authenticity is the Key to Success
Danny Casale