Meet Jackson Aw, founder and CEO of Mighty Jaxx
My name is Jackson Aw, and I am the Founder and CEO of Mighty Jaxx, an award-winning integrated future culture platform that designs and produces digital and phygital collectibles in partnership with the greatest talents in the world, as well as global brands such as Netflix, Formula 1, Hasbro, Toei Animation, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, Adidas and more, shipping millions of phygital collectibles to over 90 countries worldwide yearly.
Besides building the business at Mighty Jaxx, I enjoy playing video games, have a passion for photography and am also a father of two boys.
There’s always a lightbulb moment before the beginning of a new venture. What was that moment for you?
In my early 20s, I started watching a lot of “how-it’s-made” videos on YouTube including hotdogs, chicken nuggets etc. and I became fascinated with various production processes. I looked at the toy collectibles on my shelf and that was my lightbulb moment - Could I craft something with my own hands and create a physical collectible? This motivated me to get a one-way plane ticket to China to understand more on how toy manufacturing and a supply chain worked.
During my time there, I visited about 15 different factories. The toys I saw that were being made had good margins but I thought to myself as an avid toy collector – I can do better. From there, I returned to Singapore and created my first collectible!
What inspired you to launch Mighty Jaxx and what is the end goal?
I have been an avid collector of toys since 2006 and it all started with a local toy company called Trexi. Trexi was a concept where the platform figure is a fixed design and you are able to overlay other artwork on it. This was when I was first exposed to the amazing world of toys and how creativity could be applied in different forms on the same medium.
However, It was only later on when I found these videos that show the magic behind how things are made that I took interest in the toy manufacturing process. I also come from a creative background and was exposed to various artists such as clogtwo, PHUNK, Jeff Staple, James Jean etc. who were all huge inspirations since my school days. These artists, my love for toys and fascination with toy making ultimately inspired me to start my very own toy collectible company.
The North Star for me is for Mighty Jaxx to become a pop culture platform whereby the physical collectible is only one of the bi-products of pop culture. The next step would be to bridge web2.0 and 3.0 and provide an end-to-end journey for fans through both digital and phygital offerings across various fandoms.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur?
Nothing worth doing is ever easy but don’t be afraid to reach out to other entrepreneurs for support - you are not alone!
When I was growing up, the environment I was in placed a lot of emphasis on academic results and artistic and creative pursuits were always secondary. I guess this applies to most Singaporeans because of societal thinking and expectations. As such, I found myself going through a lot of issues without people to turn to as a solo founder, especially in such a niche industry. However, over the years, I realised that a lot of my entrepreneur peers faced similar issues and they can actually form a support group of sorts – you just need to be willing to reach out and ask for help!
How did you conquer those moments of doubt that so often affect entrepreneurs or stop many with great ideas – what pushes you through?
I think as an entrepreneur, it is very natural for us to react badly to negative news. It can feel like everything has gone wrong, and your world is crashing down around you. I learnt that during those times, I need to take a step back and not overreact. Once I clear my head and calm down, I can then work out what went wrong and find a solution.
Along the way, people will doubt you and you will doubt yourself. The thing is, when you want to create something extraordinary, you cannot be logical about it and what makes you unique is your own personal mandate - you don’t have to justify it to others. My passion pushes me through those moments of doubt and I want my passion to be infectious to people.
What keeps you motivated as an entrepreneur when you hit bumps in the road?
I constantly keep my end goal in mind. Hitting bumps in the road is part and parcel of the process but when I picture what I want to accomplish and where I want to be, I get excited and continue striving forward. As an entrepreneur, there’s always that thrill of creating and building, and I think crossing hurdles is just a part of that whole process and experience of growing your business.
How did you fund the business in the early stages?
I started with a $20k loan from my parents which allowed me to kick start the business. In the early stages, while tough, the business has always been profitable for us and it was only in recent years when we embarked on a high-growth model incorporating technology into the business that we started taking venture capital.
How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?
Mighty Jaxx has an unparalleled breadth of presence across a wide spectrum of genres and product types, appealing to multiple large fanbases. Our products include art, entertainment, sports, music and gaming IPs and we continue to partner up with top tier IPs to grow our reach to different fandoms. Some of the IPs we’ve recently partnered up with include Netflix, Manchester City, NBA and F1 (exclusive contract). Additionally, we are working on developing more proprietary IPs and localised IPs to capture even more fans from various regions. We have the ability to provide a full end-to-end journey for fans across all fandoms, including small and large sized collectibles, digital collectibles as well as live experiences for fans which allows us to bridge fandoms with our products.
Our ability to bridge the Eastern / Western world IPs is also a significant strength for us. Mighty Jaxx can bring Asian IPs into the Western market and vice versa. While the latter is more common, the former is not and our competitors in the Western part of the world tend to stick to Western IPs and work less with Asian IPs. By carrying both IPs from the East and West, we will be able to meet the demands of both markets as well as introduce different IPs into different parts of the world!
Additionally, our collectibles are completely unique as we apply distinct Mighty Jaxx styles on global IPs and brands, such as our signature XXRAY design by Jason Freeny. We put global IPs through our creative process and have built strong relationships with our licenses over the years to be able to put our own spin on their IP to create special releases that are unique to Mighty Jaxx!
What plans do you have for Mighty Jaxx over the next two years?
Over the next two years, our plans include growing our core business, diversifying our revenue streams through new product categories, accelerating B2C channel growth and extending our international reach. We are also looking into the acquisition of major and/or complementary companies in the industry over the next 3 years, which will give us consolidated resources such as technical expertise, sales channels and customer insights, as well as IPs and product development.
A huge part of our future plans would be moving into the Metaverse. We are looking to build equity in this new digital ecosystem and drive e-commerce and virtual product sales in order to grow and capture a larger audience. We are working towards a true hybrid phygital offering via a platform approach that will reimagine the full-experiential journey for all fans and create value for them.
In terms of geographical expansion, Europe will be a big focus for us as there has been a growing interest in collectibles in the region. We have recently established a base office in London with Alex Neal, who served a Managing director for a licensed collectible company for 15 years, leading charge. His experience and knowledge of the local market is extremely valuable to us as we look forward to grow our brand presence in the region!
How important is company culture and what is your top tip to get it right?
Company culture is very important. We work in a creative industry therefore our company culture needs to reflect that. I believe that it is important to hire the right people who share similar visions for the company and are passionate about what we do!
The office is like an extension of my home and I want our team to enjoy coming to work. We have a lot of musically inclined people and I believe music can really influence work, so we sometimes have a ‘jam session’ to get our creative juices flowing! It is all about creating a positive work environment and allowing flexibility as everybody works differently. When people are having fun and not stressed out, it is when the best work is produced.
As we expand globally, we are focused on keeping and building the same culture in our various overseas offices. After searching high and low, we finally found Alex who is the perfect person to help replicate a localised version of our culture in the UK!
Any new product launches we should know about?
Yes! Lots! We have recently launched Inked Stories: Medusa, which is a limited edition digital collectible that allows owners exclusive access to the physical version of the digital collectible as well. The drop comes in conjunction with a partnership with Paper, a web3 on-ramping infrastructure company, which will grant Mighty Jaxx collectors the ability to purchase the Inked Stories: Medusa digital collectible and other future web3 drops, through the use of a credit card without the use of cryptocurrencies or a wallet.
We will also be launching phygital collectibles from One Piece, Stranger Things, Shrek and a clean, minimalistic stylised collectible of Daniel Bailey, who is from the UK. Bailey is the Founder of MRBAILEY and CONCEPTKICKS and is dedicated to promoting cool, forward-thinking sneaker designs on his platforms which resonate very well with our Mighty Jaxx brand! We will also be at MCM Comic Con at the end of October to showcase our phygital and digital collectibles so there are lots to look forward to in the UK!
On the digital side, we will be launching our MightyVerse and its various digital offerings which will give customers exclusive access to real life experiences and phygital/digital collectibles from their favorite IPs.
What’s the single most important decision that you made that contributed to the success of Mighty Jaxx?
If I had to pick a single most important decision, It would be the time I took a huge leap of faith to buy a plane ticket to head to Burbank, California, to meet Julian Montoya who was Warner Brothers’ vice president of global toys at the time. While there were many pivotal decisions along the way, this decision to fly across the globe for a 30 minute meeting gave us our big break into licensing.
Prior to securing our first major license with DC Comics, I wanted to try out licensing but it was difficult to build credibility as a very small team in Singapore. This first license gave our team the opportunity to build on what we had and we went from strength to strength. When you have a top IP like DC, the other IPs followed suit and it has contributed hugely to our success today.
How does technological advancement speak to the strategic direction of your business?
Technological advancement is crucial in the strategic direction of our business. In late 2018, we incorporated blockchain technology into our products. Our team developed a patent pending process to embed an NFC chip into our collectibles at a manufacturing level which allowed users to authenticate and unlock content using our mobile app. This took our products from physical to phygital. In 2021, we released our first digital collectible collection which sold out almost immediately. Following the very successful launch, our Meta team has been hard at work in building our Mighty Meta business to include web3 monetisation and community models to our phygital products which are inherently Web2.
Many of our phygital products also have Xtended Xperiences whereby users can scan our collectibles to unlock additional games and content. We previously launched a Sesame Street Nubbies series where we developed a hyper-casual mobile game to explore a brand new way of interacting with Sesame Street characters beyond the physical aspects of the figures and extending the experience of play into the digital realm! Additionally, we created a videogame experience through a series of stylised collectibles based on key videogame characters from Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands where the collectible came with a scannable EPIC GAMES STORE® key that allowed collectors to engage in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands gameplay on any platform of their choice and unlock in-game loots. As technology continues to advance, it is important that our products evolve as well to incorporate new utility and new forms, to keep up with ever-changing consumer demands.
What are your top three tips to hire and develop new talent?
You should never be afraid of hiring smarter and better people as these are the people who will help you grow, both professionally and personally, and will be the ones who contribute the most to the growth of the company. It is also important to find people that fit your company culture and share your company’s values because hard skills can be learnt and developed! Lastly, provide the support and resources that your team needs to perform while giving them ample space for creative freedom. Especially in this industry, it is not possible to fit everyone in a box so you have to trust your team to know what works best for them.
Describe Mighty Jaxx in three words.
Creative, innovative and unique.
How do you believe the evolution of tech will impact the collectibles industry over the next 10 years?
I believe with the evolution of technology, the Metaverse will be an important part of the collectibles industry over the next 10 years. There will be a collision of physical and virtual worlds (the Metaverse) which will revolutionise the collecting experience!
The digital world is evolving beyond virtual hangouts to immersive 3D realities and consumers are embracing these digital spaces to provide new experiences. As such, it is only natural that the collectibles industry move in the same (digital) direction.
For us here at Mighty Jaxx, we hope to embrace technology innovations that combine the best of both physical and digital worlds and connect all our fandoms onto the MightyVerse. We will continue to work on creating new value-added fandom experiences online and in hybrid retail locations and become fandoms’ super app that integrate new tech initiatives such as 3D, AR/VR and blockchain collectibles. The best form of web3 incorporation is when users do not even realise that they are using web3 technology!
Where do you draw your inspiration from to continue pursuing and innovating in the tech space?
I think as a start-up, it is important for me to learn from other global industry leaders as well as be well read on current trends. In particular, I resonate a lot with Richard Branson whose business has taken on different iterations and has built a strong brand that is profitable at the base. He is someone I look up to and follow closely.
I am also easily intrigued and draw my inspiration from things I see, read about or come across around me. For example, when I first heard about digitisation and blockchain back in 2018, I had no clue what it was but I tried to educate myself by reading a lot of articles and even went for classes on blockchain. Even today, I am amazed by the speed at which technology develops but I am convinced that this will not only benefit the business but the larger industry as well.
By nature, I am never truly satisfied and am always looking for ways to improve my business, and this pushes me to continue to pursue and innovate in the tech space to grow Mighty Jaxx’s offerings and products.
How do you think NFTs will impact the retail industry?
NFTs will help the retail industry create new and unique brand experiences and let fans engage with brands in new and exciting ways. Large retailers such as Coca-Cola, Louis Vuitton and Selfridges can already be seen using NFTs as unique forms of merchandise, collectibles, and experiences which are all highly aligned with these brands’ stories and imagery. This will help to boost affinity and loyalty among customers in a brand-new way that is different from the standard marketing campaign!
Moving forward, we can expect to see more and more retailers boost their brand awareness via NFTs and communities within the metaverse. As such, NFTs will no longer be a niche area for technology and crypto enthusiasts but something more accessible to the average consumer!
