No Years Lost

No Years Lost is for every kid out there that was ever told they couldn’t do something. Kids who were like me, hungry and unwilling to let anything get in the way of their dreams.

When I began No Years Lost, I didn’t have a fucking clue what would be required, much less what it should be. The only thing I really knew was that I wanted to make it easier for kids to achieve their dreams – whatever they may be.

I was acutely aware of the enormous amount of sacrifice required to achieve ones dreams, because I’d spent the previous four years of my own life, doing just that, giving up the things I valued most, to go the distance for the one thing I couldn’t live without.

Admittedly, I had been more fortunate than most because I had acquired strong mentorships. Those relationships opened doors for me, introduced other important relationships, helped me avoid the headaches that come from inexperience, and most importantly, invited me into their inner-circles.

Without those relationships, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to achieve. Even with them, I had to give up nearly everything, but it was worth it, my life has been blessed beyond measure. I wanted that for other kids, because it’s such a beautiful thing.

I was with one of my mentors, Keith Richardson, on tour with Sammy Adams. He was familiar with what I wanted to do with No Years Lost and he suggested that I build an exclusive social network that would ultimately replicate the mentorship experience.

I loved the idea and I was comfortable executing nearly everything myself. By then I’d been deeply embedded and led creative branding and strategy, I was very hands on, and knew I was better than anyone else to see my vision through to fruition.

That being said, there was one enormous hindrance, I had never written a line of code. I saw two solutions, get funding and hire someone or learn how to code and do it myself. I opted for the latter and set out on the long and tedious journey of becoming a full-stack developer.

The decision to include crowd funding into the No Years Lost platform came partway through, which presented further challenges. Nevertheless, three-years later it’s a complete invite only social network and crowd funding platform exclusively for dreamers.

Achievements.

No Years Lost is still in its infancy and I’ve yet to really launch it to an audience, so getting the nod already has been encouraging.

Featured Website & Design

Envato Marketplace

Social Network & Crowd Funding

1st Platform

Semi-Finalist Ford Fusion Startup Lab

Votes 9247 (1st)

Creative.

Strategy.

Formulate, design and execute a strategic digital experience, cross-platform social network and crowd funding. Create bespoke digital tools and solutions for problems facing young creators.

Management.

I was used to working in collaborative environments and with small to large teams. Working on my own throughout the entire project produced new and unique challenges that I’d never faced.

The Kit.

Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Acrobat Professional, Mac OS, Microsoft Office, PowerPoint, Xcode, JavaScript, Swift, Objective-C, PHP, HTML, CSS

Visual Identity.

In the spring of 2015, I received a cease and desist from a multi-national retailer for the Crow Logo I had created and been using for two years.

According to their legal team, “A crow is a crow is a crow.”

I created the Reaper Logo soon afterwards, to always remind myself of how many people tried to kill my dreams before they ever got off the ground.

Crow Logo

Reaper Logo

Nothing brings the kids together like a uniform.Nothing brings the kids together like a uniform.

Crew Love

Visual.

No Years Lost

iOS 1.1

No Years Lost

Tribe

Social Network

Created specifically for kids pursuing their dreams, No Years Lost is powerful, beautiful, and most importantly, an exclusive social network.

No ads, fucks, or distractions, only the tools required to achieve dreams, alongside likeminded kids.

Forever invite only, the tribe chooses its own.

Dreamer Profile

Writing Editor

Dreamer Messaging

Author Profile

Invite Code: mementomori

Sign Up

Dream Funding

Created specifically for kids pursuing their dreams, No Years Lost is the most powerful, yet creative, crowd dream funding platform ever created.

It’s jam packed full of bespoke tools, creative mentorship, industry collaboration and community curation.

I promise, it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Campaign Profile

Campaign Editor / Story

Campaign Editor / Info

Featured Campaign

iOS App.

The iOS application is kind of an introductory to dreaming. In essence, anyone can sign up and share to the network with the hope of getting an invite.

It has most of the functionality of the No Years Lost social network with the exception of exclusivity.

It’s for kids who aren’t connected, to get their dreams out.

Testimonial.

“He and I fucked with people’s lives. To play with ones destiny to improve it, because you think you can and have the power to do so is fire. He achieved and I am so proud of him.”

Gil Duldulao

Creative Director / Janet Jackson