Product vision
Deciding what FANIME should become, which experiences matter and how the different parts of the ecosystem fit together.
← FOUNDERSCO-FOUNDER PROFILE / 01
CO-FOUNDER + CEO
Ashanti“Blue”
Building the product, brand, marketing, partnerships and creative vision behind FANIME™ - and helping turn an idea for anime fans into an actual platform, community and growing company.
ROLECEO
BASED INDallas–Fort Worth
ANIME #1Naruto
FOUNDER01
ANIME FANSINCE BEFORE THE STARTUP.
BLUE
CEO ★ PRODUCT ★ UI/UX ★ ENGINEERING ★ MARKETING ★ BRAND ★ PARTNERSHIPS ★ CREATIVE DIRECTION ★ COMMUNITY ★ ANIME ★ CEO ★ PRODUCT ★ MARKETING ★ PARTNERSHIPS ★
01WHO I AM
Founder.Builder.Anime fan first.
I'm Ashanti “Blue,” co-founder and CEO of FANIME™. My role reaches across product, design, engineering, marketing, partnerships, community and brand.
I'm involved in both building what people experience inside FANIME and shaping how people discover, understand and connect with the company outside of the app.
A huge part of how I approach FANIME comes down to asking one question over and over: what would actually make this more fun, useful and exciting for anime fans?
That question influences everything from features and UI to campaigns, partnerships, events, content and the larger direction of the brand.
02WHAT I LEAD
From ideato actual execution.
My role is intentionally cross-functional. FANIME's product, brand, marketing and partnerships all need to feel like parts of the same ecosystem.
UI + UX
Designing how FANIME looks, feels and moves so the experience feels intentional, modern, recognizable and anime-first.
Building the product
Helping develop the app, troubleshoot problems and turn ideas and product concepts into working experiences.
Marketing + growth
Developing campaigns, social content, launch strategy, community marketing and ways to introduce FANIME to more anime and manga fans.
Building relationships
Developing relationships with creators, brands, vendors, community organizations, events and businesses that can become part of the FANIME ecosystem.
Creative direction
Shaping FANIME's voice, visual identity, storytelling, campaigns, events and the larger way the company presents itself to the world.
03BEYOND THE PRODUCT
Building the appis only part of it.
I also lead much of FANIME's marketing and brand growth - from campaign concepts and social strategy to launch messaging, promotional content and the way we position FANIME publicly.
On the partnership side, I help identify opportunities, conduct outreach and develop collaborations with creators, anime businesses, brands, event partners, vendors and community organizations.
For me, those areas aren't separate from product. They're part of building the larger world around FANIME and creating reasons for fans, creators and businesses to actually want to be part of it.
04WHY FANIME
I wanted more thananother anime app.
Anime is bigger than watching episodes. It's the edits we save, debates we get way too invested in, characters we create, merch we collect, games we play, conventions we attend and people we meet because of it.
I wanted FANIME to reflect that whole experience instead of reducing anime culture to another content category.
That's why the vision became bigger: content, community, gaming, activities, creation, rewards, shopping and real-world experiences - together.
WHY
05THE FAN BEHIND THE FOUNDER
Yes, I actuallywatch anime.
FANIME wasn't created from the outside looking in. I'm part of the same culture we're building for.
Naruto
Forever number one.
My Hero
Academia
One of the favorites.
Zoro.
That's it. That's the information.
06BUILDING FANIME
The idea was easy.Building the company was the real part.
FANIME started as an idea for a better anime-centered social experience, but it quickly became much larger than that.
Building it has meant designing, coding, testing, rebuilding, creating campaigns, developing partnerships, pitching ideas, planning events, listening to users and figuring things out in real time.
I've had to move between product, engineering, marketing, creative strategy, partnerships and founder responsibilities constantly - sometimes all in the same day.
There's still a lot left to build. That's part of what makes the vision exciting.
FOUNDER NOTE
“I don't want FANIME to feel like a company discovered anime fans. I want it to feel like anime fans built something for ourselves.”
- BLUE, CO-FOUNDER + CEO
MEET THE OTHER HALF
FANIME hastwo founders.
FANIME