Before Bored Ape Yacht Club became a cultural shorthand, Kerem Atalay and Zeshan Ali had to make its website, smart contracts and members-only spaces work together. The co-founder known online as Emperor Tomato Ketchup helped turn a peculiar club into functioning code.

A UNH networking lab brought three friends together. Years of building companies, a poker AI and an awkward NFT transfer eventually gave Caleb Banister and his collaborators a new problem to solve.
Before Bored Ape Yacht Club became a public spectacle, two programmers had to make its club work. Zeshan Ali was one of them - and he learned the collection was selling out from a 3 a.m. phone call.