The Yes Whale - A Journey of Entrepreneurship through Art

Yes Whale

In the summer of 2013, a few Silicon Valley entrepreneurs invited me to create art for their unconference, "Yes and Yes Yes," in Palm Springs. The challenge: I lived in Sydney, Australia, and the flight to the US would cost a few thousand dollars. The organizers offered a free event ticket and hotel but couldn’t cover my flight. I had two choices: say NO and miss the opportunity, or YES and pay for my flight. 

Inspired by the event’s optimistic spirit, I decided to say YES. I created the "Yes Whale" artwork (a counterpart to the Twitter "Fail Whale," which I also made), and it was featured as the event’s theme on t-shirts, bags, and other materials. To fund my flight, I made 50 limited edition signed prints of the "Yes Whale" and asked the organizers to promote them. Attendees bought the prints, covering my flight costs and more. I donated the extra proceeds to the World Wildlife Fund to help save real-world whales. This was my first IPO—Initial Painting Offering—and it was a huge success. The optimism that led me to say YES resulted in new friends and business partners, and this experience paved the way for my move from Sydney to San Francisco in 2015. 

Now, eleven years later, in the summer of 2024, I’m thrilled to release the "Yes Whale" as a digital collectible in the "Get Based" creator series. The artwork will be available on Base. With a resounding YES, I hope this iconic "Yes Whale" brings you optimism & creativity and inspires your journey into new horizons.

It has been 15 years since my art piece "Lifting a Dreamer" became the Twitter Fail Whale, a symbol of @Twitter 's service outage from 2008 to 2013. It has inspired hundreds, probably thousands, of funny, clever & amusing homages and take-offs from users globally. In 2009, the Twitter community voted me the Winner in Design for the Shorty Awards in New York, marking the beginning of my journey to the US from Sydney, Australia. During a three-day layover in San Francisco, I met many entrepreneurs and artists, setting the foundation for my eventual move six years later.

The “Twitter Fail Whale” 

BaseScan

Born & raised in Shanghai, educated in Sydney & London, and based in San Francisco for 10 years, Yiying Lu is an award-winning artist, entrepreneur, and bilingual TEDx speaker. She has been recognized as one of the "Fast Company Most Creative People in Business," a "Microsoft Top 10 Leader in Innovation," and a "Shorty Awards" winner in Design. Yiying has created iconic artworks seen by billions, including the Twitter Fail Whale, Conan O'Brien Pale Whale, Dumpling and Boba Tea Emojis, and the Chinese Paper-cut Style Mickey Mouse for Disney Shanghai's opening. She was the former Creative Director of 500 Startups, where her work helped tech startups raise millions, including Sam Altman's Loopt in 2011.

"I'm thankful to the global community, and the optimism that led me to say YES has resulted in new friends, business opportunities, and adventures over the last decades. I look forward to swimming with the YES Whale and building more bridges between art and technology, business and culture, beauty and meaning, work and life, and the East and the West." - Yiying Lu 


The Artist 

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