ConsumerBreak, since 2011
Our story
A decade and a half of relentless building. Five development companies. Almost $1 million invested. Two parents lost. One vision that never died.
"What if you turned an advertisement into a puzzle?"
Frank Legg, 2011: the question that started everything
01 / The journey
Fifteen years, year by year
- 2011
An Idea Is Born
Natanel and Christopher Legg - classmates at WVU Tech turned co-workers at a local engineering firm in the heart of West Virginia, USA - hear an interesting question from Chris's dad Frank. "What if you turned an advertisement into a puzzle?" Nat doesn't immediately see it, but after sleeping on it agrees it could be revolutionary. Concept & Innovation Group, LLC and the ConsumerBreak® trademark are formed.
- 2012
First Prototype
Nat and Chris design web mockups, raise investment funding from personal connections, and hire a local development firm to build a desktop prototype. Nat begins learning video production from YouTube tutorials and explores this hobby through the MisterNatMan YouTube channel. The original glass-like shard puzzle style with customized content is born.
- 2013
ConsumerBreak.com Launches
Apps with IRL rewards and PayPal consumer payments don't exist yet. PayPal rejects the app that initiates automated prize transfers, but eventually approves after 6 weeks of appeals. ConsumerBreak.com launches on desktop using puzzles that feature Nat's own photography and prizes paid out of pocket. A promo video is recorded in his living room with a friend for narration. The first-ever PayPal consumer prize transfer is made.
- 2014
Mobile Shift & Rebuilding
The world shifts to mobile as ConsumerBreak.com fails to attract users. Chris and Frank step down, remaining as advisors. Natanel's father Michael becomes CEO, restructures company to accept more investors, and funds iOS + Android development with a new company. Nat continues to design all wireframes, mockups, screenshots, videos, and online marketing. The team begins building apps.
- 2015
Crowdfunding Endeavors
Nat designs an elaborate Kickstarter + Indiegogo campaign - rejected on both because they don't allow prize-giving products. Launches on RocketHub instead, raising $888 from friends. Uses it to present at One Spark Crowdfunding Festival in Jacksonville, FL. Gets great public feedback but no funding. Gets fired from his day job for making the trip. Moves to Maryland to get engaged to long-term girlfriend Megan. Gets a new fulltime CAD job there, and continues to work with Mike to reach well-connected media partners and investors.
- 2016
Development Disaster and Tragic Disease
Six figures of development investment produces a completely unusable product and ballooned hosting costs. The project scope is too complex. The hired company outsources work and fails to progress. A year of bug fixing ends in forcing the development company to close the project. The ConsumerBreak.com web app from 2013 also is rendered unusable. Everything starts over from scratch, having never launched apps at all. In the summer of 2016, Natanel's mother Barbara is diagnosed with untreatable Stage 4 soft-tissue Sarcoma. Nat and Megan move their wedding date forward so Barbara can witness it. They have a small family wedding. Four months later in December, Michael is diagnosed with Stage 3 esophageal cancer.
- 2017
iOS Prototype & Holding Hope
Michael undergoes chemotherapy, radiation, and a 4-hour surgery. He spends his remaining assets funding a simplified iOS prototype - hiring a third development company - to give Nat something to move on with. The app launches with cash prize contests out of pocket yet again. They fail to grow a user base but continue refining.
- 2018
The Hardest Year
Michael and Barbara Eisenberg lose their battles with cancer, in the same Hospice room, on February 12th and February 14th, 2018. Natanel is committed to carrying on their legacy and does not even consider giving up. He ramps up iOS traction with new cash contests out of pocket, pitches brands, but cannot gain traction without scale. More funding and an Android app are needed.
- 2019
New Investment & Android Launch
Natanel unexpectedly inherits a substantial amount of money after the passing of Michael's aunt. He decides to invest all of it into ConsumerBreak and to see the Proof of Concept through. This funds Android development, new features, salary, and a large amount of cash prizes. After another development cycle and recruiting of local businesses and online brands, a new prototype launches in December 2019 with real resources behind it.
- 2020
The Proof of Concept Year
At this point Nat has been through too much and is downright crazy. He spends 100% of his time on ConsumerBreak with minimal sleep for a year straight - running hundreds of puzzle contests and paying out $100,000+ in prizes to 4,800+ unique winners across the country. He manually designs all visual and audio games based on real-life brand content that he gets permission for. Invents the QuestBreak scavenger hunt game and Skill Rank system. Starts a Facebook group that grows to 1,000+ members. Recruits puzzle designers. Launches MerchBreak.com. Runs $50k in Facebook ads to attract players in hopes of gaining viral traffic which would kickstart continuous sponsored rewards. The data is definitive: content-based puzzle games create prolonged guaranteed engagement and unparalleled advertising immersion. But without prize incentives, the 2k consistent players disappear. The Catch-22 of scale vs. sponsors remains. Megan and Nat decide to divorce, and he moves back to West Virginia.
- 2021
Pivoting to Expand The Brand
Natanel feels like he has nothing left to lose, so he begins thinking about ways to pivot by using the puzzle game style as other forms of content. He spends his remaining resources to hire illustrators for educational kids apps BibleBreak & StudentBreak, as well as a 4th developer to rebuild the apps in React Native code so it is versatile across all devices. He connects with old college friend Travis, active in WAX blockchain communities, who recommends learning about crypto and NFTs to create their own rewards systems. They design the Hybrid Creatures - a digital trading card collection to showcase in puzzle games weekly and provide NFT rewards. Nat hires a crypto attorney and prepares to launch this new direction. He also reconnects with his old CAD job from Maryland, and begins working part time from home to keep making ends meet.
- 2022
Hybrid Creatures, Stream Debut, Weekly Collabs
Nat partners with one of the BibleBreak artists, Rolan, to launch the Hybrid Creatures collection. Regular new season art drops, weekly puzzle games showcasing them. Through the WAX Twitch streaming ecosystem, Nat begins his live streaming debut by interviewing WAX NFT project creators and featuring their collection in weekly puzzle games with prizes. Twitch grows to 1,600+ followers; 50,000+ NFTs minted.
- 2023
NFTOPIA Metaverse Convention
After a year of weekly project interviews, Nat co-founds the virtual NFTOPIA Metaverse Convention with 4 large successful events and becomes a prominent ambassador in the WAX Blockchain ecosystem. He also becomes WV Business Plan Competition Finalist for the StudentBreak app. In order to keep ConsumerBreak puzzles running and launch BibleBreak+StudentBreak Beta, Nat has to hire a 5th development company to take over.
- 2024
Watch2earn and x spaces
2,800+ Twitch followers and monthly "AMA Train" + "NFTOPIA School" educational live stream events. Nat co-founds a weekly X Space @thenftopia news show highlighting community drops and pitches. He partners with Scurvybot to deliver WAX NFTs automatically through a Twitch bot and viewer point system. Hybrid Creatures Season 4 -- 300,000+ total NFTs minted. Nat cannot continue sustaining the ConsumerBreak app hosting and dev costs once again, being forced to retire the infrastructure and sever developer relationship.
- 2025
INTRO TO VIBE CODING
Nat continues co-hosting weekly X spaces and organizes NFTOPIA 5 funded by WAXlabs grants. He experiments with using Base44 A.I. to recreate the entire ConsumerBreak puzzle app from scratch - along with more similar mini games. He creates the KeyBreak app for new stream experiences using soundboards, performances, and SUNO A.I. music. Featured on front page of Twitch. Hybrid Creatures Season 4.5 Scrolls & Maps - 600k+ assets.
- 2026
THE BREAKERY AND SPECTRAL ART
Natanel uses Claude A.I. to develop the "BREAKERY" app ecosystem of brand gamification and community marketplaces. He caps off the Hybrid Creatures saga with a feature length A.I. assisted movie that ties the storyline to his old MisterNatMan videos. He co-founds the weekly Sunday "Spectral Sessions" live art show with Jumbie Art and NFTerramike - friends from WAX. Together they learn about the XRPL ecosystem and form the nonprofit Spectral Art Foundation Endeavors (SAFE) - setting in motion Jumbie's own 18-year journey in bringing his patented Spectral Art vision into fruition.
02 / What was built
What exists today
After everything (the investments, the setbacks, the loss), here is what stands.
Spectral Art Foundation Endeavors
The world's first patented physical Spectral Art ecosystem. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
NFTOPIA
Co-founded a metaverse convention that ran 7 successful events.
Live shows and education
Weekly Sunday art shows, streamed across Twitch, Blaze, Arena, YouTube and more.
BREAK Frii and the Breakery tools
Gamified vendor coupons, the KeyBreak soundboard and free in-browser art tools, all on the web. Infrastructure owned and operated by Natanel, a.k.a. BreakMan.
Hybrid Creatures saga
800k+ assets minted, free cards on Twitch every week and a blend-to-upgrade system. A story told over four seasons so far, with new lore to come.
The ConsumerBreak family
1000+ people across social media and Discord, and a network of independent Web3 builders who make things together. Plus the BibleBreak book and audiobook at BibleBreakApp.com.
Dedicated to
Michael and Barbara Eisenberg
February 12 and February 14, 2018