As the DeFi bull market continues, some brutally honest tips for new founders fundraising in crypto.

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1/ The discount you offer to strategic investors is both to account for the risk of an unlaunched product, but also as compensation for continued value add and support.

So make sure you know the investor will support you and not leave you on read once the docs are signed!
2/ Having someone on your cap table/ token allocation is as important as hiring.

You wouldn't hire someone just because they are influencers on Twitter- you do your reference checks and find evidence of value add from other companies the investor has invested in.
3/ Don't trust, verify.

Many investors will promise you the world when they're trying to get on your cap table.

Talk to founders they backed to see how much of it is bullshit. Ask them about how the investor was there for them during hard times.
4/ Don't just go for "name brand" funds because you want the brand.

Sure, it's great validation, but optimize for fit, not vanity.

However, I do think many well-known VCs are good actors, especially those with roots in successful trad VCs. They have a rep for a reason!
5/ But sometimes it's economics, not malice.

e.g. if you're raising a $500K round and you approach a $500M fund and offer them $250K, do you expect the fund to be economically incentivized to spare much resources on you?

Size correctly, but *don't* give away too much.
6/ In crypto, because of the short time to liquidity vs. traditional venture, some funds will arb the strategic discounts and dump on retails once vesting completes.

They reckon - hey, if everything is trading at $100M+ and you're raising at $10M, that's an easy 10x for me.
7/ The worst of these will get in the SAFT, and then flip it OTC before vesting is complete at a discount to market price but massive premium to where they got in.

e.g. They get in at $10M val but locked for 2 years, market trades at $100M, so they flip it for $60M.
8/ Typically this is a contractual breach under the standard SAFT so their allocation can be legally revoked.

You should also rely on your other investors to find out who these funds are, and encourage your peers to blacklist them from all future raises. Help clean up the space.
9/ Usually, VC funds with long fund lives (5-10 years) don't think this way and may hold your investment until the entire thesis plays out.

So check to see what the fund mandate of your investor is!

However - a massive caveat here...
7/ Liquid funds (meaning they are less prone to holding an investment for say 5 years+) can be massively value-add as well.

In fact, liquid funds can often do things that VC fund structures typically don't allow, esp in DeFi - e.g. providing liquidity on your platform on day 1.
8/ All in all - because of the promise of quickly actualizable gains, there are many misalignments in incentives in crypto.

But for every bad actor there is an investor who stakes their reputation, career, and personal capital to push the space forward.
9/ "VCs are all parasites" is often a narrative pushed by those who didn't have a chance to work with great investors, or those who don't have an intimate understanding of the nuances of this messy industry.
10/ If you want to just give away allocations, you'd probably get more retail money just doing a public raise .

If raising a venture round, remember that the relationship *begins* at the finalization of the docs.
11/ Give periodic updates to your venture investors, and don't hide problems from them!

Investor update calls are not sales pitches - it doesn't have to all be rosy. We're already sold on the vision. Now we want to know what you're struggling with, so we can help.
13/ At the end of the day as @Joey__Santoro says in his original tweet - it's all about incentive alignment.

Ask yourself what you need from investors besides capital, and verify whether they have done this, then hold them accountable.

More from Finance

1/ My Mission: To Spread Financial Wellness (thread)

Here’s what "financial wellness" means to me

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

2/ Mindset

Humans are programmed to think short-term

Evolutionary, thinking short-term makes sense. It helps with survival.

Financial wellness is all about training yourself to develop a long-term mindset

Not easy -- it takes practice


3/ Mindset

If you join the right tribes, you can’t help but improve

My favs:
@AffordAnything
@ChooseFiFI
FinTwit
@MicroCapClub
@themotleyfoolFool
@visualizevalue

Twitter / Podcasts / Blogs / YouTube -- when used correctly -- are amazing


4/ Mindset

Educate yourself - constantly!

Especially about:

1⃣Money
2⃣Relationships
3⃣Health

These 3 categories have an outsized influence on all areas of your life

Books


5/ Career

In the beginning, focus on growing your income

Do more than what is expected

Become a lynchpin

Find a career that you ENJOY (<- important!) that also has high-income potential

Start a side hustle (<- important!)

Build your talent
THREAD: Who are the rising stars of Chinese elite politics in the central Party-State bureaucracy?

For @MacroPoloChina I analyzed last year's ministerial-level promotions to posts in Beijing

TLDR: Ties to Xi Jinping—or a Xi ally—are very helpful! (1/14)

https://t.co/kO2A0Efyq2


Seven politicians were promoted to ministerial-level positions in central Party agencies last year

All are likely to feature on the next Central Committee selected at the 2022 Party Congress

Some could make the CCP's elite 25-person Politburo (2/14)

https://t.co/kO2A0Efyq2


Likeliest for the Politburo is Meng Xiangfeng, new Executive Deputy Director of the CCP General Office

He would replace Xi ally Ding Xuexiang as CCP chief-of-staff if Ding is promoted further in 2022

Meng worked under Xi allies Cai Qi in Hangzhou and Chen Xi in Liaoning (3/14)


Less likely for the Politburo but still important is Jiang Jinquan, new Director of the CCP Policy Research Office

He replaces 5th-ranked leader Wang Huning who led the Party's brains trust for 18 years

Wang remains prominent and will be <68 in 2022, so he'll stay around (4/14)


Other notable central Party promotions include Li Shulei and Liang Yanshun, who both assisted Xi when he led the Central Party School from 2007-2012

Li is a political conservative who is said to be quite close with Xi, even drafting his 2014 speech on culture and art (5/14)

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