Last week was a16z Crypto's CSX demo day and our last week in London. To celebrate an awesome 10 weeks, I wanted to share a recap of some of my favorite lessons.
I'd also like to thank Jay, Jason, Emily, Anna, Tamzen, and the rest of the CSX team for organizing a great program and group of founders.
Achieving PMF is like holding a winning hand. - Jason Rosenthal (a16z)
It gives you optionality (e.g., fundraise, get acquired, acquire other companies, build a massive generational company).
Design your product for the dinner table. - Ben Rubin (HNT, Towns)
How do you want people to talk about your product at the dinner table?
Start backward: What does the user say at the dinner table? Map the product funnel to that conversation.
Web3 is the hardest place to be an entrepreneur. - Mo Shaikh (Aptos Labs)
The market is “neck-whipping” fast, and you get to “be really close to the customer”
A crowded market (in web3) doesn't matter. There are barely 1m users. 5B users are not using your product.
Build a great community by genuinely giving a fuck. - Jing Wang (Optimism Foundation)
How does Optimism have such a great community? “We genuinely give a fuck” - Jing
What are vibes? People are having fun. Vibes are the outcome of a bunch of early decisions
Vitalik on why unicorn shirts “keep out a particular type of toxicity “
Network tokens are the most interesting token type - Eddy Lazzarin (a16z)
There are four token types: Memecoins, Stablecoin, Arcade tokens, Network token
Network tokens are the most interesting: You don't design a token; you design a protocol
Find people who love what you are doing - Hilmar Veigar (CCP Games)
Finding a few people who love what you're doing is better than millions who just like it. Avoid ambivalence.
Start there and then diffuse into the mainstream. The best things started as niches: Metalica, Apple, Eve
More cryptography is better - Valeria Nikolaenko (a16z)
“Richer the toolkit, the better. The more tools we have, the more free we are.”
Our privacy toolkit is very poor — Data is leaked all the time. With MPC, you can shift it around
The new Five Forces: the source of competitive advantage has changed. - Scott Kominers (a16z)
The source gets stronger when you have interoperability
Value capture in traditional form is more difficult
Network effect forms around protocol and digital assets
Embeddedness becomes a source of competitive advantage
Community cohesion: Users want to engage in your ecosystem; shared ownership is a powerful loop
Regulation should reflect democratic values. - Brian and Michele (a16z)
Shouldn't: create new powers, censorship
Should: support innovative tech, freedom, right to transaction, promote competition
A brand is a collection of beliefs people have about your company. - Steven Ebert
A brand is not something you set and forget. The reality is that a brand is like a living org that evolves
Brand building is the practice of shaping a brand.
Minimum Viable Brand is why you exist, how to tell your story in a compelling way, and how you differentiate from competitors
Fundraising is answering questions about a business. - Arianna Simpson (a16z)
Why is this a big market?
Why are you best positioned to tackle that problem and win?
How deeply have the founders explored the idea maze?
How good is the founder market fit
Assuming everything goes well, what will you be doing in 5 years?
All decisions in the beginning compound more than you think. - Alex Blania (Worldcoin)
The first eight people should be complete rock stars, work day and night, and be a perfect cultural fit.
There is a massive difference between top-tier and non-top-tier investors, so optimizing Series A leads matters more than founders think. Investors who have not been founders should not advise founders on how to run a company.
View life as art and paint pictures. - Chris Lyons (a16z)
Your job is to paint pictures. Maximize what each moment can be. You can make 1 + 1 = 2 or 1 + 1 = 11.
What is the next best situation? "There is always a move. If something is a little boring, you need to shake it up. There is always a move."
Think smaller to go bigger. - Shane Mac (XMTP)
Mistake Shane made with the previous startup: went horizontal instead of vertical. Thought dog walking was too small: "were not just a vertical app were bigger and better."
Think smaller to go bigger. We didn't pick a small vertical to nail the experience, and we couldn't have picked a small enough community.
Key insight: Do not go broad; Go less. If that doesn't work, switch to a vertical.
Communities are the most powerful force. - Chris Dixon (a16z)
The moat is your community.
1K True Fans: you need 1K super fired about contributing. Think, “How do I get 1K people to love me?”
It's surprising how small of a community you need (Wikipedia is basically 20K people).
The best company in every credible category.
You can't control the category, but you can control the best team.
Category is the hardest thing about the investor's job. Not overly strict about the category because predicting the future is difficult. Very strict on the team.
Example: You can be unsure of decentralized social, but you can be sure that Farcaster is the best team.
Cheers
That's a wrap! Thank you, a16z Crypto and London 🍻
