Summer is nearly over, but the Summer of Symbiotic continues with @TanssiNetwork on @Galxe
- Learn how Tanssi enables appchains
- Discover how Tanssi uses Symbiotic
- Deposit into a vault
Link below:
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Diamond-handed through 7 candlesticks 💎🙌
Can you beat my score? Play the game at https://t.co/1sesG9XtK3
Day 1 at Monad Founder residency – Rain, Rants & Real Talk
Morning chaos
We all gathered in the hotel lobby at 10:45 am. It was raining, so the planned morning walk turned into a “let’s all book Grab taxis” By 11 am, we reached Network School, our co-working space for the program.
(Yes, I should have taken a picture. No, I didn’t. Too busy staring like a tourist without a camera kek)
First session: Pareen’s briefing
At 11, we kicked things off with an briefing session. Pareen shared the essentials: food timings, where to find the library, gym, and swimming pool. Then came the serious bit, strict warning: don’t touch the beach water. Factories have dumped chemicals in it, and if you even think about swimming, you will come back with rashes.
FOCK CAPITALISM (not really though, i like making money)
After that, Pareen explained what founders could expect from the program:
- Mentors sessions on Growth
- Pitches and feedback
- Metrics updates and progress discussion
- Product feedback and suggestions
- Co-working time to build, strategize, or just nerd out with other founders and Monad team members.
Starting tomorrow, every founder has to define their North Star metric, the one number that matters most for their startup. Example: a lending/borrowing protocol might focus on growing TVL. From then on, all energy goes into making that north star metric go up.
Founder intros & pitches
Around 12 pm, it was showtime. Founders and Monad team members went on stage one by one, introduced themselves, and founders gave short pitches about their projects. Today was chill, no strict rules.
From tomorrow though, it will be just only 2 minutes to pitch, then feedback from the Monad team.
Lunch + Bryan Johnson rage
From 1 to 2 pm, we had lunch. Once again, no photo. (I really need to fix this habit, if i have to post these blogs and hopefully vlogs too someday)
But honestly, even if I had taken a pic, it would just remind me of my lunch nemesis: Bryan Johnson.
This guy has pushed his vision and made food so joyless that every bite felt like punishment. I ate late anyway because I joined a conversation with the @kizzymobile team member about upcoming upgrades, Mainnet preparation, and on what user groups team will be focusing on and which platforms. Btw team is well aware about Community's feedback and will make some updates to fix the user experience.
Good chat, but bad food vibes. Every chew = “I hate you Bryan Johnson.”
Afternoon grind
At 2 pm, founders went into work mode. Some had team calls, some discussed collabs with other founders, others talked fundraising with Monad team members and asked for feedbacks, and some were busy writing on whiteboards and discussing future growth strategy with their co-founders. This work session lasted until 5 pm.
Everyone was busy in their work overall.
Afterwards, people headed back to the hotel. Some took a cab, some walked. I walked, and got lost while scrolling Twitter. With weak internet connection, i couldn't rely on google Maps, I had to ask locals (the old traditional way) for directions before finally making it back to Hotel Marina.
Later came to know that the Network School team was handing out T-shirts and SIM cards at reception, but of course I walked right past without noticing.
Dinner time (quite early, but it is what it is)
Straight to dinner for me, where, yes, Bryan Johnson vision was waiting for me again. Same soulless food.
Post-dinner, I joined the @DeltaV_xyz weekly product sync, new [redacted] feature will be implemented soon. Met Joey (a dev from Miami). He doesn’t trade, just holds BTC, ETH, SOL, and HYPE. No charts, no stress, and still outperforming 95% of us crypto traders.
Took a break from 6 pm to 7pm.
Founders stories in the library
At 7 pm, we regrouped in the library for the Founder's Story session. Pareen kicked things off with his own journey, sharing his failures to show it’s okay to admit vulnerabilities, and better to face problems head-on instead of hiding them.
People who shared their stories:
- Joey Takayama (@Backpack) talked about his background, why he joined Backpack, and how Monad’s core values resonated with him.
Siva (@YapdotMarket) shared how the last 6 months have been the best of his life, working on Yapdotmarket.
Ryze (@SonzaiLabs) explained why he chose building over a cushy finance job.
Patrick (@MuDigitalHQ) shared his soul-crushing corporate past and how he saw an opportunity to start his own thing.
Easy (@seertrade) talked about his trader background, his desire for independence, and why he built Seer Trade to improve UX.
Sarthal (@RugRumble) shared how his lifelong “by the books” path eventually pushed him to build Rug Rumble.
Aditya (@kizzymobile) spoke about building on Monad since Feb 2024 and his team’s experiences with the Monad team.
I noticed a pattern: most founders started because they were frustrated with their jobs or they wanted something more fulfilling, even if it meant more work and less money. Success or failure, they preferred ownership of their own path.
There was also a broader discussion about startups: most fail, often because founders split or lose energy. Still, people take the risk.
@monad team's philosophy of no shortcuts, no grants, only the hard but necessary path came up. I had assumed many community members admired Keone’s work ethic, humility and core values he stand by, but it turns out founders are also deeply inspired, which is why many chose Monad.
Session wrapped up around 9 pm.
Late-night wind down
Quick trip to KK Mart for cold drinks and chocolate ( Bryan Johnson vision hasn't reached here thankfully).
Back to the hotel:
Watched the latest episode of Invasion (solid tv series, highly recommend it).
Posted a thread which i wrote in afternoon, on Jordan’s session for Monad founders from last week about "community as a distribution engine" on @DeltaV_xyz
Caught up with family and friends.
Posted shipping updates on @DeltaV_xyz.
Scrolled Twitter a bit… then finally crashed.
(Unrelated pic below) Since I didn’t click the one's that were actually related, so posting this only.