Two founders. Two chains.
Two chains solving the same problems from different angles. Two visions that should compete on paper, right? But instead of posturing, we compared notes and ideas.
One of us asked:
“How do you handle dropout during bridge load?”
The other replied:
“We reroute, but we’re seeing latency spikes. You?”
That question turned into three hours of war stories. And a week later, both pushed commits influenced by that. We didn’t sign a deal. I didn’t even tweet about it until now.
In web3, trustless systems are easy.
Trust between two humans?
Still rare. Still worth it.
Most early-stage investors ask:
“What’s your traction?”
“What’s your TAM?”
“Who else is investing?”
While this is important for Web3 businesses, I feel that they are missing the most important point. And that deals with the founders themselves, and not their plans.
Because markets will crash.
Partners will drop out.
The roadmap will change.
I love founders who treat venture capital as rocket fuel, not as life support. I look for resilience, focus, and persistence that doesn’t show up on a spreadsheet.
Investors should fund the tipping point.
Not when it’s safe.
But when it’s still crazy… and worth doing anyway.
Midway through Day 2, we crashed for a coffee break near our booth. We were half-expecting to just zone out, but the co-founder from a market maker walked up to us:
“You guys are from TAN, right?” he asked.
We nodded, already in a wind-down.
“I read about your Inflation Protection Model. But do users actually feel it? Or is it just math on a whitepaper?”
That turned into one of the deepest convos so far.
We discussed how other models often confuse users or get lost in memes. He shared how his community freaked during a supply unlock, despite the math checking out.
It was a wake-up call.
Even the best tokenomics need stories that people feel.
Bitcoin made decentralized money real. Ethereum showed us what programmable blockchains can do.
But both ran into the same wall: scaling.
What do you think the next logical evolution is?