Introduction to Funding for Early Web3 StartupsIntroduction to Funding for Early Web3 StartupsIn our article, we share different types of funding channels, such as investing in DAOs or bounty programs. As a continuation, this article will share with you more resource packages related to financing.
For start-up companies in the encryption industry, we have compiled relevant resources of various financing channels, which are mainly divided into two stages: the financing preparation period and the execution period. In order to better help everyone read, we also indicate the release time of the article/video, reading/watching time and information source.
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financing preparation stage
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Set financing goals and assess project value
First, you need to define your funding goals, which means how much money you want to raise. If you want to find venture capital to invest, you also need to evaluate the value of the project. The following resources can help you accomplish both tasks.
How to Value a Business That Hasnt Generated Revenue? What metrics should be presented to investors? （How To Value A Pre-Revenue Company And What Metrics To Show Investors）
This article is aimed at traditional startups, so some metrics are not applicable to Web3 enterprises. However, some valuation calculation methods mentioned in the article are still worth learning.
Format: Article | Date: 22 June | Reading Time: 10 mins | Source: Seelegals
How to Valuate Encrypted Startups During Market Turmoil - Sharing from Three VC Investors (paid article)（3 Venture Capital Investors Explain How They Value Crypto Startups With The Markets In Turmoil）
Ethan Kurzweil of Bessemer, Ravi Mhatre of Lightspeed, and Tushar Jain of Multicoin Ventures share their approach to valuing startups in the crypto industry. This article can teach you how to value a project from a VC perspective.
Format: Article | Date: May 22 | Read Time: 9 min | Source: Forbes
This article lists the metrics that investors use when valuing crypto startups, and breaks them down based on verticals such as DeFi and gaming.
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Develop business plans and financial forecasts
A business plan allows investors to understand the purpose of financing and the prospect of return on investment. There are currently no specific business plan templates for Web3, but you can refer to many traditional startup company templates.
This is an Excel spreadsheet that helps traditional Saas startups build financial models based on subscription revenue. You can refer to this table to formulate a Web3 business model.
Format: Excel Sheet | Date: July 22 | Reading Time: 2 min | Source: Basetemplates.com
Financial Modeling for Startups - A Comparative Analysis of 12 Different Templates（Startup financial models – 12 templates compared）
This post compares 12 financial model templates often used by traditional SaaS startups. In addition, the article also analyzes the characteristics of excellent financial models.
Format: Article | Date: April 20 | Read Time: 23 minutes | Source: OpenVC
This is a toolkit released by Casual, a startup company that develops spreadsheet tools. It contains templates for founders in the crypto industry. Templates for various financial models are also included in the toolkit.
Format: List | Date: May 22 | Read time: 2 min | Source: Casual
Heres a more comprehensive list of tools that includes financial model templates. Foresight is also a startup specializing in the development of financial model templates for financial forecasting and financing.
Format: List | Date: October 22 | Read time: 2 min | Source: Foresight
E 78: Measuring indicators that VCs pay attention to when financing（E 78: VC fund metrics that matter）
Four entrepreneurs in the entrepreneurial circle discussed which measurement indicators should be included in the financing plan (note: the discussion on this topic lasted from 4 minutes and 30 seconds to 29 minutes).
Format: Video | Date: April 22 | Reading Time: 25 minutes | Source: All-in Podcast
What data need to be prepared before financing? - Insiders Guide（The Insider’s Guide to Data Rooms: What to Know Before You Raise）
This article isnt exactly about how to make a business plan, but it does give an in-depth look at the concept of a data room. Usually, when traditional VC evaluates a start-up company, it will ask the company to share a series of data indicators.
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Create a financing plan
Before meeting investors, you need to develop a detailed financing plan, and you need to modify the content of the plan for different types of meetings. This chapter will share experiences and guidelines for developing financing proposals.
In this video, German investor and founder Maximilian Fleitmann explains in detail how to create a funding proposal. Fleitmann is experienced both as an investor and as a founder.
Format: Video | Date: February 21 | Viewing Time: 9 minutes | Source: Maximilian Fleitmann
This article lists in detail the dos and donts when writing a financing proposal. While aimed at traditional startups, many of these recommendations are equally applicable to Web3 businesses.
Format: Article | Date: June 20 | Read Time: 10 minutes | Source: Forbes
Kleoverses funding proposal provides a good example for other Web3 startups. The proposal has a total of 11 pages of PPT, and Kleoverse raised $1.2 million with this proposal.
Format: PowerPoint | Date: February 22 | Reading Time: 2 minutes | Source: Pitch.com
Heres an example of a blockchain funding proposal from Failurey. Failurey is a newsletter subscription platform dedicated to sharing useful information with traditional and Web3 founders.
Format: List | Date: Jan 22 | Read time: 1 min | Source: Failure
Token Economics and Equity Distribution
Before approaching VC, you need to figure out what kind of deal structure you want. This section explores how Web3 startups allocate equity.
This article explores how the ownership structure tables of crypto startups differ from traditional startups, and how tokenomics models can be used to make financial forecasts.
Format: Article | Date: October 22 | Read time: 4 min | Source: Foresight
This is a PPT made by Jesse Walden of A16z, the topic is token distribution and transaction structure. (Note: PPT comes from a16zs Crypto Startup School course)
Format: PPT | Date: June 20 | Reading time: 3 minutes | Source: a16z
Viewpoint: Bay Area venture capital Tomasz Tunguz deeply analyzes two ownership structure tables (encryption and traditional).
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Financing Execution Stage
Once the key materials and proposals are prepared, you can start contacting investors and find ways to persuade them to invest. This chapter will teach you how to start the fundraising phase. Two of the most common financing channels will be mentioned, namely: VC financing and crowdfunding.
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General Financing Advice
The following resources span the entire funding process, covering each funding round as well as the pitch process.
This article explains in detail the different types of funding processes for startups. The article is aimed at traditional startups, but Web3 entrepreneurs can also learn from it.
Format: Article | Date: 22 September | Read time: 16 min | Source: Seelegals
This article puts forward practical suggestions for DeFi startups to start financing, and mentions various financing channels. Although the title of the article only mentions DeFi, in fact other types of encryption startups can learn from its experience.
Format: Article | Date: May 21 | Reading Time: 19 min | Source: Kerman Kohli
This is one in a series on the topic of financing from investment firm Antler. The company specializes in investing in Web2 and Web3 projects.
Format: Article | Date: September 20th | Read Time: 7 min | Source: Antler
The podcast episode is called Liquid, hosted by Cosmo Jiang and Joyce yang, and the topic is Web3 encryption industry investment. This issue has invited Aave CEO and angel investor Stani Kulechov to share his experience as a Web3 investor.
Format: Podcast | Date: February 21 | Listening Time: 53 minutes | Source: Stani Kulechov
This video is a panel discussion from the Startup with Chainlink program, in which three Web3 founders share their experiences and funding advice.
Format: Video | Date: May 22 | Watch Time: 18 minutes | Source: Startup with Chainlink
This is a sharing discussion by Patrick Wu, partner of SkyVision, at the BNB Chain Revelation hackathon. In it, he talks about how to find the right partners, common mistakes, and how to develop a token issuance strategy.
Format: Video | Date: April 22 | Watch Time: 21 minutes | Source: Binance
This is another sharing on the BNB Chain Revelation Hackathon. Jarindr Thitadilaka, project lead and founder of GuildFi, discusses specific considerations for financing in the Web3 gaming space.
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Venture Capital - Finding and Contacting VCs
This chapter will share with you the experience of dealing with professional investors such as VC and angel investors. Well focus on how to make a first impression and communicate effectively.
In this article, Web3 analyst Marco Manoppo takes an in-depth look at the different ways VCs generate added value and how to evaluate VCs in the crypto industry.
Format: Article | Date: October 22 | Reading Time: 9 min | Source: Marco Manoppo
Here’s a long tweet from Daily Ape founder Darren Lau that explores how to evaluate VCs. What I want to remind everyone here is that this article was written in the bull market of 2021, but it is still a good in-depth article.
Format: Long Tweet | Date: October 21 | Read time: 2 min | Source: Darren Lau
This PPT is relatively old, produced by Techstars, a startup accelerator. However, it still has certain reference value for building financing channels. It also includes a Google template form that can be used to start the financing process.
Format: PowerPoint | Date: Nov 19 | Reading Time: 5 mins | Source: Techstars
This is an elevator pitch by Web3 investor Jason Choi, based on more than 300 custom pitches, that can help you stand out when pitching your project. The original text is on Notion, only members can see it, but he posted a screenshot in this long tweet.
Format: Long Tweet | Date: June 22 | Read Time: 2 minutes | Source: Jason Choi
This is a simple template for a first pitch email, aimed at traditional startups, but Web3 startups can also use it to get their first steps.
Format: Notion Page | Date: October 20 | Read Time: 2 min | Source: Founderlibrary
Heres a tip from startup Flowrite on how to write a cold email. Flowrite uses AI technology to help users generate unique emails. Currently, the service is only available to whitelisted users.
Format: Article | Date: April 21 | Read time: 5 min | Source: Flowrite
This video is older, but very classic. Aaron Harris of Y Combinator shares candid and humorous language on how to most effectively get the opportunity to meet investors.
Format: Video | Date: October 18 | Read Time: 47 minutes | Source: Y-Combinator
This timeless guide is an exhaustive list of everything you need to know when meeting investors. Written by entrepreneur Mark Suster. This is an old article, mostly aimed at Web2 entrepreneurs, but still has a lot of practical advice.
Format: Article | Date: June 18 | Read Time: 7 min | Source: Mark Suster
This video is very interesting. Justin Kan, the founder of Twitch and partner of Y Combination, shared with you how to sell his project to VC while driving in Los Angeles.
Format: Video | Date: October 21 | Watch Time: 15 min | Source: Justin Kan
This is one of the articles in Antlers financing masterclass. It is aimed at Web2 startups, but it is also very useful for Web3 companies.
Format: Article | Date: September 20th | Read Time: 7 min | Source: Antler
This video is a panel discussion from the AWS Startup Program on how female founders can pitch their projects to male investors, but a lot of the advice is applicable to any unique project. Discussion starts at 22 minutes.
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Crowdfunding - Examples and Guidelines
The crowdfunding model of Web3 is constantly developing. This chapter will share with you how Web3 startups raise funds through decentralized channels.
This is a long tweet in which Nader Dabit, a Web3 DevRel expert, shared nine cases of projects directly posting on Mirror for financing (the financing amount ranged from $60,000 to $3 million).
Format: Long Tweet | Date: June 22 | Reading Time: 1 minute | Source: Nader Dabit
The mainstream creator community Friends With Benefits described how they launched a crowdfunding project and sold the tokens in the DAO vault to institutional investors.
Format: Article | Date: June 22 | Read Time: 2 min | Source: Friends With Benefits
Fairmint, a Web3 financing platform, shared the cases of different types of startups financing projects through crowdfunding.
Format: Article | Date: July 22 | Read time: 4 min | Source: Fairmint
This article briefly introduces the financing model of crowdfunding DAO Juicebox. It mentions the case of three DAOs that have launched large funding rounds.
Format: Article | Date: Aug. 22 | Read Time: 2 min | Source: Juicebox
This FAQ mainly talks about how to obtain financing on LAO. LAO is a venture capital fund led by DAO members in the United States.
Format: Article | Date: September 21 | Reading Time: 2 minutes | Source: Lao DAO
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Apply for Startup with Chainlink
Startup with Chainlink ProgramDedicated to providing Web3 entrepreneurs with world-class resources and support on their entrepreneurial path. The program aims to provide one-stop assistance for start-up companies from initial project conception, proof of concept, system development to community incubation.
All Web3 teams currently developing unique products and services are welcomecome to sign up. pleaseSubscribe to the Chainlink newsletter, for more information on resources for Web3 startups.
