Paul Hsu

@Wormhole Native Token Transfer (NTT) is the end game for solving liquidity fragmentation ✅ no vendor lock-in (modular verification) ✅ ownership, upgrade authority, & customizability ✅ defense-in-depth security ✅ lock & burn "modes" Already securing mcaps in the 10's of Billions

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Pumped to see Space and Time (SxT) close this $20M Series A! Scott Dykstra and Nate Holiday have been relentless in their mission—I've seen firsthand how these guys are constantly innovating and grinding to push the boundaries of blockchain and AI. The evolution from their data infra roots to tackling decentralized AI problems. They’ve taken what they learned solving blockchain’s toughest data challenges and turned it into something bigger... MUCH BIGGER—creating a platform that doesn’t just handle data but makes AI on the blockchain truly verifiable! Their #ZK coprocessor is a game-changer, bringing zero-knowledge proofs into #AI models in a way that’s never been done before. I'm excited to work alongside Lightspeed Faction VC and others on this journey. It’s a privilege to continue backing SxT as they set new benchmarks and redefine what decentralized AI can be. #DeAI continues.

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It's already hard to get into the top-tier YC world. It's 10x times harder if you're in Europe. Even if you're in Silicon valley, it's still hard to get into the YC ecosystem. Why? Because YC is tightly closed and protected environment. An exclusive world where demo day access is invite-only for the insiders. In the world there are only 400 handpicked guests attended the last in-person event. It was purely an insider event. You have to be an insider to get access to the best deals. And I'm on of the 400 investors who's on that list. This is why I love YC so much: Statistically 6% of these startups will become unicorns. Making them the best asset class you could ever invest your money into. But, it's almost impossible to gain access to them…. You can get access through me, and that's as close to those YC start-ups as you could ever get.

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10 Harvard-Founded, YC-Backed Unicorns Worth $141B 🦄 According to YC's website, the combined valuation of YC-backed startups is $600B. This means that ~1/4 of YC's value has been created by Harvard founders--Incredible! Stripe, Airbnb, & Rippling drive the power law (93% of value) Btw, who's in Boston this week?! Let's catch up -- Phoenix Fund invests in pre-seed and seed stage startups founded by students and alumni of Harvard/HBS

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𝗔𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁 (𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗜𝘁𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸) When it comes to using LLMs for due diligence or market research, the output is frequently fast and cheap. But in venture capital, data reliability is crucial … so, how do we make it ‘good,’ too? We built a fact checking research workflow in Make to: ⚫ Break the problem down ⚫ Research using targeted AI internet searches ⚫ Filter the results with AI-powered cross verification ⚫ Put together the report ⚫ Format the output for readability The result? A useful web app AI researcher where the output is double checked for clarity and relevance. Big thanks to Connor Davidson, GP at Atlanta Seed Company, for sharing his template + research for this project. 𝟭. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 🧱 Make doesn’t use ‘templates’ like Zapier. It uses JSON object Blueprints. Connor's is linked in the comments here. The nice thing about Make is that the Blueprint populates exactly as the original creator intended it, which eliminates a lot of manual work. Once we made a free account, all we had to do was click “New Scenario” in the dashboard and then upload it by hitting “Import Blueprint” (image 1). Now, our Scenario looks like this (image 2) 𝟯. 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗣𝗜𝘀 🪝 After we uploaded the Blueprint, we had to set it up to work on our own accounts, APIs, and webhooks. Let’s knock out the easiest ones first. Serper - This one operates as an HTTP request. All we need to do here is go to https://serper.dev/ and grab a free API key and paste it into the “Value” spot here (image 3) Perplexity - Similarly, we needed to grab an API key from https://www.perplexity.ai/ and paste it into the module to make the connection. Since their API is relatively new and in public beta, we did need a Pro subscription. But Perplexity nicely gave us 5$ in free credits to start (image 4) ChatGPT - Lastly, rinse and repeat that process for the ChatGPT module via https://lnkd.in/eHf3nrEb. 𝘞𝘦𝘣𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 - For now, all we need to do is create a new webhook and keep an eye on that web address. That’s the address we’ll be interfacing with when we connect it to our app to allow us to send data back and forth (image 5) 𝟰. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗪𝗲 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗪𝗲𝗯 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝘀 𝗔𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗩𝗖 🔥 Creating an app can sound scary. In practice, it’s super easy. In fact, we prompted ChatGPT to write the entire code and it worked on the first run. ​Download it by clicking the link in the comments. The only change you’ll need to make is adding that webhook URL from Make we told you to keep an eye on. We: ⚫ Threw that code file into a new repository in GitHub. ⚫ Made an account with Streamlit. ⚫ Clicked on ‘Create An App’ and filled out these basic details (image 6) Just like that, the app is live, hosted, and publicly accessible to our Make automation (and anyone else). Here’s an example run with Attention AI (image 7 & 8)

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Some thoughts on the following post regarding the "Secret YC SAFE" o  Isn't the whole point of a SAFE the fact that it is not debt or equity so it is only convertible based on a future fixed valuation (priced round), less whatever discount is stated and therefore requires only minor legal review. o  A valuation cap if attached to the SAFE only guarantees a maximum price for conversion. o  It therefore is not a fixed percentage of the cap table but on a post money SAFE it would guarantee a minimum percentage of the post total equity. o  There are legal, regulatory and tax consequences to buying or selling straight equity or debt. o  A SAFE agreement is neither, and therefore you only have fluff until there is a priced round that triggers the SAFE and locks in a fixed price for conversion to equity on the cap table. o  What if instead of the standard SAFE terms, (discount and or valuation cap) the 'Secret YC SAFE' simply locks in a post money percentage of equity. o  In that case you might as well subscribe for straight equity and purchase common or preferred stock. o  This however will have legal, tax, and regulatory consequences that the SAFE was designed to avoid. o  Why then, if the price is fixed and you are an accredited investor would you want to hold a SAFE that has no value until there is a priced round. o  If there is no priced round there is generally no guaranteed conversion. o  As a possible solution we have added a clause to a standard SAFE agreement to cover this obvious shortcoming;  “If this instrument does not otherwise expire or terminate prior to the two-year anniversary of the issue date, the company will, at the sole option of the Investor, and prior to the provisions of any subsequent 'Events' as described in Section 1(a)(b)(c)(d) below, issue Common Stock at a Conversion Price determined by and equal to the Safe Price.” o  This may potentially create a grey area where it could be argued for tax and regulatory purposes that the price of the offering had an ultimate fixed price and therefore did not meet the ambiguous price certainty that sets a SAFE apart from being painted with the same brush as Debt or Equity. o  A SAFE agreement that is altered to state only a definitive percentage of total outstanding equity, post money, becomes a fixed value security with the exception that it may have no guarantee of conversion prior to a fixed price round of financing. o  Taking away the ‘discount’ from a future priced round erases a key incentive for an early investor without having to negotiate the price per share upfront. Investors should want the discount in the scenario that a priced round valuation comes in lower than the valuation cap or it at least guarantees them a substantial discount to the priced round investors that come in much later at less risk.

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On final update before Wednesday's big event to kick off #CryptoForHarris. We have over 1,000 registered attendees representing some of the most important builders/founders, investors, and policymakers in the Web3 space. Here's just a short overview of some of the speakers for tomorrow. We'll be making some final big announcements in the morning as we welcome some of the highest ranking members of the U.S. government to the call. We have an amazing opportunity to reset Crypto Policy for all and make Web3 a post partisan issue. We're just getting started! SPEAKERS: (rep) Yadira Caraveo (rep) Wiley Nickel (rep) Don Davis (rep) Darren Soto (rep) Gabe Amo (rep) Adam Schiff (rep) Josh Harder (rep) Ritchie Torres (industry) Tonya Evans (industry) Carmelle Cadet / EMTECH (industry) Chrissa McFarlane. McFarlane / Patientory (industry) 🔮Adilah H. Holivay / Blockchain Brokerage LLC (industry) Sheila Warren (industry) Chris Kelly (industry) Justin Slaughter (industry) Anthony Scaramucci (industry) Mark Cuban (candidate) George Whitesides (candidate) Shomari Figures (candidate) Sam Liccardo

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Application adoption accelerates as infrastructure commoditizes. CoinBase’s recent Market Intelligence Report highlights how #Solana is uniquely positioned to lead in blockchain speed, scalability, and cost efficiency. Solana’s daily transaction volume has consistently been among the highest across Layer 1 blockchains, demonstrating its widespread use in decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs. Developer activity, with a 50% year-over-year increase in projects built on Solana, reflects growing innovation in this ecosystem. Low transaction costs and fast finality are driving Solana’s adoption for real-world applications like payments, gaming, and social and for fun applications like attention tokens and art NFTs. As we look ahead, Solana’s advancements in handling high-frequency, low-latency transactions, a mobile first perspective on interfaces and an intense, always on execution culture will further enhance Web3 applications.

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❌ Don't blindly use any pitch deck template ...that being said, here's the one I always start with 😃 At the very least add 3 slides at the beginning of any template to make it truly unique to you 🌟 Title Slide - 1 sentence to give the VC context? 🥳 Wow Slide - what’s your most exciting thing? 🤔 Why You Slide - why were you able to get that? Okay, here's the template I always start with... 1️⃣ Why Now Story First tell a story around the VCs biggest question ❗️ Why Now - we live in a new world… 🚨 Problem - and if they stick with the status quo… ❓ Opportunity - but what if? I like to start by agreeing on something to get their heads nodding And if you’ve done it right, you'll pause here so they lean in to ask how? Which you'll answer with... 💡 Solution - here’s why we’re different 🚘 Product - and why it adds value for customers And that's your opening Why Now Story! Okay, stories are great but… 2️⃣ Proof Now you'll need to show proof And there’s lots of ways to do that at pre-seed and it only gets better as you get to seed, series A, B, C... And remember there's 2 parts to PMF First you need happy customers. Then you need to build a factory that can acquire $1M+ worth of (new) happy customers every year So... 🥰 Value - customers love us because… 📈 Traction - so far we’ve accomplished… But VCs don’t care about points in time, they only care about growth... So keep that in mind when putting these together as a foundation for your GTM strategy next 3️⃣ Go to Market Now this is where we transition to the future 💰 Model - an average customer is worth… 🏭 Go to Market - we’re starting with… 🌎 Expansion - which will help us expand to… PMF is all about happy customers and a factory to produce happy customers But now we need to be capital efficient... So we want that all to come from a one well defined segment / use case The model is your building block. Your GTM is all about your first few segments and your expansion is about bigger steps to the future And now we’re in the final stretch! 4️⃣ Advantage Obviously you aren’t the only ones that see a big opportunity out there So focus these slides on the customer and not you 🤼 Competition - and we’re winning because… 🏆 Advantage - we’ll build an advantage over time… 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Team - and we’re the right team because… Why are customer (or will they) chose you? Hint - it’s not because of features How will you build an advantage over time that’ll help you win more customers? And why is your team the best to build factories that can product $1M worth of happy customers? Now all that’s left is to recap and state your ask… 5️⃣ The Ask This shouldn’t be about how you’ll spend the money ✋ Ask - now we’re raising so we can… Instead it's about where you'll get to with the money (and is that enough to unlock your next round?) -- ♻️ Repost to help a founder in your network Click 'visit my website' at the top of this post to register for my Seed to Series A session

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❌ Don't blindly use any pitch deck template ...that being said, here's the one I always start with 😃 At the very least add 3 slides at the beginning of any template to make it truly unique to you 🌟 Title Slide - 1 sentence to give the VC context? 🥳 Wow Slide - what’s your most exciting thing? 🤔 Why You Slide - why were you able to get that? Okay, here's the template I always start with... 1️⃣ Why Now Story First tell a story around the VCs biggest question ❗️ Why Now - we live in a new world… 🚨 Problem - and if they stick with the status quo… ❓ Opportunity - but what if? I like to start by agreeing on something to get their heads nodding And if you’ve done it right, you'll pause here so they lean in to ask how? Which you'll answer with... 💡 Solution - here’s why we’re different 🚘 Product - and why it adds value for customers And that's your opening Why Now Story! Okay, stories are great but… 2️⃣ Proof Now you'll need to show proof And there’s lots of ways to do that at pre-seed and it only gets better as you get to seed, series A, B, C... And remember there's 2 parts to PMF First you need happy customers. Then you need to build a factory that can acquire $1M+ worth of (new) happy customers every year So... 🥰 Value - customers love us because… 📈 Traction - so far we’ve accomplished… But VCs don’t care about points in time, they only care about growth... So keep that in mind when putting these together as a foundation for your GTM strategy next 3️⃣ Go to Market Now this is where we transition to the future 💰 Model - an average customer is worth… 🏭 Go to Market - we’re starting with… 🌎 Expansion - which will help us expand to… PMF is all about happy customers and a factory to produce happy customers But now we need to be capital efficient... So we want that all to come from a one well defined segment / use case The model is your building block. Your GTM is all about your first few segments and your expansion is about bigger steps to the future And now we’re in the final stretch! 4️⃣ Advantage Obviously you aren’t the only ones that see a big opportunity out there So focus these slides on the customer and not you 🤼 Competition - and we’re winning because… 🏆 Advantage - we’ll build an advantage over time… 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Team - and we’re the right team because… Why are customer (or will they) chose you? Hint - it’s not because of features How will you build an advantage over time that’ll help you win more customers? And why is your team the best to build factories that can product $1M worth of happy customers? Now all that’s left is to recap and state your ask… 5️⃣ The Ask This shouldn’t be about how you’ll spend the money ✋ Ask - now we’re raising so we can… Instead it's about where you'll get to with the money (and is that enough to unlock your next round?) -- ♻️ Repost to help a founder in your network Click 'visit my website' at the top of this post to register for my Seed to Series A session

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Founders: Here's your round-by-round fundraising cheat sheet. Focus on what matters at each stage. It will make fundraising easier. Pre-seed: focus on team & idea Seed: focus on initial customers & signs of PMF Series A: focus on repeatability & growth Series B: focus on growing market share & scalability Series C+: focus on market leadership & exit strategy Great guide Majd Alaily! #venturecapital #startup #founder

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A balanced reward system will need to be transparent, as well as think beyond token utility to consider the quality of engagement value, argues Dave Catudal. https://lnkd.in/gqxmwdfv

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Valuation multiples step down at each new round …and that’s completely normal 👀 These drops are not a sign of weird times or a broken system ARR multiples are supposed to go down over time Because eventually they have to trend to the public multiples ✅ Now… As long as your revenue stays on the venture scale path → your revenue multiples will keep dropping → but your overall valuation will go up So if you’re going to raise capital… I think it’s important to understand that the multiple you raise at isn’t what you’re actually worth TODAY ❌ It’s the multiple you’re worth assuming you hit those FUTURE venture scale expectations (once you hit $1M ARR, can you get to $100M ARR in 7 to 10 years?) Which basically means that once you hit $1M ARR... You’re growing at 10% month over month for the next 24 months straight before starting to slow down to 2x year over year growth So even though Seed to Series A sees the biggest drop in multiples, that 10% mom growth will still drive up your valuation ----------------- But here’s the thing… If you’re growth slows to less than 2-3x between Seed and Series B → or sub $10M in ARR Your multiple doesn’t just drop to the Public Index (currently at 6.4x) It’ll actually fall below that index (closer to a 1-3x multiple) Because the acquirer is now arbitraging between they pay for you (1-3x multiple) and what they’re worth (6.4x multiple) ----------------- So what can you do? Focus on the milestones that’ll fuel your growth → instead of fundraising rounds or paper valuations And keep your cap table as light as possible until you’re ready for step 3️⃣ 1️⃣ Problem Solution Fit 2️⃣ Go to Market Fit - unlocks Series A 3️⃣ Scale PMF #1 - Series A use of funds 4️⃣ Scale PMF #2 -- ♻️ Repost to help a founder in your network Click 'visit my website' at the top of this post to register for my free Unlock your Series A session on how to navigate VC expectations in this market

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Great presentation of the laws of gravity in Venture Capital and startups

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Valuation multiples step down at each new round …and that’s completely normal 👀 These drops are not a sign of weird times or a broken system ARR multiples are supposed to go down over time Because eventually they have to trend to the public multiples ✅ Now… As long as your revenue stays on the venture scale path → your revenue multiples will keep dropping → but your overall valuation will go up So if you’re going to raise capital… I think it’s important to understand that the multiple you raise at isn’t what you’re actually worth TODAY ❌ It’s the multiple you’re worth assuming you hit those FUTURE venture scale expectations (once you hit $1M ARR, can you get to $100M ARR in 7 to 10 years?) Which basically means that once you hit $1M ARR... You’re growing at 10% month over month for the next 24 months straight before starting to slow down to 2x year over year growth So even though Seed to Series A sees the biggest drop in multiples, that 10% mom growth will still drive up your valuation ----------------- But here’s the thing… If you’re growth slows dramatically between Seed and Series B → or sub $10M in ARR Your multiple doesn’t just drop to the Public Index (currently at 5.7x) It’ll often fall below that, often closer to a 1-3x multiple (or more likely a 4-6x EBITDA multiple) ----------------- So what can you do? Focus on the milestones that’ll fuel your growth → instead of fundraising rounds or paper valuations And keep your cap table as light as possible until you’re ready for step 3️⃣ 1️⃣ Problem Solution Fit 2️⃣ Go to Market Fit - unlocks Series A 3️⃣ Scale PMF #1 - Series A use of funds 4️⃣ Scale PMF #2 -- ♻️ Repost to help a founder in your network Click 'visit my website' at the top of this post to register for my Seed to Series A session -- *Note that a huge jump in Series D & E+ valuations in Q2 2024 are based on a low number of deals (35 and 19) compared to Seed (492), Series A (415) and Series B (185) skew the multiples for those rounds much higher this quarter

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LF Decentralized Trust is expanding it’s ecosystem , recently launched new project focused on programmable privacy for EVM. Paladin is an LF Decentralized Trust Decentralized Trust lab. The goal of this project is to give enterprises control of sensitive information without compromising transparency or scalability. Paladin is Programmable Privacy for EVM. Designed for institutions, Paladin is an open source project that empowers developers to build secure, compliant blockchain applications with programmable privacy on EVM. #blockchain #smartcontracts #evm #lfdecentralizedtrust https://lnkd.in/dV6UuAr6 LF Decentralized Trust LF Decentralized Trust India Chapter Kaleido Daniela Barbosa Julian Gordon Hart Montgomery https://lnkd.in/dNr6nNis

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Along with stable coin based cash transfer systems, securitization of rwa's is the primary business case of the digital assets. Inefficient and legacy settlement + custody systems generate significant inefficiencies to their host economies.

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The Complete Guide to Venture Capital 🚀 As an investor and VC with experience across early-stage and high-growth companies, I’ve seen how understanding the venture capital landscape can make or break a founder’s journey. With this in mind, I’ve created a detailed guide covering the essentials of VC funding—aimed at helping entrepreneurs navigate each stage with clarity and confidence. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you’ll find: 🔹 Is VC Right for Your Business? — Exploring how to evaluate if venture funding aligns with your growth goals, scalability, and long-term vision. 🔹 Key Funding Stages — From seed to Series D, breaking down the purpose, valuation ranges, dilution expectations, and typical investors at each stage. 🔹 Understanding Dilution — An example of how ownership evolves over successive rounds, and what that means for founders. 🔹 Corporate Governance and Board Structure — Insights on building a strong governance foundation, choosing board members, and setting up for long-term success. 🔹 The VC Mindset — How funds are structured and why VCs look for “big winners” to drive returns. 🔹 Scaling Models — An introduction to the T2D3 growth model and other strategies for hitting key revenue milestones. Whether you’re a founder considering VC for the first time or an investor looking to deepen your understanding of the funding journey, this guide provides a comprehensive look at what it takes to thrive in the venture-backed world. 👉 Full guide here: https://lnkd.in/ee_BGxQb 💡 Your thoughts matter (Eleonore JarryIsaac SouweineChris ArsenaultLaviva MazharMarko JelavicGenevieve BouthillierSanjay ZimmermannDavid NaultEmmanuelle CoppingerDavid Dufresne) ! If you think there’s something I missed, I’d love to hear your feedback. Let’s make this an even better resource for the community. Feel free to share this post to help others in their venture journey. #VentureCapital #Startups #Investing #Entrepreneurship #Funding #StartupJourney #SeedFunding #SeriesAFunding #GrowthStrategy #BoardGovernance #ScalingStartups #T2D3 #FounderJourney #InvestorInsights #StartupFinance

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The ‘help’ VCs offer that founders wish they’d skip : From unsolicited intros to random conference invites 😐! -Making random introductions that weren’t requested -Inviting founders to conferences where the VC is speaking -Providing strategic advice without understanding the startup’s specific context -Conducting frequent check-ins without offering meaningful support -Forwarding articles about competitors -Recommending broad networking connections that aren’t relevant -Offering unsolicited product UX suggestions -Imposing rigid meeting schedules at inconvenient times -Sharing generic industry trends without actionable insights -Sending irrelevant templates or tools that don’t fit the startup’s stage or needs -Offering feedback that feels more critical than constructive -Making broad claims about experience without engaging with the startup’s unique situation For VCs, adding real value means aligning support with the founder’s specific needs and goals. Any other pointers you like to add? Cc. Ed suh #startups #venturecapital #frustrations

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