Synthetix Founder Kain Warwick Shares Crucial Fundraising Advice for New Crypto Teams

As a researcher with experience in the crypto space, I find Kain Warwick’s insights on capital formation incentives and fundraising in the Web 3.0 industry particularly intriguing. His perspective as a successful entrepreneur and investor adds weight to his observations.


A well-known figure in the blockchain world shares his perspectives on the motivations behind capital investment in cryptocurrency, the competitive dynamic between venture capitalists (VCs) and individual retail investors, key signs of success for those considering seed funding, and the challenges faced by startups during their early fundraising stages.

Teams are constrained by dominant meta, Kain Warwick admits

In 2024, successful Web 3.0 teams seeking substantial funding face limitations set by the existing norms when trying to secure large investment rounds, according to Warwick’s recent post on X, which reached an audience of 123,000 followers.

As a researcher with an interest in the intricacies of the cryptocurrency market, it’s been some time since I delved into the topic of capital formation incentives. Let’s revisit this fascinating subject and engage in a stimulating discourse.

— kain.eth (@kaiynne) May 3, 2024

From a seed investor’s perspective, the indicators of a project’s progress – such as expanding user base, potential customer base, and active community members – continue to hold significance: Venture Capitalists (VCs) still prioritize investments in projects with increasing Total Value Locked (TVL), substantial follower numbers on platforms like Twitter and Telegram, and the like.

Despite this, investors continue to rely on rudimentary measures of social media activity to estimate the prospective pool of retail token purchasers.

In this regard, Blast’s innovative approach, often referred to as an overhyped OP Stack L2, paved the way for teams to effectively prepare for fundraising by presenting key points.

As a data analyst, I would rephrase your statement as follows: In the early stages of competition, it’s essential for everyone to engage with points meta when prompted. The reason being, the intensity of competition in fundraising makes it advantageous to encourage activity and TVL (Total Value Locked) without any cost. By doing so, one can secure larger investment rounds.

As a researcher examining venture capital funding, I’ve come across an intriguing observation from Warwick. He stated that investments in seed rounds with a fair value draft (FVD) between $10 million and $50 million can be considered challenging for investors. Remarkably, nearly all of these investments are reporting profits at the end of their respective investment periods.

Crypto fundraising 101 by Synthetix founder

He advises personally that a revealing of the token for retail should occur following three rounds of private or seed funding with venture capitalists, valued between $10 million and $1 billion.

In order to break the current anti-retail meta you need to be face the wrath of VCs and regulators. No 1st time founder is going to do this. The incentives are too strong. Do a low float token launch after 1-3 private rounds and have paper 8 to 9 or even 10 fig networth. Or try to shift the meta and get rekt most likely

He acknowledged that retroactive airdrops between 2021 and 2023 played a significant part in distributing tokens to a substantial number of retail investors.

Previously reported by U.Today, Warwick identified the excitement surrounding meme coins as a potential driving force for the wider adoption of Ethereum‘s Layer 2 solutions.

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2024-05-04 12:40