The crypto industry is booming and web3 has quickly become a huge buzzword. Many VCs are floating into that space in order to place their bets on the most promising projects.
How do VC companies find those companies since the industry is in its infancy, the due diligence process is harder to conduct and there many scammers? Are there any platforms similar to crunchbase focused on crypto projects?
Its usually the other way around. A team will reach out to their Network/VCs and pitch their project.
They waive billions of dollars in the air and say come here talented people that have vision.
usually from their VC friends. a very small number of VC’s put the first money into projects, nearly all of them follow on once others are in.
that’s why the most important question a VC asks you is ‘who else is investing?’ if you say ‘a16z, Sequoia, Peter Thiel and Y Combinator’ you can be pitching NFT pics of poop and they’ll be begging to invest – but if you say ‘nobody yet’ then you can have massive traction, be profitable and have an all-star team – and it’s going to be extremely hard to get anyone to invest.
the first investor is really hard. after that, it’s mostly word of mouth.
I’m a start-up CEO with a Fiat on-ramp/off-ramp to DeFi.
I have a significant list of angel investors and private equity with high net worth connections which I’ll be tapping long before VCs for my A Round. Many of them are also my seed investors, and I’ll stick with private groups as opposed to VCs, because oftentimes VCs try to separate you from your IP as fast as possible.