Honestly, maybe it's because I don't live/work in Silicon Valley, but reading this, having a checklist with most or all of these things seems practically impossible. It reads to me like "if you want to get your startup funded, be Michael Jordan in your respective niche, also be a jack of all trades, and ideally come from an insanely elite background (not necessarily a prestigious school, but still a 1/1,000,000 background) so that we know you're legit". Not super encouraging for anyone with entrepreneurial aspirations that doesn't have this stuff. Just seems like you only want to invest in "sure bets" and not do any risk-taking yourselves - may as well become a Schedule A bank and starting asking for 2 years of free cash flow before giving money. Where is the encouragement for "normal people" to pursue entrepreneurship and get funded? As one of the biggest VC firms in the country, it's shocking to me that this is the views of the top partners in the firm. I'm sorry if this reads angry/like a rant, I say this with utmost respect for you as I look up to you but this article just hit me the wrong way and I want to raise this perspective for discourse or to at least get your views and see if I'm looking at this all wrong. Cheers.
After a burst of innovation in the last crypto cycle, the current cycle is facing a noticeable innovation slowdown. The root cause lies in the long-standing separation between AI product managers and blockchain product managers over the past decade. With talent and capital rapidly shifting toward AI in recent years, the blockchain space has struggled to deliver breakthrough native products, resulting in increased speculation and a pressing need for real, scenario-driven application innovation.
As a result, application-layer products with tangible real-world value—such as Real World Assets (RWA) and stablecoins—are emerging as the key drivers of the industry’s recovery. CZ once speculated, “Satoshi Nakamoto might be an AI from the future who traveled back to 2009 to create Bitcoin.” I find this idea quite insightful. The foundational layer of future digital civilization is being restructured—blockchain, AI, and super applications form a three-dimensional core, while “time” and “quantum computing” add two more dimensions, gradually shaping a five-dimensional ecosystem.
This evolution—from classical computing to quantum computing—will give rise to “quantum currencies” capable of interstellar value exchange and true instant payments. Both China and the U.S. are racing toward this quantum infrastructure. With the release of Grok 4, Elon Musk’s Mars migration plan may arrive ahead of schedule.
We are building the infrastructure for this future digital ecosystem:
Bitcoin Layer 2: Leveraging our team's two years of product and community work in the Bitcoin ecosystem to upgrade the foundational architecture—bridging past and future;
Bitcoin Layer 3: Deploying AI2Earn interfaces to connect AI Agent economies, enabling task execution and revenue settlement;
Hardware Integration: Using mining smartphones to participate in Layer 2 computation, forming a full product loop for continuous evolution and rapid iteration.
Thanks for such a great rundown from the investor's perspective. Even if it's not the case where you're checking off every single box, like Gary Tan said in one of his YC podcasts, it's a great benchmark to know where you need to end up to reach towards becoming a 'top talent' in the eyes of appealing to investors and startup entrepreneurs.
Thanks for taking the time to put this post together.
I agree with all but the whole skin in the game argument.
You should be desperate and running out of cash? How is that responsible in the slightest?
What if no one funds it?
I get that it’s good for you guys to get a signal that the person is “all in” but certainly there are more responsible ways of being all in. Not all of us have 50k in the bank but are still capable of making amazing things that scale and have all the other aspects.
It seems like this skews towards:
1. People already with successful businesses and having a solid recurring revenue stream with that
2. Rich people with a lot of savings to run off of
Most young ambitious people don’t have a ton of money in the bank which is why we have to take jobs. So I feel like that’s really an irresponsible expectation to have of people. I mean, the whole point of funding is allowing people to go all in on something, so having them go all in without funding already is just kind of silly.
Honestly, maybe it's because I don't live/work in Silicon Valley, but reading this, having a checklist with most or all of these things seems practically impossible. It reads to me like "if you want to get your startup funded, be Michael Jordan in your respective niche, also be a jack of all trades, and ideally come from an insanely elite background (not necessarily a prestigious school, but still a 1/1,000,000 background) so that we know you're legit". Not super encouraging for anyone with entrepreneurial aspirations that doesn't have this stuff. Just seems like you only want to invest in "sure bets" and not do any risk-taking yourselves - may as well become a Schedule A bank and starting asking for 2 years of free cash flow before giving money. Where is the encouragement for "normal people" to pursue entrepreneurship and get funded? As one of the biggest VC firms in the country, it's shocking to me that this is the views of the top partners in the firm. I'm sorry if this reads angry/like a rant, I say this with utmost respect for you as I look up to you but this article just hit me the wrong way and I want to raise this perspective for discourse or to at least get your views and see if I'm looking at this all wrong. Cheers.
Hi Robin Guo
Sharing with you our narrative.
After a burst of innovation in the last crypto cycle, the current cycle is facing a noticeable innovation slowdown. The root cause lies in the long-standing separation between AI product managers and blockchain product managers over the past decade. With talent and capital rapidly shifting toward AI in recent years, the blockchain space has struggled to deliver breakthrough native products, resulting in increased speculation and a pressing need for real, scenario-driven application innovation.
As a result, application-layer products with tangible real-world value—such as Real World Assets (RWA) and stablecoins—are emerging as the key drivers of the industry’s recovery. CZ once speculated, “Satoshi Nakamoto might be an AI from the future who traveled back to 2009 to create Bitcoin.” I find this idea quite insightful. The foundational layer of future digital civilization is being restructured—blockchain, AI, and super applications form a three-dimensional core, while “time” and “quantum computing” add two more dimensions, gradually shaping a five-dimensional ecosystem.
This evolution—from classical computing to quantum computing—will give rise to “quantum currencies” capable of interstellar value exchange and true instant payments. Both China and the U.S. are racing toward this quantum infrastructure. With the release of Grok 4, Elon Musk’s Mars migration plan may arrive ahead of schedule.
We are building the infrastructure for this future digital ecosystem:
Bitcoin Layer 2: Leveraging our team's two years of product and community work in the Bitcoin ecosystem to upgrade the foundational architecture—bridging past and future;
Bitcoin Layer 3: Deploying AI2Earn interfaces to connect AI Agent economies, enabling task execution and revenue settlement;
Hardware Integration: Using mining smartphones to participate in Layer 2 computation, forming a full product loop for continuous evolution and rapid iteration.
David He Singapore https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidligo/
Thanks for such a great rundown from the investor's perspective. Even if it's not the case where you're checking off every single box, like Gary Tan said in one of his YC podcasts, it's a great benchmark to know where you need to end up to reach towards becoming a 'top talent' in the eyes of appealing to investors and startup entrepreneurs.
Thanks for taking the time to put this post together.
I agree with all but the whole skin in the game argument.
You should be desperate and running out of cash? How is that responsible in the slightest?
What if no one funds it?
I get that it’s good for you guys to get a signal that the person is “all in” but certainly there are more responsible ways of being all in. Not all of us have 50k in the bank but are still capable of making amazing things that scale and have all the other aspects.
It seems like this skews towards:
1. People already with successful businesses and having a solid recurring revenue stream with that
2. Rich people with a lot of savings to run off of
Most young ambitious people don’t have a ton of money in the bank which is why we have to take jobs. So I feel like that’s really an irresponsible expectation to have of people. I mean, the whole point of funding is allowing people to go all in on something, so having them go all in without funding already is just kind of silly.