Thoughts on building a company alongside a token that already exists, coming from someone that did exactly this with @CadeMarket:
I want to start off by saying that in my opinion, 99.9% of founders should NOT fair launch a token to bootstrap the company. We have seen way too many cases of founders with the inability to scale a business whilst treating their holders with respect. For the 0.1% of founders that want to do this, study how I built @CadeMarket, and how @ConejoCapital built @clawpumptech. I'm sure there's more examples, but these come to mind first.
This post should not serve as encouragement for you to go out and launch a token immediately. The goal of this is to almost serve as a warning, and tell you what you can expect by bootstrapping your business with a token.
1. The playbook is entirely different than starting a company in a traditional manner.
2. It most certainly is NOT for every founder.
3. It is substantially harder to scale into a venture backed business, but it *IS* possible.
4. Your early token holders should be held to an extremely high regard. These people allow you to bootstrap your business via trading fees. For me, this was a little over $100,000 from my token's Pump Fun creator fees. This money should be used to support you as you build your MVP and explore product market fit.
5. You have to give people a reason to trust you through continuous communication and explanations of how the token fits into your product. Your product needs to built around the token, not the other way around. You should not treat the token as a memecoin.
6. In many cases, creating a venture backed business is not your original goal. This was the case for me. The token was launched for a side project, but eventually the side project became my sole focus.
7. You will have a significantly harder time fundraising. There's no way around this. It's very non-traditional for VCs to have a token already trading in the open market. This is ultimately a problem that you NEED to deal with. You decided to launch a token. It's on YOU to deal with it, not your community.
8. You will have VCs that may love the product but pass on investing purely because of the live token.
9. You will have VCs that are willing to write a check if you abandon the token. This was VERY common for me. My pre-seed round could have been closed within a week had I listened to them and abandoned the token. Instead, it took 6 months.
10. Launching a new token is *NOT* the end of the world, contrary to the reactions you're seeing from CT regarding Percalator. If you do launch a new token, you need to take care of your holders though. You should have a migration plan that favors them. They supported you early, they deserve a very generous allocation of the new token.
11. After raising venture capital, you can not abandon your holders. If you fair launched a Pump Fun token, like I did, you should consider doing an ACE round (from @MetaLeX_Labs). This allows you to offer token holders the option to swap tokens for equity via SAFE. The same equity that your venture investors have. In the case of Cade, I had 1.5% of the supply at launch. I wanted it to be truly fair launched and community owned. By doing ACE, I was able to accumulate some of the supply for the company.
I want to start off by saying that in my opinion, 99.9% of founders should NOT fair launch a token to bootstrap the company. We have seen way too many cases of founders with the inability to scale a business whilst treating their holders with respect. For the 0.1% of founders that want to do this, study how I built @CadeMarket, and how @ConejoCapital built @clawpumptech. I'm sure there's more examples, but these come to mind first.
This post should not serve as encouragement for you to go out and launch a token immediately. The goal of this is to almost serve as a warning, and tell you what you can expect by bootstrapping your business with a token.
1. The playbook is entirely different than starting a company in a traditional manner.
2. It most certainly is NOT for every founder.
3. It is substantially harder to scale into a venture backed business, but it *IS* possible.
4. Your early token holders should be held to an extremely high regard. These people allow you to bootstrap your business via trading fees. For me, this was a little over $100,000 from my token's Pump Fun creator fees. This money should be used to support you as you build your MVP and explore product market fit.
5. You have to give people a reason to trust you through continuous communication and explanations of how the token fits into your product. Your product needs to built around the token, not the other way around. You should not treat the token as a memecoin.
6. In many cases, creating a venture backed business is not your original goal. This was the case for me. The token was launched for a side project, but eventually the side project became my sole focus.
7. You will have a significantly harder time fundraising. There's no way around this. It's very non-traditional for VCs to have a token already trading in the open market. This is ultimately a problem that you NEED to deal with. You decided to launch a token. It's on YOU to deal with it, not your community.
8. You will have VCs that may love the product but pass on investing purely because of the live token.
9. You will have VCs that are willing to write a check if you abandon the token. This was VERY common for me. My pre-seed round could have been closed within a week had I listened to them and abandoned the token. Instead, it took 6 months.
10. Launching a new token is *NOT* the end of the world, contrary to the reactions you're seeing from CT regarding Percalator. If you do launch a new token, you need to take care of your holders though. You should have a migration plan that favors them. They supported you early, they deserve a very generous allocation of the new token.
11. After raising venture capital, you can not abandon your holders. If you fair launched a Pump Fun token, like I did, you should consider doing an ACE round (from @MetaLeX_Labs). This allows you to offer token holders the option to swap tokens for equity via SAFE. The same equity that your venture investors have. In the case of Cade, I had 1.5% of the supply at launch. I wanted it to be truly fair launched and community owned. By doing ACE, I was able to accumulate some of the supply for the company.
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So the Percolator team just rugged all of their early supporters.
Normally I wouldn’t post about something like this, but this situation bothers me, given the lengths I traveled to in order to raise for @CadeMarket while protecting the holders of my token.
If you launch a ng fees to bootstrap your company, abandoning that token in order to raise capital is a lazy and selfish move.
With Cade, the first fundraising round took SIX months. Without our token, it would have taken a week. But I refused to kill the token and fuck over the people that supported me early and made everything possible.
Not only did I make my life miserable and raise capital in a 100x harder way, I even gave token holders the ability to swap the token for equity via SAFE in the company. The same equity that the venture investors were after.
The irony of the Percolator situation is especially funny, given they are raising on a platform that is designed to favor token holders rights, while literally kicking the holders of the original token in the teeth.
Normally I wouldn’t post about something like this, but this situation bothers me, given the lengths I traveled to in order to raise for @CadeMarket while protecting the holders of my token.
If you launch a ng fees to bootstrap your company, abandoning that token in order to raise capital is a lazy and selfish move.
With Cade, the first fundraising round took SIX months. Without our token, it would have taken a week. But I refused to kill the token and fuck over the people that supported me early and made everything possible.
Not only did I make my life miserable and raise capital in a 100x harder way, I even gave token holders the ability to swap the token for equity via SAFE in the company. The same equity that the venture investors were after.
The irony of the Percolator situation is especially funny, given they are raising on a platform that is designed to favor token holders rights, while literally kicking the holders of the original token in the teeth.
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The amount of research we've put into historical and real-time NFL event data to determine which markets to offer is honestly insane.
@CadeMarket is far more sophisticated than meets the eye.
Quant shit.
@CadeMarket is far more sophisticated than meets the eye.
Quant shit.
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PSA: One of our employee's accounts was briefly compromised and a post was made announcing a new product.
This is false and was posted by the attacker.
This employee has strict 2FA set up. Please stay safe, even though X clearly does not want anyone to be safe.
This is false and was posted by the attacker.
This employee has strict 2FA set up. Please stay safe, even though X clearly does not want anyone to be safe.
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The best crypto apps will look and feel absolutely nothing like a crypto app.
A trojan horse into retail.
Something something @CadeMarket coded.
A trojan horse into retail.
Something something @CadeMarket coded.
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You must ask EVERY single person you speak with to say "kim jong un is retarded".
Your mom. Your grandma. Interviewers. Job Applicants. The cashier at the grocery store. Your tinder date.
EVERYONE.
Your mom. Your grandma. Interviewers. Job Applicants. The cashier at the grocery store. Your tinder date.
EVERYONE.
BINANCE SAYS HACKERS USED BOGUS JOB INTERVIEW TO HACK EMPLOYEE AND STEAL CRYPTOCURRENCY - RTRS
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Pop Punk 🇺🇸 retweeted
The team has spent a long time thoughtfully designing our systems to be as performant as possible and providing the most seamless user experience that feels like a traditional app. Consumers come to expect something that is fast, responsive and feels “right”.
With this infrastructure switch we will be able to have significantly faster settlements, higher throughput and an overall user experience that everyone will enjoy.
We can keep the transparency of the blockchain for inflows, outflows, fees and the value engine with this while still having a world class execution and lowering the potential attack surface. With this design we now have an extremely focused area where we can build protections that can build trust and transparency over time, something I’m extremely passionate about.
“Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket very closely” is usually attributed to investment strategies, but it is especially true in financial applications in the new world post-AI.
With this infrastructure switch we will be able to have significantly faster settlements, higher throughput and an overall user experience that everyone will enjoy.
We can keep the transparency of the blockchain for inflows, outflows, fees and the value engine with this while still having a world class execution and lowering the potential attack surface. With this design we now have an extremely focused area where we can build protections that can build trust and transparency over time, something I’m extremely passionate about.
“Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket very closely” is usually attributed to investment strategies, but it is especially true in financial applications in the new world post-AI.
A lot of the core market logic infrastructure for Cade has moved offchain.
This is something that the team has been working on for the last few months, and something we believe can 100x Cade, with respect to performance, experience, and reach.
We slowly introduced elements of this to our tech stack during Meme Madness, the last tournament that we ran. During that tournament, you may have noticed that predictions were not actually moving testnet tokens from your wallet to the protocol. This tournament used a credit system. This was our first step towards testing the methodology that we planned on moving towards long term.
Deposits and withdrawals will remain onchain for the foreseeable future however. The escrow provides 100% transparency into the Cade TVL, inflows & outflows, and value engine as detailed in our tokenomics.
There's more to this that we will share soon in a more technical focused post, but we wanted to provide you with a few benefits for this approach:
1. Less dependencies and attack surfaces. We've seen billions of dollars enter the hands of the wrong people over the last few months. Much of what we do doesn't actually require funds to be rapidly moving between wallets and programs. The less exposed funds, the better.
2. A wider geographic launch for Cade. More users from more locations means more volume in the ecosystem and value engine.
3. A much more realtime experience for users. Offchain can move faster than onchain. This means many platform actions are processed near instantly.
Cade on.
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This is how Cade will onboard consumer users at a large scale.
By leveraging both onchain AND offchain, we will build the best consumer speculation app in the world, and trojan horse crypto into retail without it giving them a bad taste in their mouth.
- PopPunkOffChain
By leveraging both onchain AND offchain, we will build the best consumer speculation app in the world, and trojan horse crypto into retail without it giving them a bad taste in their mouth.
- PopPunkOffChain
A lot of the core market logic infrastructure for Cade has moved offchain.
This is something that the team has been working on for the last few months, and something we believe can 100x Cade, with respect to performance, experience, and reach.
We slowly introduced elements of this to our tech stack during Meme Madness, the last tournament that we ran. During that tournament, you may have noticed that predictions were not actually moving testnet tokens from your wallet to the protocol. This tournament used a credit system. This was our first step towards testing the methodology that we planned on moving towards long term.
Deposits and withdrawals will remain onchain for the foreseeable future however. The escrow provides 100% transparency into the Cade TVL, inflows & outflows, and value engine as detailed in our tokenomics.
There's more to this that we will share soon in a more technical focused post, but we wanted to provide you with a few benefits for this approach:
1. Less dependencies and attack surfaces. We've seen billions of dollars enter the hands of the wrong people over the last few months. Much of what we do doesn't actually require funds to be rapidly moving between wallets and programs. The less exposed funds, the better.
2. A wider geographic launch for Cade. More users from more locations means more volume in the ecosystem and value engine.
3. A much more realtime experience for users. Offchain can move faster than onchain. This means many platform actions are processed near instantly.
Cade on.
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Pop Punk 🇺🇸 retweeted
A lot of the core market logic infrastructure for Cade has moved offchain.
This is something that the team has been working on for the last few months, and something we believe can 100x Cade, with respect to performance, experience, and reach.
We slowly introduced elements of this to our tech stack during Meme Madness, the last tournament that we ran. During that tournament, you may have noticed that predictions were not actually moving testnet tokens from your wallet to the protocol. This tournament used a credit system. This was our first step towards testing the methodology that we planned on moving towards long term.
Deposits and withdrawals will remain onchain for the foreseeable future however. The escrow provides 100% transparency into the Cade TVL, inflows & outflows, and value engine as detailed in our tokenomics.
There's more to this that we will share soon in a more technical focused post, but we wanted to provide you with a few benefits for this approach:
1. Less dependencies and attack surfaces. We've seen billions of dollars enter the hands of the wrong people over the last few months. Much of what we do doesn't actually require funds to be rapidly moving between wallets and programs. The less exposed funds, the better.
2. A wider geographic launch for Cade. More users from more locations means more volume in the ecosystem and value engine.
3. A much more realtime experience for users. Offchain can move faster than onchain. This means many platform actions are processed near instantly.
Cade on.
This is something that the team has been working on for the last few months, and something we believe can 100x Cade, with respect to performance, experience, and reach.
We slowly introduced elements of this to our tech stack during Meme Madness, the last tournament that we ran. During that tournament, you may have noticed that predictions were not actually moving testnet tokens from your wallet to the protocol. This tournament used a credit system. This was our first step towards testing the methodology that we planned on moving towards long term.
Deposits and withdrawals will remain onchain for the foreseeable future however. The escrow provides 100% transparency into the Cade TVL, inflows & outflows, and value engine as detailed in our tokenomics.
There's more to this that we will share soon in a more technical focused post, but we wanted to provide you with a few benefits for this approach:
1. Less dependencies and attack surfaces. We've seen billions of dollars enter the hands of the wrong people over the last few months. Much of what we do doesn't actually require funds to be rapidly moving between wallets and programs. The less exposed funds, the better.
2. A wider geographic launch for Cade. More users from more locations means more volume in the ecosystem and value engine.
3. A much more realtime experience for users. Offchain can move faster than onchain. This means many platform actions are processed near instantly.
Cade on.
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The @CadeMarket referral program is very generous.
We're finalizing it today.
We know that betting isn't everyone's cup of tea, and because of that, I want people to still be able to benefit from Cade without having to use the product.
Refer volume -> Receive direct % in USD.
We're finalizing it today.
We know that betting isn't everyone's cup of tea, and because of that, I want people to still be able to benefit from Cade without having to use the product.
Refer volume -> Receive direct % in USD.
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If every function on your smart contract is named kimJongUnIsRetarded_1234 then you’re safe from North Korea.
They wouldn’t be allowed to execute contract calls.
They wouldn’t be allowed to execute contract calls.
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With regards to the @CadeMarket mainnet launch:
We want it just as much as you guys, believe me.
But I want to be clear, there is significantly more that goes into launching a product like ours then simply finishing the tech.
There is marketing, legal, onboarding liquidity, app store approvals, and more.
In the span of a few months, I took this project from just me building an MVP to a team of 7 with incorporated entities that span 3 countries, proper licensing, and multiple beta tests with tens of thousands of users.
Every step we've taken has been calculated and methodical, and we plan on doing the same for the mainnet launch.
We're building something new, and something that we want to last. Just because the code is done does not mean we're going to fire blind into the ethos with our eyes closed and pray it goes well.
And just to reassure you, NOBODY has insider information on this launch date.
It must be done correctly, and you will all thank me and my team for doing so.
Cade on.
We want it just as much as you guys, believe me.
But I want to be clear, there is significantly more that goes into launching a product like ours then simply finishing the tech.
There is marketing, legal, onboarding liquidity, app store approvals, and more.
In the span of a few months, I took this project from just me building an MVP to a team of 7 with incorporated entities that span 3 countries, proper licensing, and multiple beta tests with tens of thousands of users.
Every step we've taken has been calculated and methodical, and we plan on doing the same for the mainnet launch.
We're building something new, and something that we want to last. Just because the code is done does not mean we're going to fire blind into the ethos with our eyes closed and pray it goes well.
And just to reassure you, NOBODY has insider information on this launch date.
It must be done correctly, and you will all thank me and my team for doing so.
Cade on.
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The mainstream perception of crypto is that it’s a scam. Almost every celebrity project has ended badly.
Most of the @CadeMarket team has spent a decade building in crypto, and we are actively building something that doesn’t look ANYTHING like crypto
That’s how you win retail
Most of the @CadeMarket team has spent a decade building in crypto, and we are actively building something that doesn’t look ANYTHING like crypto
That’s how you win retail
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Pop Punk 🇺🇸 retweeted
CADE WILL ONLY HAVE REAL MARKETS.
you do not understand how needed & refreshing this will be
no rugs, no larps, no 20 versions of the same market to choose from. no misleading users and no waiting 8 days for someone to decide what happened
you pick yes or no and the data settles it. then you instantly get your $ to go again
on every single market
AND you can still hit a 100x
@CadeMarket is changing the game into something you won’t hate yourself for playing.
you do not understand how needed & refreshing this will be
no rugs, no larps, no 20 versions of the same market to choose from. no misleading users and no waiting 8 days for someone to decide what happened
you pick yes or no and the data settles it. then you instantly get your $ to go again
on every single market
AND you can still hit a 100x
@CadeMarket is changing the game into something you won’t hate yourself for playing.
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