Crypto founders and VCs alike unconsciously underestimate the time needed for startups to work

Startups are hard and it’s common for time horizons to be 5-10 years until a liquidity event

Because liquidity could be achieved before PMF (ie. prematurely) in crypto, mindsets became warped and disconnected from reality

I suspect we’re returning to a phase of more realistic liquidity timeline expectations and incentives aligned towards long term value creation.

👇

Principal at Cobalt Ventures. Write @ TheItinerant.io ; BenErsing.com Host: /venturecapital /finance /adventures

Perhaps

It’s purely anecdotal but it feels like the long arch is bending in the right direction. 

Not necessarily because expectations have changed on their own but because token design has evolved - that then influences future expectations, rinse & repeat. 

ICOs (2017) - instant liquidity

NFTs (2021) - instant liquidity & more incentives to hold (ie, access/community/signaling etc)

TGEs/Airdrops (2023) - lock up periods, utility, etc have both forced and incentives aligned for longer term holding

Ofc. throughout there are always still instant liquidity / degen launches and they take up a lot of mindshare (ie, pump.fun) and are hard for many to let go of b/c of the quick money potential but at the macro level, there are positive tailwinds.

Working on building zkTLS infra/products. A ruthless empiricist and meme connoisseur.

http://opacity.network

I wouldn’t hold my breath.

It could be because it’s a bear market rn so it’s unlikely early liquidity will deliver the desired return.

The real test is if you feel the same way when the bull market is back.

Wish we could remindme bot in this way

I don't think the crypto community is into long-term value creation at all anymore.

Realistic liquidity expectations and long-term value creation are becoming more important

Realistic outlook on liquidity and focus on long term value creation.

Realistic liquidity timelines support long-term value creation.

Realistic liquidity timeline expectations are important for sustainable growth.

I really do hope we return to that phase where there’s realistic expectations on startups and more priority is given to value creation 

By the way, do you agree that when VCs funds projects, it might have its positives but often leads to mediocre, unsustainable and low value-adding projects, as compared to projects with internally generated revenue ?