Nobody Benefits from Your Victory

Nobody - our favorite knowledge maker - recently dropped this gem: let the strong worry about your safety. Thing is, they're probably better at it than you are. It's that kind of safety like when your big friend at the bar says "I got this." You don't argue, you just nod and enjoy the protection. This is your infrastructure, designed so you don’t have to worry about anything.

There are a lot of wealthy people in our Congregation. And you know, money makes you feel smart. It shouldn't, but it does. The problem isn't really competence - you can always hire that. The problem is thinking that having money means you understand how things work. Let me explain.

Look, we've all watched this movie before. Someone buys a random token, it does approximately infinity-percent returns, and suddenly they're the next Michael Burry meets Sam Bankman-Fried (minus the prison time). The market, they declare at TED talks, has revealed its secrets to them. Which would be fine if they just took their money and bought a nice island somewhere. But no - they decide this clearly means they should start their own crypto project. The heart wants what it wants.

But you know how this story ends - usually with a Twitter tread about "lessons learned" and "building through the bear market."

I'm not here to mock builders of dream castles, or the various forms of financial astrology that crypto traders use to explain their success. This is about something more fundamental: What happens when perfectly sensible people hit the crypto lottery and decide they're ready to build the next [insert any three-letter protocol here]. From their garage. Because that's where world-changing protocols are born, right?

Can we talk about startup mythology for a second? I think Silicon Valley PR departments have done more damage to entrepreneurial reality than Instagram has done to teenage self-esteem.

The industry loves to tell heartwarming stories about brilliant founders starting in garages “with nothing but dreams and ramen”, but they tend to leave out some minor details. Like how Google had the full backing of Stanford and sweet government research grants. Or how Microsoft's big break came from IBM basically handing them the PC operating system market. Or how Apple had access to Xerox PARC's research labs, which wasn't exactly your local WeWork. Let's just say those early computer parts didn't materialize from Jobs' meditation sessions.

And since we're doing storytime, remember when Ethereum - the darling of decentralization - was just getting started? While everyone was focused on Vitalik's wunderkind narrative, they forget that Peter Thiel - who was planning digital currency while Vitalik was planning his first birthday party - was sitting there at early presentations, probably thinking about how digital finance was finally catching up to his PayPal days. But sure, it was all about the code.

Speaking of code - yes, your GitHub is beautiful. Great! Your tokenomics could make MakerDAO look like a Ponzi scheme. Cool. And your white paper uses "paradigm" only twice. These are good starting points! But then what?

The uncomfortable truth is that raw technical brilliance is maybe 10% of success in this industry. Code doesn't sell itself. (If you still think Bitcoin succeeded purely through code and community - well, there's a bridge NFT I'd like to sell you.)

Here's a fun exercise: You've built your revolutionary new protocol. Nice. Quick questions:


• Who's going to bring actual businesses to use your protocol?
• Who's bringing in actual users?
• Who's maintaining market liquidity?
• Who's managing your CT narrative when the next dog coin is up 1000%?
• Who's handling regulators when they inevitably have questions about your "utility token"?

Now check your cap table. How many of those boxes can your current investors check? Does it include anyone who can actually help with any of that? Does it have names that can actually open doors and move markets? Or is it full of random crypto traders who got lucky in the last bull run you'll need to expensively buy out later??

The real question is: who's got your back?

Here's the secret that Nobody wants you to know: Success in crypto isn't about being the smartest person in the room. It's about making sure your cap table includes the people who own the room. And make that people worry about your success.

So, if you're plotting world domination from your garage instead of a law firm's conference room, maybe it's time to rethink your infrastructure strategy. The market doesn't care about your genius. It cares about who's backing you. Preferably before your next seed round.

Remember: The best foundation isn't built on hopes and smart contracts. It's built on right relationships and infrastructure that existed before your brilliant idea. Just don't expect the PR department to mention that part.

After all, as Nobody would say (while adjusting their Loro Piana tie): the best time to get powerful friends was before you needed them. The second best time is now. The worst time is after your token's price chart starts looking like a sad face emoji.

But what does Nobody know? Only everything that everybody else seems to forget.