Buidlers Tribe helps crypto and web3 startups receive the right help and mentorship to move from a project to a company.
We are extremely particular in choosing which projects to help because we believe in completely being invested in a select few projects over a large spread. This belief guides us to build and maintain a high credibility amongst the members of the Tribe (Capital Partners, Mentors, and Experts). The Tribe has trusted us to make good decisions on their behalf and we will strive to live upto and exceed their expectations.
Now that it’s out there that we are choosy, it is only fair for us to publicly declare what we actually look for in a project, and the Buidler(s) who is/are leading it.
In the framework that we follow, we evaluate both the founders and the project with a greater emphasis on the founder.
Below you will find how we evaluate each: The Founder and The Project
The Founder
There are 4 qualities we look for in a Founder:
Perseverance
Web3 or not, entrepreneurship is a brutal journey. There is a lot of learning and unlearning that happens along the way. While buidling a company, an entrepreneur has to set up many moving parts. There are many internal and external forces that will try to stop an entrepreneur in the tracks of achieving the vision of the project. Survival is key and perseverance is the core quality that keeps the founder going.
A common trait observed in the existing set of Buidlers Tribe founders is that they get supercharged as soon as adversity strikes. They try to move heaven and earth to work around bottlenecks and jump over hurdles.
Industry Knowledge
Founders must have a deep understanding of the industry they are building in or for. The Buidlers Tribe team is a bunch of generalists who have a surface-level understanding of the many domains in crypto/web3. It is critical for the founder to know more about the industry they are operating in than a member of the Buidlers Tribe team.
This is also a great litmus test for whether the founder is really passionate about solving a problem or is in it just to ride the trend wave.
What we like to see: A founder buidling a DeFi product who has deeply engaged with DeFi app or has tinkered with other DeFi projects. Basically, skin in the game.
Bootstrap Traction
First, let us define what it is. Bootstrap Traction, for us, essentially means how much has the Founder done without raising money.
Gone are the days when one could just put out a whitepaper or a deck and raise public money. The web3 venture investment market is maturing at a rapid pace and is putting founders under scrutiny to show something tangible before raising money.
This could be anywhere from a working product to an MVP to an idea that has been tinkered with in multiple different fashions.
What we like to see: If you are Buidling a DAO tool for Service DAOs, you’d have onboarded a DAO or two as your customers/ running a POC.
Knowing what one doesn’t know
Many founders have the misconception that not knowing something is a red flag for a VC or a Scout. It is very far from the truth. It is impossible to anticipate or know everything beforehand for an early-stage founder. Having said that, founders must definitely know their strengths and weaknesses. This shows the Buidlers Tribe’s evaluators that the founders have a good sense of self-awareness and also builds trust between the founders and Buidlers Tribe.
If a founder doesn’t know something and cannot admit that he/she doesn’t know, then it is a big red flag for the Buidlers Tribe team.
What we like to see: Rather than us trying to surface strengths and weaknesses, it would be great if the Founders themselves tell us about it, and also where they would require help.
The Project
Is Blockchain/Crypto/Web3 really required to solve the problem?
We are non-believers in shoehorning web3 into non-web3 projects. Not everything needs to be on-chain. If being on chain brings greater efficiency into an existing process, a better end-user experience, and/or introduces something completely new that could not have existed in web2 that solves a problem, Builders Tribe is interested.
Shoehorning Web3 into something that doesn’t need to be in Web3 gives people the notion that the Founder prioritizes trends over actually solving the primary problem.
What we like to see: A strong case for the use of a blockchain to solve for trust, transparency, discoverability, and/or efficiency. Ex. If you are Buidling a LinkedIn on Web3, you are making it trustless.
If Web3, what are you decentralizing?
We at Buidlers Tribe are staunch believers in decentralization. Founders must’ve planned the project with “Exit to Community” as an important milestone in the roadmap of the project.
Exit to Community is very important to the ethos of decentralization. It is not just releasing a token and hoping for the price to increase through trading activity.
Any project will collapse if there are no active contributors and governance participants on the exit.
What we like to see: You are Buidling a project with frameworks and processes that can eventually lead to an exit to community. A token economy around the project that will have utility and/or governance incentives.
What unfair advantages (moats) do you have?
Product/Tech
We at Buidlers Tribe love projects with robust technological innovation. When a product has innovative approaches to technology in web3, the entry barrier to potential competitors is very strong. Historically, most of the companies that Buidlers Tribe has incubated have had a strong technological moat.
Technological/ product moats can include the following:
1. Higher efficiency (Higher speed, lower latency) compared to other competitors
2. Better UX
3. Lower cost (Low/No Gas)
And any other feature that can cause user stickiness to the platform.
Distribution
Every great product requires a greater distribution. There are many companies with average products & great distribution that have outclassed companies with great products with no distribution.
A strong distribution moat is not just active users, but a community with strong network effects that believes in your project’s vision. This also serves the end goal of decentralizing the product and putting it into the hands of a community that is invested in the vision
Conclusion
Builders Tribe is a young firm and we are a small team of highly-driven people who are still learning. As of the day this article was written, is how we evaluate startups and as our learnings as a Team and Tribe increases, the evaluations parameters may change.