Jake Stott || jws.eth

@samanthawyap Christ

@Jake_Stott Thank goodness you clocked it. It's apparently DPRK threat actors x.com/tayvano_/statu…

PSA: My Telegram was compromised with user ID @ samanthawyap. There’s an impersonator that’s reaching out to my contacts, so please do not engage with it on TG.

@samanthawyap Luckily I clocked it and sent them my own Gmeet link. They’ve now deleted our entire Telegram convo.

@samanthawyap Holy shit. I nearly just feel for this. “You” asked to book a call for today. Jumped in the call. Teams link they sent. Video of you and one of your team members. Asked me to download an SDK which seemed odd. Then I looked at the URL. Wasn’t a Microsoft URL anymore!

@emilylai Super grateful for everything you have brought to Hype. Your commitment, energy and knowledge. Proud to have been a passenger on your journey over the last 5 years and see who you’ve become! Onto the next 5 years in your new role.

Life update! After 4.5 years, I'm moving from CMO to a strategic advisory role at Hype. I've had a front row seat to 212+ crypto companies here and the space is now at a crossroads I want to be closer to. Institutional “adoption” is lending credibility, defi primitives have proven pmf, and AI is reshaping how we live and work. It’s been exciting to explore what this all means I'm proud to have seen Hype grow since joining in 2021: - Team size doubled - 4 awards won by our creative and campaign teams - 13 service lines built and running - 71% revenue CAGR across multiple market cycles - Watched talented people grow into heads of departments, VPs, and senior leaders <3 This will be an epic year for the company and clients. There's no better crypto go-to-market partner than Hype. Growth marketing and distribution is one of the most in-demand needs right now, and the team is fully primed for it. More to come soon on what the AI team has been building As an advisor, I’ll still be contributing to launches and strategic calls. Beyond that, I’m taking space to think, learn, and go deeper on how to best build towards the future I want to live in

@akshat_hk @CryptoHayes Agreed, huge opp to bundle and grow profitable crypto companies. Sent DM

Maelstrom Equity Fund I, L.P.* is out of the bag Let's dive in - * @CryptoHayes' debut external fund, the first control-buyout PE fund ever to specialize solely on the crypto industry. Targets = profitable, off-chain 'picks and shovels'. Why we are building this: - Problem 1: Founders of cash-flowing, off-chain 'picks and shovels' businesses lack clean exit oppties (current paths to liquidity: "yay we sold the business to Coinbase...only to become mid-tier Coinbase employees for the next 2 years, paid mostly in NASDAQ: COIN over 4 years"). - Problem 2: New TradFi/Silicon Valley entrants to crypto (both present and future, e.g. Robinhood, Charles Schwab, X, Wealthfront, etc.) struggle to find polished, turnkey businesses to acquire (there are diamonds in the rough, but these are difficult for newcomers to source, and require a crypto-native approach to DD; +most of these businesses are not yet integration-ready) - Problem 3: Capital allocators (think pension funds, family offices, etc.) want to deploy into crypto-focused funds *at scale* (9-figure+ sums), but current options e.g. "scaled", large crypto VC funds deliver poor risk-adjusted returns (we’re LPs in many; we know). Our Solutions: - ...to Problem 1: Provide founders cash-heavy, 'clean' exits at reasonable valuations (win-win: more upfront cash for founders sans being subject to 2-4 year unlocks of strategic acquirers' token/stock; with lower entry valuations, leading to higher LP upside for investors in Maelstrom Equity Fund I). - ...to Problem 2: Partner with management teams and our crypto-native executive network (Arthur founded one of the first profitable unicorns in crypto; he knows how to build, and knows all the top builders of the past decade) to create the highest-quality, acquisition-ready portfolio of cash-flowing, growing businesses for future buyers of crypto businesses like Robinhood, Charles Schwab, X, Wealthfront, etc.. - ...to Problem 3: Offer LPs a chance to deploy capital at scale (9-figures +) into the most fundamentally valuable (i.e. actually cashflowing) segment of the high-growth crypto industry, without having to take the risk and ups/downs of direct token exposure. Team: Arthur, me and Adam Schlegel (led SaaS buyouts at Haveli Investments - largest debut PE fund ever @ $4.5B linkedin.com/in/adam-schleg…) +3 TradFi but crypto-savvy PE-trained junior hires to come. LFG, more TBA in the coming months. 🔥 This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Such offers may only be made through a private placement memorandum and subscription documents.

@joeljohn Great post. Agree with a lot of this. Next phase is the bundling phase and there will be a handful of winners. There really aren’t many businesses who’ve made >$1mil a year for at least 3-5 years (which is typical minimum acquisition time)

Here are some thoughts on regulatory structures, capital formation - and what founders need to survive 2026 on basis of two events, countless meetings and a panel presence at Token 2049. At no point in time in our industry's history has the division between what works, and what makes noise been more apparent. And this feeds into everything we see as "vibes" today. Adding random pics from Singapore for .. no reason. 1. The Regulatory Reset There are three functional levers for a venture to build a moat today - regulatory, capital markets and revenue. If start-ups are not able to find themselves amidst any one of these, they are stuck in limbo. In an ocean of emptiness, with no shores to see. American startups in the previous regimes worked from a place of fear. The lack of regulatory clarity within the US meant they had to build presence elsewhere as hedges. That equation has changed now. It is simultaneously one of the most forgiving markets (in terms of regs) and the most risk-on market (for capital). Tokens do DATs, stablecoins have GENIUS act and talent does not need to be abroad. I don't think venture capital is a zero sum game, but in the pre-2023 world, capital allocators had sufficient incentives to spray and pray as a hedging mechanism. In an age where most DATs are in US, and marginal bids for tokens don't come from retail - those incentives dry up. What we see in venture capital allocation for early-stage startups is a byproduct of this. The US has become a dominant place for capital formation, scale and exits in a way that was not evident the past few years. That means pain on the short run for other markets (as capital reduces) and opportunity on the long run (as competition declines) 2. The Great Divergence When VC dollars are scarce, more founders will go further up the value chain to make money through distribution. Geo-specific moats that come from cultural context will be the wedge founders are left to. Think stablecoin solutions that deliver cash in the last mile. Or one that runs on whatsapp. Perhaps, a cricket-oriented nft trading platform. Or a debit card that unlocks offers in very specific markets. While it remains to be seen if there is sufficient TAM for any of these, it is clear that products that don't have a pathway to revenue will die faster. In 2018 - you could be around 36 months with no revenue. In 2025, that figure is down to 12. Founders looking to scale revenue have just two levers. - Create high velocity products in new niches. Think prediction markets for sports. Or meme trading platforms (currently saturated) - Or go after idle, slow moving pools of capital that are unorganised (think b2b payments, digital gold) The former category grows fast and gives enough runway to survive. The latter will require a giant raise. I think this feeds into how venture capital will play over coming quarters. 3. Reading the VC book In previous regimes, a listing and the RoI generated on the tokens was the play. In the current one, VCs rush to get tokens out in any way they can. SAFTs otc, DATs, perp books - everything is on the table. The reason is funds need to be able to return capital to be able to raise more. In Q1 2025, funds were not closing the money they needed to be able to re-deploy. I see sentiment now shifting with multiple new funds raised. But these are VCs that are extremely cautious. They have the benefit of a market where there are fewer allocators (to compete with), the scars of previous funds almost never returning anything and the pressures of the current fund not performing - and thereby leading to terminal death of their livelihood. VCs have gone up the value-chain and begun focusing on what can scale to the size of the web. Some sectors inherently have an advantage here. Think B2b payments, data for AI, pipelines for validating healthcare data or consumer hardware with a blockchain component. These are sectors where large raises become a moat of their own. But the long-tail - things like gaming, Web2-esque businesses with crypto will almost never raise capital without the ability to prove the model works. You can see the fatality of this shift in observing how Web3 social media products, data-products and consumer oriented defi primitives have been funded the past few quarters. Venture capital is the art of selling to VCs. If you are a founder, now is a good time to pay attention to what the VC is buying. 4. Sector Maturity Okay - last bit on venture before I talk about some other things. If you are a consumer product, your best bet is to go with a hyper-speculatory core-inner group of users. Capital formation will evolve in the next two quarters. Study the folllowing - Noice, metadao, Jup's launchpad and futarchy. Consumer products that launch with a core-subset of early adopters that see gains in short spurts unlock power-users who have every incentive to go out and shill you. These users will also contribute in ways most talent-pool cannot. But it requires a different bunch of skill-sets to coordinate capital, deal with a live token and manage contributors. I am not saying everyone should do it. I am saying - in the sub 20mil-val range, launching a token and seeing it grow through an internet native community on Base/Solana is a viable option so long as you are okay with the risk that the asset goes to 0 (very real) I think there are a handful of businesses that will do well here and it is likely that much of the "wealth generation" for operators is in this section of the market. If you are raising venture dollars - go where there is sector maturity. Things like regulations, attracting talent and scaling become infinitely easier if you build for the web instead of the next marginal protocol. Building for protocols (say lending for x protocol or betting on y layer2) - is a dead business. The reason is there is no more grant money and most of these L2s barely have users to begin with. So build for the web, but raise enough to have a shot at it. You are competing with web2, not the next 50 devs larping for grants in Web3. 5. The IPO roll-up Most M&As we see will come from two sources. One is a handful of products doing millions in revenue each day with no clue about how to make it value additive to the token without making the token a security. These protocols will go out, buy start-ups (usually in the 10-30mil range) and add to their topline. Because that's how the protocol will expand on users without going through DAO drama. The other kind of M&A we see will come from either firms bundling to go do IPOs. There's ±100 businesses in crypto with more than $1mil in revenue/year. Even fewer that are bootstrapped and willing to be bundled up. Highly likely that they aggregate with larger players to de-risk. It is also likely that we see several DATs whose core model is to do M&As and use revenue to accrue tokens. In simple words - traditional metrics like revenue (gross), pmf (what even), and scale (omg!) - will matter more than ever if you need an exit. 6. The Permanent Holdco All founders have the same dream - get to a point where the balance sheet is thick enough to do multiple experiments, never raise and run ops on yield. There are a few start-ups that are trending towards there. These entities hold ±$100m+ in idle treasury, have stakes in associated businesses (via investment/advisory) and are able to structure deals (owing to distribution). We will see more of these businesses be a dominant force in how the industry evolves. At a time when VCs take a back-seat, what we know as "operator investors" will mostly be permanent-holdco founders deploying to extend their revenue on deals that are extremely lucrative. This also means firms will cluster together in how they pick and choose service providers. The real cabal will be a network of firms that serve a user over the lifetime of a transaction without the user ever being aware about how these entities are associated. What does that mean for founders? Look for businesses that are ±5 to ±7 years of age, with revenue - that are looking to expand in strategic investments. They are great targets to raise money from even if the valuations offered will be lower. 7. Brand Spends I could barely recognise most brands at the event itself. I think crypto has bifurcated how it does ad spends. There's a segment of the market that throws dollars at KOLs for a quick pump on metrics, and there are thoughtful CMOs that care about the craft itself. It is not my place to judge which works and which doesn't but what is apparent is that the decline in venture dollars means fewer booths and outrageous events. Where do those dollars go? I don't know - yet. The question is whether those dollars even exist anymore. In my view, thoughtful, well-crafted story telling - and the skills required to it will become more valuable as crypto institutionalises as nobody has the time to keep up with the "lore" before making a purchase decision. High-trust media and brand building will continue to command a premium. 8. Singapore vs Dubai Ending the note on this point. It is not my place to opine on Singapore, I do not live there. But I do live in Dubai - and built a life here so it irks me to see randos living in neither countries opine on Dubai. Singapore offers access to great talent, asian markets, a functional legislative structure and greenery. It is an established market with rigid rules. Dubai offers access to talent, global markets, a regulator that acts on feedback and capital. It is a nascent market with rules that are still being drafted. You can actually live and build in both markets. You can use the talent in one and capital in the other. Highly likely that UAE is a dominant force for tech-raises to be happening in the coming decade. To trash talk either, while living in neither - feels pretty low iq. Personally - having seen startups built, scaled, sold in both markets, my bet is on Dubai because it is where capital formation, talent accrual and the possibility of start-ups scaling is the highest. It is the place to launch fintech primitives and access EU, US, India and asian markets all while having a stable foundation to build on. I continue to be bullish the region and think there'll be a generation of fintech companies that IPO from here... but more on that later.

@akachacolate @monad Congrats man!

I've joined @monad as Director of Marketing! I ultimately view Monad as a bet that performance and decentralization both matter. While other teams are willing to bet on performance alone, I've been pilled on the thesis that over a longer time horizon, decentralization will play a key role in crypto's use cases. The team has very ambitious goals and a key part of the strategy to achieve them will require stronger distribution. The core team has already nailed CT, so I've been brought in to focus on expanding our footprint elsewhere. We are going to aggressively ramp up our go to market efforts and distribution to make Monad and the apps built on top of it globally recognized and respected brand names. Not just within crypto circles but in the mainstream cultural zeitgeist. Decentralization does matter, but unfortunately it seems like something that has not really stuck outside of the crypto bubble. This will evolve over time, but I will be focused on presenting our brand and value props in a way that is more digestible and compelling to people today. For all the builders in the ecosystem, I'll be a resource for you as you navigate the stages of protocol development. LFG.

This announcement is nearly a year in the making. What we’ve been building enables us to handle more, take on a wider variety of tasks, report better and ultimately make all of our team more powerful. We’ll slowly release info on the timeline the coming months xoxo

@mrcryptowoke @hypepartners Huge legend and been a pleasure to have you on the team Mr V! You will smash whatever comes next

Yesterday was my last day at @hypepartners after 4 incredible years. I’m insanely grateful and honored to have worked with so many talented people shipping award winning campaigns, sending so many projects from 0 to 1. Over the years I got to work on 80+ projects across so many verticals, learn from brilliant teammates, super proud to be part of a team that won an Effie award for most innovative campaign. I'd like to thank all of my colleagues & Giga 🧠OGs. @Kaushiksdeck - partner in every crime @Digest0x - Systems OG, managing chaos like a pro @Jake_Stott - for getting me into the door @glitch_ - for pulling everyone into ai rabbit hole @itscharann - getting me into vibe coding @cryptofreedman - super sharp insights on defi @mariamagenes1 - great strategies @ChrisRuzArc - our very own CT Lead @NNovaDefi - Social Wiz @cryptokwueene - working on nft brands @emilylai - helping everyone become data-driven @0xDannyHype - super kind & caring boss also lot other colleagues who've been part of my journey, feel free to reach out anytime. and to all the projects I've worked on I hope I served you guys well. thank you for your trust. I’ll always be there if I can help in any way. Over my tenure at Hype I've found it to be one of the best work atmosphere/culture ever. What would be next? After an intense run, It’s time to take a much deserved break from the grind. some of the things i’m interested to go deep in: stablecoins, asset management, infra, l1s/l2s, consumer, rwa, payments. Although I’m on a break, DMs are open, you’ll be hearing from me until then. Likes & RTs appreciated if you’ve found this at the right time. Thanks

@mariamagenes1 @hypepartners I also thought longer. What a year. So great you did join!

Today marks my first year at @hypepartners and here is my anniversary blurb if anyone is interested. The decision of moving away from EVM DeFi projects HOM role to join an agency has been though because with that, I was moving far away from my 6+ years comfort zone. What did it mean? - learning about a new job and new ecosystems - gaining trust from a new team - switching my brain from one thing to another even faster that I was used to - facing an extremely changing environment (agency) in an already extremely changing space (crypto) - manage several *beyond prepared* people What I've found: - the smartest team - lots of lessons learnt, personal and professional - a super professional and caring leadership team that welcomed and supported me like a family - being in an army of marketers dealing w product vs the other way around :D Conclusion: dare to challenge yourself. I love being part of Hype and I feel very blessed. Thanks @Jake_Stott @0xDannyHype & @emilylai for choosing me, and to all the rest of amazing people surrounding me every day. It feels way more than one year that I've been with my new team, can't wait for what's coming 🩷

@0xZergs @hiFramework Well done mate!

Excited to our new fundraise with @hiFramework as partners Crypto is REALLY good at a few things: 1) stablecoins 2) DeFi 3) Hardware And they solve each other's problems AI is the largest capex build out since the oil boom. You can see 15-25% yield deals in the TradFi space

@DeanKD_ Can confirm

Marketer tier list cheat sheet (useful for those hiring, use at your own risk): S: British A: White American, Argentine B: Chinese American, Korean C: Canadian, Russian D: Scandinavian, German F: Indians, Nigerians

@FelixHowes 😂

May the markets be green

@samanthawyap Love it!

Reintroducing YAP Global. Why? Read on👇

@FelixHowes 🤣

In case you didn't know. The man running the show, is now officially running the show.

@Cbb0fe Agree overall. But it’s a numbers game and have to be very selective. If you get it right you can 10-100x I think tech startups I wouldn’t invest in any more

One of the biggest mistakes I have done is investing in startups. Just a waste of money. Startups are even worse than shitcoins. Absolute bullshit companies run by retards just burning cash and obsessed about being viewed as cool entrepreneurs. Never invest in these scams.

Huge congrats to @0xDannyHype taking over from me as Hype CEO. Hype is in safe hands with Danny and @emilylai steering the ship. Hype is the strongest it has ever been right now, the team are the happiest, so it's time for me to focus on bigger strategic tasks for Hype Group and get out of Danny's way. I've led Hype since Dec 2017. If you don't know Danny yet. You should! Call him on 1-800-NEWHYPECEO

@divine_economy @Web3Kristel @hypepartners Ok tldr - this is v0.5, sometimes timing beats perfection. Reasons we went early. Blocks will update and evolve by design. Our website has never been our main sales tool (see prev). We are not a product. The goal is to create something new, fun and a bit chaotic anyway.

i'm not sure i'm supposed to actually give feedback but i'd echo what @Web3Kristel said quite strongly this exemplifies a trend i see everywhere in web3 rn which i think of as prioritizing UI > UX it *looks* great, fun, polished, animated but i had no idea what to do i clicked around various boxes only to realize that only one or two are CTAs and most are not the relevant links here are to the partner projects, but i learn nothing about them when i click the link—i don't even get to see their site or the work you've done for them there's also *two* links to the same page, labeled differently: "chat with us" and "get in touch." i recoiled at "chat with us" because i expected a chatbot, but was pleasantly surprised to find it was an intake form. "get in touch" feels like the proper wording overall, there's a lot of trust here that the medium is the message, that the form is the content, and that a gorgeous page will give me trust that i'm hiring the right marketing partners in reality, i see this as serving one need of marketing—UI—so exceptionally well that it's a bit hard for me to see the other pieces you're offering and saying this as someone who knows firsthand the value of *all* the work you do beyond design

What do you think of our current website?

@hypepartners the fewture

New hy.pe website who dis? First 10 people to find the hidden easter egg on the site wins a pair of illustrious Hype socks. You’ll know when you’ve found it.