Основатель Monad своим коллегам: не стоит легко раздавать акции консультанта

Original author: Keone Hon (Monad co-founder)

Compiled by Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Translated by Azuma ( @azuma_eth )

Editors note: Last month, L1D partner 0xLouisT wrote an article about the widespread problem of insider token allocation in the industry (see Daedaluss Labyrinth: Revealing the Токен Economic Model Hidden from Retail Investors for details ). The article mentioned that investors can often obtain additional tokens through consulting services. He had personally seen that an institutions advisory share was 5 times its investor share, which could reduce the institutions actual cost by 80% compared with the official financing and valuation data.

The topic of insider token allocation has sparked widespread discussion in the market. Last weekend, Monad co-founder Keone Hon wrote about his personal views on the role of advisors and believed that founders did not need to give away advisor shares for free.

The following is the original content of Keone, translated by Odaily Planet Daily.

On the topic of advisors, I would like to share some personal thoughts for founders.

Founders sometimes choose to offer shares (shares of tokens) to advisors, which is completely understandable, but it’s also usually a mistake.

Building a new company is hard, there are a whole host of new problems to solve, so it’s easy for founders to look to consultants as an instant solution.

However, this is not necessarily true.

You can get a lot of advice for free

In the криптовалютаcurrency industry, all experts are basically active on X, and they can be contacted with just a private message.

Feel free to PM me anytime with questions you’re having building your startup, and I’ll do my best to get back to you — and if I miss your message, PM me again to remind me.

You can also post your questions directly on various social platforms, and someone will definitely respond, as people always like to offer their opinions.

Just for the sake of seeking advice, it shouldn’t cost you anything.

Try to solve the problem yourself

There is no substitute for solving problems by yourself, and learning is also a very valuable thing.

As a founder, you will definitely need to solve various unfamiliar problems. You have to deal with a series of situations such as product, recruitment, marketing, social media, business development, security, customer acquisition, etc., and depending on your work experience, you may only have experience in one or two of these aspects.

However, the only way to learn this knowledge is to practice it yourself. Only in this way can you better learn new skills and gain confidence in the process.

A consultant can help you solve one or two problems temporarily, but ultimately you still need to learn by doing.

Don’t overestimate the value of an advisor’s endorsement

“I need some big-name consultants to endorse me” — this thought is understandable.

As a new project, your PPT may be a bit rudimentary, and your team may have limited experience in building new companies. In order to convince investors to believe in you and your ideas, you may tend to find some experienced consultants to endorse you.

The problem is that the endorsement value of consultants is very low . Many projects have many well-known consultants, and so many consultants are providing advice to so many projects that investors have long realized that the influence of consultants on the success of the project is very limited.

Investors are also well aware of your limited experience, which is no surprise since you are an early-stage founder. Your job is to learn. Rather than relying on the credentials of an advisor, you should demonstrate your ability to learn new skills or solve new problems.

Personally, I actually like seeing teams without advisors. In this case, the team is left to their own devices and has a clearer idea of what they still need to learn.

Consultants have very limited input compared to full-time employees

In reality, anyone outside the full-time team will end up contributing only a tiny fraction of the time, whereas full-time employees will be fully engaged.

A full-time employee can devote 40, 50, 60+ hours per week to a project to help it succeed. A consultant might only devote a few hours per month , and given their experience or connections, they may be more productive per hour, but are they really 100 times more productive?

Success comes from actually doing things, and actually doing things takes time. There is no way around it.

Also, giving consultants a larger share than full-time employees is a real problem.

Your expectations may be too optimistic

Just like the burger you actually eat is never as good as the one in the advertisement, everyone has moments of over-optimism, especially early-stage founders.

When a consultant pitches you their services, you understandably feel overwhelmed and automatically want to say “yes” – because you think they can make your job easier.

The problem is that starting a new company is hard, and it’s still hard with advisors, and it gets harder and harder later on. The only way out is to strengthen yourself and your team.

If you are playing the first level of a video game and you find it difficult, then you should improve your skills instead of cheating. If thats the case, what should you do when you reach the second level?

Adverse selection problem

Those who can provide you with truly valuable advice may not become your advisor, and conversely, those who proactively reach out to you and provide advisory services may not provide truly valuable advice.

Фактически, the people who are most likely to provide you with valuable advice often dont charge any money, but they wont be your advisors.

In some special cases, advisors may indeed be able to solve certain short-term problems. For example, if you are a non-technical founder and you need to identify the ideal CTO… this is indeed difficult, but it would be helpful to have an experienced advisor who can help you screen potential co-founders.

Even so, you should carefully consider how much you should pay an advisor and see if there is anyone who can help you for free in a critical moment.

Стартапы have to be frugal.

It is difficult for consultants to help you solve the core problems

In the early stages of building a company, the most important thing is the speed of product iteration and learning. In this regard, consultants can hardly help you. Only you can determine success or failure.

The early stages are always difficult because you have little experience and few resources, but your experience will grow over time. There is no shortcut to success.

The cryptocurrency community is very close-knit and there are many resources available, which often cost nothing, and you should seek out this help first.

If you encounter any problems, please send me a private message and I will do my best to help you solve the problem . I wish you good luck.

This article is sourced from the internet: Monad founder to his peers: You shouldn’t give away advisor shares easily

Related: From marketing slogans to value creation, the three stages of chain abstraction

Original author: Austin King Original translation: TechFlow Most people still dont quite understand what the chain abstraction is. Is this just a buzzword used by teams to attract VC investment, or will it really have a huge impact like the modular movement? Frankly, it’s both, but many people overlook the fact that it develops in stages. In this post, I will analyze where we are currently and where we might be by the end of 2025. What will happen to the market when retail investors gradually realize that the dream that VCs painted for them is not real and intend to use them as liquidity at the exit. Phase 1 (Q4 2024 and Q1 2025, stable and threat-free) Congratulations – if you’re reading this and have missed out on the…