Original text: Alan YW, crypto KOL

Note: The content of this article comes from the X Space event held by AC Capital on July 30, and was compiled by crypto KOL Alan YW. BlockBeats reproduces the full text as follows:

1. What is the ecological chain of the currency circle?

This industry is a pyramid, divided into three layers, upper, middle and lower, and each layer is divided into three levels. Want to climb up? It's not that easy. If you want to rush from the fourth floor to the third floor, you basically have to be pulled hard by the big guys on the second floor. Squeeze from the seventh floor to the sixth floor? You also need people above the fifth floor to help you. That's the logic.

Top three layers: players

First layer: Wall Street tycoons. These people started to enter the market after 2020.

Second layer: giant exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase, and top incubators such as A16Z. A16Z invests tens of millions of dollars in projects, and some even hundreds of millions. Why? They have raised LP money, and they have to spend it to continue to get management fees, so they can only make bigger plans.

Third layer: the top funds we can see, the most powerful exchanges in South Korea, and the bosses of exchanges such as Kucoin at the next level, and some bigwigs of big funds.

These people are responsible for making rules and creating hot spots. Depin in North America, the entire DeFi in 2020, are their masterpieces. Then spread it through their subordinates.

Middle three layers: passing the microphone

Fourth layer: large incubators that everyone can contact, such as Pantera. There are also some bosses of second-tier top quantitative funds. To gain a foothold in this layer, you must have at least 100 million US dollars in cash.

Fifth and sixth layers: basically going down step by step. The fifth layer is the younger brother of the fourth layer, and the sixth layer is the younger brother of the fifth layer. They are all incubation series funds, and there are exchanges at various levels.

The sixth layer is the final destination for most retail investors. It may be the director of a large fund, with tens of millions of US dollars in hand, a little influence in the circle, and his own fan base.

These three layers are responsible for passing the concepts above to the leeks below.

The lower three layers: the leeks concentration camp

Ordinary retail investors and C-end users are responsible for taking over.

The entire industry operates like this: the upper layer creates, the middle layer transmits, and the lower layer takes over.

Eastern and Western capital: two worlds

What’s interesting is that Eastern and Western capital are simply two parallel universes in this market. Take October last year as an example. Eastern capital is working on Bitcoin’s second layer and derivatives, while the West is working on Depin.

The problem is that these two concepts don’t buy into each other. Binance doesn’t care about the Eastern Bitcoin second layer. Only one MouseBit is listed on Binance and one Merlin is listed on OK. OK is a level lower than Binance, you know. Without the support of Western capital, this plate cannot be expanded, and Eastern capital cannot take over for the second time. The same is true for Depin in the West. Eastern capital was not allowed to enter the market in the first two rounds of financing, and only a small number of them were allowed to enter in the third round. The result? The communication chain was broken, and Eastern retail investors could not take over. IO did have people digging, but few people actually took over the project.

If the things were done on the third level, then the world would be unified. Binance must take over the entire work first, and it must be listed on the exchange. How many brothers does Binance have? All over the world. This is called integration and opening up the Ren and Du meridians. Arbitrage opportunities? Yes, but it is difficult. If you can break through this information barrier, money will come. For example, what do you need to sell the concepts that the Chinese have played out to Korea? Know the rich people in Korea. Let them pay to buy the concepts that are left over from other places, and then find a group of local leeks, and you're done.

Sounds simple? Actually, it's as difficult as ascending to heaven. Information in this industry is very closed. You see those people attending conferences everywhere, but it's actually useless. People in a circle play with people in the same circle, and outsiders can't get in at all. How to get in? It depends on your ability.

So, this industry looks flat on the surface, but in fact it has clear levels. It's not difficult for you to make tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars here, but to make money lying down? Then you have to climb up and cross the class. This process is very painful, and you have to get out of your comfort zone.

Want to do well in this industry? Don't just focus on getting to know a lot of people, drinking some wine and listening to a few big truths. The key is to establish deep connections with a few people. Everyone's logic of making money is different, you have to find the one that suits you.

Second, how to learn and enter the circle?

To do well, you must be interested in this industry first. Don't just do it for the sake of making money, or your ceiling will be low. This industry is very large, and you will definitely find the part that interests you. Once you find it, go and try it out.

This is an industry with a long-board effect. Find what you are interested in, and then find a big guy who can make money in this area, and connect with him. People like to help those who are on the same path as them.

I am on the fourth level, and I know many big guys on the second and third levels. They are not pretentious, and I don't pretend to be pretentious to those on the fifth, sixth, and seventh levels. Everyone is young, and we can talk about anything. This is the good thing about this industry, there are many directions, people are pragmatic, passionate, and have faith.

If you want to quickly enter the cryptocurrency circle, young people should go offline. There are conspicuous bags at each venue to see if it is positive or negative. Some people know a lot of people, but they all think he is stupid, and there are many such people. Some people can mix in big and small places, and can pass on information. Such people will go far in the future.

If you are looking for a job, it is recommended to go to important positions on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors, or those who can reach important positions. It is better to go to the fourth, fifth and sixth floors than to go to marginal positions on the third floor. Those small exchanges on the seventh floor, KOL assistants, etc., are not interesting. When looking for a job, first look at the boss, make sure he has money and has achieved great results. Those who get inflated after hitting tens of millions are pure idiots. Being an employee is okay, but it is far from being a boss.

No matter which direction, you must quickly find a big boss with your own model, or a young person like you.

3. The relationship between the token model and investors?

You must understand clearly when doing a project. At the beginning, investors are in the same group with you. They invest money to exit and make money, and you issue airdrops to complete operational indicators. These are two different things: one is the advance and retreat at the capital level, and the other is how to do it at the operational level.

Why can some projects airdrop on Binance? Because they have the resources to get Binance! You have to understand this money and relationship. They first got Binance and had a huge user base, and then designed the airdrop model. It is not to airdrop to attract users first, and then go to the big exchange. This logic is the opposite, you have to think clearly.

So pushing forward, what is the conclusion? As long as the awesome people recognize you, the project is not far from success. So what should we do? Put the interests of early investors first! Ensure that those who support you make money. Remember: the money of the gentry is divided into 30% and 70%, and the money of the people is returned in full. This is your first principle.

How to do it? Mobilize the enthusiasm of investors, tie them to your chariot, and expand your influence. Not only airdrops, but also the ability to draw cakes. Whether you can paint a rosy picture for investors or users depends on your ability. You need to practice your operational capabilities or find a good operator.

After you finish drawing the pie, let more unknown capital come in. But remember the rules: the person who directly invests in you cannot cut, but the person he introduces can cut at will. This is an unspoken rule and must be followed. It has nothing to do with you if the introducers cut each other, because there is no interest involved. Even if I introduce a friend to you and cut, my friend will not blame me. He will not give you money just because of my face, and he must have invested after in-depth investigation. You have to figure out who can cut and who can’t cut.

When your plate is big, serve everyone around me well, and only cut retail investors. Do you know the retail investors? Does he know you? What does it have to do with you if people who have nothing to do with you lose money? Those who play Crypto have spare money, such as playing with one million out of ten million, or playing with one thousand out of ten thousand a month. It doesn’t matter if you lose. After all, there are few people like Ryoko who lose everything, and they are not considered human beings.

If you want to cut, cut this kind of people, don't touch the first layer of relationships around you. In short: try to ensure the interests of the people around you, make more rich friends, and cut the people around them. This is the right way.

Fourth, user relations and investor strategies?

If the user relationship is not handled well, no one will care about the coin once it comes out. For example, those AI coins and mining coins, the airdrop expectations are not handled well, no one will buy them when they are launched, and the shipment is very fast. This can't even satisfy the early sponsors.

Let me take the project on Binance as an example, I don't understand the others. For example, BounceBit, our company values the restaking track and has put a lot of money on it. But the proportion BounceBit gives us is pitifully small, only about 100U per bitcoin per month. What does this mean? The project party did not use a lot of money to receive airdrops, and there must be money in hand.

What do retail investors think? They think the project owner is stupid and gives too little. They don’t want to play with you anymore and sell it like crazy. But we insiders know that the project owner has money to take over. When the mood is right, buy a lot at a low point.

What can early VCs get? They can know exactly how many chips the project owner has, how much cash they have, and which of the published tokenomics are fake. As a VC, they will definitely prepare more money to buy at the bottom in the secondary market and know when to buy.

Let’s talk about TIA and TICO. We invested in both. TIA was hyped up to 3 or so U in the OTC market, and retail investors must have lost money. Why? The price in the first round was only 0.015, which is too much of a difference. So where will the price be? It will be around 1-2U, the benchmark price in the OTC market. When the price was below 2U, we increased our positions crazily and bought millions of dollars. Later, it rose to more than 10 yuan, and we made tens of millions of dollars. This is called giving an explanation to the project owner.

Investment is a continuous process. If you don’t invest, you don’t know that the first round is 0.015 and the second round is 0.5. Only by investing can you get insider information. Mature investors should know where to make money, and it is not necessary to double in six months. The key is how to operate when it goes online to make a profit.

If retail investors don’t take the order, it must be a problem with the marketing department, either the operation is not good or the resources are insufficient. It is impossible that there is a problem in the investment link. It is difficult for retail investors not to take the order. The standard configuration of large incubators is to invest in media companies, have dozens of KOLs, control funds, and act as LP funds.

We, the fourth-tier people, must become LPs of the third-tier funds. Invest 5 million US dollars for five years, be able to see financial reports, and have the right to make suggestions. This is what a large incubator should do.

If you have a small stake or are a newcomer, you can only target retail investors. You have to explore layer by layer and step into enough pits to find the methodology. Then use this methodology to take your money and team to socialize upwards and find a big brother to lead you. This is the correct positioning.

Don't go looking for KOLs one by one, and spend hundreds or thousands of Us. In this way, all the money is spent on publicity and promotion, and there is no money to pull the market and do things. How to explain to the investors? Taking money from people around you when you are immature will definitely fail.

V. How can young people break through the siege?

Most of the college students nowadays think: "I will work hard and try my best to complete the tasks assigned by the leaders." But in fact, it is far different from our time.

When we first came out, we didn't have any money! It cost three yuan to take the subway and one yuan to take the bus. I would rather get up an hour earlier to save these two yuan. I could bear not to eat to save a little money. Your generation has not experienced this kind of hardship, so you can't endure so much hardship.

Nowadays, college students will think: "My family is well-off. I can find a job in the financial industry and make 200,000 or 300,000 yuan a year. Why should I endure this and suffer so much?" This kind of atmosphere affects everyone's momentum to move forward.

So how do young people break through the siege? Just be a little better than others in all aspects. The first is cognition. You know more than your peers. Especially for men, the most important thing when you are young is not how much money and high position, but how much you have seen and experienced. Your vision determines the height of your future.

Then there is emotional intelligence. It doesn’t mean to please the leader every day and call him brother. The real emotional intelligence is to let the leader see how much benefit you can bring to him and feel comfortable with you. What the leader needs is to see how much benefit you can bring in the next five to ten years, as well as your loyalty and kindness.

Then professional skills and learning ability come. To put it bluntly, people with normal IQ and good education have similar learning and comprehension abilities. After one month of training in our company, you can basically learn how the entire industry works.

The most important thing is character. In our industry, including my brothers, what everyone values is character, that is, whether you can create emotional value and profit value.

As for when to go out on your own, in fact, there is no contradiction between following the big brother and doing it yourself. People who are really good to you will give you opportunities when they see that you are capable. You will have more confidence if you have someone to support you. For example, if I take you to a dinner party to meet people, your project may get investment in just one meal.

This relationship is mutual. You are my resource, and I am also your resource. There are excellent young people around me, and others will think that I am a good person who can be recognized by young people and not abandoned by the times. This way I can gain a greater advantage in business negotiations.

I prefer to find employees or partners who can be trusted and can bring win-win results.

Young people today are indeed different from before. Maybe it's because their family conditions are better and they are not so hungry. Do you know what kind of young people venture capital likes the most? Those with poor family conditions, middle class or even worse. Why? Because this kind of entrepreneur can maintain a sense of hunger, and hunger will force them to continue to pursue success.

But, if you are looking for an employee, you have to make sure he can bring win-win results. Everyone hopes that their employees will become better. But the most important thing is to trust employees and believe that they can give back to you after they become awesome.

You are right. This industry was a makeshift team at the beginning, and it all relied on mentoring. The person who led me back then told me that when I become awesome, don’t forget to lead others, and lead with sincerity, just like he led me back then. This is his expectation for me, and I think I have done it.

This is more like a master-apprentice system.

Six, how to balance the work of Web3 and Web2, and go to the next level in the field of Web3?

I not only have Web3 industries, but I have a lot of Web2 industries, even more than Web3, and my achievements in Web2 are actually greater than those in Web3. It’s not that I don’t work, it’s that I don’t work in Web3, because I have many brothers in Web3 who help me do these jobs, but I still need to struggle for a long time in Web2.

To judge whether a person is excellent or not, first look at their energy. I only sleep 4-5 hours a day, and I have persisted for more than ten years. You must not give up Web2, and you must also work on Web3. Let your Web3 grow step by step, so that you can constantly cheer yourself up: I am strong, I can be stronger.

It is actually not bad to earn 4,000 to 5,000 U a month in Web2. If you give up, your mentality will change. If you can't make that much in Web3, you will feel that it is painful to give up a stable job. It is easy to make mistakes when you are anxious. Remember, slow is decisive.

You can split your time. Sleep 1-2 hours less every day, play less, and work more. Set a goal for yourself for one or two years. For example, what results do you want to achieve in Web3 in two years, and you must have a clear plan in terms of money, cognition, and connections.

If you want to achieve results in Web3, you must consider all aspects. For example, when you go out to play, you need to meet industry friends from all corners of the world to entertain you.

Many young people say they want to make money, such as making 1 million or 10 million. But you have to think clearly about how to make it. Assuming you want to make 5 million a year, you can plan it like this: the first 10 months are just to survive, the 11th month is to start, and the 12th month is to make 4.9 million. Then think clearly about what to accumulate, what to learn, who to meet, and how to push yourself in the first 10 months.

Making money by doing investment research does not conflict with your studies. I suggest you go to a company for an internship first. Why? This will allow you to systematically understand how this industry works, what you can do and what you can't do. Then you will know whether the investment research and research on those bad news are useful. If you think about it yourself, you will see what others have sent, and you don't know whether it is reliable or not.

Seven, getting started with web3, should you go to a company for an internship or do your own investment research?

When you intern in a company, even if it's just for one or two months, you can deeply bind with your colleagues and the leader who leads you, and keep in touch with them for a long time. When you finish college and do a postgraduate degree, and come back a few years later, if he has a high position, wouldn't it be great for you to find him again?

This is how it is in this industry. Whoever has helped you will always help you as long as you have no problems. It doesn't mean that the people you have helped will help you in return. It's not like that.

So, go to the company to get to know more excellent and active colleagues. Even if you get in through HR, you must find a way to make your boss appreciate you. This way, your future path will be much wider.

Eight, what skills are most helpful in improving the employability of Web3?

From my perspective, improving social skills is very important.

No matter how high your research level is, if you don’t have a strong social network and resource acquisition ability, it will be difficult for you to make substantial progress in this field. For example, when we invest in projects at Easy Fund, we don’t rely entirely on investment research results, because even if we are optimistic about a project, it will be useless if there is no opportunity to enter. Moreover, if your resource acquisition ability is insufficient, you may only see the public financing news of the project and miss the early investment opportunities.

I used to be an I person, you may not believe it. I used to study hardware programming and participated in various robot and ACM competitions. However, in my junior year, I started to minor in finance, which made me realize that economics and resource management are the core.

I respect people who are engaged in technology, but I will not be such a person. In this industry, many things need to be promoted through relationships, which is my strength and expertise. So, when you ask what skills to improve to enhance employment competitiveness, I think that in addition to technical skills, social skills are equally important. Unless you are the CTO of the company you are applying for, few bosses only value technical level.

Ninth, how to effectively build a social network in the crypto field?

At first, I also built my own social network through various channels. Because I had no money but wanted to make money, I called one by one to ask, joined some top WeChat groups, saw who was the more powerful person in the group, and then added their WeChat. Basically, I would ask them how to make money and if they could take me with them. I would tell them about my college experience and the value I could provide, and ask them if they could give me some advice.

That's it. I contacted these people like a "licking dog" every day, which lasted for about half a year. At first, we had no resources and had to lower our status. We were forced to operate, and we needed to think of all kinds of ways to seize opportunities, meet more people, and then build our own social network step by step.

As a young person, especially in your early 20s, you are the most handsome when you put down your pride. When others see you put down your pride, they will think you are sincere and respectable. Try more, keep learning, and grow from it.

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