Imran Khan is the cofounder of AllianceDAO. AllianceDAO the world's first digital startup nation, accelerating the top 1% of Web3 founders. In the last two years, they’ve accelerated more than 210 startups including 15% of the top 100 DeFi projects by market capitalization. Their companies include 0x, dYdX, Kyber, Olympus DAO, Paraswap, Ribbon Finance.

In this episode we discuss the origin story of the accelerator, what he looks for in Web3 founders, and his learnings from forming a DAO.

Learn more about Imran and AllianceDAO:

• Imran’s Twitter: @lmrankhan
• AllianceDAO Website: https://alliance.xyz
• AllianceDAO Announcement

Episode notes and links:

• The origin of Chicago Defi Alliance as an Informal Industry Group
• The super power of being in Chicago - home to 60% of the market makers globally
• Defi Alliance’s first accelerator batch included dYdX, Kyber, Set Protocol, Synthetix
• Why Imran loved the first accelerator batch
• Why Imran believed in DeFi
• How it felt being at the center of DeFi and seeing it explode during DeFi summer
• Why Alliance finally raised a fund
• How the fund actually helped glue founders and market makers together
• What Chicago DeFi Alliance’s initial major offering was:
  • Capital
  • Regulatory help - Specifically regulations around trading
  • Product + go to market strategy
• How Web3 founder applicants have changed:
  • First batches started as tinkerers
  • Chris Dixon: What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years
  • Today’s applicants are FAANG talent
• Imran’s favorite founder stories
• AllianceDAO helps startups deal with regulations
  • How to building product, keeping in mind that you could be sub-poened.
  • Dane - Corporate governance
  • Mike - General Counsel Clearbit/Atrium
• Legal market fit. Sufficiently de-centralized and compliant
  • Keeps de-centralization and also a strong argument if something was to happen
  • 30% trading; now it’s how do you start your company; how to structure your DAO (should it be a foundation), where to incorporate
• Building effective products
  • Tokens can be a great customer acquisition strategy
  • Pros and cons: your customers are your investors
  • Build something people want
• New Web3 founder mistakes: not taking enough time to study the space
• How Imran assesses Web3 startup ideas
  • Originality of idea
• Traits Imran looks for in founders:
  • Resilience, creativity, thoughtfulness, leadership, empathy, sense of urgency
• What’s the best way to recruit talent?
• How Imran’s perspective on tweeting has changed
• Why a Web3 company is more challenging than Web2
• Why Alliance transitioned to a DAO and what the process was like
• How DAO’s can represent new, digital nations
• Imran’s take on NFT valuation
• What Imran is most excited about in the space
• Who is Alliance DAO looking for?
  • CTO - to help spearhead the bleeding edge of what the DAO should look like 5 to 10 years out.
  • Head of Partnerships:
  • Head of Marketing:
• Where Web3 founders go to apply: alliance.xyz

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