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Your First $100K | How I'd Raise for a Crypto Startup in 2026

Mercy Mercy ·

I’m writing this to all the ai-driven, first time technical founders, making the leap into founder mode.

Here’s the straightforward way I’ve cumulatively raised $1.9M over the last 4 years across 11 different startups, and how I’d raise in 2026.

1. Become an Expert First

Don’t build something because you think it can make you money — you’re far better off working under someone else in the niche you want to learn about than spending time chasing money.

Have a great MVP that solves a big enough problem (TAM), that you already are a market genius on (traction), where the ideal customer (ICP) is already familiar with, or trusts, you.

Founders, a VC should never know more about your industry or business model than you. Great VCs can be very helpful for customer intros, fundraising, signaling, being a sounding board etc. At no point should they be dictating how to make the most pressing decisions for your company. — Arjun (@neuralunlock | @HashgraphVC)

My experience: I started off in the podcasting / production niche as a service agency. We managed 3–4 highly viewed podcasts and ran a guest booking / outreach team. We charged a large amount of money, but we lost so much business from teams that just wanted to use our systems. So we built a product around it, raised from our customers, and were able to scale from 40 customers to 6,200.

2. Grants

You don’t need to sell part of your company right away. There are teams aligned in the success of their underlying ecosystem, such as @solana.

No-equity grants — start with these:

Even $5K–$30K in grants buys you time to build something real. That time is everything when you’re just starting.

My experience: Grants often can’t be advertised, nor can they be used to publicly market a product the same way a traditional raise does. Despite that, it’s one of the first steps I take with teams we’re incubating at @icmdotrun. Grants are not free money — they have a cost of alignment; that cost can be free if the alignment is mutually beneficial.

3. Are You Able to Accept Capital?

There are so many founders “raising” who are completely legally unable to accept capital from investors. Big red flag — it telegraphs to investors that they don’t understand this process.

Solution: @fairdotclub — no / low-cost setup, and you’re immediately able to start accepting payments from investors.

It’s also one of the easier ways for normal founders to get discovered by angels who are actively looking for new projects with momentum. You don’t need warm intros everywhere — just make it easy for the right people to find you and be able to invest.

The fastest way to lose a deal is to not be able to take it when it comes.

(Disclaimer: @icmdotrun are investors of @fairdotclub, and I am incredibly biased that this is the smartest path for most great teams.)

4. Tokenized Equity — Ownership Coins — Tokenization

While market-driven entirely (in my opinion), and teams are still choosing this pathway, I currently suggest to most teams that tokenization is not figured out as of yet.

Tokenization has still proven to be a massive distraction for most early-stage teams. This is not an opinion I pulled out of thin air — it’s a conversation you can have with any founder who chose to launch a token.

If I were to raise on-chain today with a token, I would probably choose @futarddotio.

How would I raise on @futarddotio? Secure on-chain investment interest from friends, family, and angels first. Receive and compile LOIs from individuals I know would commit to our raise, then stealth launch right on @futarddotio. (This is coming from someone who has access to capital.)

5. Accelerators / Incubators / Programs

In no particular order of value, here are some of the best programs you can join if you’re building a startup on-chain:

My experience: Most teams I’ve incubated and invested in that joined a program from the list above shortened their time to GTM — 80–90% from the capital and connections they received. The highest grace and praise we’ve seen came from teams incubated by @incubator at @solanalabs (@EmonMotamedi).

A Final Word

I am by no stretch an absolute expert at raising capital. Every SaaS I’ve ever founded myself was customer-funded, bootstrapped, without the need to seek raising capital.

I learned to raise capital from my friends’ startups I worked at, plus the incubator I run, @icmdotrun.

So I deeply resonate with all the first-time founders here who think that just because they vibe-coded their first idea, it deserves a check from a16z. It doesn’t, and it likely won’t get it — the chips are almost completely stacked against you.

It’s my belief that the way most of you will raise capital will be through friends, family, community, or angels.

I wrote this from my own personal experience, and I hope it helps you.

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