ETHDenver has at all times been a spot the place the business takes its personal temperature. This yr, we arrived with a transparent intention: to not broadcast, however to convene. Right here’s a fast recap.
Warfare room: a tactical information on how a crew prepares for launch
That includes Ellie Davidson (Espresso), Bruno Faviero (Magna), and Corinne Struck (Kraken 360), moderated by Munam Wasi of the Ink Basis
The morning kicked off with a reside announcement: Payward has acquired Magna, and Magna might be deeply built-in with Kraken. It set a direct tone for the session. This wasn’t a theoretical panel about token launches. The dialog opened by exploring what that form of integration really modifications for groups getting ready to go reside, and what stays precisely the identical.
From there, the panel labored via the selections that outline a launch earlier than it occurs. The primary was strategic readability: while you sit all the way down to plan a launch, what are the 2 or three outcomes you’re really optimizing for, and what are you explicitly not optimizing for? Attempting to win on each dimension directly is how you find yourself with a launch that’s technically reside however strategically incoherent.
On token design, the query the panel stored returning to was deceptively easy: who is that this token for, and the way do they get it? A token that rewards the fallacious habits at launch doesn’t simply create a short-term downside. It embeds the fallacious incentives into the community from Day One, and people are onerous to unwind. The dialogue acquired into the way you design distribution to reward the fitting individuals, and the way you acknowledge and keep away from the patterns that produce a launch spike adopted by a sluggish bleed.
The operational facet of launch prep acquired its personal second too. What are the must-have techniques and routines within the weeks earlier than you go reside, so that you’re not making vital selections on the fly? The panel was candid about the place groups are likely to really feel the toughest tradeoffs: transferring quick versus staying versatile, and each of these versus defending the long-term well being of the community.
The session closed with a query each founder within the room wanted to listen to: what do you have to determine earlier, and what do you have to cease overthinking? The solutions have been sensible and direct, and the throughline was that the majority groups spend too lengthy deliberating on issues which can be recoverable, and never lengthy sufficient on those that aren’t.
Scaling with out surprises: the selections that maintain up previous launch
That includes Katya Ternopolska (Sentora), Val Gui (xStocks), Colton Conley (Arrington Capital), and Matt Immerso (Blockchange Ventures), moderated by Nick Santomauro of Kraken
If the Warfare Room panel was about getting ready to launch, this one was about what occurs after, when the tougher work of staying alive begins.
The panel opened with a query that reframes how most groups take into consideration progress: what does “able to develop” really imply? Not able to announce, not able to demo, however able to deal with 10x extra exercise with out the wheels coming off. The dialog pushed on what sign you really belief while you’re making that decision, and which alerts look good however will be deceptive.
From there, the dialogue turned to the selections that paid off over time, those that stored compounding as tasks grew. The patterns that emerged weren’t the flashy ones. They have been the boring infrastructure decisions: those that made integrations simpler later, decreased hearth drills, and meant that when issues went fallacious (and so they do), groups weren’t ranging from scratch. The “boring resolution that saved us later” theme ran via practically each instance.
The investor lens added a helpful layer. Throughout portfolios, the commonest early upgrades that make progress smoother are likely to cluster round a number of areas: clear possession and escalation paths, dashboards that inform you what’s really occurring (not simply what you hope is occurring), compliance and safety hygiene that avoids painful rewrites, and the one or two early hires that change a crew’s means to scale. These items really feel like overhead till all of a sudden they’re the one factor standing between you and a really dangerous week.
The distribution dialog was notably sharp. Going from early adopters to an actual viewers exposes each assumption you made about onboarding, UX, and companion readiness. Platform constraints, custody, compliance, regional entry: these aren’t issues you may clear up reactively at scale. The groups that deal with progress effectively are usually those who named an accountable proprietor for every of these issues earlier than the quantity arrived, not after.
The session closed the identical approach the Warfare Room did: what do you have to determine earlier, and what do you have to cease overthinking? After a full panel of sample recognition, the solutions landed with a bit extra weight.
Launching into 2026: what nonetheless issues when the cycle turns
That includes Stephen McKeon (Collab & Foreign money), Maria Shen (Electrical Capital), Mason Nystrom (Pantera Capital), and Rob Schmultz (Blockchange Ventures), moderated by Calvin Leyon, Head of Onchain at Kraken
The ultimate panel pulled again to the longest time horizon of the day. The dialog moved away from tactical execution and towards a much bigger query: what do traders really imagine in 2026, and the way does that form what they fund?
The panel opened with what traders are actually underwriting after they again a crew right now. The bar has moved since 2021. There’s now a complete class of “good story that doesn’t maintain up below scrutiny,” and the dialogue was trustworthy about what desk stakes appear like now versus then, and what widespread founder narratives are likely to disintegrate while you push on them.
From there, the dialog zoomed out to fundamentals: when the market temper modifications, what really predicts which tasks endure and which fade? The clearest sign isn’t what a crew does when issues are thrilling. It’s what they do after they aren’t. That’s the place you see whether or not a product has actual pull or simply narrative momentum. The panel additionally dug into which cycle-driven ways are likely to age poorly, and why.
The long-term thesis dialog was one of many extra candid components of the day. Every investor was pushed to articulate one thing they’re conviction-led on, not a story, however a structural shift in consumer habits or market infrastructure they imagine is inevitable over a 5 to 10 yr horizon. The “why now in 2026, not 2021” framing was a helpful corrective to the tendency to recycle previous theses with up to date branding.
The panel closed with how all of that exhibits up in apply: how thesis shapes diligence, what traders really do after they’re in (hiring, partnerships, governance, compliance readiness), and the way launch buildings have matured because the 2021 period. Much less spray-and-pray, extra sequencing. Fewer surprises, clearer expectations, higher readiness checks.
The ultimate query, what’s one factor each founder ought to ask a possible investor, produced among the greatest solutions of the day. The consensus: ask how they present up when issues are onerous, not when issues are thrilling. Anybody generally is a good companion in a bull market.
Three panels, one throughline
Three completely different entry factors into the identical underlying query: how do you construct one thing that lasts?
What struck us throughout all three conversations was the consistency of the reply. It’s not a secret, and it’s not cycle-specific. It’s the identical self-discipline that has at all times separated the groups who make it from those who don’t: readability on what you’re constructing, honesty about what you’re not prepared for, and the willingness to make the boring selections early in order that they’re not crises later.
We have been proud to convene these conversations at ETHDenver with the Ink Basis, and much more proud to have the individuals on our crew who can have them.
We’ll see you subsequent time.
