Startup Cap Roundtable - Ep 001

The Spaces convened the first Startup Cap Roundtable, led by Dicky, to unpack the Ben Pasternak podcast and chart strategy for the “startup” belief coin within the ICM meta. Core takeaways: launchpads will soon roll out migration tools, so platform teams won’t put bespoke marketing behind projects that can quickly defect; incentives will be ecosystem-wide (fee-sharing, buybacks) rather than favoritism. The group framed “startup” as a long-term, low-execution-risk hedge for the ICM movement—akin to Bitcoin within its niche—while newer projects carry VC-like, 90%+ failure odds and uncertain token-equity claims. They emphasized network effects, patient capital (5–10 years), and attention cycles: surges around major content (e.g., podcasts) will be followed by quieter periods. Practical focus shifted to community-led growth: content, swarming, short-form virality, and not waiting for invitations to tell the “startup” story. A data guest (“Giant”) reported smart money holding and whales buying dips, reinforcing confidence; Dicky called sub-$10m market cap a gift. Operationally, future Spaces will rotate time zones. The conversation balanced conviction with realism: don’t rely on platform support; keep building mindshare; expect volatility, but treat “startup” as the durable base position in the ICM belief economy.

Startup Cap Roundtable # 1 — Comprehensive Notes

Session context and participants

• Host: Dicky (Australia-based; retired ~4 years; turning 40 this month; parent of young children). He organized and recorded the first “startup cap roundtable,” noting future sessions will rotate times to accommodate European listeners.
• Angel Investor 001 (British; trader background; longtime market participant). Joined as the first guest speaker; highly supportive of the project and the week’s community work.
• Giant (data-focused analyst; former founder). Dropped in later with on-chain/trader flow observations and encouragement.
• Other ecosystem mentions: Ben Pasternak (recent podcast), Nick (host for Belief-related Spaces), Bobby from Dupe/Jupe (expects more “flywheel” info in ~4 weeks), Mr Reminding (originator of a thesis Dicky adapted into a long-form video). Additional coins/teams mentioned in passing as examples or comparators.

Core topic: Takeaways from the Ben Pasternak podcast and implications

Migration tools and the “mercenary project” problem

• Dicky’s primary takeaway: within 1–2 weeks, every major launchpad is expected to offer migration tools. This makes it trivial for projects to relocate to whoever offers better incentives.
• Consequence: platform teams (e.g., those behind the current “belief/ICM” meta) can’t justify heavy, bespoke marketing spend for individual projects that might immediately migrate elsewhere.
• Strategic posture from the platform side: move toward a sustainable, platform-wide model—support everyone fairly rather than privileging a single “flagship.” Expect benefits like fee-sharing/buybacks that raise the tide for all, not one-off marketing blitzes for individual tokens.
• Dicky’s conclusion for Startup: if we want to be the top meme/coin in the ICM meta, we have to earn it. Don’t rely on special treatment or plead for it; compete on community, durability, and sustained presence.

Flagship status vs. decentralization of support

• Angel Investor 001 asked whether Startup should retain a flagship aura within the ecosystem. He framed it as “best mover advantage,” not necessarily “first mover.”
• Dicky aligns with network effects: attention will ebb and flow across the ecosystem, but a strong, sticky base can keep Startup at the top of the meme stack without privileged treatment. The platform appears intent on equalizing support, so projects must prove staying power.

Positioning: Startup within the ICM/belief-coin movement

Network effects and audience segmentation

• Dicky’s view: “belief coins” are attracting people who historically shunned memecoins by reframing them as community-driven movements. Observers are starting to grok that value accrues from collective belief/action, not just a mascot.
• He sees degen meme traders staying in their lane; serious capital for early-stage “web2 leveraging web3” companies will come from different channels and user journeys than CT/meme traders. Dupe/Jupe was cited as a web2-ish example that integrates points and token logic into a product funnel that can draw outside capital.

The “do nothing” product philosophy and error minimization

• Angel Investor 001 emphasized that doing nothing (no roadmaps, no execution risk) is a feature: fewer actions mean fewer mistakes, protecting annualized growth and longevity.
• Dicky echoed: even the best teams face a 90%+ failure rate in startup land. Tokens that represent exposure to startups (ICM-style) carry real risks: lack of enforceable equity claim, acquirer indifference to token holders, and structural disadvantages versus traditional VC. Startup, by contrast, has no execution risk in the product sense.

Startup as the “Bitcoin-like” hedge within the meta

• Dicky’s personal framework: he holds Bitcoin primarily as a long-term, low-drama store outside the banking system. He analogizes Startup to “Bitcoin for the ICM meta” — a durable hedge against a basket of riskier, higher-variance bets in the movement/ICM space. Over a 5–10 year horizon (the same horizon proponents suggest for startups), he expects Startup’s compounding to outpace bank returns and be competitive with majors, with lower blow-up risk than individual startup tokens.

Risk, time horizon, and capital allocation philosophies

On patience and horizons

• Dicky: even approaching 40 (with a 2-year-old), a 10-year horizon is realistic and meaningful. His 73-year-old mother only recently bought Bitcoin; he argues it’s not “too late” if one is thinking in multi-year horizons.
• Angel Investor 001: long-term compounding makes entry range noise irrelevant. Over years, current market caps will look like rounding errors if the thesis plays out.

“You’re always in a trade” and derisking from banks

• Angel Investor 001 (as a trader): people who keep funds in banks are also “in a trade,” implicitly long the solvency and policies of their bank/fiat. Withdrawal friction and fractional reserves highlight that risk.
• Dicky: he derisked from banks via a high-net-worth vehicle to allocate into Bitcoin and other assets. The process illustrated how inquisitive and restrictive traditional finance can be about capital movements.

Market structure and attention cycles

Expect waves of attention

• Dicky: the Pasternak podcast created a burst of attention across the ecosystem, including Launchcoin and more. But expect cyclicality: surges tied to announcements followed by quiet periods. The community should stay steady through quiet patches; opportunists may leave and re-enter with the next catalyst.

Price stance and accumulation framing

• Dicky doesn’t trade actively around ranges. He tweeted that anything below ~$10m market cap is “a gift” given current knowledge and positioning. Emphasis is on community building and onboarding rather than day-to-day price.

Community growth, virality, and creator incentives

Viral swarm as the growth engine

• Dicky: the “viral swarm” isn’t about latching onto the meme-of-the-week. It’s about mobilizing a financially-incentivized community to amplify consistent messaging and content.
• Strategy: become a subject that creators want to cover because Startup’s “army” reliably boosts engagement. This is basic internet community dynamics supercharged by financial alignment.

Doers over waiters

• Echoing a broader ethos from the week: don’t wait for invitations; do something about it. Dicky has reached out about podcasts and is open to speaking elsewhere if certain doors don’t open immediately. The message: Startup can’t be denied; act and the community will show up.

Signals from data and market participants (Giant)

• Giant’s observations:

  • Startup remains the top ICM coin even as the broader host space underperforms.
  • “Smart money” (top P&L wallets, whales) is buying dips in decent sizes (e.g., 5–6k), indicating conviction on drawdowns.
  • Despite sell pressure events, holdings in sophisticated wallets remain robust. The setup is “all good” in his view.

• Dicky’s related note: the “Kanye West” incident created a generational dip that he aggressively bought (“someone else’s exit was my entry liquidity”). He stresses Startup’s resilience: with no team/utility promises to fail, common FUD vectors don’t apply. The product is the market cap, and the community is the driver.

Critiques of hype cycles and founder incentives

• Dicky cited mainstream cautionary tales (e.g., WeWork dramatizations) to illustrate misaligned incentives. Founders can make fortunes while failing; incentives rarely favor retail tokenholders.
• Angel Investor 001 highlighted the industry’s predatory churn, referencing a “graveyard” of abandoned projects as a caution. Flash-in-the-pan memes (e.g., celebrity trinket coins or viral couple moments) tend to die when the meme dies. Startup, by contrast, is designed to outlast cycles by anchoring to a durable social truth (the startup archetype) rather than topical virality.

Leadership model: distributed, not top-down

• Angel Investor 001 credited Dicky’s leadership and content. Dicky emphasized he’s not “leading” in a hierarchical sense; it’s a funnel. He synthesizes community ideas (e.g., Mr Reminding’s thesis) into visuals and posts. Inspiration flows both ways; that’s the point of the table.
• As Startup grows, reliance on any single point diminishes. No execution roadmap means no single failure point; the bigger the movement, the more decentralized its momentum.

Media and mainstreaming

• Angel Investor 001 speculated about future documentaries or mainstream coverage. Dicky is skeptical that mass media will discuss crypto/ICM without derision anytime soon. He prefers to let the snowball build step-by-step via creator ecosystems and niche audiences rather than chase morning-TV validation.

Logistics and closing

• This was the first Startup cap roundtable; it was recorded. Future sessions will not have a fixed weekly slot—times will rotate to suit different regions. Listeners can request to speak; Dicky aims to keep sessions engaging and family-schedule-friendly.
• Closing note: “See you at cap table.”

Condensed highlights

• Platforms will deploy migration tools; expect equalized, ecosystem-wide support over bespoke marketing. Projects must earn stickiness.
• Startup’s edge: no execution risk, community-led compounding, and a strong meme tied to a timeless archetype. Dicky frames it as the “Bitcoin-like hedge” within ICM/belief meta.
• Attention will come in waves; community growth and creator-facing virality are the focus, not price micromanagement.
• Data shows smart money buying dips; Startup remains top ICM coin despite broader weakness.
• Leadership is distributed: community ideates, creators synthesize, the “army” amplifies.
• Don’t wait—act. Podcast invites or not, the movement can’t be denied.