Identifying promising crypto projects with startup mentor Roxana Nasoi

In this week’s Cryptonites interview, Managing Director at newly launched blockchain incubator Launchpool Labs, Roxana Nasoi, brings to the table over a decade-long experience in building companies in the digital economy space.

This is another compelling episode you don’t want to miss, as the startup mentor shared her tips on what to pay attention to when investing in crypto projects. 

Here are some interesting tidbits from the interview, in which Alex Fazel and Nasoi covered several topics–from the fundamentals of identifying promising startups–to the pitfalls of linking identities on the internet.

Cyber security is an important component that often gets “lost in the conversation”

“Obviously I like the idea of Twitter enabling Lightning payments, but I am concerned about the fact that you are linking your digital identity to your Lightning payments. These platforms, like Twitter, Facebook etc., work with identifiers. Your identifier for Twitter is a phone number, is an e-mail address that you use frequently. If you verify your identity you have the KYC data–and there’s always a security component to it”–warned Nasoi, as she pointed out the principal connection between digital identity, data and privacy.

“I think if you are taking money from the public or VCs–you need to identify yourself. For example, I would never incubate or invest in projects if I don’t know the founders. This is one of the highlights–we look at founders, we look at their backgrounds, we look at their previous experience, and also at what they are building”–she added, calling out for more privacy for the individual, but more transparency for the institutions, organizations and companies.

Identifying promising projects

“There’s a lot of pressure for younger founders right now, because if they do a token sale, if they do a raise with VC money in crypto–if they are not successful–it’s always like a black mark on their resume for the rest of their lives. Because, in our space we don’t forgive anyone–we’ll just call it a scam immediately”–said Nasoi, underscoring that in crypto, unlike in the traditional space, startups are never forgiven by retail investors if they fail.

“The relationship between founders–for me that’s very important, because I tend to trust more co-founders if they’ve known each other. If they played football together, if their families knew each other, if they studied together–for me that’s a track record. It shows that they were in touch before and lowers the scenario where–after going through incubation and mentoring, and advisory work–they split”–the startup mentor explained, sharing one of the approaches she uses when choosing which projects to incubate.