Web3 Accelerator Alliance DAO core member Will will share insights on startup incubation

Alliance DAO was founded in 2020 and is a leading Web3 accelerator and founder community. Through a 10-week acceleration program, Alliance DAO helps the top 1% of Web3 founders to establish and grow companies. To date, Alliance DAO has held 14 sessions of startup accelerators, with the total market value of the incubated companies reaching 11 billion USD.

Recently, Will Robinson, a core member of Alliance DAO, shared his experiences in the Web3 space and his insights on how to evaluate projects and founders.

Personal Experience

Will was initially an academic researcher, studying the history and culture of video games, tabletop games, and sports. In early 2017, he was introduced to Bitcoin through his cousin Dan(, the head of research at Paradigm), and decided to switch careers into the cryptocurrency field.

Will worked at an auditing firm for nearly 4 years, providing auditing services for cryptocurrency foundations, exchanges, and more. He then joined Alliance as the first employee, responsible for establishing the accelerator program. During his nearly 4 years at Alliance, Will has tried almost every role, including fundraising, mentorship, marketing, and research.

Will stated that his favorite role is helping the teams prepare for Demo Day. He spends a lot of time communicating with each team, teaching them how to tell their startup story and how to attract investors quickly and engagingly. This not only gives the teams a compelling story to attract investors but also allows them to have a deeper understanding of themselves.

Decision-Making Process of Alliance DAO

Alliance DAO will evaluate the applicant projects from two aspects: whether the team is excellent and whether the idea is outstanding. Will believes that an excellent team is more important than an outstanding idea, possibly two to three times more important.

Alliance is not devoted to a specific field, but rather focuses on outstanding founders. Will stated that being outstanding does not necessarily mean having attended prestigious schools, working at large companies, or having successfully exited a previously founded startup. What they are looking for is extreme drive.

During the interview process, Will will guide the founders in self-reflection, delving into why they want to solve specific problems. This in-depth exploration is crucial.

The selection process for Alliance DAO typically includes two rounds of interviews. The first round lasts 15-20 minutes, and the second round lasts 30-45 minutes. Will stated that they will interview 20% of the applicants, then interview 20% of those, and finally select 20% from that group.

Business Model of Accelerators

Will believes that operating a full-fledged accelerator is beyond the scope of most venture capitalists and is not financially viable. The annual operating cost of an accelerator is about 5 million dollars, while the management fees are far from sufficient to cover these costs.

The advantage of Alliance DAO lies in their focus on building a DAO that creates unique value. They have 15 full-time employees who can invest a great deal of energy in reviewing applications and supporting founders.

More than half of the applications for Alliance DAO come from referrals by previous founders or alumni. Will stated that outstanding founders typically do not go through accelerators because they already know how to build companies. It took Alliance a long time to get outstanding founders to accept their conditions.

Alliance will not invest in the follow-up rounds of teams they have accelerated to avoid being seen as biased. However, they will invest in the follow-up rounds of teams that they have not accelerated, such as Arbitrum and Axie Infinity.

Evaluation of Founders and Team

When evaluating founders, Alliance will focus on the following points:

1. Is there a strong cooperative relationship among the founders?
2. Do the founders have a strong desire for success?
3. Is the team size appropriate( prefers small teams)

Will indicates that they usually do not like teams that are too large, as large teams find it difficult to transform. The first thing often taught when joining the Alliance is how to lay off employees in order to focus on finding the right problems and solutions.

Currently, Alliance has received many AI-related project applications. Will is excited about the idea of providing financial services for "AI that cannot access banking services," and he hopes to see how blockchain technology can solve this issue for AI.

Will believes that the most interesting project currently is Pump.Fun, because it changes people's perception of meme coins. Another amazing project is Glow, which incentivizes solar farm production in a fun way.

Will emphasizes that a key lesson in entrepreneurship is that you need to create your own luck. You should work towards the right direction, solve people's problems, and at the same time, keep an open mind to accept unexpected opportunities.