From Game Research to Web3 Accelerator: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Alliance DAO Core Contributor Will

Will Robinson is one of the core contributors of Alliance DAO. He was a game research scholar before entering the crypto industry and became the first employee of Alliance DAO. In this conversation, Will shares his personal experiences and unique insights on Web3 entrepreneurship and accelerator projects.

The Transition from Academia to Cryptocurrency

Will initially focused on game research in academia, particularly independent games and mechanics design. In early 2017, he decided to switch careers to the crypto field just before completing his PhD. He has been working in crypto auditing for nearly 4 years, gradually accumulating expertise.

He then joined Alliance DAO as the first employee, responsible for establishing the accelerator project. Will stated that he has tried multiple roles at Alliance DAO, including fundraising, mentoring, marketing, and research, constantly seeking directions that interest him.

Will believes that his academic background has helped him learn how to deal with ambiguity and face questions that have no ready answers. This ability is very important in the Web3 entrepreneurial environment.

Alliance DAO's Project Selection Process

When filtering projects, Alliance DAO mainly evaluates from two aspects: whether the team is excellent and whether the idea is outstanding. Will emphasizes that the importance of the team is higher than that of the idea, possibly two to three times more important.

Alliance DAO is not fixated on specific fields but is more focused on exceptional founders. Will stated that they are looking for extreme drive. In interviews, they delve deep into the founders' motivations, trying to uncover the driving force within them.

Projects usually need to go through two rounds of interviews to enter the Alliance. Will mentioned that they will feel the "heat" in the interview, meaning the founder's enthusiasm and potential. In the end, only about 0.8% of applicants can successfully qualify.

Business Model and Advantages of Accelerators

Compared to traditional venture capital, Alliance DAO focuses on building a founder community. Will believes that operating a full-fledged accelerator goes beyond the capabilities of most venture capitalists and is also not financially viable.

Alliance DAO has gained over half of its applicants through alumni referrals. Will emphasized that excellent founders are often cautious about accelerators and need to build trust through word-of-mouth.

Alliance DAO will not invest in subsequent rounds of accelerated projects to avoid conflicts of interest. They will invest in some high-quality projects that have not been accelerated, such as Arbitrum and Axie Infinity.

Evaluation of Founders and Teams

When assessing founders, Alliance DAO focuses on the following points:

1. Is there a strong collaborative relationship among the founders?
2. Is there a strong desire for success?
3. Is the team size streamlined for easier transformation?
4. Does it have the ability to transform and resilience?

Will indicates that they prefer small teams, as larger teams often find it difficult to pivot. For certain fields such as game development, they hope to see teams rapidly iterate and continuously try new ideas.

Views on the Current Project

Will believes that Pump.Fun is a very interesting project that has changed people's perception of meme coins. Another impressive project is Glow, which incentivizes solar farms to produce through innovative means.

Will shared the transformation journey of the Pump.Fun team, from the initial NFT trading platform Caviar to the current social token platform. He believes that the key to entrepreneurship is to create fortunate conditions for oneself while maintaining focus and flexibility.