$3 trillion. That's the blockchain VC segment today - against more than $100 trillion in traditional venture. A young market, and the rules that built it are already dead.

LKI Founder Laura K. Inamedinova, Chief Ecosystem Officer at Gate.io and Principal at Gate Ventures, joined a VC panel at ETH Dubai on April 28. Five investors, one question: what gets a founder funded now?

Panelists:

1. Laura K. Inamedinova - Founder, LKI Consulting, Chief Ecosystem Officer at Gate.io and Principal at Gate Ventures

2. Tibo - VC/RM, XDC Network

3. Tess Hau - Founder, Tess Ventures

4. Ivan V. Ivanov - Founding Partner, UVECON

5. Vickaash Agarwal - Partner, Sigma Capital

VC money is a high-risk loan, not a grant. Inamedinova mentioned that the founders expect VCs to behave like charities handing out grants to experiment with. They don't. A VC check is a high-risk loan where defaulting doesn't cost you the money back - it costs you your reputation. Want cheap, easy capital? Go to a bank, borrow at 5%, and keep your name clean.

The market matured out of the whitepaper era. Tibo noted that two years ago, decks arrived with no traction and no users - just paper. Now investors want real utility and a real user base. He framed the moment as "web 2.5", where founders who built in the classic startup world hold an edge, but only if they pair that experience with someone who has actually shipped in web3.

Put traction on the first slide, not the fifteenth. Nothing loses a VC faster than traction hidden on the fifteenth slide. If you have users, lead with them. Every slide and every sentence should answer one question - how does this make money for the investor?

Five slides, five sentences. Hau, Founder at Tess Ventures, recommended two decks: a detailed one to send and a five-slide deck for the room. The verbal pitch is five sentences: who you are, what you're building, your competitive edge, your ask, and your exit. Stop cornering VCs for fifteen-minute monologues. If it's relevant, the diligence team follows up.

Cash flow kills good projects. Agarwal suggested raising enough for two years of runway. Strong projects have died not from bad ideas but from empty treasuries. Hau's takeaway after fifteen years of investing: the founders matter more than the product. Markets shift, and only the right team can pivot fast enough to survive it