Fundraising Lab: Post-Blockchain Week Edition - From Both Sides of the Table with a YC Founder
You’re invited to Founder Alchemy’s Fundraising Lab - a curated, hands-on session where early-stage founders get live, constructive feedback on their fundraising strategy, pitch narrative, and investor approach - from both sides of the table.
Each session gathers founders who are actively preparing to raise or refine their decks, alongside a guest mentor who has pitched, raised, and now invests - bringing insights from both founder and investor perspectives.
We group founders by stage and fundraising goals to ensure relevant, signal-rich discussions - turning individual challenges into shared lessons on storytelling, traction, and conviction.
Please apply through the RSVP form - spots are limited to keep discussions focused and personal.
About the Guest Mentor
Aaditya Shidham is a 2× YC Founder (S22), with deep experience building in Web3, crypto infrastructure, and AI.
He previously led Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) at Protocol Labs, scaling to 635K users and $280M in TVL, and built the MPC web3 wallet at Coinbase. Before that, he co-founded Apex Labs, developing ML tools for government-scale data detection systems. He's also a part-time investor at a16z. His perspective offers clarity on how investors think, what drives conviction, and how technical founders can better tell their story.
About Venue Sponsor
Crossmint is a leading Web3 infrastructure platform enabling businesses to build on-chain experiences with simple APIs. Its wallet-as-a-service, tokenization, and payment solutions help companies onboard users into digital ownership seamlessly - without requiring crypto expertise.
Powering millions of wallets and digital experiences across consumer, gaming, and enterprise applications, Crossmint supports the next wave of blockchain-enabled products.
In 2025, Crossmint was named one of the Top 100 Fintechs by CB Insights, recognizing its role in advancing the future of digital identity, commerce, and ownership.
Format & Flow
The session runs approximately 2 hours.
We’ll begin with brief founder introductions, followed by live deck reviews, peer feedback rotations, and guided commentary from our guest mentor.
Each founder will have the opportunity to:
Present their fundraising deck or investor narrative (5 minutes)
Receive feedback on storytelling, traction framing, and investor targeting
Learn what truly captures investor attention and why certain pitches stand out
Exchange lessons with peers navigating similar fundraising stages
The environment is designed to be open, practical, and founder-first - a safe space to iterate on your pitch and build sharper investor readiness.
Who this workshop is for
This GTM & Growth Lab is intentionally small and hands-on.
We prioritize early-stage founders who are:
✅ Actively building
✅ Focused on Fintech, DeFi, AI × Crypto, Web3, or Agentic Commerce
✅ Preparing to launch, fundraise, or scale early traction
What to Expect
Curated founders per session, grouped by stage and sector
A YC Founder × a16z Investor offering feedback from both sides of the table
Actionable advice on storytelling, traction framing, and investor psychology
Additional Notes
Please bring your pitch deck slides
By attending, you consent to being photographed and potentially featured in community recap or highlight content.