# CSX: Week 2 Notes

> Crypto infra, talks with Aptos and Optimism, Collaborative Frameboards and browser extension

**Published by:** [Jayme Hoffman](https://newsletter.jaymehoffman.com/)
**Published on:** 2024-04-14
**Categories:** csx
**URL:** https://newsletter.jaymehoffman.com/csx-week-2-notes

## Content

Here are my notes from Week 2 of a16z Crypto's CSX. This week, which focused on infrastructure, included an infra expo and multiple talks from top infra founders. Talk: Mo Shaikh (Aptos)Why crypto?Financial freedom for all is important because of childhood.Grew up as an Immigrant with hard-working parents, first in Abu Dhabi and then in Brighton Beach, NYC.Founder journeyLearned to hustle selling iPods to NBA playersLearned financial system from RBC → BlackrockLearned frameworks for thinking about GTM from consultingJoined Consensys to help scale Ethereum, and then to Facebook to found Novi.Spinning Novi out of FacebookWhy another L1? The existing systems were not designed to scale—3.5 years of pursuing ... didn’t see anything evolve.Spinouts are rare because either because part of a product line or the internal knives kill it.Brought a lot of Novi team despite being hard to convince “we like it at FB”The mindset of “just figure out how to continue on this mission” allowed Mo to recruit a talented founding team.GTMAptos works with two worldsInnovatorsStartups = disrupt existing businessDisrupt existing systems so there is more efficiencyOld guardLarge companies = not going anywherePros: Still retain massive distributionCons: Large companies on a timeline, Partner risk is very realExample: Google earns APT tokens by running a validatorWeb3 is the hardest place to be an entrepreneurThe market is “neck-whipping” fastYou get to “be really close to the customer”Everything is open (Twitter, Discord, Telegram)You get market feedback immediately, faster than anywhere else. You can get feedback without having a product.Dealing with hatersIf not 7 new haters a week, not doing our jobAlways a major move forward in the wake of hatredRespond with marketing jujutsuUse the momentEmbrace the discussionPre-plan attack vectors — “If you had to talk shit, what would you say?”Positioning Web2 vs. Web3Can startups go after both? “double down on web3 but operate with web2 principles.”Why?Faster adoptHigher velocityVariety of use-casesIf you had tried to partner with Blackrock seven years ago, you would have gone out of business. Eventually, Blackrock will come around.CompetitionA crowded market in web3 doesn't matterThere are barely 1m users. 5B users are not using your product.Flex your advantageGoogle: “Search completed in x seconds” = reminding you that its the best techWhat Mo respects about other chainsCommunity buildingFounder-led personalityStatus of web3 todayCrypto’s PMF today is obvious — just go on Twitter and see what people are doing.What’s going to onboard the next 1B?NFTs? Don’t see it yet.Stablecoin for moving money? Would move (money) faster than anything.Aptos thinks: finance → game → mediaBook recommendationsHard think about hard things by Ben HorotizScaling People by Claire Hughes JohnsonWhere to find Mo?TwitterAptos LabsTalk: Jinglan Wanga and Karl Floersch (Optimsim)Founding OptimismDropped out of college to become a BitcoinerAttracted to EthereumHumans trying to build something togetherVitalik on why unicorn shirts “keep out a particular type of toxicity “Karl’s project “Jing write the book, and Hayden go build Uniswap”Fighting for Karl: work on this thing with signs of PMF, or take a risk and change the internetOptimistic Ethereum was the original name“Ethereum is not a particular thing — You are ethereum” - KarlMoving on from PlasmaWhy move on?No one was using it.Shocked because had thousands of likes on social.Discovered user interviewsUsers cared about cost and latencyWhat's an MVP?“The skateboard pic” - It’s iterative"What is the skateboard, though?" - Where debate occurs What does it mean to do things that don’t scale?Taking a step backWhat is the common objective we’re trying to achieve?For all these objectives, what are we trying to achieve?Seeking out adviceJing is “a Jedi Master at seeking out networks and getting advice” - JasonHow? Ask a lot of questions. Over time, develop a sense of who’s high vs. low signal and on what topicsTeamwork/buildingCommunication can be a challenge - opinion and language can be different on things like volume, scope, and timelinesInvest in each other and how you communicatecofounder coachingbusiness coachingEveryone should be in a high-leverage role.Be generous with compIf not, they shouldn't be on the team.Why have the stress of trying to balance equity?Pushing without discomfortIf something doesn’t make sense, push on it.Know that pushing creates discomfort.How to overcome:Learn how to push without creating discomfortHave the conviction to endure other people's discomfortMaking tough decisionsThe worst part is the “anxiety of uncertainty” … “I try to avoid that” - KarlHow to overcome?Write it down and/or go for a walkMake the tough decisionSave energy and live a “life without conflict”VibesHow does Optimism have such a great community?“We genuinely give a fuck” - JingWhat are vibes?People are having fun.“Life is meaningless, we’re mostly water, life should be fun” - JingVibes are the outcome of a bunch of early decisionsDecentralizationProtocol:Build modularly so we can puntGovernance:“This Governance Will Self Destruct.”We hadnt seen teams build it right, we knew we would get it wrong on the first try.Decentralization should serve a purpose.SuperchainEthereum + L2s vs. World of L1sThere are definitely network effects around standards - Karl“Interoperability is cool”Chains are different threadsHorizontal scalabilityNow, getting into the nitty-gritty of the Superchain vision!The Superchain SDKMVP = non-protocolFuture = protocol-level message-passingShippingWe didn’t ship anything to production for 1 year, then 6 months, and now 1x month."Shipping sub-optimal on a regular basis beats not shipping for a year" 👏Waive magic wand and fix anything?Scale Ethereum - Optimism already working on that 🙂User onboarding - You should not know you’re using crypto. We have to replicate Web2 if there's any chance of surpassing it.“Wish more people knew about jobs.optimism.io” - JingWhere to find Jing and Karl?Jing: Twitter / FarcasterKarl: Twitter / FarcasterLinks that came upBountycasterBountycaster is a tool for creating bounties and services on Farcasers. I recommended it several times for recruiting and feedback.How to run a good Bountycaster? My flow:Get inspiration from completed bountiesUse the Create a Post tool on BountycasterCast to the channel that makes the most sense for your use case (i.e. jobs)Once UponOnceUpon is the best block explorer for the Superchain. I recommended to a couple of founders for user research.SplitsSplits are the easiest way to build payment splitting into your product. I think of it as marketplace rake as a service. The Splits team is working on several new things I’m excited about.Here’s a Splits protocol chart after the Titles (by Soren + Parker) launch.https://dune.com/splits/ecosystemScreen StudioA couple of founders asked about our GIF game. Screen Studio is the best tool I’ve found for creating simple product videos and gifs. H/t Jonny Mack for the rec.TYBTYB is crushing with adopting non-cryptonative brands and consumers.Emmanuel reminded me their mobile app has a great onboarding experience: “Crypto is in the background”Crowdmuse + IYKCrowdmuse and IYK came up a couple of times for doing cool things and having a great user experience.Launcher Labs ProgressWe shipped 🚢Collaborative Frameboards - Farcaster / TwitterCurate to Frameboard browser extension - Farcaster / Twitter🧩 Curate to Frameboard extensionURL autocompleteUpdated profilesNew UI ✨We launched a bounty to curate hometown food in celebration of collaborative boards.Launchcaster upvotes are up 944% from frames!👋 See you next week - Jayme

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