Welcome to Web 3 with A16C Crypto.

Today we're talking about how to survive crypto's ups and downs and what it takes to build a lasting company.

This episode unpacks lessons from past crypto cycles and advice for founders, including

everything from how to raise money and stay committed in 2025, to how to handle copycat

competitors, co-founder disputes, growing too fast or too slowly, and more.

You'll hear from A16C Crypto general partner Ariana Simpson,

who spent over a decade investing in crypto and backing ambitious founders. She joins Jacqueline

Melanick, co-founder and CEO of Token Relations, and host of the Talking Tokens podcast,

which is where this conversation first aired and which we're excited to share

with you here. As always, none of the content should be taken as investment, business,

legal, or tax advice. Please, see a16.com slash disclosures for more important information,

including a link to a list of our investments.

Thank you. information, including a link to a list of our investments. I think we've known each other for a number of years, but I'm still going to ask you this

anyways. How did you even get into Web3? What made you want to invest for our listeners

who don't owe you yet?

Sure. Yeah. So I've been in the space for, I would say, gee, about 12 years now. So it's a while.

A while, yes. Many, many centuries in crypto years. Yeah, I mean, I kind of fell down the rabbit hole following a trip I took to Zimbabwe. I ended up there sort of by accident

visiting a friend in Namibia and then decided to go visit a few other countries nearby. And when I

got to Zimbabwe, they were still recovering from the worst of the hyperinflation that the country

had gone through. So they had actually switched over to

the U.S. dollar to stabilize the economy because things had gotten so bad. And I met a lot of

people who kind of described to me the economic pain and suffering that they'd gone through.

...