Molly Mackinlay, Swaroop Hegde, Ayush Ranjan, Masa 'Senshi' Kikuchi I Pragma India 2023

Wed, Oct 2, 2024, 12:00 AM

What does it take to transform a hackathon project into a real-world protocol? In this insightful panel from Pragma India 2023, Molly Mackinlay of Protocol Labs moderates a conversation with three founders—Swaroop Hegde (Powerloom), Ayush Ranjan (Huddle01), and Masa ‘Senshi’ Kikuchi (Secured Finance)—who all began their journey at HackFS 2020 and are now building category-defining Web3 protocols. They share stories of early experimentation, what made them decide to become founders, and how ecosystems like Protocol Labs, Filecoin, Gitcoin, and ETHGlobal helped catalyze their growth. Topics include fundraising advice, legal and hiring challenges, choosing the right investors, and staying committed to the mission during tough times. 00:00 Welcome & panelist introductions 00:44 Early experiences at HackFS 2020 03:41 Huddle01’s origin during COVID & Zoom bombing 05:11 Powerloom’s spontaneous entry & inspiration 06:14 When hack projects became real companies 07:23 Secured Finance’s unexpected founder journey 09:16 Powerloom’s pivot and grant opportunities 10:14 How Protocol Labs & PL Network helped 13:07 The emotional side of the founder journey 14:33 Fundraising experiences & first rounds 17:16 Navigating investor alignment 19:10 Legal structures, SAFE vs equity tips 20:33 Current founder struggles & feature requests 22:10 Hiring challenges and high-impact early team 23:22 Regulatory uncertainty in Web3 24:24 New trends founders are excited about 25:26 Web3 social, staking, and communication rails 27:38 Secured Finance and the decentralized bond market 28:50 On-chain infra and scaling excitement 29:55 Advice for ETHIndia hackers & future founders 31:30 Final takeaways from the panel _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇮🇳 *Pragma India* The final Pragma of the year took place in Bengaluru India in December 2023 with a curated series of high-quality talks that sparked thought and discussion. Pragma India 2023 was an opportunity discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. Watch the full Pragma India 2023 playlist here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXzKMXK2aHh4rHV1H4J7y0wDok4bIS17t&si=lb8ttkU1HS2tpnUP ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ *Follow ETHGlobal* X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETHGlobal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship?_ 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _