Why showing up matters again

Crypto has spent years optimising for internet scale.

Remote teams, asyncing everything on Slack and Telegram, building communities inside Telegram groups (and once upon a time, Discord). The ability to reach hundreds of thousands of people online without ever needing to be in the same room.

Of course that worked really well for a while. We saw it first hand at Flight3. But the reality is that the best work we do with clients now happens when they understand one thing: digital creates reach, while IRL creates depth.

Building quietly doesn't work anymore

Founders can no longer afford to build quietly in the background and hope people just notice. They need to show up online AND in real life, even when the story is still scrappy (that actually means better engagement most of the time).

There's a reason Y Combinator has produced companies now worth $800B+ combined. Alliance DAO has backed 300+ crypto startups across multiple cycles. Solana's hacker houses became a huge part of the ecosystem's growth strategy during the last cycle, because ambitious people tend to accelerate each other when they're in the same rooms.

The value was never just the funding. It was the intros, the conversations and the "magical moments" (as our CFO Jol would say) that come from putting smart people close together.

The hybrid model is the real unlock

"The next generation of breakout builders will understand that it's not about just shipping great products. It's also about how to plug into distribution and communities that help those products scale." – Aditi Chopra, Open House Lead, Arbitrum

Programmes like Arbitrum Open House get this right. An online buildathon open to anyone, anywhere, followed by an in-person Founder House for the teams that stand out. Global reach first, then real-world density on top.

IRL moments are nothing new, but this hybrid model reflects where crypto has been heading, and where it should continue to head. The internet still scales distribution globally, but when you layer real-world relationships and founder density on top of that reach, things start to move differently.

What this means for your brand

• Use digital for reach. Content, community and campaigns still put you in front of the most people.
• Use IRL for depth. Events, dinners and founder houses turn followers into partners, customers and advocates.
• Don't wait for the perfect story. Show up while it's still scrappy. People engage with progress, not polish.
• Get creative with the room. It doesn't have to be a conference. A padel court turns out to be a pretty good place to build relationships too. Who knew!

That's why we host events for brands all year round, plus Zebu Live every year since 2021. Bringing crypto people together is what we do best, and we've never been more convinced it matters.

If you want to plan how your brand shows up, online and in the room, let's chat.

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