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BTC

Our Crypto Upvotes experts summed up results of May on the crypto market. And gave their forecasts for leading cryptocurrencies for the nearest future

May was the first month this year that Bitcoin closed with a loss in price. On January 1, BTC was trading around $16.5 thousand, on February 1 – $23.13 thousand, on March 1 – $23.15 thousand, on April 1 Bitcoin rate reached $28.5 thousand, and on May 1 – $29.3 thousand. By the last day of spring the price of BTC went down to $27.7 thousand.
But despite the BTC price decrease by 5.5% in May, it has grown by 67% since the beginning of the year. The total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency decreased by 3.3% in May, but has increased by 41% since the beginning of the year.

Last month on the cryptocurrency market went mainly in the decline in the prices of leading assets

The growth was observed only in certain projects, such as Ripple. And it was primarily due to internal fundamental reasons.
Otherwise, the correction in the cryptocurrency market within the uptrend of the beginning of the year continues. And to say that the market has found the bottom and will go into active growth, it is not necessary yet, says our expert.
May has not been very good for BTC so far this year, with almost 6% fall of the exchange rate. Despite this, we have not seen a strong collapse. For example, as it was in May of the previous few years. Over the past month, BTC and other major cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were in consolidation phase.
On May 25 the price of Bitcoin updated minimum of two months, sinking to the point of $25.8 thousand. But by the end of May BTC got out of this pit, and steadily crossed the point of $27 thousand.
This decline can be attributed to market instability caused by problems in the U.S. banking sector, says our expert. Recession inevitably leads to higher borrowing costs for individuals and companies. And investments are losing yields. So investors tend to invest in conservative instruments. Cryptocurrency traditionally fades into the background at this time.

The U.S. Treasury Department is actively working to reduce inflation. And if it succeeds, then the cryptocurrency segment of the market will go back to growth

Our experts say that even with the current Fed rate, Bitcoin will be able to stop the decline. And even begin to rise in price, albeit slowly. The same will happen to Ethereum and other popular cryptocurrencies.
The most important key events for the crypto market in June. These are reports on the U.S. business activity, inflation and unemployment index, which are published at the beginning of the month. Then after these reports, on June 14, there will be a Fed meeting on the interest rate. And the change of which could very strongly influence the rate of BTC and altcoins.
In case of good economic reports we may expect that the current price level will be kept. In this case, it will be a positive signal for the crypto market. And that will push the BTC price up, to the current resistance level of $31,000, and possibly higher.

Historically, June is considered a low month for Bitcoin. And for the past three years, its exchange rate has fallen in June, our experts remind us.

In May, Bitcoin was supposed to show BTC down to the $25k level. However, it fell slightly short of that target. At the same time, as in the case with Bitcoin, our experts also expect other assets to decline in prices in June.
For example, the correction target for Ethereum is at $1.6k. And other assets with high market capitalization, such as BNB, XRP, ADA, MATIC may also decrease by 5-15% in the first month of summer, our expert thinks.
As for the fundamental aspects, the attention of market participants remains focused on macroeconomics in the USA. Because the pause in rate hike at the June FED meeting is already built into the current prices. But in case of divergence with market expectations, cryptocurrency may decline synchronously with stock assets.

Important events in June among other top 30 cryptocurrencies

Among all cryptocurrency assets from the top 30, Litecoin (LTC) may be stronger than the market. That’s because the LTC network will be halving in August. It is historically bullish on the cryptocurrency exchange price. Also LTC can become one of the leaders of the subsequent market growth. And even if it won’t show good growth in June.
Our experts Crypto Upvotes note that in June several major unlocks of cryptocurrencies are expected. For example such as 1inch Network (1INCH) here will be released 16.6% of the total supply. And Blur here will unlock 6.62% of the total supply. Our expert warned that after unlocks there is usually a fall in asset prices.
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The Founder Journey: Brett Adcock

Building in Public

If you spend any time on Twitter, you’ve probably seen some of Brett’s viral threads:
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https://twitter.com/adcock_brett/status/1618268570928152580?s=20
Plenty of founders “build in public” like this, but Brett may very well be the most successful of them all.
So why would a founder who’s experienced massive success multiple times, and is now building a new startup from 0 → 1 (a time when every second is precious), bother writing detailed and tactical threads on Twitter every week?
When I asked Brett about this, he emphasized how helpful is can be for fundraising (at any stage). If Figure, his new autonomous humanoid robot startup, is successful then he’s “going to need to raise enormous amounts of capital.”
Building in public, or at least building an audience, allows him to get consistent exposure to prospective investors and top-tier talent. In fact, Brett said he’s already hired over a dozen people via Twitter for Figure.
Later on in our chat he hinted that driving positive, founder-led PR (something he’s written about before) was also a factor:
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https://preview.redd.it/j6dd4em88t3b1.png?width=1087&format=png&auto=webp&s=aeceed51cabfa4a5fea8e175e785349d35f85298
The bottom line is that people want to feel like they’re part of the ideas that change the world, and the founders who embrace that are more likely to build successful startups.

Tough Times

If a startup is successful, it’s easy to look at it through rose-colored glasses. But a founder’s day to day life is typically overrun with problems and trying to solve them:
https://preview.redd.it/8e2okapa8t3b1.png?width=1087&format=png&auto=webp&s=bd8766ec9bdc01397a082aad4463daf95446a05a
When I pressed him on this, Brett shared that his mindset was not to dwell or fixate on any particular problems — instead, he just treats each problem (large or small) as something else to figure out and solve.
This is what sets great founders apart. Huge problems don’t phase them. They don’t let their startup get into a “death by a thousand cuts” scenario because they’re aware of and actively fixing even the small problems too.
Keeping yourself at an even keel and not letting the ups and downs sidetrack you from your mission is one of the key founder skills that’s not only hard to teach, but also often not emphasized enough to first-time founders before they start building.
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https://preview.redd.it/ycblxx9g9t3b1.png?width=1087&format=png&auto=webp&s=dbfe7d83f93e8c6d995b4a2b79d2d5b1b54a0691

Naming a Company

Take a second and think about the startup with the best name you’ve ever come across. What actually makes it a great name?
Successful founders almost never talk about this. In fact, most I know hate naming things — it’s one of my least favorite things to do too. But there is a science to it that can help make it easier. Brett shared his framework on Twitter earlier this year:
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https://twitter.com/adcock_brett/status/1613551076665626628?s=20
You can break his framework down into these rules:

1. Be unique in your category
2. Use words that can turn into verbs
3. Limit your syllables
4. Easy to spell
5. Easy to pronounce
6. Domain availability
7. Trademarking availability

When talking with me Brett shared how, with Figure, it’s a word that is:

• “Easy to say and easy to use”
• Unique (in robotics)
• Taps into the idea of a human figure
• And is simply “just a really cool word”

It’s easy for founders to overlook naming their startups, or a new product — don’t do that. Your brand can become a massive moat (Google vs. Bing, Uber vs. Lyft, Airbnb vs. Vrbo, etc.).
Take every advantage you can — your startup’s name can be one too.

Fundraising Advice

Brett has raised over $1 billion in his career. Given the current macro climate, I asked Brett for his best advice for founders while fundraising:
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https://twitter.com/adcock_brett/status/1589281462242549760?s=20
He advised that founders not neglect the top of their fundraising funnel. Especially early on, before you know what investors will look for from your startup or how they’ll evaluate it (and you, and the market), founders should treat their outreach like “impressions” on social media.
Brett advocates for getting “the story you want to tell” in front of as many people as possible. Track the “impressions”, grow your top of funnel, and see how well (and, more importantly, who / what type of investors) they’re converting through the different steps of the funnel.
When we were fundraising for my last startup, we tracked the following statuses within our fundraising funnel:

• Investor Identified
• Intro Identified
• Intro Made
• Meeting Scheduled
• Backchanneling
• Committed
• Signed
• Wired → Remember, you don’t have the money until it’s in the bank!
• Not a Fit / Passed

Once you’ve identified the types of investors who are moving down the funnel, you can narrow your outreach to find more who fit that mold.
Brett also shared how it is important to understand the mandates and theses that investors have when fundraising. Virtually every fund has verticals and specific sectors that they are looking to invest in. Almost always, your lead investor will be passionate and have a core thesis around your area of focus.

Attacking the Impossible

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https://twitter.com/adcock_brett/status/1604501998660771841?s=20
The number one thing that stands out about Brett’s overarching founder journey across his three companies is that he keeps taking on harder and harder challenges.
First, a software-powered hiring marketplace. Then, electric vertical takeoff aircraft and now, autonomous humanoid robots.
After he sold his first company, Vettery, for $100 million it would’ve been so easy for him to go relax on beaches for the rest of his life. At the very least, most founders don’t choose harder problems after success. Brett’s styled his career in the vein of two founders I have considerable admiration for in this regard — Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick.
When I asked him why he chose this path he said that, for him, being a founder isn’t about money — it’s about making a real difference and better future for the world (but that it’s completely fine if, for someone else, it actually is about the money).
He also compared “hard” startups vs. “easy” ones by saying that “hard” startups (aka hard problems to solve) have advantages:

• Investors want to back big ideas
• Hard problems make recruiting great people easier
• I would also add that you’re likely to have less competition

Overall, Brett said “hard” startups are “2-3x easier to build than easy ideas.”

Hypergrowth

As startups experience hypergrowth, new challenges emerge at increasingly quick rates. It’s simply impossible to keep up, and relying on the systems you have in place is key.
Brett shared that the best way to solve hypergrowth-related issues, though, is through growth.
“Growth cures all things” — it’s intoxicating for your team and helps overcome or reduce the impact of problems.
He also pointed out that the biggest factor that allowed him to go from 0 employees to 70 in a short time period was the ability to communicate clearly. And that having singular documents, especially around company culture, that are shared clearly with newly joining team members, can make a big difference.
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