Success Tokens: An Incentive Aligned Way for VC Funds to Invest in DAOs

The problem with “tokens at a discount” is that it is not always well received by communities. Many token holders question what value a VC investor will bring. Right now, the Sushi community is actively questioning if a discount is “worth it” in their forums and Discord.

The current path forward is that the VC fund will attempt to buy “tokens at a discount” from a DAO. This is what a16z did with Maker, what a16z did with Solana, and what Sushi is considering doing now.

This means crypto is democratizing access to otherwise private investment opportunities — I think this is pretty cool. But crypto projects still want access to VC capital and expertise. Good VC investors can provide a lot of value and help projects grow and succeed.

What he meant is that a typical crypto project will launch a token after their seed or Series A deal, leaving a later stage investor with no option for a private investment. Instead, that investor will have to negotiate an investment in publicly traded tokens with the DAO that controls a project’s treasury.