Decentralized crowdfunding: DAOLaunch aims to support startups in the Web3 era｜DAOLaunch CEO Sakuro Imayama｜Interview

Last week our CEO Sakuro Imayama had an interview with BaaS Info to discuss the current progress of DAOLaunch and the upcoming plans in the near future! Sakuro also revealed DAOLaunch’s next exciting project to be soon released!

1. Introduction

“BaaS info!!” is a blockchain media publication that makes regular interviews with people active in the blockchain industry.

Our guest this time is Mr. Sakuro Imayama, the co-founder and CEO of DAOLaunch, who launched the decentralized crowdfunding platform “DAOLaunch”. Mr. Imayama, who globally develops a business that supports startups globally, has traveled around the world and always been involved in cutting-edge projects in the blockchain area.

We asked DAOLaunch CEO, who has now moved to Dubai and is working on an even bigger project, what kind of plans he is aiming for with decentralized crowdfunding, and his vision for the future.

Mr. Sakuro Imayama’s profile:
Co-Founder & CEO of DAO Launch

“I started getting involved in crypto in 2015 and have founded various crypto startups since then.

In 2021, I founded the decentralized crowdfunding platform DAOlaunch, which was listed on Gate.io in December of the same year. We have partners and members from various countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Dubai, Vietnam, and India, and we source and support new startups.”

2. DAOLaunch is a global platform that started with an interest in startup investment

Today, I would like to ask you about the launch of DAOLaunch.

I first got into Bitcoin around 2015-2016. I researched bitcoin and had always liked trading, so at the time I was making my own trading bots, trading tools, and arbitrage tools.

While continuing to be involved in businesses related to crypto-assets, we started DAOLaunch last year (2021) to launch our own project, and started working on crypto. Together with DAOLaunch, we are now launching a new business in Dubai.

I’ve always had a strong desire to actually go to places where crypto is booming, and around 2017 I heard that crypto was taking off  in the Republic of Malta, so I went to Malta. I was free to go overseas and do whatever I needed to do.

Did you have a strong interest in investing from the beginning?

I think crypto and investment go hand in hand. Crypto assets are attractive as an investment and interesting as a technology.

Bitcoin has financial incentives, and when you look into the mechanism, the technical aspects are also interesting. I forgot whether I was interested in technology or financial incentives first, but basically I was attracted to both and became absorbed in this whole thing.

So you live in Dubai now and have been traveling overseas as a backpacker for quite some time. Have you ever worked in Japan before?

I’m 32 now, but I left Japan about 10 years ago. I used to work as an outdoor guide. Outdoor sports are popular overseas, and I was good at English, so I think I had the foundation to go abroad from the old days.

At that time, there were a lot of technical barriers when it came to blockchain. Was it difficult to understand without having the knowledge of an engineer? How did you deepen your knowledge about blockchain?

Originally, I majored in engineering in college. I also like mathematics, so I think I had a good background to understand it to some extent. However, I have no intention of working as an engineer.

After a while, I came across bitcoin. I read Satoshi Nakamoto’s papers and commentaries, and thought it was interesting. It’s the trigger.

Your mobility is amazing. When it comes to blockchain, there are various concepts such as DApps and blockchain games. Could you please tell me in detail?

While I myself have been involved in the blockchain industry for a long time, I have been paying attention to the rise in the funding platforms called Launchpad since last year. One of the triggers was that I was looking at fundraising platforms such as “Duck DAO” and “Polkastarter” and thought that if I improved them a little bit more, they could demonstrate their potential.

In the past, I have seen DEX (Decentralized Exchange) such as “Compound” and “Uniswap” from the beginning. I wanted to build a foundation for start-up investment while continuing to grow.

As for DAOLaunch’s business, some functions of our platform have already been released, but basically, you can connect your own wallet on the web application and directly from that wallet to startups with high potential. It is a platform that allows you to invest in tokens or NFTs.

From the web application, you can connect to various blockchain networks such as “Ethereum”, “BNB Chain (BSC)”, “Polygon”, etc. If you find a startup you want to invest in, you can invest directly from your own wallet such as “MetaMask” or “WalletConnect”. I can. Of course, you can also receive tokens.

What’s really interesting is that I get the impression that this platform itself is competing in a different area than Japanese blockchain companies are competing in. I think that DAOLaunch is in the so-called IDO (Initial DEX Offering) area, but what is your perspective and motivation for wanting to compete in the IDO area?

The bottom line is that I want to invest in startups and get involved in various projects. Crypto liberalizes the business of the financial market, and I think the biggest revolution is that anyone can start a financial business.

In the world of crypto, startup investment is more efficient than before, and there are many platforms, so I wanted to compete there. It’s also interesting to look at the white papers of projects launched by startups, so I have a strong desire to do something in this area.

3. Issues in the leading IDO platform

The reason you started the project to build your own platform because you wanted to support startups was because you felt there were some issues with the preceding IDO platform.

Well, I saw that there were several problems with existing IDO platforms. Just imagine IDO is more like an IPO (Initial Listing Stock), where tokens are basically listed and token holders and purchasers take profits, rather than a fundraising platform. It is often used with meaning. I have the impression that investors will be profitable with IDO.

IDO has helped lower the hurdles for listing tokens, but I think it will take years for the project to become a business.

Just because anyone can list a token, it won’t make sense if the token itself doesn’t have liquidity.

I think that listing is basically used for exit (*editor’s note: recovery of invested funds). Looking at the actual market, even if the token is listed in a public sale in a short time and the demand has not increased, even if funds are collected from the market, it will be profitable immediately and the token will be distributed to investors. Since it is sold, the price of the token cannot withstand the pressure of selling, and the price of the token will drop, and as a result, the project will be adversely affected.

We believe that we can do a little more to deal with this situation. Listing tokens immediately like other launchpads is difficult for the project, and it cannot be said that the ecosystem is really supporting startups.

As a result of thinking about what kind of approach we can take, DAOLaunch, of course, conducts public sales, but while it is a platform that focuses on token sales, we also paid attention to NFTs.

In the NFT field, technological progress was seen immediately after the boom (around 2021), and at the beginning of the boom, it was used to sell the ownership of NFT art. I found a use for it.

For example, an NFT collection project called “Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)” issued community-based NFTs. BAYC’s business model is to raise funds by issuing NFTs, distribute further NFTs and tokens as rewards to those who hold the NFTs, and list those tokens to support new projects such as Metaverse and GameFi. will be expanded.

NFTs generally do not need to provide additional liquidity compared to tokens. You can also distribute a special NFT to each token holder. As a result, the NFT that was first issued for fundraising was not sold and was held for a relatively long period of time.

I think that the biggest difference between tokens and investment methods such as equity (shareholders’ equity) is that while tokens are basically exits to obtain capital gains, they also have utility (functions and convenience). 

I think that the biggest difference between tokens and investment methods such as equity (shareholders’ equity) is that while tokens are basically exits to obtain capital gains, they also have utility (functions and convenience). .

In order to get the effect of the token utility, it is necessary to be exposed to the market and gain the support of the community, but I think that the project should steadily issue NFTs in such a way to gain support. I am thinking.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) said that NFTs are basically inconvenient as an exit method (for example, they cannot be converted into cash as a profitable method), so using NFTs as a token utility is better for the sustainability of the ecosystem. showed me. In that sense, I think it will be very effective for the project to use NFT in the future.

DAOLaunch will of course support the issuance of tokens for the project, but will also attach various functions related to NFT to provide various NFT tools, and create an ecosystem in which the project successfully incorporates NFT. We are trying to differentiate ourselves from other IDO platforms so that we can support startups.

Although the story has been back and forth, DAOLaunch connects startups and the investors who support them directly on the blockchain, allowing anyone to seamlessly create and support a new ecosystem across borders. 

Many of the mechanisms used by startups to create ecosystems today involve intermediary organizations, and the environment in which these intermediary organizations are more profitable than investors is becoming the norm. DAOLaunch can also eliminate intermediate organizations by directly connecting investors and startups using blockchain.