AMA With a Crypto Startup Founder
AMA with a Crypto Startup Founder: Inside the Mind of a Web3 Builder
Host: Welcome to today’s AMA! We're excited to have Jordan Reyes, founder and CEO of ChainLoop, a crypto startup building infrastructure for cross-chain data syncing. Jordan’s here to share insights on launching a startup in the Web3 space, raising funds, building a product, and navigating the ups and downs of the blockchain industry.
Let’s dive right in.
🧠 Q1: What inspired you to start a crypto company?
Jordan: Great question. I was working as a backend engineer at a fintech company in 2020 when I started exploring DeFi. I quickly realized that many blockchains weren’t speaking to each other well — it was like every network was its own island. That friction sparked the idea for ChainLoop.
I wanted to solve real infrastructure problems that could help developers build cross-chain apps more easily — and that’s where it all began.
💼 Q2: What were the first steps you took to launch ChainLoop?
Jordan: The first 3–4 months were purely research and prototyping. I spent a lot of time validating the problem: talking to developers, building a lightweight MVP, and testing on testnets. I joined a few Web3 communities and hackathons, which helped me get early feedback.
Eventually, I brought on a technical co-founder and we applied to a Web3 accelerator — which gave us early funding, mentorship, and connections.
🚀 Q3: How did you raise funding for a crypto startup?
Jordan: Fundraising in Web3 is a bit different than in traditional tech. In our case, we went through:
A Web3 accelerator for pre-seed capital.
Then, we raised a seed round from crypto-native VCs like a16z crypto and some angels from the Ethereum ecosystem.
What helped us stand out was our working MVP, clear problem-solution fit, and a strong roadmap. Investors in this space want to see that you understand the tech and are building for the long term — not just chasing hype.
🧪 Q4: What tech stack does your team use?
Jordan: We’re building on Ethereum, with a strong focus on Layer 2 networks like Optimism and Arbitrum. Our smart contracts are written in Solidity, and we use Foundry and Hardhat for testing and deployment.
On the backend, we use Node.js, Go, and PostgreSQL for data handling, and our front end is built with React + wagmi + ethers.js.
⛓️ Q5: What are some of the biggest challenges in building a crypto product?
Jordan:
Security — Web3 is unforgiving. One bug in a smart contract can drain your entire treasury.
Regulation — The legal landscape is still unclear in many countries, so compliance is a moving target.
Education — You have to educate users on things like wallets, gas, and private keys, which adds friction to onboarding.
Noise — There’s so much hype and speculation that it’s easy to get lost in trends. We’ve had to stay laser-focused on actual utility.
🌍 Q6: What do you think the crypto industry will look like in 5 years?
Jordan: I think we’ll see:
Mass adoption of Layer 2s for scalability.
Mainstream use of blockchain in areas like gaming, identity, and finance.
A clear divide between speculative coins and real utility-driven protocols.
More regulatory clarity, which will bring traditional institutions into Web3.
Also, the next big breakthrough might come from outside the West — a lot of innovation is happening in LATAM, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
💬 Q7: Any advice for aspiring crypto founders?
Jordan: Definitely:
Solve real problems. Don’t just build for hype or tokenomics.
Stay lean and fast. Build MVPs, test quickly, and ship.
Understand the tech. If you're non-technical, at least deeply understand how blockchains work.
Build in public. Web3 is all about transparency — share your progress and engage your community early.
And don’t wait for the perfect moment. Start now.
🙌 Q8: Final words for the community?
Jordan: We’re still early. The foundations of Web3 are being built right now, and you don’t need to be a genius or a VC to contribute. Whether you’re a developer, designer, writer, or community builder — there’s space for you here.
Stay curious, stay ethical, and keep building.
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