1/ How (and why) to buy your first $SOL in ten minutes—even if you’re skeptical. 🧵
2/ Buying Solana is easier and more secure than it seems. I’ll walk you through with clarity.
3/ It’s OK to be skeptical. Think of it like this.
Potential downside: you lose money (I’ll advise you to only buy a SMALL amount at first)
Potential upside: your investment accrues
What’s guaranteed: skin in the game, and learning about this incredibly promising technology.
4/ To be clear, SOL is not about to overtake ETH. But ETH’s popularity has resulted in prohibitive gas fees—and an opportunity for Solana.
Put simply, there is room for a robust multi-chain ecosystem. It’s why $SOL is making a play to become the third largest coin by market cap.
5/ This is not investment advice. 🙅
$SOL has already surged to over 100x of its price from one year ago.
Does it have room to grow? Certainly—it’s currently at 13% of ETH’s market cap. Has it already topped? It’s entirely possible.
In either case, there will be volatility.
6/ Solana has its advantages.
-gas fees are a fraction of a cent
-network is relatively uncongested (FOR NOW)
-NFT marketplaces are growing fast (e.g. @MagicEden_NFT doing over $40M volume/week)
-The $SOL dev ecosystem is a beast, and has received billions in VC funding
7/ OK, here’s how you buy $SOL.
The easiest way IMO is to go with the market leader: Coinbase.
You’ll verify your email, phone number, and identity, then link your payment method.
8/ Sweet. Now you’re in.
Tap the blue exchange button in the middle.
Then, tap “Buy crypto with cash.”
9/ Search “Solana.”
Here, we see the current price: $249.30 USD.
Tap it.
10/ Here, we choose how much to buy.
First time? De-risk by purchasing a minimal amount. Afterwards, you can learn and gain confidence by watching the price.
Note: Tap the ⇵ arrows to view your order in quantities of either USD or SOL.
Tap in your order, then “Preview Buy.”
11/ Final checkout screen.
Always review your transactions. It’s very easy to mistakenly purchase more than you intended.
Also, note that Coinbase takes a transaction fee. In this case, about 1.5%.
Ready? Tap “Buy Now.”
12/ Congratulations!
You just bought your first $SOL.
🎉🎉🎉
13/ If you’re interested in exposure to other assets that support a multi-chain ecosystem, you can research $ATOM, $DOT, $XTZ, $MATIC, $AVAX, and more.
Btw, if you want to buy NFTs on Solana, you’ll need a wallet. My fave is @phantom.
-infinite royalties for artists
-ownership for communities
-24/7 marketplaces
-token-gated unlocks
That’s all well and good, but what NFTs do next is going to 🤯 your mind. 🧵
2/ Retail
Retailers from 7-11 to Gamestop will use NFTs to incentivize IRL transactions, leveraging creators to drive traffic to storefronts.
For example, Yeezy NFTs that only unlock with purchases from Gap stores, or NFTs that unlock exclusive features for Tesla vehicles.
3/ Services
NFTs will unlock access to services and hobbyist communities. Q&As and tutorials with influencer chefs, photographers, doctors, and niche enthusiastic communities will boom.
This will also extend into IRL services like transportation, hotels, and massages.
1/ What Nintendo’s history teaches us about the future of NFTs and intellectual property. 🧵
2/ Today, Nintendo is the best-selling console on the planet, with a market cap of $50B. Mario & friends are worth more than Twitter and Dogecoin.
But they got their start in 1889, selling hand-painted playing cards—an emerging category of tradeable gaming collectibles.
3/ Think of these as Nintendo’s “genesis” drop: establishing their IP with physical, collectible tokens.
Today, NFTs are in the “trading cards” phase; the difference being that ownership is recorded on the blockchain, providing increased utility and liquidity for token holders.
1/ The odds were stacked against us: bootstrapped, crowded category, no network to speak of.
But we sold our startup for $100M+ thanks to an exceptional product—and some original marketing.
Marketing strategies we used to beat out the competition. 🧵
2/ Invest in personal relationships 🤝
☑ Wine and dine your partners. Send cards. Text them. Move the needle 5%, and you win the edge over your less-engaged competition
☑ Recognize network effects take years to build. Connections you make in year one will 10x by year five
3/ Write candidly to engage 💁
☑ Your biggest advantage is your authenticity—develop a voice and be honest af
☑ If you wouldn’t text it to your friend, don’t use it in your copy
☑ Share customer convos on social, thereby inviting more and creating a flywheel
1/ How and why the NFT market will move towards Solana. 🧵
2/ To be clear, the NFT ecosystem is not going to abandon ETH. But its surge in popularity has resulted in prohibitive, unsustainable gas fees.
There are simply too many people and transactions on the network—and they’re not going away. A symptom of ETH’s success.
3/ We’ve been promised an eventual reduction in gas fees via ETH2, an upgrade to the Ethereum network—but that’s a whole year away, and may not mitigate the problem as much as we hope.
That leaves competitors with a significant time window of opportunity.
1/ When it comes to your startup’s valuation, revenue is only one piece of the puzzle.
Here are the most important factors affecting your company’s price tag. 🧵
2/ Category expansion
If an acquirer aims to further category reach, do you represent that mobility?
Snack brands might gain an edge by expanding into frozen food. Web3 startups may be cheaper to acquire than to build. Gen Z brands could bring life to aging holdco portfolios.
3/ You’ve “stolen” a potential acquirer’s sales
Taking market share brings urgency to any deal. Highlight examples of how you’ve outsold competitors and disrupted placements they used to own—from search results to marketplaces.