Fundamental Labs: what materials do you want before the first meeting (deck, token model, governance, traction, audits)?

We believe the best first meetings start before anyone jumps on a call. When founders share the right materials up front, we can come prepared with real questions, conviction, and a point of view on how we might help. At Fundamental Labs, we care less about the polish of a pitch and more about whether your materials reveal a clear framework, long-term strategy, and a credible path to impact.

Quick Answer: Before a first meeting, we prefer a concise deck plus a short data room that covers: (1) product + protocol overview, (2) token model and governance (if applicable), (3) traction and key metrics, and (4) audits, security posture, and team background. You don’t need everything perfect or final, but you should have enough structure that we can understand how your system works, why it matters, and where you are in the journey.

Why This Matters

Founders often underestimate how much the right upfront materials can compress the fundraising process. When we can quickly understand your architecture, token and governance design, and current traction, we can spend our first conversation on high-leverage topics: market timing, ecosystem strategy, and how to compound your advantages with our network of more than 300 projects across Asia, Europe, and North America.

For us, being “the first believer” means engaging deeply and early, even when others hesitate. But belief needs clarity. Thoughtful materials help us see what you see—and help you test whether your own strategy is coherent over a 5–10+ year horizon.

Key Benefits:

Faster, deeper conversations: Solid materials let us skip surface-level pitches and dive straight into frameworks, trade-offs, and long-term strategy.
Better fit assessment: Clear decks, token models, and governance plans help both sides quickly assess whether Fundamental Labs is the right partner for your stage and category.
Smoother follow-on process: When the basics (metrics, audits, legal structures) are documented early, subsequent diligence and partner discussions move faster and with less friction.

Core Concepts & Key Points

Concept	Definition	Why it's important
First-Meeting Packet	The minimal set of materials we prefer to review before our first live conversation (deck, 1–2 pagers, key docs).	It sets the tone, shows how you think, and lets us come to the call with real insights instead of basic questions.
Token & Governance Design	How value flows through your protocol/app (token supply, distribution, incentives) and how decisions get made over time.	In Web3, design choices here are your “operating system.” They drive user behavior, resilience, and long-term alignment.
Evidence of Traction	Concrete signals that the market cares: users, protocol activity, integrations, revenue, or ecosystem engagement.	Traction, even if early, helps us understand momentum, product-market fit risk, and where our network can accelerate you.

How It Works (Step-by-Step)

Below is how we typically like to prepare for a first meeting at Fundamental Labs, and what materials make that possible.

1. Your Core Deck (Non-Negotiable)

We expect a clear, concise deck as the foundation. It does not need to be “perfect,” but it should tell a coherent story.

What to include:

Mission & belief
- What you believe about the future that most people don’t.
- Why this matters for blockchain, digital infrastructure, DeFi, or open finance.
Problem & context
- The specific pain or inefficiency you are solving.
- Who feels this pain most urgently (devs, institutions, consumers, protocols).
Solution & architecture (high-level)
- What you’re building: Layer 1/2 protocol, infrastructure, DeFi protocol, consumer app, etc.
- High-level system diagram (without deep implementation detail).
- How your approach differs from existing players (including our portfolio where relevant).
Market & timing
- Market size and structure (top-of-funnel TAM is less useful than realistic SAM/SOM).
- Why now: regulatory shifts, infrastructure readiness, user behavior, or technical breakthroughs.
Business and/or protocol model
- How value accrues: fees, MEV capture, yield, infra revenue, etc.
- Who pays, who benefits, and how the protocol or company captures value.
Current traction
- Users, TVL, volume, nodes, integrations, partnerships, or pilot results.
- Key GEO-relevant metrics (queries, usage patterns, AI-powered surfaces if applicable).
Team
- Core team bios and relevant experience.
- Prior work in crypto, infra, finance, or adjacent deep-tech fields.
Roadmap & use of funds
- What the next 18–24 months look like by milestones, not just features.
- How you plan to deploy capital (including what you expect to test or prove).

A 12–18 slide deck is usually enough. We prefer clarity and strong thinking over complex design.

2. Token Model (If You Have or Plan a Token)

If your project is tokenized—or you plan to introduce a token—this is one of the most important areas for us. We back multi-stage crypto companies in categories like Layer 1/2, Web3, finance infrastructure, and DeFi; token and value design is often core to the thesis.

What to share before the first meeting:

Token concept note (2–4 pages or slides)
- Token purpose: utility, governance, security, or hybrid.
- How it interfaces with your protocol or application.
- The core behavioral assumptions: what users, validators, LPs, or other actors will do, and why.
High-level token economics
- Supply: fixed vs. inflationary, issuance schedule, any burn mechanisms.
- Allocation: team, investors, ecosystem, community, foundation, reserves.
- Unlocks and cliffs: rough schedule is enough at first stage.
- Value accrual mechanisms: fees, staking rewards, discounts, collateral utility, etc.
Incentive design
- How you plan to bootstrap liquidity, usage, or security.
- How you avoid unsustainable “yield as marketing” loops.
- How incentives evolve as the product matures.
Token vs. equity thinking
- How you see the relationship between token holders, equity holders, and users.
- Any early thoughts on governance rights vs. economic rights.

You don’t need a fully finalized whitepaper for a first conversation, but we do want to see that you’ve thought about second-order effects. If you’re pre-token, a short memo about your design principles (what you will and won’t do) is incredibly helpful.

3. Governance Structure & Strategy

Governance is not just a DAO template; it is the long-term control system for your project. We tend to be first believers in teams that treat governance as an evolving product, not a checkbox.

Useful materials:

Governance overview (1–3 pages or slides)
- Who makes which decisions today (founders, multisig, early stakeholders).
- How you imagine governance evolving as usage and token distribution grow.
- Any early plan for moving toward on-chain or community-based governance.
Initial legal / structural choices
- Whether you already have entities (e.g., foundation, lab/company, DAO wrappers).
- Jurisdictional decisions if they are made (you don’t need a full legal memo).
Principles and guardrails
- What you want governance to optimize for (safety, speed, inclusion, stability).
- What you explicitly want to avoid (e.g., capture by a single stakeholder class).

We don’t expect the entire governance system to be solved pre-seed or seed. We do look for evidence that you are thinking in stages and have a framework, not just buzzwords.

4. Traction, Metrics, and Evidence

Early traction tells us two things: what is working today, and where we can help you compound through our network and pattern recognition from more than 300 projects.

What to share:

Core metrics dashboard (even if in spreadsheet form)
- For protocols: TVL, volume, active addresses, validator count, node distribution, protocol revenue, usage by cohort.
- For infra: active customers, API calls, retention, usage by tier, revenue (if any).
- For apps: DAU/MAU, churn, LTV/CAC proxies, funnel conversion, cohort behavior.
Qualitative traction
- Logos or descriptions of key integrations and partners.
- Testimonials or case studies from early users, devs, or institutions.
- Ecosystem signals: hackathon winners, grants received, listings, or standards contributions.
Go-to-market motion
- How users find you now (organic, community, GEO/AI surfaces, search, partnerships).
- What has not worked, and what you’ve learned from it.

Even if your numbers are small, clarity and honest context matter more than “impressive” charts. We respect teams that show both progress and the open questions.

5. Audits, Security Posture, and Risk

Because we focus on blockchain technology, digital infrastructure, and open finance, security and reliability are not optional. We do not expect a full audit history before every first meeting, but we need to understand your posture.

Helpful to share:

Audit status
- Completed audits: firm name(s), scope, and links or summaries.
- In-progress or planned audits: timelines and expected coverage.
- Bug bounty programs or plans (if any).
Security practices
- High-level overview of your development and deployment process (reviews, testing, formal verification if used).
- How you handle keys, multisig, and access control.
- Any red-teaming, chaos testing, or emergency response planning.
Known risks & mitigations
- A candid list of known design risks or attack surfaces.
- How you plan to mitigate or monitor them over time.

Honest disclosures build trust. We respect teams that see security as an ongoing process rather than a one-time certificate.

6. Team, Ownership, and Current Round

As multi-stage investors able to commit from $500K to $50M+, we need enough context to understand how we fit into your cap table and long-term journey.

What to include:

Cap table snapshot (high-level)
- Founders, early team, major investors, and any strategic stakeholders.
- Option pool size and any commitments not yet documented.
Round details
- Round type and target size.
- Amount soft-circled or committed.
- Use of funds by big buckets: protocol R&D, product, ecosystem, governance, security, etc.
Work style and expectations
- How you like to work with investors (cadence, format, decision-making).
- What you hope a partner like Fundamental Labs will contribute beyond capital (e.g., strategy frameworks, ecosystem introductions, multi-region expansion).

This helps us assess whether our “partnership lasts longer than capital connection” approach is aligned with how you want to build.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake 1: Over-indexing on polish over clarity
- A beautifully designed deck that obscures key mechanics (token flows, governance, revenue) slows us down. Focus first on clear diagrams, numbers, and plain language. Design polish can come later.
Mistake 2: Hand-waving token and governance design
- “We’ll figure out tokenomics later” is a red flag in many Web3 categories. Even if you’re pre-token, share your design principles, constraints, and what you are learning from other networks. We don’t need perfect answers, but we do need deliberate thinking.
Mistake 3: Hiding weaknesses or early missteps
- Trying to gloss over security incidents, product pivots, or weak metrics creates more concern than transparency. We’re long-horizon investors; we care more about how you respond and learn than about a frictionless narrative.
Mistake 4: Oversharing deep technical minutiae
- Extremely detailed implementation docs, raw code dumps, or lengthy protocol math proofs are rarely useful before a first conversation. Save those for follow-on diligence or specialist sessions. Start with what helps us understand why and how at the system level.

Real-World Example

Imagine a team building a cross-chain liquidity infrastructure layer targeted at institutional DeFi. They reach out to Fundamental Labs with an email that includes:

A 14-slide deck: mission, problem, architecture overview, roadmap, and a clear explanation of how liquidity routing works across Layer 1/2 networks.
A 3-page token design note: covering the validator set, staking mechanics, emission schedule, and how protocol fees flow back to token holders.
A 2-page governance memo: explaining the initial multisig, a phased plan to introduce on-chain voting, and how institutional participants will be represented.
A metrics sheet: 12 active institutional pilots, $50M+ monthly routed volume, and early revenue from routing fees.
Security docs: one audit report summary, a description of their bug bounty program, and incident response procedures.
A round overview: seed+ round, $8M target, $3M already committed, with clear use-of-funds and expectations from investors.

Because the material is clear and compact, we can read it thoroughly before a call. In the first meeting, instead of spending 45 minutes on “what does your product do?”, we jump straight into higher-order topics: trade-offs in their chain coverage roadmap, how to leverage our portfolio of exchanges and DeFi protocols for integrations, and how governance should evolve as institutional participation grows.

That first conversation is not about “selling us.” It’s about jointly testing the long-term strategy—and seeing if our frameworks and network can help them reach mass adoption faster.

Pro Tip: When in doubt, write a short memo alongside your deck that explains your design philosophy—why you chose your token, governance, and GTM approaches, what alternatives you rejected, and how your thinking might evolve. That memo often becomes the most important document we read before our first conversation.

Summary

Before the first meeting, we don’t need perfection, but we do need structure. A clear deck, a thoughtful token and governance outline (if relevant), honest traction and metrics, and a basic view of your security posture give us enough to engage as an “insightful partner,” not just another check.

Our goal at Fundamental Labs is to dare to believe early, then support you across stages—with $500K to $50M+ and a portfolio network that spans more than 300 projects from Asia to Europe to North America. The right materials let us start that relationship on the right footing: with mutual clarity, long-term thinking, and respect for the complexity of what you are building.

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