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How RnDAO Works With Startups - 2025

Written by
RnDAO
Published on
July 8, 2025

RnDAO is designed to outperform the traditional way of building startups.

Most startups are built from scratch. Founders have to do everything by themselves and for the first time. This leads to many trials and errors. However, it’s not necessary to reinvent the wheel. We can enable startups to benefit from the learnings and resources (access to customers, talent, and investors) of having built multiple similar startups. This is done by operating as a Venture Studio - a systematic assembly line for startups.
Venture Studios go beyond what accelerators and incubators offer by:

  • Being there from the start. You don’t need a full team, a well-researched problem and solution, and a shiny pitch deck. We operate from the very start of researching a market and coming up with ideas, then validating them thoroughly. We build on solid foundations or pivot early, so you don’t waste years on the wrong idea.
  • Hands-on support. Accelerators and incubators offer mentorship to give you feedback, but when it comes to actually doing the work, you’re on your own. In venture studios, there’s a team that will jump in the trenches with you and help you craft sales campaigns, recruit talent, prepare pitches to investors, review UX designs and copy, navigate legal questions, or anything else that’s needed.
  • Build on top of everyone’s assets. Having multiple startups under one roof means we can leverage each other’s brand credibility, marketing channels, talent, and investor networks, and even integrate the products. We unlock this by focusing on a single vertical (more overlap) and using cross-ownership between startups, which incentivises collaboration beyond what accelerators or incubators can do. This is RnDAO’s own addition to the usual venture studio model. We call this approach Swarms. 

When to join RnDAO?

You can join RnDAO as an:

  •  Aspiring entrepreneur: Work with us to develop a venture via our Entrepreneur in Residence Program, validating one of the venture opportunities our research team has identified.
  • Early-stage venture: if you have already founded your venture and started building, you can apply to be incubated by RnDAO and become part of our product ecosystem.
  • Contributor: Join one of our existing teams and help them grow.

This article focuses on joining as an early-stage venture to be incubated by RnDAO.

What ventures are a good fit for RnDAO?

We welcome early-stage startups that focus on Collaboration Technology (CollabTech) and embrace a culture of collaboration as part of our Swarm. We’re technology agnostic, equally applying AI, blockchain, and other tech depending on the use case.

What is CollabTech?

CollabTech refers to tools that enhance human(e) collaboration, evolving traditional B2B SaaS and other tools for organisations, gig economy, and creators. If your startup builds products that help people work better together, you’re in the right place.

Our Ideal Ventures:

RnDAO ventures are typically small teams in the early stages of their journey, facing challenges such as:

  • Validating their idea and finding Product-Market Fit.
  • Acquiring users/customers and scaling adoption.
  • Navigating legal and operational complexities.
  • Achieving financial sustainability (grants, fundraising, revenue generation).
  • Completing the team with high-quality contributors.
  • Attracting high-value contributors who align with their vision (ideally working for equity or reduced compensation).

We also collaborate with more mature projects. For inquiries about partnerships, please join our Discord.

Who RnDAO Isn’t For:

RnDAO does not collaborate with ventures that:

  • Are not building CollabTech (e.g., products that don’t enhance collaboration).
  • Are unwilling to collaborate or share resources with others in the ecosystem.
  • Are only seeking capital and already have everything else figured out.

How RnDAO Helps Ventures Succeed

  • Hands-on Support
    Our team of experienced builders and entrepreneurs has built multiple startups. We help you avoid mistakes, find faster ways to gain traction, get investment-ready, and reach product-market fit faster. We have weekly meetings (30-60 minutes or more if needed) to coordinate and schedule focused workshops. During the workshops, we can help you set up sales processes, prepare pitch decks, find your ideal cofounder or new team member, and more. We’ll be there for constant asynchronous discussions and feedback. We don't do calls just to share updates. We work closely with you to retain high context and get our hands dirty in prioritisation and execution.
  • Find Your First Users
    RnDAO members become the first users of products built by RnDAO startups, providing rapid feedback and boosting credibility to attract more users. Our marketing team and fellow ventures will also help you connect with others.
  • Access to Customers & Grants
    We facilitate introductions and quick feedback opportunities. RnDAO is an official delegate in zkSync, Arbitrum, and Scroll, and we have strong relationships with key governance leaders across the Ethereum ecosystem and beyond.
  • Network of Aligned Contributors
    RnDAO team onboards talent daily, and we’ve created a funnel to integrate them into startups. Each contributor is vetted to ensure alignment with the startup’s goals and expectations, so startups can focus on their work while we connect them with the talented people they need.
  • Ecosystem Opportunities
    Startups don’t have to search for opportunities. When one arises, it’s shared across the ecosystem, with introductions and quick feedback provided as needed.

Success Stories

  • Together Crew began as an RnDAO project, joined Techstars, gained traction, and now has two VCs reaching out—but no longer needs funding.
  • Meetwith had the entire RnDAO ecosystem using their product before it was fully ready. It was promoted daily to anyone scheduling a call with an RnDAO member. This gave them valuable feedback early on, allowing them to make crucial adjustments. Their communications also improved significantly, as they now had a product used by a community of 1,500 members, not just a proof of concept—and that built trust.
  • CommonGround joined RnDAO and has since refined its strategy to focus on modularity and composability, triggering a new wave of adoption and integrations with multiple projects. 

Understanding Our Process and Legal Agreements

We know that startups can take different paths, and we want our agreements to be flexible to suit your journey. Here's how we structure our collaboration.

At a high level:

  • We like having an agreement from early on to make sure both parties are serious about the relationship, and we like having the trial phase so we can get to know each other well before making the agreement permanent. 
  • We structured the agreement to give you as much flexibility in finding your ideal path as a venture, while ensuring incentive alignment.
  • Ventures that get traction become co-owners of RnDAO, encouraging collaboration within our ecosystem.

Application Process

After you join the RnDAO discord, we’ll invite you to a call to get to know each other. You’ll then fill out a form and meet other members of our investment committee. If we see a good fit, we’ll send you a term sheet (non-binding) with the key areas for discussion. After agreeing on the term sheet, we’ll send the official agreement for signing, and we’ll start working together.

1. The SAFE

The core of our agreement is a  SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity).

  • What is a SAFE? It's a simple agreement where we invest in your company now, and in return, we receive shares in the future when you raise more funds (or hit a revenue target, see below).
  • Why use a SAFE? It postpones the need to decide your company's value today, allowing you to focus on building your startup.
  • Learn more about SAFEs: an in-depth view of SAFEs here.
  • Revenue trigger clause: Typical SAFE agreements don’t fit ventures that want to focus on early profitability. We fix this with a clause that activates the SAFE converting to equity when you hit either a fundraising goal or a revenue target.

2. The Service Contract

The SAFE stipulates that the invested amount works as per the service contract. Before we have worked together, you‘ll wonder how much or what this will look like. Counting hours doesn’t explain the value of the work, and spending days negotiating deliverables is incompatible with the fast-paced and iterative reality of startups. Instead, we use two mechanisms to ensure we’re accountable for providing you real value: 

  • Trial Period: For the first 35 days of the relationship, either party can cancel the agreement. This works as a money-back guarantee: the relationship is completely dissolved, as if never happened.
  • Quarterly breaks: we divide the value of the services into 2 or 4 quarters. Every quarter, either party can stop the agreement. The completed quarters will count towards RnDAO investment, but no future quarters will.

3. Introducing the Token Warrant

If your project involves creating a token (common in blockchain or Web3 startups), we add a Token Warrant.

  • What is a Token Warrant? It's an agreement that says if you issue a token in the future, RnDAO will receive a portion of those tokens.
  • Why include this? It ensures fairness if your project's value comes from tokens instead of traditional shares.
  • Learn more about Token Warrant: an in-depth view of Token Warrants here.

The Swap: Becoming Part of RnDAO

We believe in mutual collaboration and shared success.

  • What is the Swap? You exchange a small portion of your equity or tokens for RnDAO's governance tokens.
  • Why do this? It makes you a co-owner of RnDAO, giving you a say in how things are run and aligning our interests. It also means you share in the success of all ventures in RnDAO.
  • When does it happen? After you've shown progress, like raising funds, launching a token, or generating revenue.
  • Learn more about Swaps: Kindred Capital (a VC fund) pioneered this approach.

This ensures that everyone involved is contributing and benefiting fairly.

Putting It All Together

Here's a quick summary of the steps:

  1. Join our Discord and an introductory call.
  2. Application form submission.
  3. Review by the Investment Committee.
  4. We normally get back to you with a decision within 3-4 weeks.
  5. Getting to know each other: We get to know each other with no obligations through a few calls and invite you to observe the work we’re doing with other ventures.
  6. Legal Agreement: We start our formal relationship with a trial period.
  7. The Swap: As you progress, you become a co-owner of RnDAO, fostering collaboration.

Next Steps

We're here to discuss these options with you in more detail. Our goal is to support your startup in a way that makes the most sense for you.

  • Questions? Don't hesitate to ask us anything.
  • Ready to proceed? Let us know, and we'll guide you through the next steps.

Join the RnDAO Discord and introduce yourself in the Introductions channel. Our team will then invite you to a call.

We look forward to the possibility of working together and helping your startup succeed!

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