Currently, there are a lot of seed rounds going on in the Bitcoin Layer 2 and Ordinals space at $15-40m valuations like Alpen Labs, Xverse and Chainway.

Getting into these rounds is not easy. The lead investor usually wants most of the round, leaving only some room for other funds and angel investors. As soon as a lead is selected for a hot round, it's Lord of the Flies for the rest.

I'll talk about how I personally came into a position where I could invest in such rounds, and then touch on how I see other paths of reaching the same goal.

How I went from being a total nobody to getting into the hottest VC rounds in the industry

Making a name for yourself: I attained sufficiently deep knowledge about blockchain technology and consensus protocols such that I knew more than 99% of people. Then, in 2017, when a lot of people were investing in altcoins with very little knowledge about how they worked, I exposed the technical flaws and deceitful marketing in several high-profile projects.

It's worth mentioning how I even got my first recognition in the Twittersphere: I sent a personalized email to two people I followed who I knew would like the content I had written (an IOTA takedown): Tone Vays and Chris DeRose. Coldcall. No previous connection. Both of them shared my article. We'll see how long the era of cold emails last before that route gets completely saturated by ChatGPT autobot spam, but the general key is timing and sincerity.

I gained about 300 Twitter followers from my first article being shared. After that I began participating in the public dialogue on various cryptocurrency topics. In an industry where everyone seemed to be plagued by bias, I turned neutrality and objectivity into a sport. I played long-term games and valued my reputation and integrity.

I was in a lucky position. I had discovered crypto while I was still studying a MSc. in computer science. I got to steer my entire career trajectory towards participating in the crypto space in various ways. I decided to become an encyclopædia of cryptocurrency knowledge.

My personality of being extremely argumentative worked well on Twitter. It only causes me problems in real-life, but it's exactly the kind of personality you want in order to get to the bottom of complex technical issues. I gained a large following.

Become known as an investor: Making a name for yourself is not necessarily sufficient. You have to demonstrate that you're somehow familiar with VC and fundraising, you need to atleast be somewhat adjacent to other successful investors.

I did that by launching a cryptocurrency hedge fund, but I can think of many other ways of achieving the same goal.

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Here's the rub: in order to get into highly competitive VC rounds, you need to become somewhat of a micro-celebrity in your particular niche. Your name must be a stamp of approval.

Let's talk about some other ways of achieving that.

• Founder: I see a lot of successful founders among angel investors. They are valuable because they will know how to support other founders.
• Developer: If you're known for your deep technological knowledge having contributed to high-profile projects, this could be a way.
• Podcaster: Even podcasters get to invest in hot rounds sometimes. Look at the Bankless duo (David & Ryan).
• Druckenmiller: Since you mentioned Druckenmiller previously, I'm pretty sure I could get someone like Druckenmiller into a hot round.

Initially, you may have to do a couple of bad deals. Maybe you don't get to invest in EigenLayer at $50m, but you've been given the opportunity to do so at $500m. Maybe this isn't the best risk/reward for you, but getting your name on the list of supporters will send a signal to other investors that you're there and ready to play (by bad deals I don't mean shitty projects, I just mean less-than-ideal ROI prospects).

You should also try to find a really good prospect on your own. If you have discovered a "diamond in the rough" (i.e. a very high-quality team with great potential but with no investor connections), this is your chance to invite other investors you want to co-invest with in the future. This is your shot. If it turns out really well, chances are high they will reciprocate by inviting you to deals in the future.

What happens after the investment is made is also important. There are many times in an investment's lifecycle that the project will run into issues and need support. If you're able to step up when things are going bad, solve disputes or come up with clever solutions to difficult problems, others will think about you when they're putting together a "dream team" for future venture backing.

All in all, it's essentially about clout. You have to do whatever you can to make sure your clout is pristine. Think only about clout, then the dealflow will come.

Bonus tip: One last thing you can try, if you really have no other option, is begging. If you see a project that you absolutely love, you can message one of the founders and ask if they're raising. If he tells you they're not raising yet but maybe in the future, you can stay loyal like a puppy or some kind of waterboy and try to run any and all errands for them. They may throw you a bone out of pity.