Michael ZhaoAPAC / WEB3 / EARLY STAGE
FIELD NOTES / INDEX 01—05

Investment field notes

Each note begins with an early-stage investment question, reconstructs how the headline metric was produced, and defines the evidence still required.

01
Product signal / 7 min

Four Filters for Testnet Traction

Testnet activity is easy to count and hard to interpret. A useful diligence view asks who generated it, what they were trying to accomplish, and whether they returned without a prompt.

02
Developer ecosystem / 8 min

Developer Retention Lives beyond the Repository

Commit counts describe motion. Retention requires a path from learning to building, deployment, and maintenance—each with different evidence.

03
Deal structure / 9 min

Map Value Flow before Choosing Token or Equity

A company, protocol, foundation, and token can hold different rights inside one project. The structure only makes sense when value creation and control are traced across them.

04
Technical diligence / 8 min

A Ladder of Evidence for Technical Diligence

Architecture diagrams and audit reports begin the inquiry. Confidence grows when claims connect to code, deployments, incidents, and team response.

05
Market entry / 7 min

Put Institutional Constraints on the Product Roadmap

Interest can be abundant while procurement stays still. Compliance, custody, integration, budget, and ownership determine whether an institutional user can proceed.