I went into @draper_u thinking I was refining a Cardano startup idea. I came out thinking very differently about how I build companies. For four weeks in Silicon Valley, the Genesis program forced me to question market size, customer validation, fundraising, go-to-market, trust, security, and whether what I was building was actually a business. The original idea was a Web3 bounty platform. That eventually led me somewhere much more interesting: programmable escrow and stablecoin payment infrastructure. In this video, I go through the full experience, including pitching @TimDraper, getting the pitch wrong before getting it right, learning to validate before building, and how those lessons are now shaping @MoshiConcepts and Hokan. A huge thank you to everyone who shared their time and experience throughout the program: @draper_u @TimDraper @aalicbarker @AsraNadeem @TechRebelWorld @sfjmorris @Andytang @joevezz @lorenzoxbt @rodventures @1stNoL @c00v @LuchangArcanum And also David Bland, George Northup, Azan Haider, Tessalou Velera @OrionFund @Cometa_Labs and @samizb This one packs a lot of lessons. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:23 The Genesis programme 2:16 Building something isn't enough 4:22 The first pitches 5:54 Talking to real customers 7:25 The idea starts changing 8:40 Pitch practice and getting it wrong 10:53 Pitching in front of Tim Draper 12:32 The question from Tim Draper 14:10 Catalyst, grants and automation 15:37 Trust is the real product 17:01 After the pitch, the programme changed 18:27 Go to market 19:32 Blockchain should become boring 21:10 Not everything needs a token 22:09 Networking was probably my weakest area 23:36 The people were a massive part of it 24:40 The Cardano community came to Draper 25:35 The final week 27:14 Resilience 28:19 Stablecoins and payments kept coming back 29:11 The final days 29:57 What actually changed for me 31:07 What I'm building now 32:15 Conclusion The biggest lesson? Being able to build something doesn't mean it's the right thing to build. Validate. Listen. Adjust. Then keep building. 👊