Dupe ($DUPE)

• What it is: Dupe is a company and platform described as "the front door for deals on the internet." It helps consumers find high-quality, lower-cost alternatives (dupes) to expensive products, starting with furniture and expanding into other categories like fashion.
• Business Performance:
  • The company has generated "many millions of dollars" in lifetime revenue in just over a year of operation.
  • It has processed "pretty close to $100 million" in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), which is the total value of goods sold through the platform.
  • Both revenue and GMV are reportedly accelerating month-over-month.
  • The business is profitable enough that the company is actively using its revenue to buy back its own cryptocurrency token.
• Token Context ($DUPE):
  • The founder states the company has spent over a million dollars of its own revenue to buy back $DUPE tokens from the open market.
  • This buyback strategy is presented as a way to support the token's value and demonstrate the company's belief in its own ecosystem. The founder notes, "we bought at the top, we bought at the middle, we bought at the bottom."
  • The token has provided significant "growth unlocks" by creating a network of incentivized holders, which has opened doors to new business opportunities, such as a potential collaboration with a world-renowned designer connected to Kanye West.
  • The token experienced extreme volatility after launch, rocketing to a $6 million market cap before crashing to $500k. It has since recovered, but the founder described getting out of that hole as a "coin flip."

Takeaways

• Bullish Case: Dupe is presented as a real, revenue-generating business with accelerating growth, not just a crypto project. The company's use of its own profits to buy back $DUPE tokens is a strong signal of internal confidence and directly supports the token's value. An investment in $DUPE could be seen as a bet on the continued growth of the underlying e-commerce platform.
• Key Differentiator: Unlike many crypto projects that launch with just an idea, Dupe had an established, profitable business before the token. The founder argues this is a much stronger model, as "the token needs you," not the other way around.
• Risk Factor: The token's history shows extreme volatility. The initial crash from $6M to $500K highlights the inherent risk and the difficulty of regaining market momentum once it's lost. The success of the token is still heavily tied to the volatile crypto market and the "Crypto Twitter" narrative.

Believe Ecosystem ($BELIEVE)

• What it is: Believe is a crypto launchpad created by Ben Pasternak, designed to help new companies launch tokens and raise capital through "Internet Capital Markets." Dupe was one of the first projects to launch on this platform.
• Founder's Perspective:
  • The founder of Dupe expresses mixed feelings. He is critical of the early launch mechanics, stating he had to spend a lot of company money to acquire $DUPE tokens on the open market, a disadvantage newer projects don't have.
  • He believes the entire ecosystem needs a "standout winner" to prove its viability and attract more high-quality founders and investors. He positions $DUPE as the most likely candidate to be that winner.
  • He notes that when $DUPE's token price "blew up," the price of $BELIEVE and other ecosystem tokens followed, indicating a strong correlation.
• Investment Thesis: The founder argues that for the Believe ecosystem to succeed, the founder (Ben Pasternak) needs to "pick a winner and ride it."

Takeaways

• Investment Insight: An investment in $BELIEVE appears to be a proxy bet on the success of the most promising projects within its ecosystem, primarily $DUPE. The performance of $BELIEVE is likely to be highly correlated with the success or failure of its "star" projects.
• Strategic Risk: The ecosystem's future success is dependent on its ability to produce a major "winner." If no project achieves breakout success, the entire platform and the $BELIEVE token could struggle to gain legitimacy and value.
• Founder Advice: The speaker gives a strong counter-narrative to the typical launchpad model: he advises founders to achieve product-market fit before launching a token, rather than using a token launch as their first source of funding. This suggests investors should favor projects on Believe (or any launchpad) that already have a real, functioning business.

Investment Theme: On-Chain Companies & "Internet Capital Markets"

• The Concept: The podcast explores the idea of using crypto tokens as a new way for startups to raise capital, an alternative or supplement to traditional Venture Capital (VC).
• The Bull Case:
  • Launching a token can generate significant attention and provide enough capital ("a million dollars coming into me... that's game over") for a startup to reach product-market fit without giving up equity to VCs.
  • It creates a community of financially incentivized users and supporters who actively promote the project.
• The Bear Case / Risks:
  • Most "real" Web2 founders are still "scared of it" and see it as a distraction. The model has not yet been proven or widely adopted.
  • If a project launches a token without a solid product and the initial hype dies down, it's incredibly difficult to regain momentum. The founder warns, "you're fucking cooked."
  • The entire theme needs a pioneer—a clear success story—to break through and show other founders and investors that the model is viable. As the speaker puts it, "You need someone to break through that barrier... so that everyone else can see that winning is possible."

Takeaways

• Investor Strategy: When evaluating companies that use this model, prioritize those that already have a functioning product and real revenue (like Dupe) over those that are pre-product and relying solely on token hype for funding.
• Market Maturity: This investment theme is still in its infancy. It carries high risk but also potentially high rewards for investors who can identify the "pioneer" projects that will eventually legitimize the space for a wider audience.
• Key Analogy: The speaker compares the situation to the first person to run a four-minute mile. Before it was done, it was considered impossible. After it was done, many others followed. Investors are currently trying to bet on which project will be the first to break that "four-minute mile" for on-chain companies.