Just came across something interesting from YZi Labs that honestly makes a lot of sense. Ella Zhang was talking about their investment approach and it's pretty refreshing actually.

So here's the thing - YZi Labs is spread across Web3, AI, and biotech, but the way they think about tokens is different from what you see in most VC playbooks. Their majority positions are straight equity, not token allocations. And they're actively telling founders to pump the brakes on token launches.

The reasoning is solid. If a project hasn't hit product-market fit yet, rushing a token is like setting off a siren head alarm for all the wrong reasons - it just distracts teams from what actually matters. Tokens without real utility are basically dead weight, and issuing them becomes this burden that pulls focus away from building.

It's a pretty stark contrast to the typical Web3 narrative where everyone's obsessed with tokenomics and launch dates. What they're essentially saying is: nail the product first, figure out if people actually want it, then think about tokens. Makes sense when you think about how many projects have failed because they got the order backwards.

This philosophy about equity-first investing and avoiding premature token launches is becoming more common among serious builders, but it's still not the default mindset in crypto. Worth noting if you're evaluating early-stage projects on Gate or elsewhere - the teams that focus on fundamentals before tokens tend to have better staying power.