Protips! How to engage with my team at @StellarOrg We get a fair amount of inbound pitching from folks who are thinking about building DeFi on Stellar (how sick is that?). In the interest of transparency and time efficiency, here are tips on what gets our attention. First, any interested folks ought to know that there are two main tracks for support from SDF, and one bonus (stealth!) entry point for growing your business on Stellar. ONE: Stellar Community Fund (communityfund.stellar.org) - if you are new to the Stellar ecosystem, this is a great way to gain entry through a democratic and open application process - you can get funding of up to $150k for your build, plus access to an amazing community @BuildOnStellar to help you along in your growth journey. Show your progress and unlock further grants for security audits, marketing and more. Good stuff & easy, quick access for innovators! TWO: SDF Grants (via BD) - for DeFi and Infra services who already have traction, perhaps with another chain, or demand from an existing enterprise client base, discuss with me or my team (try @puniaviision @cemarcann @yashnuff or @prism081 ) to see how we can potentially support your build/expansion on Stellar. PUNCH: Direct build (via BD/Growth) - if you’ve already started to build on Stellar (yay!) and serve user bases of 100k+ scale or enterprise/institutional clients, we’d love to learn more about how SDF can help support, amplify, and grow your good work. Yo, reach out! What to avoid - here are some techniques that don’t work well 🥺 😫 🤢 ✖️ Cut & paste pitches (especially AI-authored). We can tell when you’re blasting a bunch of prospects, and it doesn’t land well. ✖️ “What is Stellar looking for?” or “Would SDF support a (not-yet-built) protocol that does THIS?” messages... These often come from middle-people who are just seeking grants but don’t intend to run a business on Stellar. We shy away from this structure. ✖️ Ideas without identified users or distribution. Tech for tech’s sake is a tough sell. Best practices: 😃 Be real: who are you, what does your company do, and why do you want to build specifically on Stellar? 😃 Do your homework: does the thing you’re suggesting already exist in the Stellar ecosystem? How is your solution different, or what new customers/regions will you serve? We like to help companies fill genuine gaps! 😃 Be nice: bonus points! it just makes the whole process more enjoyable!