# Founder Overview Fundraise globally and grow your distribution with Crafts. Partial tokenization that gives you capital, distribution, and control. Canonical URL: https://crafts.dev/docs/founders/overview ### Global Fundraise Raise globally from your community and capital deployers. A sealed-bid mechanism discovers a fair clearing price so your token launches at a valuation set by real demand. ### On-Chain Vault Raised funds sit in a public, on-chain vault with milestone-based releases and a monthly allowance. Built to create backer trust and accountability from day one. ### Built-In Distribution Tokenization only works if it comes with distribution. Reward high-quality content, referrals, and onboarding to turn your launch into a user growth flywheel. ### More Revenue Streams Earn 0.5% of secondary trading volume on your token through the 50/50 fee split. Your fundraise isn't a one-time event, it's an ongoing revenue stream that grows with your project. ### Compliant Tokens with an Equity Anchor Our Stakeholder Token Standard creates a legal bridge between your token and your company. Your token holds value because your company holds value. ### Clean Cap Table One SPV on your cap table, that's it. Future VC rounds stay simple. You can pivot, raise again, and keep full operational control. ## Distribution Is Harder Than Ever > Customer acquisition costs have increased 222% over the last eight years (SimplicityDX). SaaS companies now spend $2 to acquire $1 of new annual recurring revenue. Paid channels keep getting more expensive. Organic takes years to compound. And organic reach keeps shrinking. **For early-stage teams without deep pockets, traditional distribution is a losing game.** --- ## Distribution via Tokens Works Kled, an AI data marketplace valued at $100M+, launched their token raise in May 2025 with massive results: > User growth went from flat to nearly doubling month over month, approaching 100,000 users by December 2025. ![Kled user growth after tokenization](/docs/founders/kled-growth.png) _Kled's user growth exploded after their token launch — from flat to nearly 100K users in 8 months._ The token didn't just attract traders — it created contributors with skin in the game, who started posting proof-of-payouts, product demos, generating durable reach and distribution. --- ## But Traditional Token Alignment Methods Are Broken In 2025, crypto projects spent over $1.4 billion on token buybacks. For most, it didn't work. A CryptoRank analysis found that 7 out of 9 major buyback programs failed to stop price declines over four months. Jupiter spent $70 million buying back JUP, but the token still dropped 90% from its high. Helium paused buybacks entirely after seeing no impact. ![2025 buyback program results](/docs/founders/buybacks-table.png) _Source: CryptoRank, 2025. Most buyback programs failed to prevent price decline._ The pattern is clear: **when founders can profit before shipping by selling tokens and tokens have no anchor to real value, no amount of buybacks or staking rewards can fix it.** You wanted distribution, but got a full-time job managing a chart. --- ## You Don't Have To Choose Between Capital and Distribution Every crypto founder faces the same tradeoff: **Raise equity, grow on your own** You get capital and control. But your users are just users — no stake in your success, no reason to spread the word, no incentive to stick around. **OR** **Launch a token, get distribution but become a price manager** Now your users have skin in the game. They create content, onboard friends, defend you online. But once the initial hype fades, you're stuck optimizing for price instead of product. Distribution came with a job you didn't sign up for. ### For years, founders picked a side. **What if you only tokenized part of your company?** No early-stage founder would give away majority ownership for their seed round. So why tokenize 100% of your project on day one? **Tokenize 5-20% of your upside.** Your early users get real economic rights, real reasons to spread the word, create content, stay engaged. Your token holds value because your company holds value — not because of artificial mechanics. And because the majority stays untouched, VCs can still come in clean, you can pivot, you stay in control. **The distribution benefits of tokens. Without the cost.** ### Now, there's partial tokenization. That's why we built Crafts. [Apply Now](https://crafts.fillout.com/apply) --- ## How Crafts Works > Here's what we've built to make partial tokenization work in practice. ### Compliant Tokens with an Equity Link Our Stakeholder Token Standard (STS) creates a real legal bridge between your token and your company: an **SPV holds a stake in the operating company**, while the **token governs the SPV** (e.g. 10% via a standard SAFE). Because the team's upside sits in equity, not in tokens, **there is no team token supply**. No team tokens means no unlock fear — your community trades tokens without the discount that team unlock schedules typically create. This aligns founders and token holders by **separating execution from governance**: founders keep day-to-day control, while holders oversee **major decisions** through transparent, rules-based governance powered by Realms. ### Fair Price Discovery Pre-Launch For fundraising, you set a minimum and maximum valuation to raise at. Our auction mechanism lets users commit funds and _the market determines_ a fair clearing price. When a raise is oversubscribed, we complement this with a **reputation-based allocation approach** to prioritize real supporters and reduce allocation gaming. ### More Revenue Streams Post-Launch If you launch with Crafts, secondary-market fees are split **50/50**, so you earn **0.5% of secondary trading volume** and can raise through single-sided pools at price targets using our "Raise as you rise" structure. A pilot project generated $120K+ in additional funding from $20M in first-week trading volume alone. ### Distribution for Your Product by Design Tokenization only works if it comes with distribution. That's why we built an integrated **social distribution layer** focused on generating high-quality, organic content — helping teams turn a token launch into sustained attention, credibility, and a user growth flywheel. To date, we've onboarded **20,000+ users**, partnered with **18 Superteams**, driven **3,500+ social posts**, and generated **400,000+ website visits**, providing an early foundation of users, creators, and distribution channels for teams launching through Crafts. --- ## Your Journey on Crafts > This is how a fundraise works at Crafts — six steps from application to live operations. - [Step 1: Apply & Fit Check](/docs/founders/apply) — Tell us what you're building, raise amount, terms and your status. - [Step 2: Design your Raise](/docs/founders/design-your-raise) — Your current status, metrics and needs define the raise design. - [Step 3: Setup Legal Structure](/docs/founders/legal-rails) — Setting up all necessary contracts, agreements and entities. - [Step 4: Configure Token & Vaults](/docs/founders/tokenomics) — Implement the smart contracts: allocation, vesting, vaults. - [Step 5: Go Live](/docs/founders/go-live) — Raise campaign starts and commitments are accepted on Crafts. - [Step 6: Earn and Grow](/docs/founders/post-launch) — Trading fees and yield go into vaults. Governance is in place. --- ## Apply Now If you're building a real product and want a launch that's designed to work **after** day one — with **fair fundraising**, **enforced tokenomics**, **STS alignment**, and **built-in distribution**: [Start Your Application](https://crafts.fillout.com/apply) We'll review your application and get back to you with the recommended structure and next steps.