In mid‑June 2026 I announced Monorail’s $1 M seed round on X, tagging the lead investor Neoclassic Capital and the participating angels Echo and Delphi Labs, and then engaged the community with a flood of supportive replies and questions.
Monorail raised $1,000,000 in this seed round.
The lead investor was Neoclassic Capital (@NeoclassicCap).
Participating investors were Echo (@echodotxyz) and Delphi Labs (@delphi_labs).
The tweet generated ≥ 30 distinct replies on the same day, plus numerous emoji reactions and DM requests.
I also shared my “founder barbell” model for balanced growth.
- 1 whale customer AND 1000 tiny ones
I concluded that startups relying on a single blockchain for traction will not succeed by merely switching chains.
My thesis: a startup that could not succeed on one chain will not succeed by changing chains.
- 1 core product loop with a ton of small stuff that makes the user 'wow'
- 1 top‑tier VC AND 2 small/unknown but believers in the team/product who spend an inordinate amount of time with them
- 1 star techie AND 5 teenage interns working on crazy experiments
- this is the way